Page 4 of Surrendered Hearts
She stares at me like she wants to take what I just said and ram it down my throat. “You can’t come back into my life after two years of nothing and presume to be the boss of me simply because we’re getting married, Javier. That’s not how this works.”
“That’s exactly how this works, Emilia, and you know it.”
“Why? Because you’ll be in charge of the cartel after the weekend? You don’t seriously think the power that brings you will also bring you power over me, do you?”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Why did you agree to this marriage?”
“I’m doing it for what I assume is the same reason you are. For my family.”
“Yes. As such, I expect you to behave like my wife.”
“I can only imagine what you expect of a wife, but what you’re going to get is a woman who expects equality in a relationship. Andas such, I won’t ever be ordered to make myself unbusy when I have something important on.”
I work my jaw.
I expected her to fight me, but perhaps Lorenzo was right; perhaps I underestimated her.
“You’re still pissed that I ended our relationship,” I say.
Her eyes widen. “I’m pissed athowyou ended it. We’ve known each other since we were fifteen, and we’ve been through a lot. I never expected you to treat me the way you did.”
Emilia has no idea why I did what I did, and she can never find out. As far as I’m concerned, she can continue thinking I wanted the relationship to end. She can also continue thinking I’m an asshole for telling her I was done with the relationship and then showing up with another woman on my arm at a dinner that night. A dinner she and I were supposed to attend together.
“You need to move past that. There’s a lot at stake with the cartel, and in particular, with your brothers. They’re looking for unity between our families. You and I need to give them that.”
Her lips flatten. She’s fucking beautiful, but when she’s pissed at me, her beauty is undeniable, as much as I want to deny it. “You never fail to find a way to work things in your favor, do you?”
“Trust me, Emilia, if any of this was in my favor, this marriage would not be happening.” I check my watch. “I have a meeting. I’ll expect you in my suite at seven tonight.”
Without waiting for her response, I turn and exit her room, certain of only one thing.
I need to strengthen my resolve to keep Emilia at arm’s length.
She’s already testing the determination I had.
I can’t afford for her to shatter it completely.
3
EMILIA
Seven o’clock comes and goes without my appearance at Javier’s suite as ordered. I’d already arranged a Zoom meeting with Bob to go over his new proposal. I wasn’t changing that for Javier.
My phone sounds with a text at 7:01 p.m.
Javier: Where are you?
Me: I informed you I was busy. If you’re nice to me, I may come to your suite once I’m finished what I’m doing.
Javier: I have another meeting at 8pm.
Me: It’s good to know you scheduled an entire hour for your fiancée.
Javier: Don’t keep me waiting.
“Emilia,” Bob says over Zoom, drawing my attention back to our conversation. “Are we going to come to an agreement on this tonight?”
“If you agree to give me another five percent, we will.”