Page 22 of His Enemy's Daughter
The observation lands harder than it should. She’s right—my choice to take the fall for Simeone came from desperate loyalty, from believing that protecting him mattered more than my own freedom.
“That’s different.”
“Is it?” She moves closer again, and this time I don’t retreat. “Or are we both just people who’ve been trapped by circumstances beyond our control, trying to find whatever leverage we can to change the game?”
“Maybe.” I study her face, looking for manipulation and finding only raw honesty that’s more dangerous than any lie. “Or maybe you’re very good at telling me exactly what I want to hear.”
“If I were that good, you’d have already agreed without all this philosophical debate.” Her smile is sharp, carrying an edge that makes something heat in my chest. “Face it, Mauricio—you want to believe me. You want to think I’m the key to dismantling Sabino’s empire. Because if I am, then maybe fifteen years wasn’t wasted. Maybe your sacrifice means something beyond just keeping Simeone safe.”
The accuracy of her read makes my skin prickle with awareness. “You’re perceptive.”
“I’m desperate,” she corrects, throwing my own words back at me. “Which makes me motivated to understand exactly what you need to hear to give me what I want. That’s not manipulation—that’s survival.”
“There’s not always a difference.” But I’m smiling despite myself, drawn to her sharpness in ways that have nothing to do with strategy. “Fine. Trial alliance. You provide information, I verify it, and use what’s legitimate. In exchange, I help you navigate the chaos that comes from your father’s world potentially crumbling.”
“And eventually?”
“Eventually, if you prove trustworthy, I’ll help you disappear.” The promise feels dangerous to make, but I mean it. “New life, new identity, somewhere Sabino Picarelli’s reach doesn’t extend.”
“How do I know you’ll keep that promise?” Vulnerability flashes across her face. “How do I know you won’t use me and then abandon me to whatever consequences come?”
“You don’t.” Honesty feels like the only currency worth trading right now. “Same way I don’t know you’re not playing me. We’re both taking risks, Regina. The question is whether potential reward outweighs guaranteed danger.”
The silence stretches. Finally, she nods—not like someone who’s sure, but like someone who’s decided to stop second-guessing.
“When do we start?”
“Now.” I pull out my phone, and type quickly. “I’m sending you a secure communication app. Download it, set up an account with a name that won’t trace back to you. We use that for all contact going forward—never text, never call, nothing that leaves obvious trails.”
“Paranoid.”
“Practical.” I correct. “Your father didn’t survive this long by being careless. Neither will we.”
“Don’t make me regret trusting you.”
“Right back at you.”
Then she’s gone, slipping through shadows like she was never there at all.
I stand alone in the abandoned church, flash drive heavy in my pocket and her scent still lingering in the air—bergamot and vanilla mixed with possibility and danger.
This is either the smartest alliance I’ve ever formed or the stupidest mistake I’ve made since the job that sent me to prison.
Time will tell which.
7
Regina
“You’re getting sloppy.”
The voice cuts through the darkness of the parking garage, and my heart slams against my ribs even as I recognize it. Mauricio steps out from behind a concrete pillar, all salt and paper hair with dangerous grace, looking like vengeance dressed up in expensive clothes.
“What the fuck?” I press a hand to my chest, willing my pulse to slow. “Do you practice being terrifying, or does it just come naturally?”
“Natural talent.” His smile is sharp enough to draw blood. “You’re late.”
“I’m three minutes late.” I move toward him, hyper-aware of how the dim lighting catches the planes of his face, making him look like something carved from shadows and bad decisions. “Since when are you tracking me down to the second?”
