“You’re too far away.” I pat the sofa next to me. “Sit with me, sweetheart.”
Natalia hesitates as something flashes across her expression that I can’t really identify, but it looks like something that could pass for her sorting through similar feelings. After all, she was the one who literally wept with joy when I said she was coming back home with me so we could make this work. Surely, her feelings are getting to that point.
If they are, however, she doesn’t say anything about it as she stands up and crosses the small space between us to snuggle up next to me. I lift my arm to wrap it around her shoulders, and she tucks her head against my neck. The warmth of thosefeelsdeepens in my chest, and I press a kiss to her temple.
“I have to ask you, Joaquin,” she says after a moment, a hint of nerves in her voice.
My mind is stuck on all the feels I’m currently being assaulted with, so naturally, I assume that’s what she’s about to bring up. “Ask away, baby doll.”
She sets her hand on my lap and draws her thumbnail through the ridge in the denim of my jeans. “Do you think your parents will be bothered that I didn’t go to college?”
“Oh.” My brow pulls low. “I mean…” I shrug one shoulder. “My mamá won’t care. She just wanted me to finally settle down with someone nice—which youare.” I kiss her cheek. “Papá is another story. He’s just…” I shake my head and huff loudly. “He can find a bone to pick with anyone. So, just try not to let him get to you. He’ll get over himself eventually.” I pause, replaying her question in my mind. “No college, huh?”
“No,” she says sheepishly. “I didn’t have the ability to pursue that because I was just…” She tilts her head lower. “I’ve always just had to make ends meet. My parents haven’t been around for a long time, and I’ve just been treading water. I bounced around waitressing jobs and eventually started working as a substitute teacher.” She sighs loudly. “I suppose I could have tried to work while I was—”
“That’s nothing to be ashamed of, Natalia.” I rub the side of her arm to set her at ease. “Plenty of people don’t go to college.” I chuckle. “I definitely wouldn’t have if my father hadn’t forced me to.”
She picks up my hand to hold it in our laps. “So, all of your sisters went to college, too?”
“Yep. Oh, actually.” The accurate information from years ago crashes against my frontal lobes. “Isla had kind of a weird college experience. She started out in person, then a bunch of shit happened, and she had to finish by doing it all online.”
Natalia hesitates before speaking. “You mean the things she mentioned the other night.”
“Oh… uhm.”
Fuck.
I forgot that I have to tell her about allthat.
When she hears aboutthis,I might not have to worry about telling my parents at all—because it’s entirely possible that she’ll run away from me as fast and as far as her legs can carry her.
The pang offeelsreverberates at the idea of her leaving.
But I can’t exactly hide frommy wifethe fact that our family has ties to a friggin’drug cartel, sooo… here goes something.
“All right.” I lift my arm off her shoulder, hunch over my knees, and rub my palms together. “So, this’ll probably make you feel better about not going to college.”
I force a laugh, and she looks at me quizzically. My laughter fizzles out awkwardly, and I cough to clear my throat.
“Anyway, I don’t exactly know how to explain this pleasantly, so I’m just gonna spit it out.” I shift on the sofa, angling my body toward hers so I can look her in the eyes. “My father’s family… like his father and uncles… they’re actually part of this, uh…” I rub my forehead. “A drug cartel.”
Natalia’s attentive, expectant expression fades into wide eyes and a neutral mouth.
I force another loud laugh. “Yeah, exactly.” I sigh and offer her an earnest look. “My father never agreed with their lifestyle… you know, organized crime and all that. He fell in love with my mamá and knew he had to get away from it. They wanted to have a family, so he had to get them out of there. So, before Isla was born, they left California and came to New York. His father had just died and left him a huge inheritance because Papá’s an only child. He used that money to invest in a few small telecommunications companies and a couple of minor entertainment and production companies, and he basically executed this hostile takeover sometime in the mid-eighties.” I chuckle and point at the book. “Probably shit he learned from that book, I’m guessing.” I sigh and rub my thighs. “Anyway, he managed to finagle all these partnerships and mergers, and ultimately grew it into a major media conglomerate—which is, y’know… why we have…” I gesture blindly at the room. “All this friggin’ stuff.”
I suck in a breath and exhale loudly, because Natalia is still wide-eyed and stone-faced. “Anyway, the problem is, the cartel obviously wasn’t happy about him taking all that money and cutting ties with them. They basically think that, because he used his inheritance to build one of the most powerful corporations in the world, they’re entitled to the money he has now. And he obviously disagrees. Andnow…”
I turn all the way so I can face her directly and pick up her hands. “The next part’sbad, and if you want to leave, I’ll totally understand.”
Her shoulders lift slightly, and she strokes her thumbs across the backs of my hands. “I’m still here, Joaquin.”
The amount of gratitude that swells in my chest at her simple statement surprises me, and I can’t stop myself from leaning forward to press a long kiss to her mouth.
“I appreciate that,querida,but if that changes in a second, it’s still okay. So, here’s the deal: all that shit Isla mentioned was the cartel. They kidnapped her and framed her for some awful shit, and then did even worse shit to her. Basically, she and Mal had been in love their entire lives, and because he’s fuckin’ royalty and has the power of an entire country backing him, they had to get him out of the picture. But that didn’t work, so they came here fully armed and prepared to kill her and all of us. So, I had to deal with them.”
I pause and blink as the firefight from eight months ago ricochets through my mind. I can still feel the weight of the rifle in my hands; its kick against my shoulder; the metallic scent of gunpowder and blood in the air; the sound of bodies hitting the floor; the awareness of having absolutely no regrets at all.
“Deal with them,” Natalia prompts, shaking me out of my head and back to the present.
