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It’s a sign of good faith on both parts.

Papá ’ s trusting Domingo with me, and Domingo gets a senior position in return.

We’re getting a rival to bend the knee by making the heir a glorified employee.

All the while, I’m doing my best not to resent everyone around me.

My brothers basically live in the States now, even though they go back and forth between here and there all the fucking time.

My sister’s with a man who adores her and who she adores. And I’m…

Well, I’m stuck trying not to stare at the hottest but now most unappealing man I’ve ever seen.

Regardless of him and how he keeps drawing my attention, I’m trying not to wish I was single and ready to mingle.

Not that I think Esteban would be any more interested in me sexually now than I thought he was ten minutes ago.

He only approached me because of my last name.

But at least I could look without feeling guilty because of Domingo and my tío .

Domingo’s not a bad guy, and I’m fond of him.

I enjoy spending time with him, and we have fun together.

He’s not bad in bed either, so it’s not like I’m doomed to fuck a troll for the rest of my life or have a sexless marriage.

I just don’t love him. We’re arguing more because of the impending wedding.

“If you keep looking at the guy, Santi will tell papá .” Catalina’s barely speaking louder than a whisper, but it echoes in my ears.

“I could’ve sworn he was watching me earlier. I don’t know why beyond he must know who I am, or he knows who Domingo is.” I can’t admit to my sister that I spoke to him.

“Yeah, well, he keeps looking at you, too. Don’t encourage him.”

“He was looking first.”

“You can look last. Santi’s already noticed.”

My sister’s right. I know my guard sees everything I do because he’s positioned to see everything around me.

He’s supposedly reading his book, but he’s one of the two most situationally aware men who work for our dad.

Cisco is the other guy, and he’s Catalina’s guard.

They’ve watched out for us since we were young teens.

Santi might die for me, but he’s loyal to our dad before anyone else.

“Fine. What time does mamá want us to come over?”

Neither of us lives at home. Catalina doesn’t officially live with Matáis, but basically she does.

He’s over at her place most nights, and when he isn’t, he’s sneaking her into his.

Good Catholics that we are, neither she nor I would ever live with a man we aren’t married to.

Everyone turns a blind eye because it would be pointless to pretend they aren’t still doing it like rabbits.

They’re discreet in front of our families, but they’re always touching each other, even if it’s just the back of their hands brushing against each other.

“Six. Dinner’s at seven-thirty.”

That’s half an hour earlier than usual. Our mom hasn’t explained why she wants us to arrive early, but she does.

I suspect she wants Catalina and me to help her in the kitchen.

Everyone in my family—men and women—are excellent cooks.

Mamá and papá made sure of that, but my parents also have an entire household staff.

They only cook when they want to, and it’s rare on nights when we’re going to have anyone outside the immediate family.

They already consider Matáis family, but Domingo isn’t.

That’s why it makes little sense to me. Their chef would normally be front and center for appearance’s sake.

On nights when their chef prepares dinner, my siblings and I don’t have to show up until it’s nearly time to eat.

We can even show up fashionably late as long as it’s before everyone moves into the dining room.

That’s how it is for every Sunday dinner.

If Catalina and I are helping our mom, it usually means one or both of us are in trouble. If we’re up to our elbows in making a sauce, we can’t run away.

“What did you do?”

We ask each other the same question, which makes us laugh.

“I figured it was you. Matáis’s hand was awfully close to your ass when we left church this morning.”

My sister frowns and darts her gaze around before she responds. “Ana, I think it’s because Domingo complained to papá that you won’t set the date. I think mamá ’ s going to warn us that papá ’ s announcing something tonight.”

“He’d back me into a corner in front of Domingo?”

“In front of his parents.”

“They’re going to be there, too?” I didn’t know that.

“Yeah. I think preparing the larger dishes will be her excuse for wanting our help.”

Fuck my life.

“Like I said, Domingo and I nearly got into it right before you arrived. He definitely left pissed off. He was pushing for a date, too.”

“You can’t keep putting it off.”

“Easy for you to say.” I know I sound pissy.

