“Don’t worry,” I told her gruffly. “I won’t ask anything more of you.”
I let go of her and she stepped back, still looking shocked, as if it hadn’t been her husband at all that had kissed her. It took all of me to not feel even remotely humiliated.
With her head down, she slowly turned away, as if to run.
“Oh,” I said lightly before she could leave the kitchen. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to Esteban about the interrogation process.”
“Why … why Esteban?” she asked, slowly turning around, hand at her chest.
I frowned, not liking her reaction. “Because I know you two are close. And I also know he thinks he has a right to know my business. Our business. He doesn’t. So as far as you know now, I’m still interrogating Evaristo and he hasn’t said anything. Can you do that? Can you lie?”
I swear I saw relief wash over her. She nodded quickly and left the room, leaving me alone.
Of course she could lie. I knew she was lying to me already.
I just didn’t know about what.
But I knew I’d get it out of her.
And that it was going to hurt.
CHAPTER TEN
Esteban
That night, Luisa didn’t come out to see Esteban. He sat on the fencepost for a while, then thinking perhaps he was being too bold, he headed along the rails until they dipped over the hill. He waited in the wash, at the base of the acacia. He went over the ridge and waited on the boulders until the moon was halfway across the night sky.
She never came.
This didn’t worry him. It angered him. How fucking dare she stand up their tryst already, leaving him hanging out to dry? If Javier weren’t around, he’d give her a black eye to teach her a lesson, and that would be getting off easily. Hell, he thought he should give her a black eye anyway. How would she explain it? That Esteban hit her for no reason? Not damn likely.
It didn’t really matter now. Tomorrow he was making the call. Tomorrow he would set everything in motion and things would change, for the better. For him and Luisa, at first. And then just for him.
He dusted his hands off on his shorts and headed back to the house. Maybe he could sneak into her room and have a quick fuck there before escaping out the door to the patio. Maybe that’s what she was waiting for.
He had to admit, he was starting to look forward to their escapades. Sure, she didn’t respond in the same way that Juanito did. She didn’t have that fear of him. She didn’t mind pain so much. But he knew she would in time, and just picturing that was enough to get him going.
Besides, Luisa really was beautiful. In any other life and at any other time, he could imagine himself being with her. Not forever. Not really for any length of time. And he certainly wouldn’t love her because he could never feel that emotion, let alone be that selfless.
But he would have a good time with her. She would fulfill his needs. She was stunning to look at, beautiful to feel, and he’d enjoyed corrupting her once pure soul bit by bit. He would have shown Luisa proudly on his arm to anyone who looked his way, and he would feel like the king of the world to have such a rare creature in his possession — smart, funny, gorgeous. She was beautiful and yet he hated it at the same time.
And then in the end, he would say goodbye and move on. He probably wouldn’t even kill her. He’d just let her leave and that would be the end of it. It was almost noble of him in this imaginary future.
But that’s not the way his world worked, and it wasn’t the hand he had been dealt. This Luisa wasn’t really his. She didn’t really care for him at all — he was just a cock and an excuse to exact her own brand of revenge on Javier. He didn’t care one way or another what her feelings were because the damage had already been done.
Soon Javier would find out, when Esteban allowed it. The day after tomorrow. When everything else in the patron’s life went to shit. He would know and Esteban would become king.
Smiling to himself, he walked down the hallway and stopped at Luisa’s door, about to knock.
“What are you doing?” Javier asked, voice cold as steel in the dark.
Esteban turned to see Javier at the end. He had blended in with the shadows a little too well, the light from the kitchen failing to illuminate him until he walked forward and stopped just as the light hit his eyes.
God, his eyes were some scary ass shit at times, Esteban thought. Like a snake’s.
“I was seeing if Luisa was awake,” Esteban said, knowing it would only make Javier suspicious if he tried to cover it up.
“Why?” Javier’s eyes locked on him in that very hawk-like way. They burned amber under his black brows while the shadows played up his high cheekbones and wide mouth.
Esteban shrugged and gave him his trademark stupid grin. “Bored, I guess. You’re not around much.”
Javier’s jaw tensed. “I’ve been busy.”
“Has the fed talked yet?”
He shook his head. “Soon though.”
It better not be until the day after tomorrow, Esteban thought. I need Evaristo here.
“And what’s the plan after that?” he asked, just to keep him talking, to get him to forget that he was ever about to knock on Luisa’s door because he was “bored.”
“You’ll see,” Javier said. He eyed his wife’s door and said, “If I were you, I’d let her sleep. She’s had a long day. Goodnight.”
As Javier turned around and disappeared into the dark hall, Esteban frowned. Had Javier been with Luisa today? When? And why?