Stand Of Redemption(45)

She rose up until she was sitting on his stomach, stretching as she felt his eyes go to her swaying breasts.

“I’ve never had feelings for any other woman in my life. I expected it to be the same with you, but it’s not. There’s something here that I don’t understand, but I don’t want to screw it up.” His expression was serious as he stared up at her.

Ria gazed down at him. She had been trying to fight her feelings for him because she’d known it was just a matter of time before Nicholas walked away. He was the type that would never be satisfied with one woman and a family of children.

She wondered at the plastic façade he presented to the world. Sometimes, like now, he dropped it and she saw the real Nicholas. That was the Nicholas she was beginning to care about.

“Every time I’m near you or I hear your voice, I can’t resist. You’re right, there’s a powerful attraction between us,” Ria agreed with him. She knew deep down they would probably crash and burn at some point, but right now, while they had this time together, she wanted to make the most of it.

“I think we both can keep our heads on straight,” Ria said as she stared into his beautiful, tortured eyes. She was giving him an out when he wanted to take it. She didn’t want to hold him to her when the mess in her life was over.

She reached to caress his face, and he held her hand as he leaned in to kiss her.

“Cogerme.”

“What does that mean?”

“Let me show you.”





Chapter 17



“Ariel.” She jumped when she heard her name, turning to see Mitchell standing in the doorway with a file in his hand. “Sorry, you must not have heard me knock.”

She hadn’t. She had been staring out her window, thinking of Nicholas.

No one but the cartel referred to her as Ariel. Her family had always used her mother’s pet name for her. When she had left with her mother, she had left Ariel behind and hadn’t looked back.

She didn’t reach out to take the file. “Don’t you get tired of being controlled by them, Mitchell?”

“It is a life I have chosen,” he said stiffly.

“Men don’t have long lives in the cartel.”

“Emiliano will be different. You will see. He will take the cartel to heights it has never seen before.”

“If he lives that long.”

“Emiliano is not like your father or brother. He cares about those within the cartel. The men feel the difference and would lay down their lives for him.”

“Unlike my brother, whose men orchestrated his murder?”

“You finally want to learn the truth? I always wondered if you would,” he said sarcastically. “It took you long enough. I assume you’re missing the money Alejandro sent to you all those years.”

“I didn’t take his money! I returned it! Whenever the messengers came, I always sent it back. I never even opened the envelope.” Ria’s eyes widened when she realized she should have kept her mouth shut. The person who had delivered the money must have kept it. She had inadvertently revealed a traitor among them. At least now she could be open; there was nothing to hide. Her plan to shock him with the knowledge of her brother’s death obviously didn’t faze him one bit.

“I may have needed the money, but I didn’t take it. I wanted nothing to do with the cartel.” She wasn’t going to let him intimidate her, even though she felt the urge to run away.

Mitchell looked down his nose at her. “What the hell do you know about the cartel? You say you want no part of it, yet it is in your blood.”

“No,” Ria denied. “I’m not like them.”

“Yes, you are. You tried to save and protect your mother. You were loyal to your brothers even though you know they weren’t good men. When your father died, you were grief-stricken. Family ties are the hardest to break, yet the hardest to live with.”

Mitchell was right. She had loved her family, despite knowing the cruelty they were capable of.

“Your father made a mistake, and your two brothers made the same. He used fear to maintain power of the cartel. They would threaten the lives of the members’ families to maintain control”—his hardened face was filled with hatred—“which is why I wanted him dead. He threatened the life of my sister while treating you with kid gloves. Emiliano uses loyalty to keep control. He would give his life for my sister. A man like that, the cartel will protect.”

Ria didn’t ask Mitchell if Alejandro had hurt or might have killed his sister. She knew her brother had been an evil man. Still, he had been her brother, and she knew he had loved her and their mother. She felt the sense of loss, not ever truly knowing her eldest half-brother.