Page 83 of Game of Revenge

“Great. A successful trip, I would say. The Bacards have agreed to open the hotel on Lake Como in two years.”

“Congratulations!” he said as he put his hand on my shoulder.

I flinched. It took everything in me to not remove it and break his fingers.

“Thank you, Richard.”

The words felt bitter on my tongue.

He knew what that meant. It meant I had an in with one of the most prestigious French families in the world. It meant that, with me, he could belong in the aristocracy. And even if I had learned through Amelia that this man hated his own country, his own people, he didn’t know I was from there.

As far as he was concerned, I was of Spanish descent and had lived most of my life in America. Fucking idiot. I did know the Bacards—they were one of my biggest clients—but the rest was all lies. And he would never get to meet them.

“What about you, Elena? Did you enjoy Italy?”

“I loved it! All the shopping I did!”

“I'm sure. You women and your purses,” he joked, shaking his head toward me like we shared a secret.

“So,” I interrupted, eager to get the meeting done, knowing that, by the end of it, I would agree to open the hotel with him no matter the cost, as a step closer to gaining his trust. “Show me what we have here. It's time for another hotel, don't you think?”

Richard beamed as he instructed the architect to walk me through the plans. I barely listened, my mind drifting back to Amelia, wondering if she was okay, if she was nervous, if she was thinking of me. She didn’t understand, but I would do anything it took to keep her safe and to keep her with me, including getting in bed with the devil himself—with my brother’s killer.

Chapter 41

Amelia

I spent the rest of the day and most of the next in a haze. I cried, slept, and cried some more. When Dolores came in the evening, I had done my best to put on a good front. I didn’t want Dolores alerting Alejandro about anything.

In the afternoon, Elena called the house phone. I had feared that call all day, but Elena reported that everything had gone according to plan; the newspapers and certain local news channels had picked up the story.

I didn’t bother to pretend I was happy. After all, the farce was over, and I had gotten what I wanted. I hung up the phone and went back to my room. It was really happening. I would leave Alejandro, never to come back.

The idea of never being with him again filled me with panic. I regretted what I had done a few times, but Elena's words replayed in my head like a broken record. And I knew I had done the right thing, found a way to help him, to give him his life back. The only act that gave me a channel to express my frustration was writing in my makeshift journal.

It was around 6 p.m. when I got startled by the front door banging loudly against the door frame.

“Amelia! Amelia!”

My heart dropped to my feet when I heard Alejandro calling my name. He sounded furious and almost dangerous. I could also hear another voice, but Alejandro was shouting.

With trembling hands, I slowly opened my bedroom door and got a bit closer to the staircase to see what was going on. Alejandro was in the foyer, in a dark-gray suit, his face looking like he was about to murder someone. Elena was there, crying, begging him to calm down, but all he did was scream at her.

“Por favor, mi amor. I did this for you!”

“You had no right! Get out! Get the fuck out of my house!”

“Lo hice por nosotros!”

“I don’t know what you wanted to accomplish here, pero ya te lo dije un million de veces, no hay nada entre tu y yo!”

Alejandro grabbed her arm and took her to the door, pushing her outside. Elena did not dare to continue knocking after Alejandro kicked her out. When Alejandro got back to the foyer, he looked up toward me. I stared into pure madness. Alejandro looked like he was capable of the most heinous revenge in that moment.

I panicked and ran back to my room. Before I could close the door, he was there. I put all my weight on the door, but he pushed it open so violently I almost fell as I took some steps back. Alejandro slammed the door so loudly I thought I felt the ground shake.

He closed the distance between us in a second, his jaw tight, his eyes dark as night, his lips curled back in fury. He just stood there, looking down at me, breathing heavily, hurting me with just the look in his eyes. Alejandro grabbed the lamp that was behind me and threw it against the wall, the ceramic shattering everywhere. I let out a scream.

“Why, Amelia?! Why did you do this?!”