Page 73 of Spice and Revenge

She chuckles, despite the emotion swirling in her eyes. “Lorena,” she says firmly. “I've left Laura behind me. I killed the bastard. He can never hurt me again.”

I can't help but wonder about the horrors she endured under her uncle's rule.

Sighing, she says, “What will happen to the Cuban Empire now?”

“I will commence with my expansion into the empire. Pedro’s men have no choice but to surrender to me. I rule them now.”

She bites her lower lip.

“I never thought the day Pedro Rodriguez fell would ever come. Growing up, I saw him as an untouchable, immortal being. Running away felt easier than facing him.”

I swallow thickly, my mouth still filled with distaste whenever I think of him, a deep-seated hatred that will follow him to his grave.

Running my hand down her back, I sigh. “Pedro is the last person I want to talk about while I have you in my arms,” I eventually say.

Lorena’s eyes glint at my words. “You are right. We should talk about what the future holds for us.”

The future.

I never believed we would have one. Together.

I remember the first day we met like it was yesterday. The way her green eyes pierced into mine across the room. And afterwards, I couldn’t seem to control my attraction to her, even though I disguised it as hate. I never believed in love at first sight. I don’t think our story is that.

All I know is that there was always something there, from the first day I set my eyes on her, simmering, waiting for the perfect time to bloom.

“We should disappear,” I suggest suddenly, surprising even myself.

Lorena is shocked too, because she glances down at me in surprise.

“What?” She chuckles in shock and amusement. “Disappear? How will you run your empire if we vanish?”

I press a kiss on her forehead.

“You think too much. We will only be gone for a while. Maybe a couple of weeks, or a month, or two months…”

Her laughter cuts me off. “The more you talk about it, the more appealing it sounds,” she murmurs, her voice taking on a breathy note.

“Just you and me , alone. Will it be a beach? A private island? I’m sure you’re rich enough to afford to rent us one,” she ends with a snort.

I can’t help but chuckle. “We don’t have to rent. I own a private island all to myself,” I reveal.

She regards me for a bit before sighing. “I don’t even know why I’m shocked. You are wealthy, and you are about to become even wealthier.”

I bury my face in her hair, breathing in her scent. “Yes, my little deceiver. Both of us are about to have so much more.”

And I couldn’t have imagined it any other way.

EPILOGUE

Lorena

Two Years Later

“You’re our boss now. The boss’s wife. You don’t have to join us in the kitchen every morning.”

I chuckle at Josie’s statement.

“You say this every morning,” I tell her, and she just shrugs.

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