When Selené Cortez told her crime boss fiancé that she would rather die than marry him, she meant every word- she just wasn't expecting him to call her bluff. Now, making his bodyguard, Anya, fall in love with her might just be the only thing that w...
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"I'm taking you somewhere special today."
That's what Trey had said to Selené when he woke her up the next morning. She was more than disappointed that he was still here. All she wanted was for him to leave, and for Anya to come back.
She supposed she should at least be grateful that he hadn't been as mean as he could have been last night after Anya left, when he yelled at her for getting drunk. Whatever Anya had told him, she'd clearly concealed the truth of what almost happened before he walked in.
Good. Selené's plan hinged on shifting Anya's loyalty away from Trey.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
She watched him carefully as he took off his shirt and tossed it on the couch. There was something about it that she didn't like. It was too casual. It was too comfortable. This wasn't his home. Selené thought he didn't spend nearly enough time here to feel that way. Yet here he was.
Taking up her space.
"Me and some of my family are going to have a dinner party tonight. I thought you might enjoy it if I took you with me," he said. "You can meet my sister. Maybe you'll find somebody to hang out with."
He never brought her around other people, not even his family. If there were people around when he brought her somewhere, it was always someone that worked for him. He certainly never encouraged her to try and make friends with anybody.
Maybe it was because of the wedding. Maybe it was because of her threats to leave him not long ago and this was some kind of feeble attempt to appease her. In his eyes, she thought it might have been a way to loosen his grip on the leash he kept her on while still making sure she stayed in line.
Either way, she knew it was going to make it even more complicated when she tried to leave.
"Uh. Oh. Okay," she said. "What should I wear?"
"I've already bought something new for you," Trey said. "It's on your bed. It's red. You know red is your color."
"Yeah. I know."
She tried to step past him into the room to start getting ready, but he caught her by the arm, stopping her. Her eyes closed and she held her breath, waiting to see what he would say— to see what he would do.
"Yes?" she breathed.
"You know I care about your safety, right?"
She felt surprisingly still on the inside for a moment, though she still couldn't figure out the right words to say to him. It was like this all the time lately. What could she say that wouldn't make him angry? What was the right answer?
It was so hard when every conversation felt like a test that she hadn't studied for.
His fingers tightened around her arm just a little bit more when she didn't respond right away. He was showing her how much stronger than her he was. It was a threat.
