Page 52 of Captivating Nights

A choked sob fell from her lips and she turned her head away from him. Cali could only imagine what hearing about her being stranded in the ocean on a boat during a storm did to him. Inadvertently, she’d made him relive his worst nightmare.

“And afterward,” Xavier said, finally speaking, “Zane went on a path of self-destruction that I’d only witnessed once before in my life.”

Cali turned toward the other man. It might have explained who Elena was, but it still didn’t account for the other woman. “W-what about Raquel?”

Xavier stood there silently, and Cali waited for a response. Zane finally released her from his hold and looked at his friend.

“You need to tell her, X.”

The man scowled, and apprehension curled inside of her gut. Something told her whoever this woman was her end was possibly as tragic. In a way, she didn’t think she could handle whatever truth Zane was urging him to spill, but on the other hand, Cali had to know. “Please, tell me.”

“Raquel Rivera was my mother, and she is as dead to me as Elena Marchand is to everyone else.” Xavier paused there, watching her the entire time.

“She died?” Cali asked, slightly confused.

“She might be alive and breathing, but it doesn’t mean that she’s not dead to me.”

Cali still didn’t understand. She walked over to Xavier when he’d turned away from her. There was such pain in his eyes as well, and she needed to know so she could understand him better. Placing her hand on his arm, she tried not to take offense when he jerked away. “What did she do to you?”

Finally, he turned around and cupped her face between his hands. “When I was seven, she walked out on me and my father and never looked back.”

Cali’s eyes widened. “What kind of mother would walk away from her son?”

“One who only cared about herself. She wanted to be free of all responsibilities and left me alone to help my father pick up the fucking pieces of his life.”

She hadn’t even realized she had spoken out loud until he’d answered her.

“But who was there to pick up the pieces of yours?” Cali had to ask and saw the shrug of his shoulders.

“My father took it worse than I did. For years he’d lost himself in a bottle of alcohol. A once powerful man was reduced to a broken shell of one. I watched him drink away half of our fortune and swore to myself that I’d never allow another woman into my heart,” he told her, and she could hear the sincerity in his voice.

Her heart broke for these two strong men, who’d dealt with so much loss in their lives. Cali had never had anyone to lose, until them. The pain when she left the island, and then later the region, was the kind she’d never wish on anyone. There was one thing she still didn’t understand, which was what Raquel had to do with her.

Xavier must have read her thoughts because he lowered his head, and when his lips hovered just over hers, he whispered, “I love you, belleza.”

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