There was something about her touch. It always made him feel calm. Made him feel something that was otherwise often beyond his reach. And it made him want more. Futilely.
“That doesn’t mean it won’t be the end result.”
“You said you didn’t hate him,” she said, quietly.
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He didn’t think he did. But sometimes...sometimes it felt a lot like envy.
That Matías seemed whole.
When he’d seen the headlines of the upcoming wedding and the story of it being a love match, he’d nearly choked on that envy. Why should his brother be able to love? After everything they’d been through, Diego could not. That Matías seemed to find it wasn’t just. But then he’d realized who the fiancée was.
Camilla Alvarez. The daughter of the recently deceased Caesar Alvarez. Matías had purchased the entirety of the older man’s estate, and to Diego’s mind, it all seemed a bit convenient for the two of them to suddenly find love.
He intended to look into that at some point over the course of the day.
Neither of them spoke as they continued to walk into the venue. They were ushered to their seats, and Diego stood again, driven by something. He didn’t know what. Some need to get his footing back. Because God knew Liliana had made him feel like he was slipping.
He was so possessive of her he could hardly think straight most of the time. Work held no appeal. Truly, nothing did. He wanted to hold her close. Keep her forever. He had gotten condoms, as he had promised he would, and he had used them. But he would be lying if he said part of him didn’t wish that the first time they were together had resulted in a pregnancy. Because he did not want to give her up. He wanted to keep her forever, as impossible as that was.
For so many reasons.
Even if they had not made the deal, by now he would have come to the conclusion that at the end of all this, once his half of the inheritance was his, he would have to let her go.
He already knew what became of things he cared for.
Already knew that he left nothing but destruction in his wake.
He would not tempt those feelings again. Not with Liliana.
He was the dark one. The bad one. Diego Navarro, beyond redemption. Everyone knew it. The people here certainly did. He had felt the judgmental eyes of everyone in the place from the moment they had come in, and Liliana was oblivious to it. Because Liliana had no idea.
His father was a murderer. And everyone here thought he was one as well.
He was the villain.
It was high time he reminded himself of that.
“I’ll return in a moment. Do not disappear, Liliana. Remember, I can destroy your father with a phone call.”
She said nothing to that, the brightness of shock in her blue eyes making his gut twist. The threat had been unnecessary and he knew it. But he’d still felt compelled to issue it. To remind her, not of what he held over her head.
But of who he was.
He left Liliana sitting in her chair, and walked toward the hacienda, his mouth set into a grim line. When he opened the door, it was not his brother he saw standing in the antechamber, as he had expected. It was a woman, standing with her back to him. The woman he had seen in a picture with Matías only a week or so ago. She had very short hair, and she was beautiful, much like a little dark-haired pixie.
“Well,” he said, drawing on all his experience playing the bad guy to make sure he sounded just like one. “Don’t you make a radiant bride.”
She whirled around, her dark eyes wide, her expression full of all the fear that hadn’t been in Liliana’s eyes when he’d taken her from her room that night. This woman knew what he was.
“Diego, I presume,” she said.
“You make this sound very like an overdramatic soap opera,” he drawled, moving closer to her. “I must say, I am impressed with my brother’s resourcefulness. Often, his scruples prevent him from claiming certain victories. I myself have never understood why he’d limit himself the way he does.”
“I’m not entirely sure what you’re talking about,” she said. “Matías is my lover. He has been. Liliana’s defection was only a good thing for us.”
She was a good liar, was the little pixie. And Diego had to wonder if the part about the two of them being lovers was true enough. Though, Diego doubted they had been before. Matías was far too good to plan to marry Liliana while keeping a woman on the side.
“It is a very nice story,” he said. “But I already read it in the paper. You know, my brother fancies himself a good man, but he is not so different from me. He simply draws lines around moral dilemmas as he sees fit. And I have never seen the point of doing so. He decides that certain actions are right, and certain actions are wrong. He has decided that his motivation for inheriting the rancho is higher than mine, and therefore, he must win at this game. I require no motivation myself beyond my need to win. To be satisfied. I don’t need to pretend I am being good.”
“Is that why you took Liliana?”
She was spirited, this woman. He admired it.
