Page 32 of His to Bedevil

I give her half a smile. “My mother practically ran the empire right by my father’s side. She knows exactly who I am and what I do.” She might not know everything about the situation with Irma, but it wouldn’t shock her if she did.

“What about your father?”

Realizing Irma’s curiosity isn’t going away any time soon, I close my laptop once again. “Didn’t you do some research on me before you tried to steal from me?” I lean back in my seat and sip my latte.

She shrugs and picks at her salad. “Some. I may have skimmed through your file.”

Smiling, I sip more of my latte. “My father died two years ago. Shot down by a former enemy,” I abbreviate for her. No need to go into the gruesome details.

“I’m sorry,” she says quickly, and looks away. “What happened to whoever killed him?”

I grin and wait for her to meet my gaze before answering her. When those bold green eyes finally lift to fixate on mine, I see her swallow hard and stifle a shiver. “What do you think happened to them?”

“Them?”

I nod. “The one who pulled the trigger isn’t the only who paid the price. Him, all his men, and their families.”

Her eyes widen in horror. “Their families?”

“Yes.” I don’t tell her that I spared the children. I let her imagination go wild instead. It’s best that she knows I use a heavy hand when doling out retribution. I do possess some clemency inside of me, but it’s not something I can afford to announce.

She averts her gaze once more. “I guess it’s what you have to do to be who you are.” Her words shock me, and her casualness is a bit perplexing. It’s true that I sometimes need to instill fear to have the respect of the people, but she doesn’t seem repelled by the fact that I admitted to it. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I or my father or his father were soft and merciful.

Seeing that she’s done with talking for now as she grows silent, I do some more work and she eats the rest of her lunch. After she’s done eating, we go outside onto the terrace. We both choose to sit in the shade, her lying back on a lounger and me at the table there. I wish I could put the laptop away and give her all of my attention, but there’s too much to catch up on, and this deal with the Russians is not going as smoothly as expected. A couple of familiars are not in full harmony with the others.

“So, when do we leave?” she asks, and I look up to see her watching me.

“Not for a few more hours.”

“Shouldn’t I go pack or something?”

My lips twitch at the corner. “The maids have it all under control. If you’d like, you can go take a hot bath to kill some time.”

“Alone?” She cocks an eyebrow and smiles hopefully.

“I’m afraid I have too much work that requires my immediate attention to join you.” Swinging her thin legs to the side, she gets to her feet with a little too much enthusiasm. “But don’t worry,mi amor. You can join me for my shower before we leave.” I wink as her smile drops and she glares at me. Then she turns on her heels and heads inside, and I watch her full retreat.

Smiling to myself, I try to concentrate on my work rather than the thought of Irma naked and wet inside my bathtub.

Time and patience.

Irma

True to his word, Alejo pulls me into the shower with him hours later. Supposedly, we’re leaving soon to head to Cuba. A country I’ve always dreamed of visiting. I know I have family there, but I haven’t seen or spoken to them since I was a small child. My grandparents never liked my father, and so I’ve only met them a few times when they made the trip to see us. But I do remember them being loving and kind and always so excited to see me. They always brought me gifts and only spoke in Spanish. Those few times they came to visit were some of my favorite memories.

In the shower I accede to letting Alejo wash my body and my hair. I’m just fighting a losing battle if I argue or protest. He hasn’t touched me since he went down on me yesterday, but I know he’s fighting with himself not to. He’s fully erect, and his eyes burn with desire when he looks at me. As his hands roam my wet body with soap, I think about giving in. Just one more time. Maybe if I did, then he would let me see Matches as soon as we get to Cuba. But no, I can’t do that. I won’t be a whore like my mother. To sleep with someone to get something in return. Sure, I’ve done that a couple of times on a couple different assignments, but it felt different. I was someone else to them. I was playing a role. If I were to sleep with Alejo, he’d be sleeping with Irma. Not Fynn or Amy or any other aliases I have. And I’m not sure I would be able to shut that part of me off with him. I can’t fall for my captor. I can’t fall for this beautiful monster. Although it would be so easy, and that’s what terrifies me most of all.

Alejo tells me to dress comfortably, since we’ll be arriving there late at night. So, I put on some workout clothes, since somehow we did not even look at any pajamas or sleep clothes. A little coincidental if you ask me. I’m pretty sure he prefers me in his T-shirts or naked when we go to bed, so I’m sure he told the store owner not to bother with any.

We finally board the plane as the sun is setting. It’s at a private airstrip, and we rolled in with as much security as the small private plane could carry. Dozens of armed men with us. It should be unsettling to me being surrounded by so many large and armed men, but with Alejo at my side, I feel safe and secure. It doesn’t make any sense, since I’m still somewhat his prisoner. The only reason I am still breathing is because he—I don’t even know!

Alejo leads me past a bunch of luxury seating and toward the back of the plane to some more luxury seating. Our seats are across from each other with a small table in between us. He has me sit down first and fasten my seat belt before he takes his own seat facing me and does the same.

The flight is about two hours long, but it sucks not having anything like a book or some music to keep me entertained, or distracted from staring at Alejo like I sometimes catch myself doing when I don’t think he’s paying attention. Watching him, cataloging each feature and mannerism. Each time, I tell myself that I’m just studying him, getting to know him and what buttons I can find on him, but I always end up admiring him and his handsome face instead. He may be my captor, but he is surely captivating.

I ignore Alejo speaking to Diego in rapid Spanish and focus out the window. I still can’t believe this is all happening to me. It’s been over a month since I met Alejandro, and as each day passes, I am no closer to figuring out what he really wants from me. It would be easy to assume he wants sex, but it’s not like he has any trouble getting with whoever he wants. Why me? I’m pretty, and I work hard for a good body, but I’m notthatpretty. So, it can’t be only sex that he wants. Plus, he could have forced himself on me already, and I see how badly he wants to, but he doesn’t. He got ahold of Matches, so he doesn’t need me for any more information, and he hasn’t even asked me for any in a while. Once he learned my real name and who my partner was, it’s like he didn’t care anymore.

So, what the hell does he want?Every time I ask him, he tells me “everything.” But what the hell does that even mean? He wants me in his bed, but we haven’t even had sex; he wants me with him every day, but he keeps me cooped up in his room all the time. I have no idea what his true intentions are, and I don’t know how else to ask.

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