Page 57 of Legacy
My eyes flick toward him ready to tell him to fuck off
“It’s Rafael.”
My grip tightens on the glass.
“Send him in.”
Rafael enters, hesitancy clinging to him. His eyes glance at the glass of whiskey in my hand.
“I hope I’m not intruding,” he says his accent playing with his words.
I scoff.
“You are.”
Rafael doesn’t flinch. He extends his hand toward me, holding a familiar velvet box.
The Blood Ruby.
She didn’t take it.
“Why are you here?”
I don’t take it from his hand.
“To tell you the truth.”
He pauses.
“About Adriana.”
“Spit it out then.”
He sits across from me.
“I cover for Adriana,” he begins. “A lot. And she covers for me. She asked me to pretend to be her current boyfriend, to stop her brother from arranging marriages for her.”
“But you were willing to give consent on her behalf.”
“Because Luciano wouldn’t be able to pass up the deal you brought him.”
He shifts in his seat.
“An arranged marriage would devastate her, it’s not what she wants.”
Of course he knows what she wants.
He continues despite my silence.
“Why not get to know her instead, let her meet you and choose for herself?”
“I already know her, we—”
“Angelo…”he says to himself
His eyes light with recognition.
“You’re the one she snuck off with… and now you’re back, it’s been what? Four years?”
