Chapter 5 - Twelve Hours Outside His Kingdom
Elena wanted to leave.
It was instinct.
When a person discovered that the charmingly irritating businessman she had spent all day teasing was actually the head of a criminal empire, leaving seemed like a logical response.
Unfortunately, leaving required walking past armed security guards while someone outside the gates might be watching her.
She hated that detail.
“I’m calling a cab.”
“No.”
Mateo’s answer came immediately.
Elena rounded on him.
“You don’t get to say no.”
“I do when someone is tracking you.”
“You spent the entire day lying to me.”
“I never told you I wasn’t—”
“Do not finish that sentence.”
Mateo stopped.
Luca found the ceiling fascinating.
Elena paced.
“You let me joke about it.”
“I thought correcting you might complicate lunch.”
“You think?”
“I was trying to give you a normal day.”
“A normal day?”
She gestured toward the photographs.
“Excellent work.”
Mateo’s jaw hardened.
“That part wasn’t planned.”
“No, apparently the surveillance package wasn’t included in Adrienne’s bet.”
At Adrienne’s name, Mateo looked toward the photograph of his cousin beside Victor.
Elena noticed.
“You think she did this?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you’re considering it.”
“I consider everything.”
“That must be exhausting.”
“It is.”
Her anger weakened for a second.
There it was again—the strange loneliness she had glimpsed throughout the day.
Then she remembered the men with weapons outside.
No.
Sympathy later.
Explanations now.
“What did my father have to do with you?”
Mateo did not answer.
Elena stepped closer.
“You recognized his name this morning.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Elena—”
“No.”
Her voice trembled despite her effort to control it.
“My father died eight years ago. You hear his name in a bakery and suddenly you start acting like somebody pulled a fire alarm. Now I find out someone is following me and you have a house full of armed men. So stop deciding what I can handle.”
Mateo’s eyes darkened.
“I met your father.”
She froze.
“When?”
“Several times.”
“My father never mentioned you.”
“He had reasons.”
“What reasons?”
Mateo looked toward Luca.
“Clear the room.”
Everyone left.
The door closed.
For the first time, they were alone.
Elena suddenly wished they weren’t.
Mateo moved to the window.
“Your father handled financial compliance work for several companies.”
“I know.”
“One of those companies was used by Victor Sanz.”
Elena folded her arms tightly.
“Used how?”
“To move money and hide ownership.”
“Illegal money?”
“Yes.”
“Your money?”
Mateo turned.
“No.”
She searched his face.
“You expect me to trust that?”
“No.”
The answer surprised her.
“I expect you to question everything I tell you.”
“Great.”
“But Daniel discovered transactions connected to people who were dangerous.”
“Including you?”
Mateo was silent too long.
Elena’s stomach dropped.
“Including your family.”
“Yes.”
She took a step back.
“My father was investigating you?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does not exactly mean?”
“It means Daniel came to me before he died.”
The words struck harder than she expected.
“He came here?”
“No. My office.”
“Why?”
“He believed someone was going to kill him.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Every official report said accident.
Rain.
Loss of control.
A barrier.
Fire.
She had spent eight years accepting the randomness of it because the alternative was unbearable.
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I were.”
“You knew?”
“I knew he was afraid.”
“And you never told me?”
Mateo’s expression tightened.
“He asked me not to involve you.”
“He died!”
“I know.”
“You knew something was wrong and he died and nobody told me?”
Her voice cracked.
Mateo stepped toward her.
She raised one hand.
“Don’t.”
He stopped immediately.
Elena’s eyes burned.
“What happened that night?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“What do you know?”
Mateo’s phone rang.
He ignored it.
It rang again.
He looked at the screen.
Luca.
“This had better matter.”
He answered.
Luca spoke for less than ten seconds.
Mateo’s face changed.
“What?”
Elena could barely hear Luca’s reply.
“We checked the sedan.”
Mateo’s gaze shifted toward Elena.
“And?”
“It was abandoned six blocks from her apartment.”
“That’s not surprising.”
“No.”
Luca paused.
“What was inside is.”
Mateo’s voice lowered.
“Tell me.”
“A photograph.”
“Of what?”
“Daniel Carter.”
Elena’s knees nearly gave way.
Mateo caught her elbow.
She did not pull away this time.
“When was it taken?” Mateo asked.
Luca answered.
May you like
“The night he died.”
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