Page 59 of Born a Queen

Chapter Thirty-Two

Raina couldn't sleep that night. Was she being paranoid? Seeing conspiracies where there were none?

She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something off about Daniela. Right from the beginning Raina hadn't been able to warm up to the woman. Not that Raina had to be friends with every single person she met, but she had hoped to forge some kind of relationship with her interior designer.

Considering what a large job the mansion was and the huge potential for future work, she would have thought that Daniela would unbend enough to attempt being pleasant. Yet she wasn't. She was standoffish and frequently rude. If she hadn’t been doing such a good job, Raina probably would’ve fired her by now.

She tossed and turned for well over an hour before finally giving up on sleep. She shoved the hair off her face and sat up with a deep sigh. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed she squinted at the alarm clock but couldn't quite make out the fuzzy numbers. She grabbed her glasses and shoved them onto her nose, then looked at the clock again. 1:36 AM.

She chewed on her bottom lip trying to decide what to do. There was no help for it. She needed to talk to Mateo. She was relatively certain that he would want to hear this, given his obsession with Raina and security.

She pulled on a pair of fuzzy pink slippers and grabbed a short cotton robe to cover her pajama pants and cami top. She made her way into the lit hallway, squinting at the bright light and walked to the master bedroom.

She hesitated for a couple of seconds, lost her nerve, headed back to her room, changed her mind, and headed back to Mateo's room. She lifted her hand to knock, then dropped it. Then she got annoyed at herself, huffed, and banged on the door so loud that the sound reverberated down the corridor. She cringed at the noise.

She heard movement from the other side of the door and stood back waiting. Mateo jerked it open, surprising her as much as she surprised him. He was disheveled from head to foot. His hair looked like a windswept mess and he wore nothing but a pair of unzipped jeans with the belt and buckle hanging open. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of the generous treasure trail heading straight down to his groin. She looked away quickly but thought she caught a glimpse of the base of his penis. Her heart thumped and every single thought in her head took flight.

"What's wrong?" he demanded, searching the hallway behind her. He braced his arms on either side of the doorway to look around. That's when she caught sight of the gun in his hand. Her mouth went dry. Maybe this was a mistake.

"I… I…" she stuttered and then shook her head.

It was unlike her to have to search for words, but the sight of him was disconcerting. What had she been thinking? Going to Mateo's bedroom in the middle of the night. This could’ve waited until the morning. She started to tell him she’d talk to him later, but he reached out and took hold of her arm, pulling her into his room.

He closed the door behind them and then dropped her arm, taking a couple of steps back.

"Tell me."

Raina started to pace, wringing her hands as she spoke. "I don't know, maybe I shouldn't have come. It's just…"

Mateo took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. "Raina, I trust you. If you came to me at this time of night, then you have a good reason. Try to relax and tell me."

His calm voice and the warm caress of his long fingers curving over her shoulders did help to relax her. She took a deep breath and nodded, grateful that he was being so understanding, especially after their confrontation in the kitchen.

"It's Daniela, I don't trust her. There's something wrong, but I can't put my finger on what it is."

"The designer?" he asked with a frown. Raina remembered that he hadn’t actually met Daniela yet. For some reason they were never in the mansion at the same time.

She nodded. "Yes, she's helping with the renovations. I don't know what it is about her, I don't even know if I have a legitimate complaint, but I don't trust her. I found her in your room yesterday, looking at your desk. I reminded her that she wasn't allowed in this room without permission, but she came up with a perfectly legitimate excuse. She said she forgot and she wanted to take measurements. If it had been any other room, I wouldn't have questioned her. But…"

"You don't trust her." Mateo crossed his arms over his chest, and dipped his head forward, as though thinking.

"I don't know why I don't trust her, it's not really anything she did, besides coming in your room when she shouldn't have. And anyone could've made that mistake. It was weeks ago that I told her to stay out of here. She could have genuinely forgotten."

Mateo lifted his head, his dark eyes piercing hers. "But you don't think she forgot."

"No, I don't believe it for a minute. She’s sharp, pays attention to every detail. She's really good at her job and she's hypervigilant, almost to a fault. I don't think she’d be one to forget the house rules."

Mateo nodded. "Good enough for me."

He strode over to the night table beside the bed and grabbed his phone. He hit one of the contacts and then put the phone on speaker. Angela answered with a groggy, “Hello?”

Mateo skipped the pleasantries. "Angela. Raina doesn't trust the decorator, Daniela…" He looked up at Raina with a raised eyebrow.

"Velasquez," Raina supplied Daniela's last name.

"Thinks she's up to something," Mateo continued. "Check her out. I want to know everything. Family, friends, connections, clients. I want to know where she's from, where she's going and how long she's been here. Don't leave a single stone unturned. Satisfy me that this woman is on the up and up. If you flag anything as problematic, come to me immediately."

"Of course, boss," Angela said in a clipped voice.

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