“For years, we never saw him. Voice in the clouds sort of thing. A couple of months ago, he finally came out of hiding when one of our team—Midas, the guy on the speakers—was shot and almost died. He runs our group and another group named Mythos. Nemo”—he pointed to the blond with the headphones on—“and Medusa work for them. They hunt down sex traffickers.”
“And what does your group do?”
“Most of what we do isn’t quite so altruistic. Basically, we take jobs no one else can. Recovering kidnap victims. Acquiring stolen goods for their rightful owners. Escorting people defecting. Recon for information. High-priced jobs from people who can afford it, and then that money is used to funnel into Mythos for its objectives. At least, I think that’s what our purpose is.”
“You think?”
“Well, no one’s ever said, but why else would the two organizations be joined? They don’t take jobs for money, and we’re run by the same man.” He shrugged. “There have been some morally gray areas, but… For the most part, we’re on the right side of morality, even if not the law.”
She blinked. This is what he left her for? A life as a mercenary? Her heart, its two halves that had been pushing closer together since his return this morning, suddenly shoved them back apart, further than before.
“Daleyza.”
Her name held a note of warning in his voice. The same tone it got in the past when she jumped to conclusions. By the look on his face, one she was also very familiar with, he was about to chastise her for being ignorant.
“Whatever you’re thinking right now, stop. You don’t even have close to enough information to make a judgment about what’s going on or why I did what I did.”
And there it was. Telling her what not to think because he hadn’t given her enough information to make a logical response on her own.
“No, you’re right. I don’t have enough information because I have no information at all. You never told me anything. Always kept little Leeza in the dark.”
“What was I supposed to do? Send you coded emails from the grave?Jesuchristo, Daleyza, be reasonable!”
“Of course not, Fanso, but you haven’t exactly explained anything to me. In the last week, I lost my mother-in-law and my livelihood. I discovered I’m being watched by the cartel, and today, I learned my husband is alive. I’ve lost my home. I killed a man who chased us, and now I’m hiding in fucking suburbia with five people whose names I don’t even know. Forgive me, but I’m feeling a little overwhelmed right now!”
Ildefanso pointed around the room. “Midas is the voice you’ve been hearing over the speakers. Nemo is the blond, and TB is the giant. Demon is the guy with the Irish accent, and Medusa is thewoman who drove us here. Oh, and Scheherazade is the dog. What else do you need?”
“Bastardo!” She stormed back to the bedroom he’d taken her to when they arrived.
She heard him following her down the hall, and he slammed the door behind him once he’d crossed the threshold.
“What the fuck is the matter with you?” he asked.
“Are you serious right now, Ildefanso? Can you honestly tell me there’s a reasonable explanation as to why you left yourmadreand went to work as a mercenary? She’s dying, Ildefanso! Her last memories of you are when they came to tell us you were dead, which clearly was a lie. You lied to your own mother!”
She could feel herself gearing up for another fight. She hated this part of herself—the part that couldn’t contain all the negative feelings inside. It had gotten her into trouble so many times in her life. It had led to bruises, cuts, and broken bones. Isolation in guarded rooms. Yet even still, she couldn’t seem to curb it. Only when Ildefanso had come into her life had it stopped. Most of the time.
A flash from her past came back in a rush. She’d mouthed off to his brother, Guillermo. Ildefanso had sent her to their rooms. At the time, she’d been furious at being sent away like a naughty child. She remembered when he entered their room almost an hour later.
The door clicked as it opened, then closed softly. He’d gone straight to the bathroom connected to their suite of rooms and shut the door. The shower turned on. Still fuming mad, she’d begun to pace in the darkness, waiting for him to come out of the bathroom. She was so going to let him have it!
Finally, he came out, but when she tried to rail at him for sending her to their rooms like a naughty child, he merely caught her in his arms and wrestled her to the bed. As he lay on top of her, she heard a soft groan and felt him harden against her. Then his lips were on hers, and soon she forgot why she was mad as they fought each other for the dominant position in the bed. Eventually, he let her on top, but he guided every movement, every kiss.
She ripped herself out of the memory. He’d let her be on top to better control her. To keep her from hurting him. He may have wanted her, but that groan hadn’t been one of passion. It had been one of pain.
“Por la Santísima Virgen María.How often did you take the beatings for me?” she whispered.
His expression locked down, harder than she’d ever witnessed before. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t lie to me, Fanso. Whenever my mouth ran away with me, you always sent me out of the room. My brothers, your brothers, your father, whoever. They wouldn’t have hesitated to let me know I had stepped out of place, but when they married me to you, it stopped. I always assumed they stopped because I was your property to discipline, but it wasn’t that at all.”
“It was a long time ago, Leeza. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It most certainly does matter! Did you take beatings for yourmadreas well? For Tobias?”
Again, he didn’t answer her, his jaw twitching as he clenched his mouth closed. It was all the answer she needed.
She felt tears and anger well up inside her, but she would never let the former show, and she clamped down hard on the latter. “Why?”
