Page 129 of When Lies Unfold

He wipes his bloodied lip with the back of his hand, his eyes spittin’ hatred. “I should kill you right now for getting her involved in whatever shit this is.”

Red mottles his face. “You’re lucky that bullet only grazed her.” He takes a step closer, blood still oozin’ from his nose and lip. “It better not have been from you.”

“It wasn’t.” My answer’s clipped, ’cause I don’t owe him anythin’.

Suspicion radiates off him as he regards me. “She deserves better than your sorry, ponytailed ass.”

“I know. Just like I know there’s no fuckin’ way I’ll let anythin’ happen to her.” I lower my fists and flex my fingers, only now noticin’ the sting of my busted knuckles. With a pointed look at his buzz cut, I fire back, “And just admit you’re jealous of my fuckin’ hair.”

He squints at me. “Fuck off.” Slowly, cautiously, he drops his own fists. “She tell you about the kiss, or did your guy tell you?”

“The fuck does it matter?”

“Guess it doesn’t.” A harsh laugh rumbles past his mouth as defeat registers on his battered face. “I don’t know if it’s worth anything to you, but she didn’t kiss me back.”

Diego said Lola’s back was to him when Nando went in for the kiss, so this news is promisin’. “That so?”

Nando stares at me, his expression shiftin’ to somethin’ that makes me uneasy as hell. “You really meant it, huh? That you won’t let anything happen to her?”

I scowl at him, ’cause I hate people questionin’ my word. “Wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t mean it.”

A pause lingers before his jaw goes slack. “Ho-ly shit.” He looks stunned, his words are filled with disbelief. “You love her.”

I rear back. “What?”

Nando looks dazed as he shakes his head slowly. “I don’t fucking believe it.”

Irritation pulses through me, and I briefly pinch the bridge of my nose. ’Cause I don’t have time for whatever mind games he’s playin’. “Lesson of the day, stay the fuck away from Lola Arias. Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” he mutters. With a lift of his chin, he gestures toward the open doorway. “Now, get the fuck out of here.”

55

LOLA

It’s late, and I’m a colossal idiot. That’s the only excuse I have for lingering in the kitchen this late, my cup of tea almost empty.

I’ve ruminated over this all day. Who is the real Santiago Hernández? I’d thought him to be a criminal, simple as that. But he’s the furthest thing from simple. I continue to discover one new layer of his after the next.

The man who initially held me at gunpoint in that house is the same man who rescued a young girl from a nightmare of an existence.

He’s the same man who looked at her with love in his eyes when she spoke to him this morning.

He carried me to his bed last night and didn’t do anything. Hell…he let me gravitate toward him at some point and snuggle against him without a single complaint. All he did this morning was give me a quick kiss and tell me to wait for him.

He’s a narco. A murderer. And yet he’s managed to make me see the other sides of him. The loving father. The nurturer. The fierce protector.

The passionate lover.

He’s gone from being the biggest threat in my life to my greatest source of comfort. But to entertain the idea that there could ever be anything real between us is just…pure idiocy. It’s far too risky. Even if I were to be with a non-criminal, with someone like Nando, my past will always be there to haunt me.

Now, alone in the quiet confines of the kitchen since Javier’s already excused himself for the night, my thoughts remain in turmoil. Though the lights are dimmed in the kitchen, casting me in shadows, I yearn for the darkness and unique brand of anonymity the jungle provides. The sense of peace and safety that comes from feeling as though I’m invisible.

Seated at the table with both hands wrapped around my cup, I stare down at the meager brown liquid at the bottom as if it holds the answers to my dilemma.

If only it did.

Heavy footsteps sound along the tile floor, and my head snaps up, my body electrified with awareness. The steps grow closer, each footfall steady and determined.

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