Page 151 of When Lies Unfold

I shake my head, my voice barely audible. “No. Right now, I feel…” Loved, even though you won’t say it. Even though there’s a possibility you don’t feel the same way.

His gaze narrows a fraction. “You feel…”

I answer with the next best thing that’s still truthful. “Perfect.”

Affection gleams from his features while a hint of a smile plays at his lips before he drops another light kiss to my neck. But it’s what he murmurs next that makes my heart stall in my chest, inciting a gnarled mess of my emotions tangling inside me.

“’Cause you are.” Another butterfly-soft kiss lands on my neck as his husky voice repeats, “That’s ’cause you are.”

70

LOLA

With my body snug against Santy’s side, he keeps one arm tightly banded around me as if he fears I’ll be taken from him next. The fingers of his other hand gently comb through my damp hair in slow, soothing strokes.

After we showered, he pulled me toward the bed. He hadn’t voiced his request, but I just knew he wanted to hold me. To remind himself that we still have each other.

For now.

I absently trace the patterns of ink along the curves of his pectorals when he clears his throat like he’s about to speak. When he doesn’t, his audible hesitance is so out of character that it spawns a wariness washing over me.

“Gotta question for you, but don’t know if you’ll wanna answer.”

“O-kay,” I say slowly.

“How’d you get messed up with him in the first place?”

“My parents.” My voice is devoid of emotion, matching what I feel for the people who placed me in that hellish existence.

His stroking of my hair stutters before resuming, silently waiting for me to continue.

“My father started working for Hidalgo when I was nineteen. It became a struggle for him to keep up with my mother’s expensive tastes. So, when Hidalgo offered to buy me and make me his wife that following year, my parents couldn’t accept fast enough.”

His arm that’s banded around me flexes, and when he utters the single word, it’s little more than a growl. “Motherfucker.”

A smile graces my lips, but it’s short-lived.

“Did it…start right away?”

“No.” I expel a sigh, my tone bleak. “Which is why I naïvely thought it wouldn’t be so bad…”

Colombia

PAST

I’m holding on to a modicum of hope that Hidalgo isn’t the monster he’s rumored to be.

After all, he’s the sole reason I was accepted into the advanced program at the university and why I don’t have to pay a cent for any tuition or books. He paid for everything, claiming he recognizes a promising young surgeon when he sees one.

It’s easier to pretend this is some strange version of a fairy tale instead of one where my parents sold me to an older criminal.

I con myself into believing that as long as I’m able to use my hands to heal others, I can endure a loveless marriage. That I can come to terms with being the wife of the most well-known narco in Colombia.

At the very start of our marriage, he offers a gesture of kindness by creating a designated room for me and filling it with all the best medical equipment.

But I soon discover his ulterior motives. Each of his henchmen who are stabbed or shot become my patients.

“He dies, you suffer.” This is Hidalgo’s threat each time. It doesn’t matter how badly wounded the men are. It doesn’t matter if they’re brought to me without anyone administering a tourniquet or any prior aid whatsoever.

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