“Not at all.”
He walks me over to a nearby parking lot and opens the passenger door to a stunning mint-green vintage Porsche 911 with a luxurious, saddle-brown leather interior.
“Oh my God, Iloveyour car!” I gush.
Andrés chuckles as he slides into the driver’s seat. “Gracias. It was my birthday present to myself last year. Fully rebuilt, 1973.” He glances at me as the engine roars to life. “Are you into cars?”
I shake my head awkwardly. “Not really. I just like pretty things,” I laugh.
“As do I.” Andrés winks at me again, and my pulse skips as he pulls out of the parking lot.
It’s dark as we drive through the beautiful campus, headlights washing over the Tudor-style student housing, Gothic academic buildings, and the towering spire of the cathedral that was built on the grounds here in the late 1600s, before the school was even founded.
“So, tell me what’s on your mind, Evelina,” Andrés purrs in his beautiful voice as the guards wave us through the front gates.
I exhale slowly, biting my lower lip and rubbing my thumb against my index and middle finger. “It’s my dad, actually.”
He nods. “Sí, I’m aware of your father’s…situation.” He arches a brow as he glances at me. “And his difficulties with, among others, your brother. Families can be complicated, no?”
I puff out a mirthless laugh. “Tell me about it.”
Andrés pulls off the main road, and we start to drive up to the peak of Griswold Hill, which sits above the Knightsblood campus and the nearby town of Hawthorne Hollow.
“I think I’m beginning to realize what you wanted to talk to me about,” Andrés says as we drive up the winding, wooded road to the top of the hill.
“I understand that it’s no small thing for a family such as yours to involve itself in something like this,” I say hesitantly. “But it’s getting bad. My father has a lot of enemies out there, and I understand that he isn’t a good man, I really do. But?—”
“He’s still your father.” Andrés pulls to a stop in the little parking lot next to the clearing at the top of Griswold Hill and switches off the engine. “Believe me, I understand.” He sighs, a small smile on his face as he turns to me in the darkness.
Below us, Knightsblood sits perched like a dark jewel on the cliff above Connecticut Sound. The coastal town of Hawthorne Hollow twinkles with lights down closer to the shore.
“You’re right, it would be no small thing for my family to become entangled in this business.”
I nod quietly. “I know. And I’m very thankful that we’re even having this conversation.”
He turns to me and flashes another winning smile. “Of course.”
“Now, if your family were to take my father under their protection?—”
Andrés laughs quietly. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves, Evelina.”
Shoot.
“Sorry,” I blurt. “It's just…my father doesn’t really have the luxury of time?—”
“To start with…” Andrés unbuckles his seat belt and clears his throat. “Why don’t you show me.”
My brows knit. “Show you…what?”
“How thankful you are that we are having this conversation.”
Suddenly, the car feels smaller. The air feels thicker and more cloying. My seat belt feels constricting. And that charming smile no longer looks so charming.
It looks…predatory.
“Andrés—”
“I’m a man of business, Evelina.”
