Love, Art, and Murder – Mystery Romance

But who took care of Alvarez?

I ran my fingers through his hair. Those silky strands slipped against my skin. “I would love to spend some time with you. Let’s go.”

An hour later, we rode in the limo with the sun roof down and the moonlight spilling through. I’d changed into a simple white sun dress and he’d stumbled back to his bedroom to sling on some jeans and a gray t-shirt with the word “navy” in black. I made him leave his phone in his room so no one would disturb him the rest of the evening. In the limo, the wind traveled through our opened windows and blew through our hair as we sipped wine. Low jazz played in the background. It was full of a sensual saxophone and entwined with a steady bass. In front of our feet lay a big picnic basket of pastries filled with meats and cheeses. His chef had prepared the package for our ride. Chocolate and honeyed desserts sat in smaller containers on the sides, but I could barely motivate myself to even open the sweets after gorging on the rest.

“Taste this one.” He slipped a flaky bite of pastry between my lips. It melted on my tongue and revealed a strong flavor of cheese that I couldn’t guess.

“That’s delicious. What type of cheese was that?”

“I have no idea. I just know it’s good.” He popped one in his own mouth and leaned toward the basket. “Would you like some more?”

“No.” I waved him away. “I’m not hungry at all. You’ve been stuffing me with delicious things since we sat in here.”

“You have to be a little hungry. We’re going to a restaurant that has the best seafood on South Beach.”

“No. Thanks. I’m nowhere near hungry with the wine and all those yummy bites in the basket. I would just be happy to see South Beach.”

“Fine.” He leaned back in his seat. A huge grin spread across his face. “I knew being with you would be a great idea. No matter what is around me, your presence shoves it all out of my head. All the horror and dread that I see, as soon as you’re near I forget about it all.”

I shook my head and giggled. “I wish I could take the credit, but that’s the wine, Alvarez. Not me.”

He centered his gaze on me. “Trust me. It’s all you.”

The limo carried us forward. Like a boat among a sea of cars, it rocked us on the waves of the road and stopped every now and then to reveal the sights of Miami—exotic women draped in bright printed dresses, gorgeous men in khakis and flip-flops, palm trees dancing in the wind, the staccato hum of a distant salsa song coming from a faraway café, and on and on. I battled with so many luring sights that at many times, I forced myself to focus on the inside of our limo in order to anchor my excitement to one calming focus.

Another jazz tune filled the silence in the vehicle. The whole time Alvarez kept a foot of distance between us, except for his hands, which twirled my short hair over and over around his fingers. After several encouraging minutes of moonlight and jazz, I risked disturbing the mood. “Are you going to tell me what happened earlier today?”

“I don’t want to.”

“Why not?”

“Because it makes me sad.”

“Who was involved? It makes me nervous that you said it was someone near you. It wasn’t Hex, right?”

“No. It was my assistant.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t expected that at all. “I got the impression that it was more than one person because you said that they were people close to you. Who was the other one?”

He made himself a drink. I’d been counting how many glasses he swallowed down since we got into the limo. This was his fourth glass of wine. At this rate, I would have to ask the guards to carry him to his room.

“I might as well tell you now, before you hear it on the news.” He set the bottle of wine down. “At this moment, the cops should be at the castle arresting my assistant Reece and my mother Dayanara Castillo for the murder of two girls.”

“Your mother? I thought you told me your mother was gone?”

He took a sip of his wine. “As far as I’m concerned she’s been gone for over ten years now. Her mind snapped under extreme pressure and she’s never returned. I tried to put her in a mental facility a few times, but my grandma and Hex couldn’t deal with the separation. The end result was me having to place her in the upstairs area of the castle. That way she would still be close to my family, but far enough to not hurt anybody else.”

“But she did?”