Lord.
Definitely a problem.
One she didn’t expect to have.
She held onto the clutch in her hands tighter as she took the seat he offered, but didn’t breathe any easier when his hand left her side. In fact, she wished for it to come back. “Thank you.”
“Never thank a man for being a gentleman,” he said, rounding the table to take his own seat, “because then they seem to think every kind act deserves a reward, hmm? It’s better not to teach men that behaving means getting something in return.”
Valeria stared across the table, unsure of what to say. Chris stared back, a sensual smile curving his lips. Finally, her brain worked.
“Why did you ask him to bring me here tonight?”
Chris shrugged. “Because I find you fascinating, and he’s slightly more interesting when you’re near. Also, it might keep him in line.”
“Good luck with that. Jorge is ... uncontainable.”
To say the least.
“Well, he has to behave a little, if he wants my father’s business. I thought I should remind him of that before I arrive at the ranch. And you, well, you can enjoy the meal. I paid a lot for this evening, but if you smile even once, it’ll be worth it.”
Valeria did just that.
Smile.
Chris winked back.
Damn.
• • •
Maria bounced at her mother’s side, tugging on Valeria’s hand with her excitement. “Can I ride Butter?”
Valeria smiled down at her girl. “Of course.”
Butter, somehow, turned from a rowdy colt into a very tame riding horse. If there was one thing that had come out of Valeria being dragged back to this hell, it was the fact she put her daughter on a horse, and Maria took right to it like a fish to water. She loved the horses, but especially Butter.
“Come on, we have to tack them up,” Valeria said, “and I bet they sense someone is coming to take them out for a ride, so they’re as excited as you are.”
Maria pumped a fist into the air, and Valeria let go of her daughter’s hand. The girl darted down the steps, and headed for the large row of stables to the west of their home at the compound. It wasn’t like she had to worry about someone taking her daughter here, considering how well-protected the family ranch was with all the guards, only one proper road leading in or out, and all the desolate land and cliffs surrounding them.
Her child wasn’t going anywhere here.
Valeria followed behind Maria, but at a much slower speed. She passed the house that belonged to Abril, and Samuel. The siblings shared their one-level bungalow on the ranch until, according to Jorge, one of the two married and they moved off the property. Knowing how things were going, she suspected it would be Abril to leave first.
And she would miss her.
Jorge, having already left their two-level ranch home earlier that morning, was ... somewhere. Between the three other small homes that the guards used to sleep, and do their business, or the many barns further out that served as makeshift warehouses when drugs needed to be stored before being smuggled out of the country.
Knowing he could be anywhere around kept Valeria on her best behavior, because not only were guards likely watching her, but her husband might be, too. Sure, she preferred being at the ranch compound rather than out in public with her husband, but that was only because here, she let her masks slip.
A little.
Not too much though.
Privacy meant a lot.
Once she had entered the stables, Valeria found Maria already standing on a stool, and leaning over the gate to feed Butter a small, thin slice of apple from the pail they used as treats. She smiled at her mother while Valeria got to work on pulling down the horse gear from the walls.
Since they were already dressed and ready to go in their riding boots, she only needed to find Maria’s helmet, and her own. Then, they would get the horses tacked up, and the two of them could spend their morning away from the ranch.
Or as far as was safely possible.
Valeria turned the corner at the back of the stables where all the helmets sat on a shelf, and came to a full stop at the sight of Jorge leaning in the rear doorway. “Oh.”
He smiled. “Going on a ride?”
“She asked after breakfast. You weren’t there to—”
“I’ll take her later,” he said.
Valeria blinked. “What?”
Jorge shrugged. “If she wants to go on a ride, then I will take her later.”
Not that Valeria wanted to point it out, but Jorge hated the horses. He didn’t like riding, and he only kept the stables at the ranch full of horses because it kept up the appearance, and Abril would throw an unholy fit if someone took away her horses. He didn’t keep the beautiful beasts because he ever took care of them or liked to ride the way the rest of them did.
“Do you want to explain to her that she can’t go out when I told her she could?” Valeria asked.
“I can and will, yes. You wanted a ride, too?”
“I like riding in the mornings.”
That wasn’t news to him.
Riding was the one thing Jorge allowed Valeria even though it had been the way she escaped all those years ago. None of them had ever figured that out. They assumed someone smuggled her out of the ranch, likely in a vehicle. They killed a handful of guards for their troubles in an effort to figure it out.
Because her husband didn’t know the truth, he never questioned allowing her to get on a horse, and go. Sometimes, she had to take someone with her, if she planned to go to the cliffs, or further out into the desolate land surrounding the ranch.
She didn’t mind that.
They stayed far behind.
“You can go out,” Jorge said, “but find someone to take with you. As for Maria, she can stay with me.”
Anger flooded Valeria.
“Why?”
“Pardon?”
“Why can’t she come with me for a ride like she does every other day?”
Jorge lifted his brow and smirked in that arrogant way again. “Because I said so. You forget occasionally, Val, that you have no control or say here. I do. And so, if I don’t want my daughter going off with you on the horses, then she won’t. Not to mention, if I want to make sure you come back, what better way to do that then to make sure you have a good damn reason to return, hmm?”
Fuck him.
She hated this man.
God knew she had a whole list of reasons to despise him. From his treatment of her, the abuse, how he enjoyed taking from her body when she didn’t willingly give it to him, and more ... so much fucking more.
And yet, she hated him the most for this reason right here. Because he used their child as a way to manipulate Valeria and keep her in line.
“I won’t go on a ride, then,” Valeria said, “I wanted to go with her.”
It might have been childish, but if she could find one way to tell Jorge to go fuck himself, then she would do that.
Her husband clicked his tongue. “No, you will go out on your ride. And you will go alone while she watches you go.”
Ah.
Valeria got it, then.
It wasn’t just about controlling her, but Maria, too. This way, he could make sure his daughter saw her mother leave her behind, make a promise, and not keep it ... because that’s what he did.
That’s what monsters did.