Page 4 of Virgin's Stolen Nights with the Boss

‘Perhaps,’ Alejandro agreed, ‘but he always said this was to be your home.’

Papáhadsaid that.

It was clear that this legal dispute had nothing to do with money. This property, the land, were small change in the grand scheme of things.

‘This was our home...’ Alejandro said as they came to the sweeping driveway.

Carmen could see the pain in his features, knew that the agony of their childhood wasn’t solely hers.

Sebastián was less sentimental. ‘She had nothing to do with Papá until she discovered he was dying, and she hasn’t been near the place in twenty-five years.’

Perhaps he caught Carmen’s awkward swallow, or noticed that she’d turned away from her brother’s gaze.

‘Is there something you’re not telling me?’

‘Of course not.’

‘Because if we do fight her, then it will all come out in court.’

He levelled a shrewd stare at his sister, but Carmen looked away and stood silent as he carried on speaking.

‘Fair enough. I get that you need a change of scene. Just don’t rush into anything. I’m going to speak with Dante.’

The Romeros really did have everything: Capitán Dante was the captain of Sebastián’s luxury yacht.

‘He’ll organise a leaving party for you. Anna and Emily will want to see you before you leave.’

‘Of course.’

Carmen nodded and kissed Sebastián on the cheek, then watched him walk towards the car. She wished Alejandro would leave with him.

‘Carmen,’ Alejandro said. ‘What’s going on?’

‘I just miss Papá so much...’

‘I know.’

‘I feel as if I let him down...’

Herpapáhad always said he wanted to see her married, to walk her down the aisle. But she had balked at the men her father had deemed suitable, or she had tried dating them only for it to end in disaster. Carmen knew she had intimacy issues, and was so terrified of rejection that she simply did not know how to let anyone get close.

And then there had been the endless rows that had soured the time she’d had left with her father following his diagnosis. She had loathed how he had taken back their mother, and how he had continued to defend her and explain away her actions. And now, in Carmen’s name, the Romero siblings wanted to dispute their father’s will...

‘I don’t know if I want to fight,’ Carmen admitted, wondering where all the anger she’d once nurtured had gone. ‘Alejandro, what if she’s changed—?’

‘Carmen!’ he interrupted swiftly. ‘You know better than that.’

‘Of course. But what if she really wants to come back here...?’

She saw his expression and halted. Of her two brothers, she had thought Alejandro would be the one who might just understand. Despite everything that had happened, the child inside Carmen still wanted to believe her mother had changed, wanted to give her this chance to prove it...

But, no. ‘Do not go soft on her now,’ Alejandro warned her darkly.

Carmen felt his words like a knife in her heart. Something inside her had changed since her father’s death, and she feared that maybe Alejandro was right: shewasgoing soft. In fact, scared that she was weakening, she had, unbeknownst to her brothers, already booked her flight.

She was leaving for LA tonight. No sentimental goodbye party on a yacht for her!

She felt it was imperative that she get away as soon as possible.

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