"N-no." She cleared her throat. "I like them."
Yet she still didn't move, and the look of fear on her face didn't fall away. She trembled.
I wish you'd let me comfort you.But if I tried, she'd only push me further away.
I pulled out a glass vase to distract her. "Here. I got this in case you didn't have one."
She tried to nod, but it came out as a stiff jerk. "Thank you," she whispered, then sheran.
Dread filled my gut. What could have happened to her for this to be her reaction to flowers? What terrible memories had I just drudged up and how could I help her release them?
Doubting she was comfortable enough to speak with me about it, I began laying out the food, the sandwich she wanted, chips, a fruit salad, an assortment of bottles of juices, teas, and coffees I'd seen her order in the past, and a piece of chocolate cake, since she'd struggled to pick between that and crème brûlée last night. Then I laid out my food and threw away any bags I didn't think we'd need.
When Catalina walked back into the office, her eyes widened, looking from the food, to me, and back.
"I wasn't sure what you liked, so I bought a little bit of everything, and since you didn't pick the chocolate cake last night, I thought I'd bring you a slice today."
Catalina's hand flexed around the vase, her knuckles turning white. Her eyes narrowed, and she sneered at me. She'd never once looked at me with as much hatred as she was right now, like I was theenemyand she'd rip me apart if I said one wrong word.
"What do you want?" she bit out, rage radiating off of her in waves.
I rose to my full height and lookeddeeper, putting together the pieces of my vicious little queen that I'd learned so far.
Catalina hadneverrun from anything. She always confronted her challenges head-on. She'd done so in the elevator when she thought I'd been working with her father. She'd done the same at dinner numerous times. Hell, the only reason she'd become the head of the Salazar Familia was because she'd constantly persevered.
She wasn't runningfromme. She wasn't being hostiletowardme; it was to what I'd made her remember. She just didn't want me to recognize she was struggling, so she'd become defensive. That was the reason for her anger.
Right now, she was no different from a wounded bear or wolf desperate to survive another day. I had to show her I wasn't there to hurt her. But I wouldn't be able to fix this if she didn't give me a clue how.
Doing my best to keep my expression neutral, curious, I answered her question. "What do you mean?"
She waved a hand to the flowers, the table. "This is too much. No one would do all of this. Last night was one thing, but this? You want something from me. So tell me what it is andget out."
She was right, of course. I wouldn't have done all of this if my only aim was just to help her find the children. We wouldn't even need to communicate, much less meet, if it wasn't about them.
She knew I wanted something from her. She reminded me of it constantly. So why now? Why did it bother her so much when I'd only tried to do something special for her?
Then it donned on me.She's never had anyone do something nice for her.
She'd been surrounded by people, and yet no one attempted to relate or truly celebrate her. Not a single person ever asked her how she was doing, much less showed even an ounce of care for her on her birthday. They simply pushed their agenda on her, then dismissed her entirely when they were done.
And now that she ran her own familia, there were dozens of heads attempting to court or pressure her into an arranged marriage to seize control.
That was why she suspected me now.
Gifts, putting in thought for someone else, doing something as simple as picking up flowers—she didn't know how to deal with any of that because she'd never received it in the past.
But she would.
I'd make sure of it.
"Do you really want to know why I'm doing all of this?"
"Yes," she said in a bitter tone.
"Because I want to eat lunch with you and get to know you, so that when you look at me, you see someone you can rely on instead of someone you may have to kill." I took a deep breath. "I want to help you find the children. I want you to succeed in every endeavor you go through, and I want to be by your side while you do it."
Catalina stared into my eyes, her gaze intense, searching for something I hoped she'd find. After a moment, she looked away and placed the flowers on the windowsill. But when she stroked one flower delicately, her fingers shook.