When I shift my gaze from my sister, I find myself looking at Esteban again.

I’ve been aware of him since the moment I spotted him, and I’m super alert now that he cornered me.

He’s watching me again when our gazes meet.

It’s not the second time, but at least the tenth since I sat back down.

I haven’t let my focus linger on him for more than the time it takes to shift past him, but I know he knows I’m aware of him.

The more I think about an impending wedding, the more Esteban distracts me.

“I know you don’t love him, but you really like him. You’ve said you care about him. Maybe you’ll love him with time.”

“Maybe, but I’ll never be in love with him, even if I can grow to love him.”

“You don’t know that.”

“We’ve been engaged for over a year.”

“But you never really dated.”

“Believe me, I know. We’re friends, but we don’t know each other nearly well enough to get married. This is so antiquated it feels prehistoric. An arranged marriage. I don’t know anyone else stuck like this.”

“You know this still happens in syndicates.”

Cartel? What Cartel? We’ll never admit aloud what our family is. The closest we come is to say our family is in a syndicate, and that’s only among select company. We don’t even say organized crime when we’re in the U.S. or corrupt in Latin America.

“To other people.” I sigh because I sound petulant. “I know I have to just accept it, but I’m scared we won’t be compatible once we live together. We could make each other miserable.”

“Are you scared about more than that?” Catalina watches me like a hawk.

“No. I’m not afraid he’ll hurt me. He knows I’d get on a four-way call with papá , Enrique, and Luis the moment I’m out of his sight.

Even if he took my phone, he knows I’m resourceful enough to talk to them.

He knows he’d die that day. If one of them didn’t kill him, you or I would.

I sense he can be nasty when he doesn’t get what he wants.

I’ve seen hints of it, and it was there today.

Like he was biting his tongue. Once we’re married and living together, there won’t be much I can do about him fighting dirty with his words.

You know I won’t hold back for long. I might try to keep the peace at first, but it’ll devolve rapidly. I don’t want to live like that.”

“You could always keep him too exhausted to put up a fight. You said you enjoy having sex with him.”

“I do, but part of the reason I agreed was because I knew inevitably I’d sleep with him once we marry, so why not start sooner? It’s not like I can fuck anyone else, so I’d rather fuck him than be a nun.”

“And fucking is all it’s ever been?”

We’re keeping our voices super low, but this isn’t the place to have this conversation. We both glance around as we realize how foolish we’re being. I nod rather than speak my answer aloud.

“Like your least favorite flavor ice cream?”

I nod again. Vanilla’s okay, but I’d rather have anything but coffee flavored ice cream.

My sister has always been my best friend, just like Enrique and Luis have always been each other’s.

All four of us are super close, and I could talk about anything with our brothers, but I’d prefer not to discuss our sex lives with them.

Catalina and I know we prefer similar things because we’ve dated similar guys in the past and admittedly compared notes.

When she told me next to nothing about Matáis, I knew he was different.

She’s left enough clues for me to guess, but she never gives me specifics about him.

She and I suspect our brothers are like us—kinky as fuck. I can’t imagine either of them being submissive. Ever . But Catalina and I have been in fluid power exchange relationships before, and we’ve both been more submissive in others. We’ve also had strictly vanilla relationships, too.

It’s not like we’ve dated tons of men, but neither of us is by any means close to being virgins.

Our parents just ignore that about all of us.

All four of us were born from immaculate conception, and our children will be too, even if our parents are more affectionate than Catalina and Matáis.

It’s obvious how much they love and desire each other.

Discussing my bordering on boring sex life doesn’t help after meeting Esteban. I loathe who he is because of who he works for, but I can’t ignore how attracted I am to him. It’s visceral. And ridiculous. And foolish. And fucking as stupid as it comes. But I can’t help it.

“We should get going, so we aren’t late.” I stand as I speak, and so does Catalina, which signals to our guards we’re ready to go.

That sixth sense tells me he’s still watching me, and I can’t help wishing I could see him again. He approached me for a reason. Said there are things I’d want to hear. What the fuck does that mean?