Page 55 of Until Retribution Burns (Beauty in Lies 3)

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Rafael

Iglanced down at my hands as I stretched them, the cuts across the tops of my knuckles flexing and cracking with the movement. Prowling toward the bedroom at the top of the stairs the morning after my argument withmi reina, I spun quickly when I realized the door was open and Isa was nowhere to be found.

I’d left her alone the entire day before, staying at the warehouse and choosing to beat Timofey to a pulp instead of returning home to the wife who didn’t want me and could very easily make the choice for me to send her back toEl Infiernowhere she would have peace from me for the time being.

Instead of saying something I may come to regret because of my inability to express my displeasure physically, I gave her the space I knew we both needed to prevent something unforgivable. I didn’t regret the shot but fucking my pregnant wife while she cried had little appeal for me.

I wanted her to fight me, to claw her rage into my skin and claim she didn’t want me as she came on my cock and proved that no matter what I did, she would still be mine.

I hurried down the steps to go in search of my wayward wife, my heart in my throat when I found the main space just as empty as it had been when I walked through the doors. “Isa!” I called, spinning and looking around the house as my fury and panic rose into my throat. Aaron stepped out from the kitchen, pointing toward the pool where Isa sat on one of the round cushions on the terrace.

Hugo was beside her, his arm wrapped around her as she cuddled into his side. His fingers rested against the tattoo on her forearm, so close to the brand that marked her as mine.

How quickly she’d sought comfort from another man in my absence rattled the nightmare inside me, feeling it claw its way up my throat as if it could devour Isa whole for the betrayal she gave in response to mine.

I tugged open the terrace doors as quietly as I could, stepping outside slowly so I wouldn’t disrupt their private moment. Staying close to the house, I watched the side of Isa’s face as she tugged her head away from Hugo’s chest. The puffy, red eye and deep circle under it gave me pause, the physical signs of her sleepless night making something ache inside me.

I couldn’t be the husband she deserved who soothed her stress and told her everything would be okay. Her life with me would be tumultuous, and I’d push her far more than I’d ever offer her comfort. Even if I was capable of being as gentle and caring with her as Hugo was, men like that quickly found themselves dead in my world when they were in positions of power. If I couldn’t even control my wife, then I stood little to no chance of controlling my men or my enemies.

She could rebel. She could fight me. But in the end, Isa would obey me as her husband, even if I had to force her.

Our lives depended on it.

Isa’s voice barely reached me when she spoke. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now,” she whispered, her bottom lip trembling as she looked at her friend. It said everything about how desperate she was for someone to talk to that she’d gone to him in the first place.

She might have tentatively forgiven Hugo for his betrayal, but their friendship was a far cry from what it had been before coming to Ibiza. She never sought him out, tolerating his presence as some of the only company she had available to her, but there was never a doubt in my mind that she’d embrace Regina as her main companion the moment we returned home.

“You have two choices. You can either ask Rafael to send you home toEl Infiernoout of spite so that he misses the pregnancy he risked your unhappiness to have, or you can stay here and make it work for the sake of the baby,” Hugo said softly, rubbing a soothing hand over her upper arm. “I hate that those are the only choices you have, but…” he trailed off, letting the words hang in the air between them.

But…I would allow nothing else.

Isa touched her stomach, rubbing a soothing hand over what would become a baby bump, her maternal instincts taking over until her brain had time to catch up with it. “Is staying here really what’s best for the baby though?” she asked, her voice hesitant as if it pained her to speak the words. “Being around Rafe, dealing with knowing that he’llalwayslie to me and keep secrets, that kind of stress can’t be good for the baby. Maybe it’s better if I go home and accept that it’ll never be a real marriage.”

“Do you love him?” Hugo asked, glancing toward where I lurked by the house. He knew I was listening, proceeding with the conversation as if he knew that I needed to hear Isa’s uninhibited thoughts when she thought I wasn’t listening.

“Yes,” she said, not even pausing before she gave her answer. Something in my chest loosened, knowing that with that love, we could find a way to work through all the obstacles between us. The secrets I kept couldn’t be what tore us apart, not after everything that had transpired to bring us to this point in our lives. “That’swhyit hurts. If I didn’t care about him, I wouldn’t be surprised or hurt by the lies. But he made me believe that he wanted me to be more than just the wife waiting in his bed and the incubator for his heirs. He made me believe that he wanted me to be strong enough to stand beside him and go toe to toe with the devil.”

Hugo sighed as if it pained him to have to say what would come next. “I think you’re forgetting how different your relationship was when he brought you toEl Infierno. He was furious with you, and you’d already tried to run from him. A child makes it harder for you to leave him.”

“So... he just wanted to tie me to him? It was never about wanting the baby itself?” she asked, the whisper of her voice heartbreaking. For a child she claimed she wasn’t ready for, the potential of me not wanting it seemed to strike her straight in the heart.

“I think Rafael is complicated and those answers can only come from him. I’m not privy to the inner workings of his fucked up head. I just think you’re forgetting that he didn’t givemi reinaa fertility shot. He gave hisprincesaone. You were a different girl then, and so was your relationship,” Hugo explained, tugging her into his chest once more and resting his chin against the top of her head. Only the feeling of their sibling-like relationship prevented me from ripping his body apart piece by piece, and even still it was tempting.

Isa wouldn’t appreciate it.

“I don’t know how to be a mother,” Isa admitted, her voice an ache that reflected the fresh wounds of her relationship with her own.

“I think you’ll be an incredible mother. Just give your child everything you wish your mom had given you. Be your grandmother, without the expectation of a legacy. Being Rafael’s heir will put enough pressure on the kid, if he’s a boy, at least. They’ll just need you to support them and love them.”

“You seem to forget I’ve babysat plenty. I know there’s more to it than that,” Isa said, a hoarse chuckle escaping her throat.

“Fair enough, but you’ll have an entire village who would do anything to help you. You have Regina and the three of us. You’ll be lucky if you get any time with the baby at this rate,” he said with a laugh. Isa cast a hesitant glance over to where Joaquin watched the scene unfolding with amusement.

I just imagined her trying to picture Joaquin holding a baby in his arms. I somehow doubted it would happen as often as Hugo seemed to think.

“Love finds a way, Isa,” Hugo said, shifting his weight so that Isa sat straight up once more. Her eyes came over to mine, shock expressive in her eyes. I wondered for a moment if she would be furious for the fact that Hugo had known I listened to their conversation, but shrugged it off as I moved away from the house and approached them.

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