Page 71 of A Wife's Duty

Lucia tutted. “I have never sewn anything in my life. I think it looks ugly. You’re going to have a scar.”

“Babe, I’m covered in scars. Why do you think I’ve got all the ink?” he asked.

“You’re scared?”

“You don’t get to where I am today without getting hurt. Trust me.”

“Is that why you’re not reacting? I mean, you’ve got to be in pain, right? It looks pretty painful.”

“It is painful,” he said. “But it’s no different than what I have felt before, so don’t worry.”

Lucia nodded and he watched her take a breath. He saw that in the beginning, she had panicked, yet as the seconds passed, her focus had stayed. Her hands stopped shaking. Once she tied the string into a knot, she clipped the edges and then grabbed some wipes.

“Hold on,” he said.

Stepping toward the drinks’ cabinet, he found the strongest scotch he owned, pulled out the stopper, and poured it onto his wound.

“Damn it, Boone. You’re getting that all over the place.”

His wound stung, and Lucia was there, guiding him back.

“You’re insane,” she said. “Alcohol. Seriously?”

“It’s strong and got a high content that will help.” Boone smiled at her.

“You’re getting your wound drunk?”

This made him chuckle. “You’re adorable,” he said.

“And you’re a pain.” She pressed a sanitary wipe to the wound, pressing on it gently. “You better not die on me through infection. I will be so mad at you.”

“You’ll have to take care of me.”

She cupped his face. “I’m already taking care of you. Maybe, in three days’ time, you shouldn’t leave?”

“Lucia?”

“Maybe, you and I can go. We can leave this house and go someplace where no one knows us. Where no one knows we exist, and we can be free?”

He saw the hope in her eyes, and he wanted to do that. It would be easy to get them both new identities, to start a life somewhere away from all this crap. However, if he didn’t finish what he started, Valdez and Bonaldi would rise up again. Not only would they get bigger, they would get stronger, and there would be men or women who would come hunting for them. That was not acceptable. They could have a life together, one that didn’t involve them constantly looking behind them.

“One day, we will have that. That’s not today,” he said.

Lucia sighed. “But it could be.”

“Lucia, I’ve got to do this.”

“You don’t have to do this. You’re choosing to do this.” She pressed a hand to his cheek.

What was she not telling him?

Chapter Fourteen

For the next couple of days, Lucia felt like she was living on a cloud, or in a dreamworld, or even possibly an alternate reality. Everything that was happening didn’t seem real to her.

It wasn’t like for the past twenty-two years she’d been living with a family, seeing the horrors that happened at their hand, trying to survive. Knowing her father hated her because she wasn’t considered this stunning beauty he could bargain with. Having siblings who enjoyed tormenting her, because it was all part of their fun.

She felt like those years were the dream, and yet this was her reality. She’d been given to Boone Grinder as an insult, but it had been the best thing that ever happened to her.

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