Page 34 of To Have and To Hold

Swallowing, I straightened my shoulders. “I’m not lying. I believe Dario sent me out here expecting me to fail. I’ve decided that isn’t going to happen. And for it not to happen, I need to push my own boundaries. Mia stands up for herself. She’s different.” I shook my head. “Honestly, none of this is any of your business.”

“Why would you think that Dario would send you out here to fail?”

I exhaled. “If you want to help me with the program, fine. Personal information is on a need-to-know basis.” I lifted my eyebrow. “You, Emiliano, don’t need to know.”

“Need—no. Want—yes.”

“I’ll eat tacos.”

He pressed his lips together and tilted his face. “Here’s the thing. Unless there is an emergency, men aren’t allowed any farther into the apartments than the front office or guard stations.” He flashed a predatory smile. “These women deal with men enough. Mia wanted a safe male-free zone.” His eyes twinkled. “It’s not as if anyone would be afraid of me.”

Fear. I was scared at the capo’s house. Maybe it was fear of my father’s reaction, not so much Emiliano himself. Nevertheless, even now, I had the common symptoms of fright: racing pulse, shortness of breath, and fluttering in my stomach.

“Liliana told me that.” I tilted my head. “If you can’t go back there, how do you know about the menu?”

“I usually ask whoever’s working the front desk to get me an order.” He paused. “I could ask you.”

I crossed my arms over my breasts. “Ask Celeste or Reina. They seemed pretty smitten with your attention.”

“You’re not?”

I shook my head. “Nope.” I lied again.

“You won’t get me some tacos so that I can help you get started on the program?”

My arms fell to my sides as I peered around his solid body and met Liliana’s gaze. “What do you think? Since we’re apparently forbidden to walk outside, should we get Emiliano lunch from the cafeteria?”

Liliana smiled. “Em, yes.” She turned to José. “You, no.”

To my astonishment, José smiled. “You know how I like my tacos.”

“Oh, does this mean I’m also getting Horace’s?”

He nodded. “Gracias.”

Fifteen minutes later, Liliana and I were back in the front office with food for everyone, including Reina and Celeste. Instead of taking ours to our offices, Liliana, Reina, Celeste, and I went into a conference room I hadn’t noticed before.

As we sat with our to-go containers and bottles of water, I remembered my question to Em. If he wouldn’t tell me what had changed, I could find out another way.

After taking a bite of the delicious food, I hummed.

“They’re good, no?” Celeste asked.

“Oh my gosh. This is the best taco I’ve ever had.”

Liliana smiled. “Luz makes the tostadas herself. None of that store-bought crap.”

“She could open a restaurant.”

“We all tell her that,” Reina said.

I cleared my throat. “If it’s none of my business…” I had everyone’s attention. “Did you two work at the club last night?”

They both sat straighter. Celeste was the one to answer. “We did.”

I lowered my voice so the men wouldn’t hear. “What happened? Isla said something about after what happened at the club last night, she had trouble falling asleep.”

They both seemed to relax. Reina looked out the door toward the men and leaned forward. She spoke quietly. “Two of Kozlov’s men made it past security. It all started around two this morning.”

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