ANTONIO
Your father. Your father. Your father. The words are still echoing inside my throbbing head. I don’t know if they’ll ever stop.
Abel and Tomas I was prepared for, but my father?Sonofabitch.Even from the fires of hell, his reign of terror continues.
“Your father is somewhere right now, delighted to see her at your side. I can almost see his big grin. God bless his soul.”That’s what Tomas said to me the night of the Camelia Ball.I’m going to murder that fucking monster.It’s going to be long and agonizing, and I’m going to enjoy every damn second.
My father.
I can barely breathe. She was an innocent little girl, caught in a power struggle between adults. My father used her to exact vengeance.
The list of people I’d like to raise from the dead and murder is growing. Why the fuck didn’t Manuel D’Sousa tell me? Why?
Because he didn’t think you’d have the balls to go anywhere near Daniela after your father had been so close.
He was right. Had I known it, I wouldn’t have agreed to marry her. Not because she was raped, but becausemyfather,myfamily was responsible. And Valentina? She’s just a reminder of what they did to Daniela. I owed D’Sousa, and I wanted those vineyards, but I wouldn’t have been willing to put either Daniela or myself through the kind of hell that our future together holds.That’s bullshit.I would have done whatever he asked, consequences be damned.
When I leave the bedroom, I keep the door ajar. She probably shouldn’t be alone right now, but I need to think clearly and I can’t do it near her. When I look at her, all I see is the young girl atop her stallion. Courageous and in charge, glittering eyes full of life. They tried to take it all away—and in some ways, they succeeded.
I stop to pour a whiskey on the way to my study. One drink. That’s it, until Valentina is safely back with her mother.
I sit behind my desk and call the villa where Cristiano and Lucas are gathering intel and putting out fires.
“Any news on the girl?”
“She’s still at school,” Lucas replies. “We have eyes surrounding the place, and one of our own inside.”
Lucas and Cristiano are well compensated, but at times like these, it never seems like they’re paid enough.
“Have you told Daniela about Isabel?” Cristiano asks.
“Yeah.”
“How is she?”
For a moment, I hesitate. It’s hard to know. I forced her to dredge up memories that were nowhere near the surface. At least they didn’t seem to be. “Honestly, I’m not sure.”
But I can’t leave it at that, as much as I’d prefer to. I suck some air into my lungs and blow it out. It’s not my story to tell, but there’s no way around it. Cristiano and Lucas need to know. We can’t plan appropriately if they’re in the dark.
“The girl—Valentina—isn’t Isabel’s child.” There’s dead silence on the other end of the line. “She’s Daniela’s daughter. Hugo raped and murdered Maria Rosa. Tomas raped Daniela.” I can barely choke out the words. “Abel was a cheerleader.”
A vein in my neck throbs relentlessly. If I don’t stroke out before the day is over, it’ll be a fucking miracle.
“Sonsofbitches,” Cristiano hisses through gritted teeth. “Let me pick up Tomas.”
“I’ll deal with Tomas. But not yet. This fucking mess might be in our house, but we operate the same as always. Everything’s well-thought-out and calculated. We stay under the radar until we know exactly what we’re dealing with. The explosion at Santa Ana’s and Isabel’s murder are related—likely ordered by the same person.
“Tomas is involved,” I continue. “But I’m not convinced he’s pulling the strings. He doesn’t have the aptitude or the guts for it. I want this over for Daniela. But it doesn’t end until we take down the man issuing orders. We still don’t know who that is. The second, theverysecond we have the answers we need, Tomas is mine.”
“Given the gravity of this news, you sound awfully calm,” Cristiano observes, carefully. “You okay?”
Okay?No, I’m not fuckingokay. I’m so pissed off I could roam the streets for a month strangling assholes with my bare hands, and it still wouldn’t take the edge off.
“I can’t afford to indulge my rage right now. But when we have what we need, I’ll burn down the entire region, if necessary, to destroy anyone and everyone who played a role.”
“Sign me up,” Cristiano mutters.
“What about the girl?” Lucas is ruthlessly practical, never venturing too far from the job at hand. He holds every thread in an organized fashion that allows the rest of us to breathe periodically. “That dance-a-thon is going to end soon, and they’re going to feed those kids breakfast and let them loose.”