I took a breath, containing a shudder as I tried to keep up. “What do you mean?” I asked. “He lied to you, yes, but—”
“But nothing,” Cristiano said. “You know the truth. When we made the deal, I’ll bet my life you were still a virgin.”
“He wouldn’t . . .” My mind raced. I had trusted Diego all my life—I never would’ve opened up to him that way otherwise. Only two nights ago, he’d climbed up my balcony and into my bed. And this morning’s wedding had not been spontaneous. “When did you make the deal?” I asked.
And I prayed. Any time before Friday night.
“After the warehouse burned,” Cristiano said, “and Diego had no more options.”
I turned my face away as my throat closed. Friday morning. I didn’t want to believe it. Cristiano had more reason to play with my mind than Diego did to hurt me that way. To have traded me for his freedom was hurtful and cowardly, but to have come to my bedroom after having made this deal? Ruthless. Unforgivable.
When I looked back, Cristiano studied me. He’d given me this look in the past, one a student might give a convoluted math problem. He resembled his brother in that moment. Diego had worn the same frustrated expression trying to solve the Maldonado equation once it’d started to go wrong.
What had gone wrong, we’d find out, was Cristiano. He’d sabotaged Diego’s deal by stealthily stealing, attacking, and burning the Maldonado’s shipments before they’d ever made it near the border. If Diego had manipulated my virginity from me, then he’d broken my trust beyond repair. But that didn’t mean I could believe a word from Cristiano’s mouth, the man who’d orchestrated this entire plot.
“I’ve answered your question,” Cristiano said. “Now answer mine. Where did he take from you? Your bedroom?”
Lights blurred together along with Cristiano’s words. I barely heard what he’d asked. “Yes,” I said absentmindedly.
“Mmm. That lucky piece of shit. I wouldn’t have minded having you there, where you thought you were safest, where you slept and dreamed . . .” His hand slid up the lace covering my outer thigh. “Where you’ve touched yourself.”
Everything sharpened back into focus. “How do you know that?”
“A guess, but I’m not wrong, am I?” I felt his smile against my cheek. “Did he warm you up at least?”
“Stop,” I whispered.
“I will, once you tell me what I want to know. He betrayed you—don’t protect him.”
Protect him? It was my natural instinct. But did I owe Diego that anymore? “I’m protecting myself,” I said. “Why does it matter how it was with him?”
“It humors me to know how he botched your first time, and what I’ll have to do to redeem it.”
“He didn’t botch it. Far from it.” Cristiano’s arrogance fueled my anger. Both men had knocked me back and forth like a tennis ball. Despite my fury with Diego, he was turning out to be the easiest way to get under Cristiano’s skin, and in that moment, I wanted that. I needed to hurt him. “He did warm me up,” I said. “With his mouth. And it felt amazing.”
“Amazing?” Cristiano repeated, sounding amused. “A trip anywhere is amazing until you’ve been to the moon. Then what?”
“We had sex,” I said, and amended, “amazing sex.”
“And you didn’t bleed,” he said.
“No, but I had an orgasm, which I much prefer.”
His grip on my thigh tightened, and he shifted under me. “Did you?” he asked. “Or are you making that up?”
“You told me not to lie to you—that’s the truth. I didn’t even know I could get so wet, and it took practically nothing for—”
“Enough,” he snapped, his lip curled. “Did he use a condom?”
“Yes,” I said. “Or no. I guess we’ll find out in a few weeks. Will you want me then, baby and all?”
He took my chin, turning my face to his. “Watch your step. You’re entering dangerous territory, my love. Condom or no condom?”
I’d never seen Cristiano unravel, and it hadn’t taken as much as one might think. His breath came fast, his eyes dark. I knew without knowing—few saw this side of him and lived. It should’ve scared me. It did. But it was equally electrifying to drive such a powerful man to the edge so quickly and keep him there.
“Tell me honestly,” he said, “and in exchange, I’ll invite your father for dinner tomorrow night.”
Tears instantly filled my eyes. Papá. I would’ve done anything to see him in that moment. “My father?” I asked. “You’ll let me see him?”
“No doubt he has questions.”
“Questions? He’ll be worried sick!”
“Then I’ll bring him here and show him he has nothing to be concerned about.” He flexed his fingers against my thigh. “That you’re in good hands. Unyielding hands. That is, if you tell me what I want to know.”
I swallowed. “We used a condom.”