Cristiano eyed me passively. “What do you mean it could’ve been you?”
“If your father had struck against mine as he’d planned, he’d have left me an orphan. What do you think he would’ve done with me? Despite their pact with the other cartels in the area, including Papá’s, your parents were secretly trafficking humans.”
“I’m aware.” A vein in Cristiano’s temple pulsed as he glanced over his shoulder and into the house. “My father wouldn’t have been as kind to you as I have been today. As I have been your whole life.”
I swallowed. I couldn’t deny that was true, but it wasn’t a strong enough argument to justify what he was doing. “You’re no different from him now, but you can still change.”
He smashed his cigar into an ashtray. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m nothing like him. I wouldn’t exploit a woman, no matter her age.”
“If that was true, I wouldn’t be here.”
He shot up from his chair, nearly knocking it over. “I didn’t buy, sell, or trade you,” he said, going rigid. “You’re here willingly.”
Willingly. Diego had used the same word. Was it a clue as to what justifications brewed in Cristiano’s mind? He seemed set on believing I’d come here by choice. That he hadn’t forced me into anything. Diego had told me all about how Cristiano had been so opposed to his parents’ budding business in human trafficking that he’d gone as far as to enlist Papá’s help to put a stop to it—even knowing there was only way to stop it.
My father had killed Cristiano and Diego’s parents for sins similar to Cristiano’s. Trafficking people. Exploiting young girls. Plotting against our family.
So what had changed for Cristiano? Why had he stood up to it back then, only to turn around and build an even greater empire on the backs of others? He’d obviously seen and done enough to turn him into a different man. One worse than his father if the rumors were true, and if he justified his actions by convincing himself that anyone came to him willingly.
The door opened behind us. “Señor?” came a small female voice.
We both glanced over at Jazmín as she stepped out with a decanter of amber liquid.
Cristiano smoothed out his dress shirt, rolled his neck, and sat back down, once again cool and unruffled. “Come,” he said to Jazmín.
She brought him the bottle, and he refilled his drink, nodding at her other hand. “What’s that?”
She passed him a pill bottle and set an Evian on the table. “For Miss Natalia,” she said.
He furrowed his brows as he studied the painkillers. “What’s wrong?” he asked me. “Headache?”
“Yes,” I said, which wasn’t a complete lie. By the end of the night, I wasn’t sure what kind of pain I’d be in. The thought made me queasy and opened a door in my mind I’d been trying to hold shut. How was I going to make it through this? I’d only had sex once, and it had been the complete opposite of what I was about to endure.
My chest started to cave, and I dug my fingernails into my palms, barely managing to keep from breaking down. That was probably what Cristiano wanted, to know the kind of power he had over not just my body but my mind.
“You barely touched your dinner,” he said with a frown. “In fact, you look a little pale. You need to eat more.”
“I can bring something,” Jaz said.
I shook my head. “I’m not hungry.”
“Bring us a little bit of everything,” Cristiano said with a nod.
Jaz didn’t move but bit her bottom lip and laced her fingers behind her back. “¿Señor?”
“What is it?”
“She was asking questions,” Jaz said quickly, her eyes flitting toward me under her lashes. “About me and where I came from.”
Cristiano scolded me with a look. “Why are you questioning our staff, Natalia?”
“They’re not my staff.” I set my jaw as frustration simmered underneath my skin. “I was curious, that’s all.”
“So ask me. What did you tell her?” he asked Jaz.
“Nada. Nothing at all.” She shook her head hard. “I don’t know her. I don’t know who sent her. And I don’t trust her.”
“Me?” I asked.
“You trust me, don’t you?” Cristiano asked her. “Do you think I’d bring someone here who was a threat to you?”
After a moment, Jaz slowly shook her head. “No.”
“Natalia’s only curious. Like you, she’s also suspicious of those around her.” He popped off the top of the bottle and shook two pills into his palm. “Can she take these or do I need to be worried you might poison her?”
My heart thudded in the ensuing silence until Jaz laughed. “If I were going to poison her, I wouldn’t be so obvious about it.”
He winked. “That’s what I thought.”
There was an easiness between them I didn’t understand. She wasn’t fearsome so much as . . . flirtatious?