Well, fuck him. Manu had no idea with whom he was dealing.
Alejandro seemed to follow my line of thinking. Slowly, he dipped his head in a nod. As he turned and walked away, he took his cell phone from his pocket, and I didn’t need to ask who he was calling.
“I’m sorry,” Pilar said. “I didn’t want to say in front of Alejandro in case it got me in trouble . . .”
“Say what?” I linked my elbow in hers and guided her toward the shallow end of the pool. “Why would you get in trouble?”
“After your . . . ah, wedding . . . I was so scared for you, I ran straight to your house.”
“Wow. You must’ve been scared,” I said. “You’re terrified of my father.”
“I didn’t go to him.” We waded into the pool, and she sat on one of the steps, submerged to her chest. “I found Barto and told him about the wedding. He’s always been nice to me.”
Ah. I didn’t need to imagine how Barto would react hearing the story from a terrified Pilar. No wonder he’d shown up here the next morning with such a chip on his shoulder. “What does that have to do with Manu?”
“Nothing yet. Barto helped calm me down. He wanted all the details, and I was having trouble getting them out, so he made me a drink.”
“A drink?” I asked, as amused as I was shocked. “I’ve never seen him take a sip of alcohol.”
“He didn’t have one,” she said quickly. “We started talking about life and other things until I was finally composed enough to relay what had happened in the church.”
“Hmm.” I leaned my back against the lip of the pool. “Barto’s always been good in a crisis.”
“He spoke really softly and tried to soothe me, but I could see him fuming on the inside. He really cares about you, Natalia.”
“I know,” I said. “I think he sees me as a kid sister.”
“Anyway, afterward, Barto drove me home. My family and Manu’s were at the house and had been looking for me since I hadn’t come back from Mass.”
I grimaced. “And you’d been drinking.”
“Manu smelled the alcohol. Once Barto left, Manu exploded. He’s still angry about it, which is why I was making him arroz con leche. He wants me to do more considerate things like that.”
“Oh, God, what a fucking manipulative asshole,” I said, rolling my eyes.
But my words hung in the air, taunting me. How come I could see Manu’s manipulation so easily, but I’d missed every warning sign with Diego? And my own father? And now, I was in the grips of another controlling man. One I’d gotten on my knees for willingly—and had controlled right back, if only for a few minutes.
And yet, I couldn’t imagine Cristiano guilting me into baking him treats like Manu.
In fact, I had a feeling if Cristiano thought, in any way, he was remotely responsible for Pilar’s bruises since the wedding had started this—he’d harness that guilt into making it up to her.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “What about your parents?”
She shook her head. “They turn a blind eye, as you’d suspect. They just want this marriage to go through.”
My heart sank, and suddenly, swimming in the sunshine in my expensive bikini while being waited on seemed like the life. Overindulgent, even. “Was this the first time he hurt you?”
“No.”
Here, I’d been anticipating the worst from Cristiano while Pilar had been enduring it from Manu. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What could you have done?”
“My father is one of the most powerful men in the country,” I said. “We would’ve figured something out.”
She tucked some hair behind her ear. “Barto said the same thing.”
I watched her smile to herself as I stretched my arms along the pool’s edge. “He knows about this?”
“Not the bruises, but he came by the house to check on me a few days later. I asked him not to do that again because Manu could get jealous. And we started talking about the whole arranged marriage thing . . .”
Barto wasn’t much of a talker. At all. Thinking of him sitting and conversing with my friend not once but twice made me smile. “I take it he wasn’t a fan?”
“No. He said if I ever needed help getting out of it, to come to him. He’d talk to your father.”
Considering how Cristiano was going after Belmonte-Ruiz, I could only imagine how he’d receive this news . . . and what he and I would do to rectify it. “Well, now we’re going to get you out,” I promised.
She swallowed. “It’s not possible, Natalia. Manu has been pursuing me for a year, and he comes from a good background. My parents want him as a son-in-law.”
“But that doesn’t mean it has to be.”
“I can’t exactly go home and tell them I won’t do it. They’ll throw me out, and then where will I go?”