Page 8 of Until Retribution Burns (Beauty in Lies 3)

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Isa

The walls were closing in around me. Martina sat beside me, her hand rubbing over the back of mine as we waited for Rafael and Andrés to emerge from the office with the answers we sought. Without being able to explain it, I already knew that those questions would go unanswered.

Nothing about my life had been simple. The mystery shrouding Rafael's father throwing me in the river couldn't be any different. Perhaps foolishly, I believed Rafe when he told me he'd had no knowledge of his father's involvement after swearing it on his mother’s grave, but that belief could only stem so far without understanding what had really happened.

The connection was far-fetched. It was complicated and messy.

I'd let Rafael turn me into a nightmare, pulling the demon from inside me until I no longer recognized the person staring back at me in the mirror. I'd done it because, in spite of everything he'd done, I loved him more than I wanted to breathe.

I couldn't deny that he'd somehow seen that darkness in my soul and known it would complement his. He’d known that I had never been meant to stay in the light. Most girls who were attracted to bad boys wanted to offer them a path to the light, to show them the beauty in the sunshine. I'd let Rafael drag me into the night with him, dancing with the devil in the moonlight and seeing the beauty in the shadows.

The worst part was that I didn't regret any of it in the end. Because I felt more understood in the moments when the devil moved inside me than I had sitting in a room with my family. I felt more alive with my hands on the knife protruding from a man's heart, watching the life fade out of his eyes as his blood soaked my fingers.

"It will be alright," Martina soothed, her voice soft and reflective as she spoke to me. I turned my blank stare her way, my brow furrowed as I tried to understand how that could be possible.

"My father-in-law tried to kill me," I whispered. Speaking the words out loud somehow made them feel more real, as if the fact that they'd passed through my head time and time again since realizing the truth hadn't been enough affirmation. A hysterical laugh bubbled up in my throat, coming out in a choked sob as Martina shifted to wrap her arm around my shoulders.

"What is it?" Sebastian asked, narrowing his eyes on me. Since discovering the truth of what his uncle had done, I hadn't been able to look at him. I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it the moment I met him. He was the picture of Miguel, only younger and without the same harshness to his face.

Andrés wasn’t quite the same, but close enough that I could see the resemblance now that I knew the truth.

Extra time would have been a gift he didn't deserve, but my hand clenched as if a knife was still within my grip and I could drive it into his heart. If I'd enjoyed killing Maxim, I couldn't imagine the vindictive pleasure that would consume me if I'd been able to kill Rafael's father.

"Is he rolling in his grave to know his son has married the child he tried to murder? Or is he pleased since he probably hated his son in his final moments at the very least, considering Rafael burned him alive?"

Sebastian leaned back in his chair, his fingers gripping the arms as he watched me. Observing me and looking for signs of weakness, as I kept my face a blank mask even though I wanted to be overwhelmed by all I'd done and all I'd learned.

Rafael might have trusted his uncle and cousins, but I trusted no one.

Not even my husband himself.

"I would imagine he hated his son as the fire melted the flesh from his skin," Sebastian admitted. Martina's breath left her in a startled gasp as the weight of her arm left my shoulder. She disappeared from my side, retreating from the room as the conversation shifted to the more detailed aspects of the violence her husband and children lived in a daily life.

There'd been a time only days ago when I thought I would need to remain separate from Rafael's violence to function, so that I could live with the reality that I'd fallen in love with a murderer. Instead, I'd come face to face with the nightmare living inside his skin.

I'd looked the devil in the eye, and let him make mehisdemon.

Sebastian nodded when I didn't so much as flinch at the violent words, a twisted smirk transforming his face that reminded me so much of his cousin. That same darkness that resided in Rafael lived in him too, a monster waiting to reveal its true form when the timing was appropriate. "I hope he hates the knowledge that his bloodline will be tainted by me. I hope it haunts him in the afterlife," I growled, the words coming from somewhere deep within me.

From that well of darkness that I'd spent my life keeping suppressed.

"I believe I might have underestimated you,mi reina," he said. His voice was quiet as he glanced toward the hallway, as if he thought Rafael might disapprove of the name when it came from his mouth, but others had called me that name without consequence.

I suspected Rafael may not appreciate it coming from his cousin’s mouth.

"You are truly not bothered by the knowledge that Rafael ordered his father tied to the pyre? That he set it aflame and stood close enough to feel the heat as his father screamed? What sort of man is capable of such a thing?" Even as Sebastian spoke the words, there was no condemnation in them. I knew without a doubt that he would have done the same thing if he thought he had an enemy, particularly one who would have harmed his mother.

"But Rafael is not a man at all, is he?" I asked, tilting my head to the side as a smile claimed my face. It felt strange, unhuman in the same way that Rafael's was when he was consumed by his darkness. "He'sEl Diablo.My only regret is that Miguel did not have to experience barbed wire tearing his flesh apart while water filled his lungs before he burned. That he wasn't raped as he did to Regina. He should have suffered for every crime he’s committed against innocent people."

"So violent," he purred, standing from his seat with a seductive grin. He moved to the liquor cabinet at the side of the room, pouring whiskey into a tumbler and bringing it to me. "Welcome to the family, Isa. I think you'll do just fine."

I nodded, accepting the drink and taking a deep swig of it despite the burn as it trailed down my throat.

"Fuck!" Rafael's roar came from the office, and Sebastian spun to the hallway as I dropped the tumbler on a side table and vaulted to my feet.

"Stay here," Sebastian ordered as he pointed at the sofa. The muffled sounds of a crash came from the office, the pure rage continuing to accompany the shattering of glass. He exchanged a brief glance with Joaquin, my bodyguard moving to grasp my arm in his grip.

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