Page 35 of Kiss of Ruin (Brutal Empire)

This is more than I ever had with Luis. The way Nico treats me only serves to shed more light on how my marriage was more of a business arrangement than a marriage. Something I want to get to the bottom of.

Isabel and Pedro leave for the boutique. She refuses to leave the shop closed and I admire that she doesn’t hire someone else to handle it, not that anyone else would have her impeccable taste. Leaving me in the house with Rosa, Camila, and Sofia.

“I have some classwork I need to complete.” Sofia’s professors were gracious enough to let her switch to independent study classes when she explained that she needed to come to Miami to help with a family emergency. And I appreciated her not saying anything about the way I acted at breakfast with Rosa still at the table.

“Go. I’ll be okay.”

Rosa is the last to get up from the table. She didn’t say anything throughout breakfast. With the way she was raised to be seen and not heard, an idea only reinforced by Luis’ father, I’m not surprised. She walks around the table, her stride slow and measured.

She wraps me in her arms. “I’ve always seen you as daughter. Promise that whatever you’re planning, you’ll be careful.”

I can’t hide my shock and lean back to search her face. “How do you know I’m planning something?”

“Because I see the same fire in you that I saw in your mother. You will never sit idlily by and allow your family to be harmed. You only stood by with Luis once he wouldn’t let you in. I love my son, but I also know that his arrogance is what got him killed. He thought he knew better than anyone.” She takes hold of my face between her hands. “Promise me that you won’t let ego send you down the same path.”

“I promise. I’ve thought long and hard about this.”

“Good.” She brings my head down and presses a brief kiss to my forehead. “Be safe.”

With that she lets go and walks in the direction of her own room, leaving well and truly alone. With only an hour before their arrival, I go directly to the study. If I’m going to have them take this idea seriously I know this is the best room to have this discussion.

I hear movement at the front of the house and watch the door from one of the wing-backed chairs.

The knob turns and I see Carlos’s dark hair as he enters the room with Andreas right behind him. I take a sip of the wine in my glass and set it on the table.

“Carlos. Andreas. Thank you for meeting with me.”

Carlos walks toward me and unbuttons his jacket before taking the seat in the chair next to me. “Trouble seems to follow you everywhere, Scarlett.”

“It does seem that way doesn’t it?”

Andreas makes himself comfortable on the couch bypassing any of the normal formalities. “It’s a certainty. Every time you’re involved things seem to get completely out of hand and I’d like to take care of that.”

“I’m sure you would.” I pick up my wine glass and swirl the liquid around. “However, I’m sure that most of this has very little to do with me and more about the secrets the two of you have been keeping. And if you want to know my plan you are both going to come clean now,” I demand.

I know it’s not the smartest thing to demand answers from the heads of the entire family, even as the words leave my lips. I’ve been lied to enough. Most of those lies have put my life in danger.

Andreas leans back against the couch and props his ankle on his other knee. “Scarlett, you were always too smart for your own good. It’s part of the reason we’ve kept you around all this time. Considering your abilities when it comes to the business, I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to figure everything out, but perhaps that because you were blinded by love.”

“What Luis and I had wasn’t love. It was a business deal, I know that now. What I want to know is why? The entire truth. No more secrets.”

Andreas inclines his head at Carlos. “As you wish. Carlos?”

“It shouldn’t come as a surprise that we were concerned about your marriage to Luis from the very beginning. Your parents were a dedicated part of this family and the impact of their loss was felt from all corners of the world.”

“My parents gave you both everything.”

“I agree. It’s rare to find people like your parents in this business. We had high hopes for what you would become, then you accepted Luis’ marriage proposal.”

“Honestly, we were surprised he asked considering his relationships at the time,” Andreas adds.

His relationships? He couldn’t be talking about Elena, could he? I’m so shocked that they agreed to answer my questions, I don’t want to interrupt, but I can’t stop myself. I have to know.

“Wait. Does that mean you knew about Elena?”

Carlos looks directly at me. “We’ve known about her from the beginning. Luis thought he would be able to keep her a secret. He forgets that everyone leaves a trail, even when they are trying not to.”

“If you knew about Elena and Nico knew about Elena, why did no one tell me?”

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