Page 152 of Dex

Ramos steps between us, eyes hard.“If she regrets anything, it’s marrying you.”

“The fuck she does,” I snarl.

“She can’t trust you,” Ramos signals for something.Someone.“Your father stole her father’s company.”

“I’m fixing that,” I snap.“All of it.What my old man did, what he took.He’s going to lose it all.”

“Empty promises,” Ramos jeers.Just then I hear a skirmish behind me.Plates smashing, glasses shattering.I turn around, to find two burly men in a fisticuff.

My security detail, and I’m guessing, Ramos’.

“Call yours off,” I hiss to Ramos.“The last thing we need is a goddamn fucking spectacle.”

“I’m sorry.”I hold my hands up helplessly to someone who looks like the manager.Next to him, a team of servers quickly and quietly work at clearing up the mess.

“Don’t listen to this buffoon,” Ramos urges Daniela.“These people cannot be trusted.You know that now.You’ve learned the hard way.”

“Don’t listen to him.I’m putting things right,” I tell her.“We’re working on a deal to give your father his majority share back.”

Daniela’s eyes widen.“What?How?”

Ramos pokes me in the chest.“You little—”

“Get your fucking paws off me, man.”I turn to the woman I love.“I was a fool.I never planned to stay.But you changed that.You changed me.”

Ramos pokes me again.“You crazy American—”

“Let him talk.”Daniela’s voice, cold and cutting, stops Ramos in his tracks.

I’m desperate for her to believe me.“I know about the original contract,” I say, my voice low so that Ramos won’t hear.She stands up, her body slightly turned towards me, like we’re blocking Ramos out.Like it’s just the two of us here.“I know he intended to do the dirty from the start.He was just waiting for the year to be up.”

Her brows push together.“Your father ...”

“Is evil.I know.I warned you from the start.”

“I didn’t realize just how evil.”

“You wouldn’t have, because your heart is pure.There’s not an ounce of nastiness in you.I love you, Daniela.I love you so damn much, and if there’s even a sliver of a chance you still love me too, please don’t make this mistake.”

Ramos slams his hand on the table, reminding us that he’s still here.We flinch.“If she walks away now, Knight, you’ll never get the company back.She won’t either.I’ll make sure of it.”

“I won’t either?Is that a threat, Oscar?”Daniela’s voice has a deathly quiet edge to it.Ramos narrows his eyes, like the demure woman he thought he was dealing with is suddenly ready to slay.“I see what this is,” she continues, chin tilted up, eyes defiant.“It was never about helping my father.It was about owning me.”

The old man’s jaw ticks.“You made a deal, and you must keep it.”He starts to reach across the table for her hand.

I see red.“Touch her and I swear—”

The man stops.Daniela presses into the table, rising slowly.“I agreed to the deal, but I take it back.”

Ramos waggles his finger at her.“You’ll regret this.My men will destroy you, your family, and your father’s so-called legacy.”

I face Ramos, my voice calm but lethal.“And my family will eat you alive.”

Daniela steps forward, anger blazing in her eyes.“You don’t get to decide what happens to me, Oscar.Not you, not Dexter, not anyone.I choose my future, and who I spend it with.And I choose Dexter.”

She gives me her hand, and I grab it firmly, like my life depends on it, and it does.I see that now.Her palm, warm, soft, and familiar makes my skin break out in goosebumps.From the moment she walked out of my life, I’ve been on tenterhooks.Now, with her hand in mine, I find my footing on solid ground again.can finally breathe again.

Ramos pounds the table with his fist.“You’re doing this?You’re going back to the American?The one who broke you?The one who let you walk away?He’s not your future.He’s your mistake.”

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