Page 114 of Violent Attraction

“You said you believed and loved.” I state, not moving my hand from hers. “Are those two things something that you no longer feel?”

Isabella takes a second before she lets out a sigh. “I love you, with all my heart, you know that. I just think that maybe, if we continue this relationship, that we take some time and find ourselves individually before we can find who we are together. Neither of us is the person we were a year ago. I feel like I lost a big part of me this last year. That I lost a lot of my strength due to fear and I need to gain it back. I need to build myself back up and be someone that I absolutely love. If I don’t do that, I will never be happy.”

I give her a hand a reassuring squeeze.

“What do you want us to do Isabella?”

“I want to be with you, that much I know, but maybe we don’t jump into the way things were. We could go slow and find who we are again while we spend time together and get to know each other again. We both have changed, and it might be nice to finally figure out a way to navigate this relationship in the outside world where everyone could see.”

I shift on the bed scooting closer to her, placing my hands on either side of her face.

“Whatever you want. Whatever you need, I will give it to you. Because you deserve the world Isabella Morales, and I will fight to give it to you.” I lean forward and place a chaste kiss on her lips.

I mean every single word. If this is the route she wants to take, then let’s do it. I’m not going anywhere. I’m in no way going to walk away from this woman ever again.

“There’s one more thing that I want,” she places her hands on mine, holding me to her.

“What is it?”

“I want to be in that meeting you and Leo arrange with my father.”

32

Want to know what I thought the response was going to be when I asked to join the meeting between Leo, Santos and my father?

Fuck no.

No way in fucking hell.

Are you out of your fucking mind?

Granted, I did receive a variation of all three responses from my brother when Santos informed him of what I wanted to do, but after some very heavy convincing, I was able to get him to agree.

Now the three of us, freshly off the family plane, are on our way to the estate.

The thought of even seeing my father makes me nervous. Which is causing my leg to bounce up and down the whole drive there.

Santos must have noticed my nerves, because halfway to the estate, he places a hand on my thigh.

“Everything is going to be okay,” he tells me before he leans in and place a kiss on my temple.

All I can do is continue to shake my leg and nod.

“So, I’m being forced to ask this, but what is going on with you two? Are you together?”

I turn to watch Leo shift uncomfortably. I guess he really would do anything for his wife, including getting information like, no doubt, to tell her friend Aria.

“I’ll answer your question if you answer mine, why is your wife so invested in our relationship status?” I raise an eyebrow at him, challenging him.

He shrugs. “She says that your relationship is better than the novelas on TV.”

“Serena watches novelas?” Santos leans around me to look at my brother.

Leo rolls his eyes. “She started a few weeks ago. She wants to learn Spanish and apparently the only way to do that is to watch over dramatic women on Netflix.”

“Aw, someone sounds bitter,” I pat his thigh.

“I mean, I’m right there. I could teach her. But no, the second she gets home a novela gets put on. She even called me a pendejo estupido the other day because I didn’t clean the kitchen.”

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