Page 95 of Lunar Crest University

“I don’t want you to kill people,” she croaks. “I don’t want you to do that for me. I don’t want any of this.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

“I’m scared foryou.”

“You don’t need to be.”

“But I am.” She swipes at her damp cheeks.

Standing from the bed, I take a step toward her. She doesn’t shrink away this time. “Princesa, I’m only doing this again because I’m trying to protect you. I don’t want you to be scared, and I don’t want this for you either. I didn’t want this forme, but I feel like it’s my responsibility to keep you safe because I put you in this position.”

She’s quiet, but the tears streaming down her face are deafening.

“I want to fix this.” I take another step. “And this is the only way I know how. I’m sorry it’s not what you wanted, but there isn’t much of a choice anymore.”

“We can’t go to the police?”

I sigh. “Javier is more powerful than you know. He’s everywhere. Heisthe police. The only way to stop him is to kill him, and I’m the only one who knows how to do that without leaving a trace.”

“If he’s so powerful,” she pauses, shrugging tiredly, “then how can you be so confident you’ll take him out?”

“BecauseI’mpowerful too.”

Her eyes squeeze shut, and I take the opportunity to take one last step toward her, my hands gently cradling her face as my thumbs brush away the fresh tears on her cheeks. Her green eyes flash open as she stares up at me, searching my expression like she’ll find all the answers there.

“I’ve never killed anyone who didn’t deserve it.”

She grimaces, pulling her face from my hands. “It’s still murder.”

“I know.”

“How many people have you killed?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest as she narrows her eyes.

Fuck me.

My hesitancy makes her cock her head pleadingly, and her chin trembles once more. The wrinkle between her brows is likely permanent at this point, and I hate that I keep adding to it. She knows she’s not going to like my answer, but she’s begging me anyway. Finley is a perfectionist; she has to know all the details to feel like she has even just a little control over the situation. I understand, but I know it’s going to kill her.

“I know you keep count,” she murmurs. “Tell me.”

I could lose her for good because of this. It might break her past the point of fixing, and that thought scares the hell out of me.

“Two hundred and three.”

A choked sob bursts from her mouth as she bends over, resting her hands on her knees as she starts to cry again. I want to hold her, want so fucking badly to cradle her into my chest, but I refrain as I watch her turn away from me as if she can’t bear to look me in the eyes.

“I solely did this job becausemi mamáhas type two diabetes and couldn’t afford the medicine back home. We couldn’t affordanything. We were struggling to stay afloat, and I’m the man of the family.” I rub at my forehead as I groan, throwing my hands in the air aimlessly even though she isn’t looking at me. “I couldn’t run away from them and let them drown in debt. I had to get them out. I had to bring them here and give them a life. Javier said he could help, so I made them come with me as I followed him here twelve years ago.”

She’s quiet for a while.

“I worked for him, made more money than I could ever imagine, got to finish college…it wasn’t what I wanted, it’s never been what I wanted. But it gave my family the life that they deserved. It gave me opportunities I would’ve never had otherwise.”

Finley still faces the opposite direction, but I can see her hugging herself, rubbing her arms in search of comfort. When she does speak, it’s barely a whisper. “Was she upset with you when she found out?”

“Of course she was,” I mutter. “But she eventually accepted it because she knows the lengths I’ll go to protect my family.”

“Your family,” she repeats, finally turning around as she swallows. “Yet, I’m…nobody. Just someone you have sex with sometimes. Why would you go to these lengths for me?”

“You’re not nobody, Finley.” My face construes into a deep frown as I peer down at her. “Not to me. Is that what you think?”

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