The rain slowed, finally, as if it matched our moods. I kissed her and slowly slid out, kneeling to zip my jeans before lifting her up. She let me this time. Let me carry her into the house and up to the second floor and through my bedroom to the master bath, where I ran the shower and placed her inside. I followed, still fully clothed, stripping first her and then myself beneath the warm flow of water.

“I want you, Lucia,” I said yet again, pressing her back against the wall, kissing her. “As wrong as it is, I want you.”

Lucia lay in my bed, the cuts on her knees and palms bandaged, warm beneath the covers. Safe in my arms.

“Natalie is my sister-in-law. Sergio’s wife.” She had her back to me, so I couldn’t see her face. “She has a son who was at daycare while she worked her usual hours. When she got there to pick him up, he was gone. The daycare provider had fucked up, releasing Jacob to someone who claimed to be his uncle.”

She turned her head to look at me, then shifted to lie on her back. I kept my arm over her belly, my hand closed possessively around her hip.

“She was frantic, as you can imagine.”

“Did they find him?”

I nodded. “It was Dominic, I’m certain. He’d dropped him off at her parent’s house but only after a couple of hours.”

“Is Jacob okay?”

“He’s fine now. He’s only a year and a half, so he couldn’t tell us much. Dropped off with an armful of toys and an ice-cream cone that had melted all over him. He apparently ran into his grandmother’s arms and sobbed, calling for his mom.”

“Why would Dominic do that?”

“To show he could.” That’s what pissed me off the most. This was the one thing that could terrorize Natalie.

“I can’t imagine what Natalie must have felt.”

I nodded. I’d never seen her like I did today, not even when she’d learned Sergio had been killed.

“I’m the only person she trusts, Lucia. I couldn’t abandon her or my nephew.”

“You should have told me.”

“I know.”

“I assumed… I thought she was your... That you were having an affair.” She lowered her lashes, her face growing pink with embarrassment.

“I told you I wouldn’t do that. The contract—”

“It doesn’t say anything about that.”

“I’m not interested in anyone or anything else at the moment, Lucia.” The words at the moment made me pause. I wondered if she noticed them. “Don’t worry. I will still release you from the contract when the time comes.”

She grew quieter. “I’m tired.”

I pulled her tight against my chest and rested my chin on top of her head. “Go to sleep.”