Prologue
“Lourdes, wait!”EnriqueBriceño pushed past a group of self-absorbed, loitering pedestrians on the crowded sidewalk in Hermosillo, Sonora.His ears rang from their shouted complaints, yet he couldn’t make out their words.He didn’t care to try.
Blinding afternoon sunlight reflected off the glass wall of Lourdes’s prison—the upscale apartment building where she lived.Used to live.Now, the woman he treasured waited at the curb while her new bodyguard stored her luggage in the trunk of a taxi.
“Lourdes Villegas!”Enrique called out as she reached for the door handle.
She jerked around.An errant curl slapped her face as her dark ponytail whipped across her shoulders.Her red-rimmed eyes flared wide.
The muscled bodyguard stepped in front of her.
Enrique skidded to a stop.Though he was taller, the other man was broader.Bigger.Didn’t matter.Nothing and no one would keep him from Lourdes.Not again, not right now.
“Wait in the taxi, Yago.I’ll only be a moment.”Lourdes eased out of the man’s shadow and wrapped her arms around herself as though she didn’t know what to do with them.
Once the meathead leveled Enrique with a glare hot enough to kill, he climbed into the back of the vehicle but left the door open.
“What are you doing here, Enrique?”Lourdes closed the space between them.
“I hoped to catch you before you left.I should’ve come sooner, but everything has been chaos with the funeral and the police investigation.I’m surprised you’re leaving for Durango so soon,” he rushed out in a long breath.His heart hammered so loud his ears buzzed.He rubbed his hand down his tired face, his sleepless nights training recruits catching up with him.
She shrugged, glancing away.“There’s no use in drawing out the inevitable.Still, it’s not my idea to return home.”
He winced.Her husband had died last week, and against her wishes, her cartel jefe father-in-law was shipping her home to her parents, casting her out of the Lozano family.
The words he’d rehearsed a dozen times on the drive over now tangled in his throat.Oppressive summer heat slicked sweat across his nape and seared his skin as though to melt him down to blood and bones.Or were his frayed nerves sparking with fevered energy?
Lourdes stared at him expectantly without a speck of makeup on.Instead of the name-brand dresses and heels she always wore to please Jacobo, she’d matched a loose white blouse with a pair of charcoal-gray leggings and huarache sandals.The sweet, natural look worked for her.Jacobo Lozano’s untimely death had set her free, giving Enrique the opportunity he craved.
The chance to win her heart.
“Enrique?”Hesitancy deepened her voice.“My flight leaves soon.I have to go.”
“Stay.You’ve built a life for yourself here.”
A frown puckered her lips.“The apartment is in Jacobo’s name.I have nothing.No money.No home.In his will, he left everything to his father.”
“Move in with me.I’ll take care of you.”
Her eyebrows arched to her hairline.
He swallowed hard, piecing together his words.“I know I’m coming across half-cocked or out of left field as they say on American sitcoms, but Lourdes, you can do whatever you want now.You’re free.Free to paint and study art without censor.Free to have fun.To dress as you like.To be whoever you want.I swear, I will never stand in the way of your happiness.”He grasped her soft, delicate hand and shuddered.He longed to hold her, kiss her, promise her forever.“It’s too soon, I know.You’ve been through hell, but I’m here for you.”
She glanced around as though to make sure her guard and none of the passersby could overhear.She edged closer and dropped her voice an octave.“Have you been drinking?”
He pursed his lips.He’d downed two shots of tequila before he found the courage to drive over and bare his soul.“That’s not important.What I’m saying is.I needed to see you.Had to tell you this.”
“Why?”
“Because I love you.”The words ripped from his tight, raw throat.“I have since the day I met you.”
She gasped, her lips forming a perfect O.
“I watched you walk down that aisle four years ago to marry a monster, and I couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it.I should’ve told you before now how I felt.Not that it would’ve changed anything.You were still a married woman.”
Her throat bobbed.She tugged her hand back and hugged herself again.“Enrique, I can’t.I need time.Distance.A plan to get my life in order.”
He slammed his eyelids down, the words he’d dreaded to hear slicing his heart in two.“I’m not here to pressure you,” he continued, forcing his gaze to hers.“You deserve more than what Jacobo gave you.More than what you’ve been through.If you ever decide you want that with me, I’ll be waiting.”
