Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 118333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
“What you haven’t seen are the years gone by where I have loved and adored a certain woman. A woman I’ve known since we were children. We were raised together.” He laughed and shook his head. “We played together . . . and in all that time she never noticed me. Not until six months ago when she finally agreed to dinner after thousands of refusals. And then we never looked back.” We had only ever kissed a couple of times, and even then, each second had felt like the worst kind of torture. I could no longer evade my papa’s greatest wish and Diego’s persistence. But as I kissed him that first time, I remembered the last kiss I received . . . one that I could still feel, imprinted on my lips like a brand. The mouth I could still taste. The strong arms and body of the man that lay above me . . .
But I’d had to pretend. Because no one knew who had stolen my heart. No one knew who I had attached my soul to . . . even I didn’t know anymore. No contact for over two years. No word. I was empty inside. Dead. Only one man could bring me back to life.
A man I wasn’t sure still wanted me. A man I should never have loved, and who should never have loved me. But we did love each other . . . so very much.
Diego took a long breath, then addressed me directly. I fought the lump in my throat that had built just thinking of Tanner. Of his blue eyes and tattooed arms. I love you, princess . . . Never forget that, even when I’m gone from here . . . I’ll only ever protect you . . . I’m gonna find a way for us to be together . . . someday . . . no matter how long it takes . . .
“Adelita Quintana, I have loved you since I was old enough to understand what love was.” Diego walked toward me, placing his champagne glass on the table. He reached into his jacket and brought out a ring box. I stared at that black velvet box like it was the very thing that would destroy my soul. I felt Charley’s eyes burning into me, but I couldn’t look at her. I would fall apart if I did.
Eventually I looked up at Diego. He dropped to his knees, under the sparkling garden lights and with all my papa’s associates’ eyes fixed on us. My eyes pricked with tears, but I didn’t worry. The family here would put it down to emotion from this moment. And they were correct. But they were tears of sadness and frustration and fear. Not happiness and elation. My blood had turned cold, and the flicker of joy I occasionally felt had disappeared completely. I felt nothing but the gutting hole that was Tanner’s two years of silence and absence.
Diego dropped to his knee and opened the box. The massive diamond he was offering me glittered in the twinkling lights above. “Adelita Quintana, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
The air was sucked from my lungs as Diego’s question washed over me. The light wind around me seemed to freeze, as if God had pressed the pause button on the world just to hold me in this moment. My heart beat a rhythm that instructed me to refuse. To get up and walk out, leaving Diego with the ring he so proudly offered. But one subtle glance at my papa and I knew I could never do that. I couldn’t embarrass him that way.
I let go of my champagne glass, to the one object that was keeping me tethered to the ground. The weight that was keeping me from falling apart. And I leaned forward, placing both of my hands on Diego’s cheeks. I didn’t know if he could feel the slight tremble in my touch. If he did, he didn’t say so. I closed my eyes and willed myself forward. As my lips met his, I felt nothing. Nothing but a cold and stale brushing of lips. I wouldn’t let my brain register his taste or his scent. I refused to let anything cast Tanner from my heart.
When I pulled back, I whispered, “Yes.” I disguised the tremor in my voice. I sheltered the guests from the breaking of my heart. I glanced at my papa again and saw him smiling. He gave me a secret nod. And I knew what that nod meant: I had done well. My father knew I didn’t want to marry Diego. Yet he would have planned this with Diego—the son he never had. I loved my papa, and he loved me. He was the only family I had. I never crossed him. Even as his daughter, I would never dare. I wasn’t naïve about our family’s “business”; in fact I made it my mission to understand every facet of what we did. We were cartel. And my papa was the biggest cartel boss in the country. This engagement . . . he wouldn’t tolerate being a humiliation.