Page 40 of Until Retribution Burns (Beauty in Lies 3)

Neither of my parents would want to see me wrapped up in Rafael in that way, married or not.

The car stopped in front of the house, and I watched in horror as my parents and grandmother stumbled out of the car, blinking back shock as they took in the enormous stone manor that Rafael owned as what was apparently one of many homes he—we—had around the world. “What were they thinking bringing her here?” he grunted, his annoyance matching mine as Odina stepped out of the backseat.

Where my parents’ faces were filled with all the wonder I’d imagined I would see, Odina glared at the house with the loathing I’d come to recognize as being reserved for me. Her jaw clenched as she ground her teeth to clamp down on her aggravation, undoubtedly wondering why in the hell I’d managed to end up with the rich husband.

She’d always blamed me for everything I had and she didn’t, no matter what I did. It had just taken me far too long to realize that I could never do right by her.

She wouldn’t let me.

“They were probably thinking that she’s my sister and she has just as much right to make me feel like I made a huge mistake as they do,” I sighed. I couldn’t even fault them for it, not given what Chloe had probably told them about Rafe, and not given the fact that I had disappeared for a period of time.

I’d have been ready to rip Rafe’s throat out if he’d done it to my daughter too.

My father took my grandmother’s arm, leading her up the steps to the front door. I moved away from the window, hurrying to pull it open for them before they had to deal with knocking and feeling awkward. I forced a broad grin to my face, fighting back the swirling nerves in my gut.

“Hey,” I said, leaning forward to kiss my grandmother on the cheek. She pulled away from my dad, walking fluidly through the room as if she needed to remind the devil I’d married that she was anything but frail.

As if anyone needed the reminder that the matriarch of my family was alive and well. Until I’d met Rafael, she was the most intimidating person I’d ever met.

“Isa,” my dad said, leaning in to give me a quick hug. He backed off slowly as his eyes found Rafe lurking in the dining room, an appeasing smile on his face. I recognized it instantly as the one that he’d used when we’d been in Ibiza, the one designed to put me at ease so he could lure me into his trap.

By the time I’d realized what he was, I was already prey caught in his clutches. Seeing it directed at someone else and knowing exactly what it was disarmed me, making me falter in my step to hug my mom. She looked at my feet in heels, tutting gently with a hesitant smile on her face. “You never did like heels.”

“Death traps for your feet,” I agreed, stepping to the side so Odina could make her way inside without touching me. She waltzed past, making herself at home in the grand entryway as she tended to do and spinning to look at the mostly open concept main floor.

She whistled, looking over to the stairway that led upstairs and the hallway at the back of the main floor. “How big is this place?”

“Big enough,” Rafael said evasively. “I travel with a large group for business and security purposes.” He stepped into the entryway, taking my grandmother’s hands in his and leaning forward to kiss her cheek. “It is my hope that with the initial unpleasantness out of the way, we can have a lovely evening and get to know one another better,” he said, tossing my mother one of his breathtaking smiles.

Would it have been so much to ask for the charming Rafe to make an appearance the first time he met them?

I shook my head, chuckling at my mother’s shocked expression as my grandmother took the arm he offered and allowed him to guide her to the table. “He has the manners I never could get you to acknowledge, Waban,” she said, winking at my father as she took the seat to Rafael’s right. My father rolled his eyes, offering me a mocking arm and guiding me to the other side of the table.

Even though the food wouldn’t arrive for some time, I settled into Rafael’s left as he tucked in my grandmother’s chair. Odina huffed in annoyance, walking herself over to the table and sitting next to my grandmother. My mother took the seat next to me, leaving my father to take the one on her other side.

“Wine?” Rafe asked, uncorking a bottle of red and pouring it into my glass expertly. He moved around the table, playing the dutiful host in the absence of staff since we’d thought it would make my family feel more comfortable if they weren’t being served by the caterer and waiters.

I’d wanted to cook, but doctor’s approval to come off my bed rest or not, apparently that was too much effort for me too quickly.

“Well, if he really is the devil that Chloe said he is, he sure is a pretty one,” my grandmother muttered, taking a sip of the wine Rafael poured her. I snorted a laugh into my glass, chuckling as Rafe gave her a beaming, arrogant grin that showed he knewjusthow beautiful he was.

“Alawa!” my mother scolded, her face shocked as she stared at her mother-in-law. As if anyone could ever expect my grandmother to mind her tongue.

“Who knew the devil was such a gentleman, right?” I asked, smirking at her as she smiled at me.

“I can hardly take offense,” Rafe said, smoothly bending into his seat at the head of the table and waving off my mother’s outrage. Even dressed in jeans and a casual shirt to put my family more at ease, Rafe leaned back in his seat like a king on the throne.

It would have been impossible not to recognize that he held all the power in that room, even if a stranger were to happen upon the scene.

“Is someone else joining us?” my mother asked, glancing at the empty seats at the end of the table where we’d placed a setting for the brothers.

“Hugo and his brothers Gabriel and Joaquin. They should be here any moment. They’re just wrapping up some work in the back,” Rafael said.

“You know Hugo?” my mother asked, her head perking up at the mention of the boy she adored like her own son. His invitation to a family dinner had been entirely strategic. Even though I’d only barely forgiven him for his deceit, I figured the least he could do to make it up to me was help pave the way with my family.

“It’s a small world. It turns out that Hugo’s family works for me. I believe in loyalty within my business, so the Cortes brothers were due to come intern with me when they returned to Ibiza,” Rafe answered, grabbing my hand off my lap and holding it within his as he gave me a secret smile. He placed our joined hands on the table, my rings facing up and practically blinding as the lights reflected off of them.

My mother’s shoulders sagged slightly, the breath wheezing out of her while Hugo appeared at the end of the hallway as if we’d summoned him. She stood from the table, moving to greet him with a kiss to the cheek and a broad grin. “We were just talking about you.”

---