Page 83 of More than Paper

I misjudged our situation.Not telling Quinn about Valeria and me was the biggest mistake I could have made.

Quinn’s in my arms, crying. I’ve hurt her—not surface-level hurt but deep hurt. And it’s breaking my heart.

“Shh. I’m so sorry,” I tell her again, wishing I could get a do-over.

She cries for several minutes and begins to calm down.

“Let me grab your bag and let’s go to my room. You can’t leave tonight. It’s too late.”

Her eyes painfully shut, and she slowly nods.

I kiss the top of her head and grab her bag. When I turn and come around the corner, she’s already gone to my room.

When I get there, she’s staring out the window, with one arm across her chest and one hand over her face. I set the bag by the wall and shut the door.

How could I have been so stupid?

I cross the room to her. Fresh tears are streaming down her cheeks. I stand behind her and wrap my arms around her waist. Putting my cheek next to hers, I say, “Tell me what I can do to make this right.”

“Get a divorce,” she whispers.

I sigh. “I would. But I can’t. Tell me anything else.”

The river of tears runs faster. “Why not?

“V will get hurt. I probably would, too.”

“I don’t understand.”

I turn her to me. “Quinn, V’s father is not to be messed with. If he finds out we lied to him all these years, he will probably cut my eyes out before he kills me. His men will track V down and take her back to Colombia, where who knows what will happen to her.”

“But she’s his daughter. Surely he wouldn’t hurt her?”

“He will hurt anyone who defies him. We lied. We defied him. He wanted her married to one of his men. We stopped that. She’s a lesbian. There will be consequences.”

“So, you’re going to just stay married for the rest of your life?”

I cup her face in my hands. “Neither V nor I want to stay married. V and her girlfriend Cindy wish to get married, too. We’ve looked at every angle. There is no way to get out of this without both of us getting hurt. These are dangerous people.”

Quinn furrows her brows and licks her lips. “So you and me, we would never be able to get married. I would always be your mistress.”

I close my eyes. “Stop saying you’re my mistress. You aren’t.”

“I am. Your wife is not me. You screw me. That makes me your mistress.”

“Stop. You’re no such thing.”

“I would marry you right now if I could. But it’s just a piece of paper.”

“It’s not to me.”

I sigh. “We could have a wedding, exchange vows, do everything except make it legal. It doesn’t define how I feel about you or what you mean to me.”

My heart bleeds further as more tears drip out of her eyes.

“I was twenty years old. It was supposed to be for three, four years tops. I thought I was helping a friend. Neither V nor I knew the consequences.”

Minutes pass. Quinn finally says, “I don’t understand how you kept this from the press. How do they not know Valeria Sánchez is married?”

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