Page 105 of Deceptive Vows

He answers with a chuckle, and I leave before we can really get into it and fight like we’ve been known to in the past.

We were both holding back there, and if I fight like I want to this time, I’ll probably end up killing him.

I stumble into the atrium and find a corner by the water cooler where I can take a moment to myself.

I can’t be in love with Adriana.

Love was never in the cards, and I know better than to fall for her.

I can’t be in love because I know it will be my weakness, and I can’t be weak right now, or ever. Now is the time for strength.

What Ivan said regarding our father and my mother pricks at my mind. I can’t argue with him. Not when Father bared his soul to me nights before.

If anyone ever needed an example of what love should look like, all they needed to do was look at my parents. My father told me himself he was waiting for death.

I just had to fill in the blanks. Before my mother was killed, he looked forward to spending the rest of his days with her, however little time he had left.

Now he wants death so he can be with her.

Losing her destroyed him.

I can’t lose myself like that.

I’ve moved past the fact that Adriana is Raul’s daughter. That doesn’t bother me anymore. If I were hung up on that, I wouldn’t be contemplating anything right now.

This is about me. I can’t be me if I succumb to something I know will cripple me eventually. Doing so goes against me as a person.

The only thing to do to stop that from happening is to go back to the original plan of business. Marry the girl and take the cartel.

That’s all it needs to be. That’s all itshouldbe. And the only way to free her from my mind is to avoid her and put that wall back up I had in place when we first met.

That is what I need to do.

I go through the day with that in mind, working until late in the night to catch up on my workload from the last three days.

Just before I pack up to leave, I get a message from Eric asking if he can meet me at home.

I realize he must have something for me to look at, but it’s the fact that he wants to meet me at home that piques my attention.

I head home as quickly as I can and find him in my office waiting for me.

He’s holding a manilla envelope.

“You better sit down for this,” he states the moment the door closes.

I release a tired sigh and sit opposite him on the leather sofa.

“What did you find?”

“It’s not good, but I’ll keep my opinions to myself and allow you to form your own.” He hands me the envelope. “That was in one of the emails. It was heavily encrypted. When I opened it, I saw the reason why. It’s the contract. Raul’s copy of the assassination contract.”

My scalp tightens with this information.

I open the envelope and pull out the three-pages long document.

I don’t need to read the whole thing.

The top paragraph tells me everything and changes the game entirely.