Santiago comes around the corner looking striking in a charcoal suit stretched tight over broad shoulders and muscular arms. His head is down, eyes locked on whatever it is he’s looking at on his phone. He’s been distracted since the other night. Since Mercedes. He hasn’t said what’s going on, but I’ve hardly seen her since he tore her room apart. All I know is that tensions are still high and I’m not sure brother and sister have seen each other since.

A man I don’t recognize opens the front door. “Your car is ready, sir,” he says.

Santiago finishes typing something out and drags his gaze up to me before replying to him. “We’ll be right there,” he says, walking toward me.

“Where’s Marco?” I ask.

“Occupied elsewhere.”

He puts a hand at my back and looks me over. I’m about to ask if he’s occupied with Mercedes but he pulls me to him and kisses my mouth. It’s a deep kiss, sensual and erotic and full of promise and desire.

“You’re beautiful,” he says, and I’m flustered. I look up at him, see him smile and I falter. His kisses affect me physically. It’s the strangest thing. The attraction between us has always been powerful, raw and violent even, but it’s even more so now. “Let’s get this over with.”

I nod, but anxiety has my stomach in knots. I don’t want to go but I have no choice. The Tribunal will dismiss the charge against me but the thought of being in there again, in that awful building, seeing that scaffold out in the courtyard, it terrifies me.

“Don’t be afraid,” Santiago says, squeezing my hand. “I’m with you. I will not leave your side.”

I look up at him, squeeze back, my hands clammy. I nod.

He pulls me to him and kisses my forehead, holding his lips there for a long moment as his fingers brush the tattoo at the nape of my neck. It’s exposed today at his request. I’m his. He wants The Tribunal to know it. He wants everyone to know it.

When we step outside, I see the small sports car rather than the Rolls Royce. He opens the passenger side door, and I climb in, realizing he’ll be driving. It would be fun if it was any other occasion.