Page 96 of No Sweeter Poison

I can’t tell her the truth. For one, I don’t think she’d believe me and even if she did, she’d try to convince me to leave. Which I can’t so I’ve made the best of the situation.

“Kay, he’s really, really rich.” I slip one of the bracelets onto my wrist. “I don’t think I can even articulate in words how rich he is. I stopped telling him no a long time ago.”

It’s the kind of thing most people only dream of and here I am. Living the fantasy.

Karina looks skeptical at best. “And he lets you keep it?”

“I mean, I’m sure he would but I don’t plan on it. When I go home, I’m leaving all of this here.”

Her shoulders ease a bit, as if she’s relieved to hear it. “By the way, I dropped off your rent check at Marcia’s yesterday.”

“Thanks. Did you open the windows? It must be stuffy as hell in there.”

She laughs. “Yeah, it smelled like something—”

There’s a knock on the door and I almost leap out of my skin when someone enters the walk-in closet. Alejandro holds up a hand.

“Sorry. I didn’t think you heard me.”

“Oh my God! Is that sexy European lover!”

I am going to kill my cousin.

Alejandro smiles but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. In fact, he looks exhausted.

“Hi, Karina.” He walks across the room and waves in front of the camera. “How’s the wedding planning going?”

“It’d be much easier if someone wasn’t holding my cousin hostage!”

“She’s joking!” I blurt and my eyes widen when he looks at me. “She is completely, one hundred percent joking.”

Alejandro waits a beat before nodding. “I understand.”

“I am not! You were supposed to be back days ago. Please, I am dying over here.”

“Kay, let me call you back.”

I close the laptop before she can say anything else that’s incriminating.

“She doesn’t know,” I tell Alejandro. “I didn’t tell her anything.”

“It’s all right. I’m not upset.”

Waistcoat unbuttoned, rolled up sleeves, wrinkled shirt. He looks like a sleep deprived disaster with ruffled hair and a five o’clock shadow. I’ve never seen him without a clean-shaven face before and it’s throwing me off more than I care to admit.

As if reading my thoughts, he rubs his jaw. “Come. I want to talk to you for a minute.”

I expect him to take us to the sitting area by the fireplace. Instead, he opens the doors that lead to the patio and we step outside. The sun is halfway set and the air is warm but not insufferably so. He pulls out a chair for me at the round table under the umbrella and I sit down. Alejandro lowers himself to the seat beside me and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“I have something for you.”

I wait for him to reach into his back pocket. He places his hand on the table and leaves behind a wallet and passport.

My wallet and passport.

My stomach drops. “I…I don’t understand.”

Except I do and flashes of white-hot panic pulse through me.