“She was simply a means to an end.” As he spoke the words, he thought of their weeks together. And again of her coming down the stairs in that dress. The tightness in his chest. His heart. The darkness in his soul that cried out for her light. “Like everything else.”
“Did she go with you of her own free will? Or did you kidnap her?”
“Oh, I kidnapped her.” Images of her in his bed, in his arms, flashed through his mind. And that drove him on. A reminder of who he was. A reminder of what this was. “But, she was convinced quickly enough to marry me. I just had to have her throw out that lie to Matías so he wouldn’t come searching for her. He’s not very trusting. He believed so quickly that she would betray him. It’s a character flaw, for sure. If I were you, I would watch out for that later on. If he were to walk in now, I imagine he would have a lot of follow-up questions for you. Particularly if he were to walk in when you were in my embrace.”
Diego took another step toward her, and the woman took a step away. “Don’t come anywhere near me,” she said. “You’re a villain.”
She had no idea. Truly, no idea. “To you. But a villain is his own hero. I read that somewhere once. I quite like it. Although, I am not overly concerned with being either. I’m simply concerned with winning.”
“Well, Matías and I are getting married today. So you’re not going to win.”
“Am I not? Because I will get my share of the family fortune, if I choose to press the issue with my lawyer, I will probably end up with a stake in my brother’s company.” He didn’t care. He wondered if he ever had. Or if he was still a small boy lighting things on fire because he didn’t know what else to do with his rage. “And he has had to settle for second best when it comes to wives. Yes, I think my victory, while not total, was handily done enough.”
The door to the house opened again, and a small woman in a black dress walked in, casting him a severe look. “It is time,” she said.
“I had better go take my place in the audience, then,” he said. “But rest assured and remember this. My brother might talk about being good, he might talk about doing the right thing, and in the end he might do the right thing by you, whatever that means. If it looks like a permanent marriage, or an attempt at commitment. But he will not love you. That is something the men in our family are incapable of.”
He walked back out into the brilliant sunlight, repeating his own words back to himself as he took his seat next to Liliana, who looked at him and smiled as if he were the stars, and not simply the dark night sky.
He was not capable of love. And neither was Matías.
He couldn’t be.
If after all they’d been through, Matías could find love, while Diego lived in the darkness...
He would be alone in it.
Sitting out there in the midday sun, surrounded by people, with Liliana’s hand on his arm, he felt more alone than he ever had.
And the truly startling thing was, he found it unbearable.
CHAPTER NINE
THE WEDDING HAD been beautiful, and Liliana was not at all surprised to discover that she wasn’t envious in the least. Not of
the spectacle. Not of the groom. And not of the gorgeous reception that followed. The bride and groom were scarce during the event, but there were a lot of people eating and reveling, and she was ready to do the same.
The venue was made into something so beautiful. It was hard to believe such a place could have such a dark past. But Matías had worked very hard to turn it into something else. Something new. White lights strung over a clearing surrounded by olive trees, a stage with a band playing off to the side. There was an elaborate canopy with cakes and other sweets set beneath it that looked incredibly tempting after a long day in the sun.
It was so wonderful to be here, and she couldn’t quite explain why. Except she felt free and happy.
Except... Diego was like a storm cloud at her side.
Diego, who could not see a way to redeem this place. Diego, who only saw the darkness.
“I’m going to go get cake,” she said, touching his face, trying to see if she could conjure up some of that magic between them now. It didn’t seem to be working. She shifted, dragging her fingertips along the line of his jaw, down to his chin, rubbing his lower lip with her thumb. A spark ignited in those dark eyes, and he looked at her.
“Would you like cake?” she pressed.
She doubted even sweets could improve his mood, as dark as it was, but she would do her best.
“What I would like is us to return to our hotel room in Barcelona,” he said, his words filled with meaning.
She knew exactly what he wanted to do in that hotel room. It was the way he felt most comfortable connecting with her, and it was most definitely the best way for him to break one of his moods.
Not that she didn’t like it. She did. But just for a while she wanted to be here with him. Out in public and on his arm. Wasn’t that reasonable enough?
“Yes,” she said. “And we will.” Her body felt warm just thinking about it. “But, I would also like cake.”
“Far be it from me to stand in the way of you and your sweets. By all means, tesoro, go and get yourself some cake.”