“Know what?”
“About the connections they had down here?”
His hands tense and he stops kissing my neck.
"Yes."
"And you didn't think I deserved to know?" My voice comes out sharper than I intended.
"Would it have changed anything, Datura?"
I turn to face him.
"That's not the point. I had a right to know what I was being sold into."
"Sold?" His eyebrow raises and he looks annoyed. "Is that how you see it?"
"What would you call it?" I challenge him.
"No money was exchanged, Datura. A partnership perhaps."
His fingers trace my jawline.
"An inevitability."
I step back, needing space to think and I can’t do that when he’s touching me so softly.
"My cousins…they're involved in the same things as you, aren't they? That's what that man meant about my family having underground ties."
Rio sighs, running a hand through his hair.
"Your family isn't as different from mine as you want to believe, Liana. The Manitellies have their fingers in plenty of pies. The difference is your family kept you in the dark about everything. Your uncle sent you away with zero preparation for the real world you live in. Be grateful you were sent to me and not…”
“One of your brothers,” I finish.
“I was going to say, another family…but yeah, that too.”
The truth settles over me like a heavy blanket. All those years being sheltered, kept "pure" and separate from the world. It was never really about protection, was it? No, it was about control. It was about keeping me ignorant until I could be traded like a prized mare.
"I feel like such a fool," I whisper, more to myself than to him.
"You weren't meant to know. That was the point. That’s why I’m teaching you now. In my world, women can’t be ignorant."
"I…I can’t do what Nicci did,” I stutter out. Yes it was powerful, knowing I wasn’t the one being tortured. But to be the one actually inflicting pain on another person? For fun…no way.
"No one's asking you to torture anyone," Rio says with a laugh. "But this is our world.”
“I know,” I say as I turn back to the window, watching a hawk circle in the distance.
He wraps his arms back around me and rests his chin on top of my head.
“For what it’s worth, Datura. I’m glad you were sent here. I’m just sorry I didn’t realize it sooner.”
I don’t say anything and he doesn’t ask me to but I know he wants my words. I don’t know how, but I know right now, he would give anything to hear me forgive him. To tell him I’m glad I was sent here too.
I just can’t. Not yet.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
