Page 130 of Corrupted Deception

I had to run through the long list of names and faces in my head—which was no simple task when it tended to get messy and disorganized in there.

“The maid of honor,” he explained, nodding to the blonde-haired woman who followed behind Raven and Nico in the procession.

Right. That was Greta. She’d been one of the first guests to arrive—Vito’s niece…apparently, and she was dating the biggest biker Id ever seen. An attractive man, but big. Really freaking big.

I nodded. “I liked her,” I said because she was kind of impossible not to like. She radiated the kind of larger-than-life energy that was almost addictive. That, and she seemed like a bit of a daredevil to me. I could definitely work with that.

“I’m glad,” he said, smiling, “but don’t ever tell her you could outdrink her.”

Hm, interesting.I definitely wasn’t going to do that—really.

It turned out, though, I didn’t get a chance. Between dinner and dancing and conversations with everyone from a man named Rome—cool name—who worked for Raven’s family to a blue-eyed, blond-haired biker in his mid-twenties named Hack. I had a feeling that he and I had a lot in common.

I danced with Julio and Nacio, Deo and Matteo—which Cielo seemed to accept grudgingly. But when a man named Leo pulled me onto the dance floor, I could actually see the vein in Cielo’s temple start to pulse while he tried to keep up conversation with his dance partner, Leo’s girlfriend—Ella, I thought was her name.

The moment the song ended, I thanked Leo for the dance and hightailed my ass off the dancefloor.

Before Cielo could catch up to me, Greta snagged him for another dance, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I needed a break, an escape. My anxiety levels were rising, surrounded by so many people and so much noise.

I wandered away from the crowd, weaving through Guayacán and mango trees back to my favorite spot, just off from where the ceremony had taken place.

I could almost believe in fairytales here. The hibiscus flowers and orchids, the greenery so lush and bright, even in the moonlight, it seemed to glow. More than that, this place was alive, the squawks of black-crowned night herons, the croaks and gargles of pauraques, the rush of cascading water in the background.

Isabella and I had climbed those rocks, slippery from the spray of the water, so close to the falls. We’d swam in the pool at the base of them and brought Emilio here more times than I could count.

Isabella was gone. Emilio was gone. And now Val too.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

“This is a lot of people,cariño,” Nacio said, coming up beside me.

I smiled as I opened my eyes, remembering the small, intimate affair Nacio’s wedding had been. They’d had little family, and Isabella had never been much for the spotlight.

“Are you okay, Nacio?”

His lips turned up in an almost smile. “Isabella would approve; she would be happy.”

“Yeah, she would.”

While she’d never been the woman who wanted the spotlight, she’d liked people. She’d always beenkinddespite the cruel world she’d grown up in. And Emilio? He’d been just like her. Well, a more energetic version of her, maybe. He’d been a little ball of energy, just like Nic. And a little mischievous—I think he’d gotten that from Nacio.

God, I missed them.

“Don’t stay out here too long. Cielo might get worried,” Nacio said, just a hint of a grudging tone in his voice.Overprotective uncles.

Nacio wandered back toward the crowd, but he hadn’t been gone two minutes when footsteps sounded through the brush several yards away, two sets, moving fast.

A couple came out from the other side of the clearing, maybe twenty feet from me. With the trees all around me and their attention fully engrossed in each other, they didn’t see me.

I could have left. I should have left.

But when the man slammed the woman up against the tree nearest them, I paused, feeling trapped, not really wanting to draw attention to myself.

I’d never seen the woman before, but the man looked vaguely familiar. I’d definitely met him.

“Oh, Caio, yes. More,” the woman cried in Spanish as he delved for her neck and their hands went to work between them, unfastening and yanking clothes.

Right. Caio—one of the younger Costa brothers.

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