Page 58 of Hidden Memories

His mocking laugh enrages me.

“Oh, Santiago. Now I truly know it. You couldn’t run a company if your life depended on it.”

I grind my teeth until they ache in my jaw. I don’t want to believe him. But I don’t want to see more photos, see another man’s arm wrapped around my girl in a bikini. I turn my face to the side and stare at a stain on the linoleum. What has become of my life? My love? My hope?

His words are acid in my bones.

“Listen, Santi, I get it, everybody wants to marry into money…”

At that, I explode involuntarily and slam my hand down on the table. “Fuck you,” I growl like an animal, my voice coming from some other place inside me like some bigger spirit has taken over. “I will never be spoken to like that,” I grit out through my teeth.

A shroud of serious darkness falls over the space between us. Paul waits a moment—for me to calm down? Considering his words? I don’t know, but the pit of despair in my gut tells me I’m fighting a losing battle.

“You don’t come from our world, Santiago, so I’m just going to explain something to you. Girls like Kat do not marry guys like you. They don’t run away on the road and tour rodeos or go off and be a painter on some shitty little ranch in the middle of nowhere. Girls like Kat sow their wild oats with boys like you. But they blossom and become women with men like Nicholas.”

My chest heaves. I feel like throwing up. I trusted her, and she was engaged all this time.

“I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse, Santi. You never speak to my daughter again. You never contact her, you never reach out, you never utter her name—not while you’re awake, not while you’re sleeping…” he sneers, “not while you’re jacking off to her pretty face.”

This man is vile.

“You can’t control me.”

“No, I can’t, but let’s just see how stupid you are, shall we?”

Pain sears in my jaw, I clench it tightly to not throw myself across this table and show him what kind of man I really am.

“You never contact Kat again, and I’ll make this all go away.”

Paul is the reason they never booked me? Just then, the officer’s face peeks in the tiny window. A dirty cop, taking dirty money.

“I’ve been watching you, Santi. I’ve been having you and Kat trailed since her location services showed her at Desert Bloom Ink.”

What kind of sicko stalks his own daughter?

“You can’t make this go away,” I spit. “Whoever is waiting for this bag will come after me anyway…”

“You mean Victor?”

He knows his name?Jesus…no…

Paul asks his question like he’s losing patience. “Do you think Victor just rose from out of nowhere offering some random chance to make money by transporting a bag of weed? Asking some guy at a rodeo?”

“You set me up,” I whisper, horror sinking into my chest.

Paul’s blue eyes gleam. “Of course I did.”

My vision darkens at the edges.

I don’t want to promise this asshole anything. Even if I can’t have Kat, I don’t want him to have her either. Or this Nicholas. All I want is to wreck this whole man’s life—to unleash Armageddon.

His evil gaze pierces my soul as he takes inventory of my thoughts.

“Santi, I’m a thorough man. I like to cover all my bases. And something told me a man like you isn’t afraid of a criminal record. But you do care about your family, and I know how this would impact them, too. Would you put a stake in the heart of your grieving father? Would you bring a dirty reputation to your brothers’ crime-fighting endeavors? Does your family need any of that right now? Really? In the wake of your mother’s death?”

I’m drowning.

Paul stands, brushing imaginary dust from his sleeve. “You need to think about this carefully, boy. If you ever talk to Kat again, your family will know about this. Anyone even thinking of investing in your brothers will know about this.”

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