I huff, tightening my jaw to keep from shouting at this man. “I may not be good enough for her, on that we agree, but I love your daughter and I want to give her nothing but the world.”
“You love her?” His voice is thunderous, but I don’t even blink. “You don’t know what love is. You had her running around in the middle of the night, opening her legs for you like some whore. And she was here last night! If that is your kind of love—”
I growl, pouncing toward him, thankfully stopping myself short of pummeling him. “You shut your mouth. Don’t ever talk about Eva like that. She’s the best kind of person there is, and it would break her heart to hear you right now.”
He snarls, and despite his diminutive size, gets into my face. “What? And let me guess, you’re going to tell her?”
“How the fuck do you call yourself a father?” Disgust races up my throat like rotting meat. “How you could tell her a sick and twisted lie—that I died in that crash—is beyond me. You not only wrecked her more than she already was, you took her chance at happiness.”
It’s hard to believe that all these years have passed and so much has changed and yet this man still despises me. All because I dare to love his daughter.
“Alonso.” Miguel rests his hand on the older man’s shoulder. “Calm down. Take care.”
Eva’s father clasps one hand at the back of Miguel’s neck in an affectionate squeeze. Despite the conflict and my distaste for Alonso, there’s a dull ache in my chest at the obvious friendship between these two men.
If only I could have pleased Mr. Ramirez like this man does. Things could have been vastly different, and maybe it could have changed the course of our lives.
Something silent but planned passes between them, and they turn to me.
“I don’t believe you two have met.” Alonso has a hard glint to his eye. “This is Miguel Aguilar. Eva’s husband.”
The man—no, her husband—holds out his hand, and I wince, the words finally hitting me like a ton of bricks. Like a side jab to the kidney. Like being held underwater while fighting, struggling to break the surface for air. To breathe.
Her husband? Why didn’t she say something? I’d sensed he was important, something to her, but her husband?
And then New York. We had sex. Last night. Nausea swells in my gut. I’ve been an unknowing participant in adultery before. I’m sure of it, given the number of women I’ve been with. The odds alone suggest it, but this is Eva.
The Eva I knew would never cheat on her husband.
And I’m not going to lie, I don’t give a fuck about infidelity in general, but Eva’s mine. No one else exists for me with her in the world. I thought she felt the same.
“Jared…Jared…” Miguel’s deep voice cuts through the fog, the questions, and the pain.
I pin him with a tight-lipped glare, not trusting what I may say or even if I could push out a word. A vise clamps down on my chest, squeezing the air out of my lungs.
“I wish I could say it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He’s pompous, puffing out his chest in his simple but respectable suit. “But as I’m sure you’ll agree, there isn’t anything pleasant about this.”
Without waiting for me to lead the way, he walks into the room with Alonso following after him as if I’m the guest in this house. If I wasn’t still reeling from being thrown off guard, I’d react, set them straight.
The words—her husband—keep sucker punching me. Everything hurts. My chest burns and throbs, cleaved like a hot knife slicing through butter, splitting my heart in two.
Eva is married. Not mine like I will forever be hers.
“How…how long have you been married?” The coarse words tear a path along my now dry throat, sure to scar.
“For some time. You see, I was there when Eva came to Spain. Broken, just out of a coma, and struggling to recover. She wasn’t in good shape. But I took care of her.”
I can’t stand his grating, arrogant tone as if his hands are twisting, mutilating, ripping my organs from my body.
Gut-wrenching and confounding, none of this gels with the hours and days I’ve spent with Eva. None of this makes sense. Why wouldn’t she say something?
“I love Eva, and if you feel the same, I am asking you to leave her alone. She’s happy. Her life is full, and our future is in Spain.” He brushes at an imaginary speck on the sleeve of his suit, no longer looking me in the eye.
“It’s unfortunate that either of you had to discover the truth. You were both better off not knowing—”
“Better off?” I lunge for him, eyes narrowed to thin slits and teeth bared, sticking to my upper lip. “What the fuck do you know about what is better for me or Eva?”
Spinning on my heel, I stab her father with my pointed glare. “You lied to us. All of you. Thinking you could play God.”
Religion isn’t something I believe in, but this man does, and how dare he think he can play with people’s lives. Determine another’s fate.
“You took it upon yourself to decide my life, and that’s where you’re wrong.” I’m snarling in his face, and he inches backward on shaking legs. “You crossed a line, and I can’t and won’t speak for Eva, but for what you bastards did, I’ll never fucking agree to anything you ask. Never.”
“Jared.” Miguel’s voice is calm, smooth. Again, as if he’s in control, and I can no longer take it.
“Get the hell out of my house.” I thrust an arm out, pointing at the door. “Now!”
Without my needing to call security, two of my guys, hulking and alert, rush into the room. No words are required. One look at me and they are hauling both Miguel and Alonso toward the exit. Neither man protests nor says another word.
27
Worth every tear
JARED
An uncontrollable desire to destroy and to numb this agony barrels through me with the force of a freight train. A swishing and swooshing noise fills my ears and my knees buckle as I collapse into the closest chair.
Hands in my hair, I hang my head and squeeze my skull. Desperate to stop the overwhelming desire to numb this pain, end this misery.
Eva.
Before I lose control, I must do something.
“Quint, bring the car around,” I bark into my phone and then send a quick text to Eva, letting her know I am on my way.
She probably just arrived at the hotel, but this can’t wait. I could arrange to have her come back to my place, but I can’t wait and continue to stew in my riotous thoughts. I need to move.
I need to do something, and if I stay, I’ll be destructive. Take action in a way I’ll regret and may never come back from.
Even with this news, it changes nothing.
I should walk away. Let her go. But I’m not that kind of man. I’m a selfish bastard.
Married or not, she was born for me like I was for her. Eva is the only one I’ve ever loved. She’s my soul. My song. I won’t walk away from her.
We belong to each other.
The drive and ride in the elevator to Eva’s room is a blur. I spoke with my sponsor in the car on the way over here but I’m not sure it helped. I’m agitated and suffering from the urge to change things I have no control over. And yet just the sight of her when she opens her hotel room door drowns out all the noise and chaos in my mind.