Page 111 of Guarded

“Hey, girl!” Thalia shouts from her desk.

“Hey, Thali!” Cooper says.

The two had met at my birthday party and kicked it off instantly.

Our office door swings open, startling me as I hang up on Cooper and switch to the Excel sheets for the daily profits. Thalia sits up right before her eyes narrow on the intruder.

“Calavera Hotel to host a luxurious wedding for founder Vicente Consuelo’s granddaughter to Houston’s most eligible bachelor.” Enrique begins and slams a copy ofHoustoniadown onto my desk.

I can’t help but smile at how my Godfather boasts into the room. Fanning his fingers out, he crosses them in a circular motion.

“You are going to be a star—the Latina Jackie-O,” he says, looking down at my casual Friday attire.

“Crocs? Again?” his face distorts, and he shakes his head, unwilling to admit to himself I would wear such a thing.

Despite their ongoing rivalry, Enrique looks to his other niece. Thalia looks down with the same appalled look, then back at Enrique before shrugging her shoulder.

Rude.

“And look what it says about me.” He continues on ignoring my fashion violation.

Enrique flips the newspaper open and hands it to me, pointing at the mention of him. I grab the newspaper and look at Thalia. She rolls her eyes behind his back.

“Goddaughter of the infamous Enrique Consuelo, it’s no wonder the girl has pose and class. We can only imagine the extravagant wedding he has planned for the reigning Congressman and the prestige Miss Reyes.” I read out loud.

It’s two sentences, but to Enrique Consuelo, it is his drug of choice- validation.

“Infamous.” He says dramatically. “No, Ari, Mija, we can’t let this opportunity to shine go to waste. This is going to be the wedding of the year. No. Of the century.” He says, kissing me on the cheek before leaving the office.

I love him for his support, but it was also a subtle reminder that I had to go through with the wedding.

How can I disappoint my parents, let alone my Tio Enrique, who was using my wedding to showcase his party-planning talent?

After Preston’s commentary about Guapo, I dreaded the whole concept of spending forever with him. Anxiety consumes me. Tugging me from both sides. I didn’t want to disappoint my family, but Preston Cuevas is an asshole.

“Hey, I forgot to ask. How’s Rosie doing?” I ask Thalia when the memory resurfaces. The young girl looked shaken up at the party.

“¿Quién sabe?” she lets out a long sigh. “She won’t talk to me. I get it. She doesn’t know me, but she refuses to talk to her mom or even see a therapist.” I frown at the thought.

Rosie had been forced to live with her stepmother. A woman who had been tormenting Thalia and Silas. Running a human trafficking ring where my other cousin Adrian’s mom had beentrapped in. I can only imagine the secrets Rosie was bottling inside her.

“I wish I had someone to talk to.” The words meant to echo in my head fall carelessly from my mouth.

“What do you mean, Flaca? Did someone hurt you?” she asks, sitting up in her chair.

“No.” I lie.

This family was hurting me with their high expectations and social conformity.

Genesis provided more light on the situation of our past, but that didn’t stop the trauma of what took place afterward.

Lucio Biondini had felt us up and took pictures of our naked bodies. I’m sure he intended on doing much worse. My parents’ fix to that was sheltering me from the world. That didn’t take the wound away. Not when the real world awaiting me was full of more evil people.

The biggest triggering event was Cassiel kidnapping us. He sent the scumbag Officer Greyson to pick us up. Seeing him at the campaign brought up the memories of that day. What Greyson did to us before they separated Genesis and me. The man who took me home. The cold silence between us. His lack of humanity while I hyperventilated in the backseat, begging him to let me remove the hood. Begging him to go back for Genesis. He did nothing.

I wasn’t sure I could get past those memories. To some degree, I felt like I would never be free of the trauma. Yet there was this rage inside me taking root in my heart. Lucio Biondini was dead, but Cassiel was not. He needed to know what he did to me. I needed closure. To look him and his accomplices in the eyes and hold them accountable.

Thalia once told me to stand up for myself, and to be honest, I never thought I had the strength to do so. However, spending time with Nero has been therapeutic for my soul. Speaking upfor myself wasn’t just something I needed to do in the bedroom but in every aspect of my life.

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