Page 159 of Plunge into Obsession

My lip trembled.

“Can you find out what happened to her?”

He didn’t say anything for a beat. He traced his finger down the side of my face, something like torture in his eyes.

“Are you sure you want to go down that road? I would do anything you ask of me as long as it doesn’t put you in danger, but really think about what you’re asking of me,mi corazón. The answer might not be something you want to hear.”

Gabriel would have only said that if he knew something I didn’t.

“Why?” I croaked.

He hesitated.

“Tell me,” I said. “I’m not a child, Gabriel.”

“Mi corazón, you’re not. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to protect you.”

“Is it really that bad?” I asked, my voice no louder than a whisper.

“When I took over for Luis, there was a lot of contention among my men. It was one reason why I needed an heir. A wife. To give my men something to celebrate.”

Hurt formed in my chest, and he made a small, tortured sound in the back of his throat. “No,mi corazón, look at me.”

I hadn’t realized I had closed my eyes. I looked up at him. “I needed a wife, and had I followed Raphael’s advice, I would have married the daughter of a don. Or the daughter of the kingpin of the Guadalajara Cartel, to form a connection I didn’t need.”

“Then why did you marry me?”

“Can’t you tell?” he asked softly, making my heart race. “I am unable to leave you alone. It was just your bad luck to catch my attention,mi corazón, because now that I have you exactly where I want you, you’re never leaving me.”

He was confusing me.

He married me because he needed to give his men something to celebrate, but he chose me, and he never gave me a choice in the matter. What was I supposed to say to that?

“Why was there contention among the men?”

“Because I didn’t run things the way Luis did.”

“What kind of things?” I asked, getting a bad feeling about where he was going with this.

“Baby…”

“Tell me.”

“I put an end to the human trafficking ring he set up.”

I blinked.

I closed my eyes as tears seeped through and slid down my cheeks.

That meant that Lucinda…

A loud sob pushed through my throat, and Gabriel pulled me closer to his body.

“Fuck, baby. I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. It wasn’t his fault. I was the one who’d pushed for the answer.

Even if Lucinda was alive, she would have been living all these years in hell.

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