And since she was by herself, that was what she did.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
DIEGO COULDN’T FATHOM what had possessed him to simply stand in that hotel lobby while Liliana walked out of his life. While the people around him practically cheered at her strength, clearly taking her side in the matter.
And why wouldn’t they?
She’d asked if he loved her. He’d told her no.
And then she’d begged him to let her go. Her eyes had been full of tears, her voice heavy with pain, and he’d... He’d done it because what other choice had there been?
She was miserable. He could see it in her eyes. She was breaking apart right in front of him, and he... He cared. He had never cared about anyone else like this in his life. Not since his mother’s death.
She was gone. She was gone, and he should continue to allow it. He should let her go. Because she wanted and needed more than he could give.
That thought stunned him. He had never cared before what someone else wanted or needed. Always, his whole life it had been about himself.
About surviving.
He gritted his teeth, thinking about that moment when he had set his father’s shop on fire. Thinking that certainly he would have tempted the old man to murder.
And all he could think was that Matías had somehow sidestepped this. That his brother was married and his wife...
He didn’t know how to have it. He didn’t understand. He was far too broken to have this. To have her.
Here he was nearly prostrate on the ground in a penthouse in Spain, while his brother was likely off honeymooning.
He picked up his phone, weighing it in his hand for a moment before dialing his assistant. “Find out where my brother is,” he said.
“Yes, Mr. Navarro.”
A few moments later his phone rang. “He’s at his office in London.”
Diego hung up the phone. He wondered why his brother was at his office, rather than at the rancho enjoying his new wife’s body. It’s what Diego would be doing if he hadn’t sabotaged his entire life.
He needed to talk to Matías. It was the one thing he hadn’t done. Beyond their thinly veiled threats made to each other when he had taken Liliana.
Diego had let Liliana go. And for the first time in longer than he could remember, he felt hope. She had changed him. Only two months ago he would never have released her. Not ever. He had taken her not giving a damn whether she wanted to be with him or not. Had forced her into marriage the same way. But something in him had changed. She had changed and he needed to...
He needed to know. How Matías had done it. How he was a good man. He needed to be a better one, for Liliana.
Liliana.
He thought of her, so brave and bright, facing him down and calling him a coward. She wasn’t wrong.
No. She wasn’t.
His phone rang, and he answered it, his heart in his throat. It was his assistant.
“Your brother has a message for you, Mr. Navarro.”
“Does he?” Diego asked.
“He says it’s all yours.”
What was all his? Diego couldn’t think straight for a moment. Everything wasn’t his, or Liliana would be here. But she wasn’t. So it couldn’t be.
The inheritance.
Which meant...
Which meant all was not bliss with Matías and Camilla. Did that mean that there wasn’t hope after all? Or did it mean Matías wasn’t magically good?
If that was the case, did it mean Diego wasn’t beyond help?
“I need a plane to London,” Diego said. “Immediately.”
There were some things that needed to be handled in person, and this, Diego had a feeling, was one of them.
* * *
When Diego walked into his brother’s high-rise office, Matías was standing in front of his desk, a panoramic view of London behind him, two drinks in his hand and a smile on his face.
“You would only smile when offering me a drink if it was poisoned,” Diego said, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a flask for his brother to see. “I’m good.”
Matías normally looked...
Diego and his brother had many features in common. Both over six feet tall with black hair, dark eyes and strong noses. But Matías always looked at ease with his surroundings, and as a result, people in his presence always seemed at ease. Diego had the opposite effect. Creating waves wherever he went.
But today... Today there was no easy way about his brother at all.
“To what do I owe the displeasure?” Matías asked.
“I heard that you had forfeited our little game,” Diego said.
“Because it quit being a game to me.”
“Oh, I see. So it was still a game when I stole Liliana right out of her bedroom, but it’s not a game now. Fascinating.”
The bastard. He hadn’t called it off when Liliana had been taken. The very idea of his brother marrying Liliana when he cared so little for her made Diego’s stomach turn.
“Liliana said that she wanted to be with you,” Matías pointed out. “I was hardly going to rescue a woman who didn’t wish to be rescued.”
“Yes,” Diego said. “She did tell you that. Because I’m blackmailing her. Her father is not the upstanding citizen that he appears to be, and Liliana was quite shocked to find out the Hart family name was not built on the pristine foundation she had once thought. A tragedy all around.”
“Not for you, though.”
“Indeed,” Diego said, “I have met very few tragedies that I didn’t want to exploit. And this was no different. However,” he said, “I think it is time we finish this.”
It was another thing he could do. The last easy thing, he realized. He needed to make sure there was no external benefit to him being with Liliana. If he were going to go after her...
There was some deep work he had to do. Inside his very soul, and that would be difficult. But this... This he could do.
“I agree,” Matías said. “And you’ve won.”
“No,” Diego said. “Abuelo has won. At least if we allow him to.” His brother rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then took a drink from his flask. “So, you wish to discontinue this, to call your marriage a sham and be done with it. I wish to do the same.”
Matías could only stare at his brother. Shocked at the words he’d just spoken. “Why?”
“I suspect for the same reasons you do,” Diego said, taking a drink from his flask. “It got away from you, didn’t it?”
He was desperate for the answer. Desperate to know if he was alone in this or if Matías was similarly afflicted. And what the hell his brother, the better man by all accounts, was going to do about it.