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MARISELA

T he girl was a peculiar little thing. Always on edge.

Her eyes unnaturally wide as though she were just waiting for some monster to jump out of the shadows, at the same time she suffered from a complete lack of self-awareness.

The kind of creature that was better off on display in a zoo than left to its own devices.

It was annoying. How easy it was to creep up on Emily without her noticing.

I tapped my foot and waited for her to look up from her screen. It didn’t take her more than a second to toss her e-reader aside and snatch her notepad from where she kept it within arm’s reach. Her attention now hyperfocused on me and her pen held midair.

“I’ll be heading into town this afternoon,” I told her. This had her dropping the notepad and searching for her shoes instead. “Alone,” I added, and she stopped what she was doing to peer over at me.

“Are you sure?”

“Am I ever not sure, Miss Shaw?” I wasn’t expecting an answer. She knew that, so she didn’t give me one. “In the meantime, I want a running list of Javier Castillo’s assets. I want to know what he’s really worth and not what he thinks he can offer me.”

“By this afternoon?” she asked.

“ By this afternoon ,” I confirmed.

“Right. Okay.” She nodded once, digging her laptop out of her bag and flipping it open. And then her fingers were flying across the keys as that obnoxious clicking sound filled the silence between us.

I continued to watch her for a moment.

Emily was all I had, seeing as I couldn’t rely on Elliot or whatever his real name was anymore. She was also much too quick to comply. Like a pet hamster lapping a wheel without ever questioning why it wasn’t getting anywhere.

I should have been content with the fact she did what she was told. The girl wasn’t my problem or my concern. Just another tool for me to discard when it was done being useful. Except she wasn’t. She was bright and eager and broken enough to be managed.

I huffed, and Emily paused her typing. “Do you know why you’re even doing what you’re doing?” I asked her.

“Because you told me to?” she replied.

“Not literally, nena .” I rolled my eyes towards the ceiling. “I meant, do you know why it’s important to learn everything there is to know about someone before sitting across from them at the table?”

She shook her head. Emily wasn’t as na?ve as she tried to appear. She was afraid of saying the wrong thing, though.

“Because it’s better to be smart than it is to be impulsive.

Interesting enough to keep your opponent engaged.

” I pushed off the doorframe and settled myself beside her on the bed, reaching out a hand and combing it through her hair like my mother used to do to me.

Emily flinched but she didn’t pull away as I separated the ends into three parts and began pleating one over the other.

“And how do you do that?” Her voice was stronger now, sounding both at ease and slightly put off.

It was a lesson in disarming someone with intimacy. Becoming the thing they were looking for more than anything else. For Emily, it was a maternal figure. It wasn’t much different for Adrian. At his core, my shadow man was looking for acceptance. To be loved without conditions behind it.

“By making them believe you can help them, making them think you have something they want,” I explained, my fingers moving faster as her hair got thinner at the end.

“Like what?”

“Could be anything really.” I lifted a shoulder, out of habit since her back was still turned to me. “Your time, your attention, your affection .”

“And what if there’s nothing they want?” she questioned, and I could tell she was genuinely curious at this point .

“Remember, life’s a negotiation. Someone always wants something, Emily. And if they tell you otherwise, it’s because they think they already have it. It’s your job to convince them they don’t.”

“ Puta madre ,” I hissed under my breath, as I stared up at the carved stonework of the Maria Cristina, before straightening out my dress and stomping my way inside the front entrance of the luxury hotel… that definitely wasn’t an office building.

I should have recognized the address. I hadn’t, which left me at a disadvantage.

A few minutes later, I was being led to an elevator and up to the royal suite where Javi was waiting for me. His arms spread over the back of the sofa and three glasses of wine set out on the table in front of him.

He glanced behind me when the door clicked closed, then back over to my face again, lifting a brow when he asked, “I don’t see the girl?”

“No, you don’t,” I replied. “And I don’t see your office.”

He grinned. “You never did like to share, did you, Mari? Even as a kid.”

“One of the benefits of being an only child is not having to share, Javi .”

“I see.” He stood from the sofa, reaching down to swipe up a glass of wine and tip it in my direction. I took it from his outstretched hand, my fingers brushing his just enough to keep him wondering.

“You know I don’t like to mix business and pleasure, Mr. Castillo.”

“And yet you work at your father-in-law’s company?” he countered.

“My company,” I corrected him.

“Right.” He paused, eyeing me over his glass before adding, “First your mother and now your husband. Seems those around you have trouble staying in your orbit, zorra .”

“What can I say? You fly too close to the sun and you might get burned.” It was a threat.

Unfortunately for Javi, he saw it as an invitation.

He stepped around the coffee table until we were standing nearly tits to chest. And I shoved him back, slight pressure applied to his abdomen as I pulled away and narrowed my glare. “Business first.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Marisela.” He sighed, raking a hand through his coiffed hair. “It better be worth it.”

I set my empty glass on the table as I lowered myself on a chair. My legs crossing in a way that had my skirt riding higher and his eyes flicking lower. “It will be life-changing. I promise.”