Page 47 of Rafa's Convenient Wife

“Rafa,” Lola cautioned. “Be careful. We already have one legal mess with Beverly and the custody fight.”

Rafael slashed his hand through the air. “That will be settled by next week. The attorneys already have the meeting set. Once they get Beverly’s signature, it’s done.”

“Except for the part where Beverly still gets supervised visits with Jasper,” Lola grumbled. “I still can’t believe you agreed to that.”

“Sky insisted,” Rafael defended his wife. “She wanted to be fair to Jasper. She wanted to make sure he would know his mother’s family.”

“Well, I don’t trust Beverly,” Lola muttered. “She’s nuts, and I don’t think she should be anywhere near Jasper, not even if supervised.”

“She’ll probably give up on the visits once Jasper starts to grow and learns to walk and isn’t just some cute little prop for her social media accounts,” Beto said. “She’s not likely to be a problem for us much longer. Diego, on the other hand....”

“If he’s leaving for the US, what does it matter to us?” Lola asked, clearly still terrified of Diego and the hell he had rained down on their family. “If he stays there, away from us—.”

“Rafael, Sky, and Jasper are returning to San Antonio soon,” Beto reminded her. “He’ll find a way to use them to hurt Dina and Camila.” Beto darkly muttered, “We should have killed him when we had the chance, Rafa.”

Lola’s eyes went wide with shock, and Rafael glared at Beto for revealing that secret. That decision remained his greatest regret, even worse than the night he had spurned and rejected Sky. His private security had been on Diego’s tail. They'd had him in their sights. One word—and he could have ended that bastard.

But Dina had begged him to show mercy for Camila. She couldn’t bear the thought of Rafael being responsible for her daughter’s father’s death. It would be a stain on his honor that would never wash off, and he hadn’t been able to deny the request. For Camila, for Dina, he had agreed to let Diego spend the rest of his life in prison.

Except that agreement was now under threat.

Which meant Rafael was going to have to make some very hard decisions soon.

Those hard decisions plagued him as he carried Jasper downstairs to meet Sky. The rest of the family followed close behind, and they filed into black SUVS that would drive them into town for dinner. Sky must have noticed his preoccupation because she interlaced their hands after he finished securing Jasper in his car seat and took the spot next to his wife.

“I’m fine,” he assured her, hating that he was offering another white lie. “Lots of things on my mind.”

Sky leaned close and kissed his cheek. Conspiratorially, she whispered, “I’m sure I can help you relax when we get home.”

“I’m sure you can.” He grinned and lovingly kissed her. If there was anything that could take his mind off his degenerate, murderous former brother-in-law, it was Sky’s sensual touch.

Jasper fussed at being unable to see what everyone else was doing. Rafael offered him a noisy toy to chew on and bang into the seat and let his nephew hold onto his finger. It was strange how quickly he had adapted to fatherhood. A few weeks ago, he wouldn’t have had the first clue how to deal with a crying orupset baby. Now, he had mental checklists and multiple tricks and hacks to settle Jasper.

Tricks that came in handy once they reached Licha’s and were ushered to the best table in the house. Jasper didn’t want to sit in his high chair, and he didn’t want to be held by anyone except for him. Rafael bounced his nephew on his knee while feeding him yogurt puffs from a packet he’d tucked into the diaper bag.

There were interested looks and whispers from other restaurant patrons, but Rafael paid them no attention. He had nothing to apologize for, and neither did Sky. If people wanted to gawk like uncouth, vulgar boors, let them.

He glanced at his wife and saw that she was relaxed and smiling. She looked so beautiful tonight in a green dress that contrasted with her blonde hair and highlighted her eyes. His mother had opened up her jewelry box and given Sky gold and dainty emeralds to wear tonight. She looked like a queen.

My queen.

Safely nestled between Rafael and his mother, Sky enjoyed a glass of wine with her meal and laughed at the silly stories Lola and Beto told. Most of them seemed to be at his expense, but he let it slide. Even he could admit the stories were funny. He hadn’t always been the sophisticated, polished tycoon he was today.

Outwardly, Dina looked calm and content, but the stiff grip she had on her wine glass told him otherwise. He glanced at Camila who had just taken Jasper and had him giggling on her lap. She seemed wholly unbothered which meant his niece was still in the dark about whatever was going on with her father.

Across the table, Dina caught his gaze. She seemed to be reading his face, and without a word, she nodded as if to confirm what Beto had told him. Knowing she must be feeling incredible stress, he mouthed, “We’ll fix this together.” She smiled andsipped her wine. He hoped that his promise was enough to put her at ease.

Jasper was fast asleep in Sky’s arms when everyone had finished dessert and coffee. He settled the bill, thanked the hosts and waitstaff and guided his wife and nephew out of the restaurant. His family flanked them, and he eyed the security team that stepped into place as they exited the restaurant.

“SUVs are tied up around the corner,” the lead security guard explained. “There’s a wedding leaving the hotel next door. Traffic is backed up.”

Rafa frowned. With security on either side of the family, he felt reasonably safe. This was a quiet area of the city with almost no crime outside pickpockets and scammers. Even so, after learning about Diego, he felt uneasy about letting his guard down even a little bit.

“Oh, a wedding!” Sky grinned up at him. “They look so sweet!”

Rafa craned his neck to get a better view and was surprised to see the bride and groom were both elderly. They might have been nearing their twilight years, but they had the energy of teenagers awash in the heady newness of young love. They were surrounded by friends and family showering them in bubbles while a mariachi band serenaded them withMi Linda Esposa.

As his family clapped along with the wedding guests and shared in the infectious happiness, Rafael gently took Jasper from Sky. She smiled with relief at the weight being transferred off her shoulder and rose on tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

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