Page 74 of Reign

“Because her family asked.”

“Angelo Amato asked?”

“Adriana did. You got her itinerary.”

That earns me another pause.

“A favor, then,” he says.

“Yes.”

“To Adriana.”

“Yes.”

His mouth barely moves. “You don’t do that.”

I look at him pointedly.

He looks back.

Rafael has been my consejero long enough to understand which silences are safe to enter and which ones have teeth. Not this time though.

“You don’t do favors.”

“I do when it’s efficient.”

His brows lift slightly. “Efficient.”

“She needs to be collected. We’re here at the same time. That’s efficiency.”

“And her staying with you?”

“Rafa.”

He shuts his mouth. For exactly two seconds.

Then he says, “What does she look like again? I haven’t seen her since the wedding.”

I unlock my phone. Elena Amato’s profile is already open.

It shouldn’t be.

There are several reasons it shouldn’t be open, all of them obvious, most of them inconvenient, and none of them strong enough to make me close the screen.

Her latest picture fills the display. Dark hair, glossy mouth, sunglasses too large for her face. Beautiful, expensive, dramatic.

I send the profile to Rafael. His phone buzzes in his hand. He looks down. Then back at me.

“That was quick.”

“We’re picking her up. I prefer to know who I’m collecting.”

“Do you?”

My gaze lifts slowly.

Rafael pockets his phone. “I’ll bring her to the car.”