Page 21 of Veiled Amor

He shot up a brow. “That’s an interesting choice of word.”

“Yet it’s how I feel. This is a long line of times my father has dictated what I can do. When I think about it, he’s groomed me my entire life, from my clothes, what I eat and where I go, what schools and friends I chose. But it got worse…”

“Starting when?”

She breathed on a pause and then sucked the air out of him when she met his eyes and said, “when he didn’t give me a choice about marrying Santiago.”

His brother.

This shit circled right back to the beginning.

A while back, when Reaper had been in hell over Paige, he remembered telling the ghost how his heart was taken. Reaper asked if he had a girl. And he’d told him. “When you’re taken, you’re taken.”

The pain hurt his chest in fast zips.

“Now you’re going to explain every-fucking-thing about marrying my brother.”

EIGHT

“More than strangers. Less than family.” - Lucia

The dilemma with wanting something for so long, when it presented itself, Lucia had to decide if the pain was worth it.

Having Giancarlo in front of her, asking what happened with Santiago, was something she’d longed for, but the way he grit out his command through his tightly clenched teeth told her she probably wished too hard.

“That’s not relevant right now.”

“It’s relevant if you’re saying Nicholas pushed you into marrying my brother.”

The way he emphasizedmy brotherput chills down her spine.

It would always be that way, wouldn’t it? Santiago was standing between them, along with their guilt.

She had a horrible feeling even if he knew it all, it wouldn’t matter.

Living in a world of her own, dining on memories like a starving fish, she’d been able to weave fanciful stories of why they weren’t together despite their explosive chemistry.

A man who wanted her wouldn’t have waited all this time to make his move, that much she knew.

Oh, damn.

Fucking ouch.

Lucia took in air and puffed it out as she let the truth in.

That was it, wasn’t it? While she thought he was suffering for what they did and perhaps waiting for a better time to get back into her life, the truth was looking at her with dark eyes and tight lips.

Okay. Okay.Okay. She would prefer a minute alone to digest the reality she’d been in this thing alone all this time, but she was a grown-up and a boring, sensible one at that. She could deal with it.

It didn’t stop her chest from hurting, though.

When the words came from her mouth, they sounded strangled even as she tried to smile away her embarrassment.

“It’s not worth talking about, but I thank you for coming, Giancarlo. Any advice would be welcome.”

His eyes narrowed another inch, and at that moment, as he stared across a small motel room at her, she understood how intimidated strangers must feel in front of a notorious motorcycle club member.

She’d become a bit of a fangirl where his Renegade Souls were concerned, all in the name of stalking his life, all stuff he didn’t share with her.