“You chose Diego the moment you agreed to marry him against Costa’s wishes.”
She shut her eyes briefly. “Papá” wouldn’t take kindly to this new information.
“What’s he talking about, Natalia?” Costa asked. “Is that true? I’m sure it’s not.” His thick, graying eyebrows fell nearly to his chin as he leveled a glare on her. “Diego knows better than to get involved with my daughter. And she knows better, too. Don’t you, Natalia?”
She turned fully to him. It didn’t surprise me that she took a small step back in my direction. Suddenly my protection didn’t sound so bad. “We had no choice,” she said. “It was all we could think of to save the family. The Maldonados were closing in—”
“Get to the point,” Costa barked. “When Cristiano says you agreed to marry Diego, what does he mean?”
A beat passed, and I resisted from jumping in. This was a battle Natalia had to fight, even though she wouldn’t win. “Just as it sounds,” she said quietly but without wavering. “It’s the reason we were at the church on Sunday.”
“How? Diego said Cristiano ambushed you after Mass.”
“He did.” She touched her ring, then stilled her hands, drawing up straighter. “But everything was already in place, because Diego and I had planned to do the ceremony right after. Quickly. Because the Maldonados—”
“Fuck the Maldonados. Are you telling me you were going to go behind my back when I specifically told you to stay away from him?” He took heavy, deliberate steps toward her. “When I forbade you from even seeing him again?”
“That’s why we had to do it,” she cried. “I knew you’d say no, and Diego told me it was the only way to save the family. If I’d come to you first, we might not even be here right now.”
Costa and I met eyes over her head. “See what I mean?” I asked. “As soon as Diego realized he was in too deep and that I could make it all go away, his first thought was what—or who—he could trade for his life.”
“I just assumed that he . . .” She spoke to herself, her eyes on the floor. “He never actually proposed. I just assumed.”
“Because he never intended to make you his wife,” I said as gently as I was capable of. “Only to make you mine.”
As the level of his deceit settled onto her slender shoulders, I had warring urges to gather her in my arms and hunt down my snake of a brother so I could bring her his head. It bothered me to acknowledge that in this moment, especially with Costa looking on, distance was probably what she needed most.
She bent her head briefly, but picked it back up to meet her father’s blistering gaze. “If you had listened from the start, I wouldn’t have had to go behind your back.”
“Then I suppose it’s a good thing Cristiano was there!” he bellowed.
Even Max flinched, and I couldn’t help a small laugh—the man had faced down far scarier men than Costa, but never an irate father.
Natalia whirled to me, fire blazing in her eyes. “Do you think this is funny?” She jerked a hand back at Costa. “Tell him, Cristiano. We were all in danger.”
I looked to the back of the room—not to Max, but to the second ever invader to make it inside my home. The first, an overeager and overqualified Federal, was now on my team. Even though Barto and I had been tight-knit comrades once, I’d be a fool to trust him with sensitive information. “Privacy, please,” I said to both men.
Max stepped to the door instantly, but Barto waited for Costa’s signal before leaving the room.
Once the three of us were truly alone, I spoke to Natalia. “The threat was against Diego for the millions and millions he’d cost the Maldonados. Of course, that threat extended to the Cruz cartel. Costa knows that. It’s why he was sending you away.”
She glanced at her father. “I was doing what I thought—”
“But.” I cut her off, and silence fell over the room as my audience waited. “Diego lied about the danger you both were in. I told him I’d make a deal with the Maldonados to protect you. To protect everyone but him. He was the only one who’d pay the price.”
Natalia’s face paled as she shook her head. “No. I don’t believe you.”
“In a final, desperate attempt for his life, he offered you up as my bride,” I said.
Costa walked up behind Natalia as she began to shake, her fingers curling into balls. He placed his hands on her shoulders. “Why would you accept, Cristiano?”
“Our families would unite,” I said. “We’d both become more powerful. You have a better infrastructure than I do—”
“Your business brings in far more than mine,” Costa said evenly. “There’s more to it than that. So why?”