Page 34 of Bastard

Well, that’s an honest answer. “Does my brother even know I’m here with you?”

“No.”

I feel my eyes grow wide. “Why not?” is my next question, but he speaks before I can ask.

“You had plenty of time to move on.”Tap.Tap.Tap.That pen has got to go.“Now, you’re mine. You’ll accompany me as my date to a party in Cape Town.”

I’m his? For a party?As his date?

“I’ll need more information before I commit. Like what kind of party is it?” And what did he mean that I’ve had plenty of time to move on?

“A formal, black-tie event.”

“With friends?”

He snorts. “What do you think? This is strictly business, Luciana.”

I stiffen at his condescending tone. Here he is, feeding me bits and pieces of information then mocks me for not understanding. Dios, he’s gotten worse with age, hasn’t he? The things he’s done in the name of business. What he’s given up. Who he’s hurt. Business is all this man understands.

Tap.Tap.Tap.

“Have you moved on?”

His pencil pauses midair.

“Well?” I arch an eyebrow.

“It’s late. Let’s not do this now.”

Madre mía. He has. Maybe he hasn’t remarried. But unlike me, he’s been living a full life without me.

It hurts.

I glare at him as he resumes the tapping. “Why me? Is it that your other women were occupied elsewhere and couldn’t be your date?”

“I said not now.”Tap.Tap.Tap.

“Or is it they can’t handle you outside the bedroom?”

“What makes you think,” he snaps, “they can handle meinsidethe bedroom?”

I flinch then lose my mind. I smash my hand over his, flattening it on the table and halting the next tap.

Everything happens at once. He’s out of his seat and hauling me up and over the table. I’m cursing, far too angry to be afraid. He’s pushing me backward onto his desk and straddling my hips. I’m bucking up, trying to upend him. He’s securing my arms overhead. I’m panting as I struggle to break free.

He’s always been strong but now it feels like I’ve been tackled to the desk by a linebacker.

A cunning, manipulative linebacker.

“I want you,” he snarls. “No one else. Capisci?”

I blink up at him, my heart beating wildly as thoughts spiral.He means the job, Luciana. If he wanted you, he’s had years to act on it. This is a business arrangement, nothing more.

“You’ve made it impossible to trust you.”

I tense as his fingers glide across my neck, following the arc of my necklace. “You make it impossible,” he replies with the slightest of whispers, “to resist you.”

I stare up at him. So fierce. So complicated. Do I know him? Did I ever truly know him?