Page 287 of Hate Mates

"What is that you want, Dario? What do you hope to pull with this stunt? Ludovico will come after you."

He nods. "And you."

I chuckle. "Why me? I didn't do anything. You kidnapped me."

"One, I didn't kidnap you. The box was given to my man to bring. He died before he could tell us anything."

There's always a death around men like them.

"Isn't that convenient?"

He leans back in his chair. "It's not. It actually poses a real problem for me?—"

"Of your own making."

He continues like I didn't speak. "One that will create a war."

The word sends a wave of cold through my chest. In a war, there are victims — people who won't capitulate, families decimated, and little girls left motherless in a bullet storm.

"Why would there be a war. You let me go and it ends here." Even as I say the words, I hear my own naivete. It's not that simple at all. An offense was committed, and in the world I was born into,las ofensas se pagan.

The look of pity on Dario's face says it all.

"He doesn't have to know," I insist. "You can have your men drop me off somewhere, and I would find my way back. I'll say I was abandoned there."

He leans forward. "You know it's not that easy. People saw Elio. The word is out there."

I push to my feet and walk to the window. "Why did you do it? Now you ruined my life and yours probably."

"I'll say it again, I did not send Elio to kidnap you. I had no reason to. You've been a pain in the ass since I met you, so I stay as far away as possible."

I dismiss the memory of our introduction and how suave he tried to act while Ludovico watched. I wasn't falling for that shit. "How did I end up here, then?"

"I don't know, and we're wasting time because it doesn't matter anyway. We need to fix this."

I frown. "How are we going to do that? If Ludovico knows, it's only a matter until he gets here and kills everyone."

He nods. "We need to come to an agreement quickly."

"What agreement? Do you want me to lie and say I came to ask for help? Maybe that your men rescued me from someone else."

"Your father is not stupid, Soledad."

"Then what the hell are you suggesting? How do we fix the unfixable, Dario?"

He levels me with a look above his glass. "You tell him you came here out of love."

My heart is hammering too fast, and I don't think I heard him well. "What?"

"Tell him, we arranged everything because we fell in love and wanted to get married."

I stare at him for a while and then the familiar knocking starts at my ribs. Next thing I know, I'm doubled over laughing uncontrollably but he's not. He's serious as a gun shot through the heart. "You've lost your mind."

He shakes his head. "I'm practical."

"There's nothing practical about this. I hate you and wouldn't marry you if the world was burning around us, and you're the last drop of water."

He puts his drink down and moves so quickly I don't have time to react. In my next breath, his hands are on my shoulders, the smell of rum hanging between us. "I despise you just as much, but I don't have a choice and neither do you. My incentive is that I will be Patriarca. Tell me what I can give you, so you can stand by my side as my wife."

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