Raul's POV
"What aren't you telling me, Raul?"
The fact that Marcus knows me so well is extremely annoying right now. I've hardly ever had the need or desire to lie to him. That is, until today.
Giles chose that moment to come in with a tray of another café con leche and a coffee in a French press.
"Thank you, Giles," I say, grateful for the interruption. Not that I think Marcus is going to let this go. But Giles's arrival gives me time to decide how I'm going to confess my past sin.
I wait until the butler leaves, carrying away Marcus's breakfast plate. "Four years ago," I say slowly, "Yandra and I had an affair."
Marcus pauses in the act of pouring out coffee from the French press. He puts it down and frowns at me. "Was that after her engagement ended?" he says.
"No, she was still engaged." I sigh and give him a look that said, I know, I know. "It was only for a few weeks and we kept it a secret. For obvious reasons."
He nods. "You think she told anyone?"
I shrug. "No idea. Her ex-fiancé didn't try to come and shoot me, so I doubt she told him."
After a long silence, he finally speaks. "Are you telling Nico? You realize that if they're dating, in a way she's going to be part of the family."
"No, but I'm confronting Yandra about it. I expect she'll avoid Nico after I tell her I found her out."
"Let's hope. Is there anyone else?" He cocks an eyebrow at me.
"Anyone else?"
"Are there any other women trying to get into your pants?" He narrows his eyes. "Or has one of them already succeeded?"
"No."
"Aren't you allowed one mistress a year?"
"That's what we agreed to, yes. But I haven't... I don't think it's a good time for it."
"With the board breathing down your neck, you may want to put that off until next year."
"Trust me, that's the last thing on my mind right now."
"What about Kate?"
His question takes me off guard. "What about her?"
He raises his eyebrow. "Has she taken a lover yet? That would also be a scandal if it gets out." Leaning back in his chair, he crosses his arms over his chest thoughtfully. "The board might get it into their heads that maybe your marriage was mostly for convenience."
"Don't be ridiculous. Kate's..." I frown. There's no reason why she'd tell me if she does have a lover. "She's too busy with the wedding plans," I add, trying not to sound too annoyed.
"Have you asked her?"
"No." Fuck. "I don't have to. She'd tell me."
"Does she know you don't have a lover?"
"Yes."
"Is that what you told her?"
"No." I clench my jaw. "I don't have to."
"Uh-huh."
"Did you have sex with Gigi?"
"Excuse me?"
"My ex-fiancée. Did you sleep with her?"
"It's none of your business."
I'm sure I'm not imagining the way his face flushes. It's an interesting development, but he's right, it's none of my business. He and Gigi are adults who are free to do whatever they want with each other. Besides, I have more pressing matters to concern me.
"Oh?" I lean back and mimic how he crosses his arms. "You seem to think you can ask about my sex life."
"No, I'm asking about your married life. Which has everything to do with your job. That is my business."
"Stop being so logical, it's annoying." Great, now I can't stop thinking about Kate and her theoretical lover. Damn it. "We need to find out who's making Yandra do this. I'll confront her about it, but she might not tell me. We need to be prepared to find this out ourselves."
Marcus is quiet for a long moment. "I'm going to try something. But I'll need your PIs for it."
I nod. "I'm speaking to Nova later today. I'll hook you up. What are you going to do?"
"It's practically a cliché by now, but there's a reason for it. I'm following the money."
***
Katelin's POV
"Is everything okay?" I say, bumping the side of Raul's arm with mine.
We're sitting in the back seat of the car as Santino drove us from the church to Tia Sylvia's house. I noticed he seemed distracted during mass earlier.
"I'm fine," he says. "Why do you ask?"
"I asked you a question but I don't think you heard me." I wrinkle my nose. "You're not thinking about work, are you?"
"Yeah, sorry." He squeezes my hand reassuringly. "What was your question?"
"Oh, it's nothing. I just wondered if maybe you wanted to have the wedding in Matanzas?" I shrug. "I've never been to Cuba."
"You know you'll need to show them a medical certificate stating whether you're pregnant or not."
I make a face and he grins. "Seriously?" I ask.
"Something about establishing paternity if the bride is pregnant."
"Huh."
"Anyway, our parish was nice enough to make room for us in September. Fr. Cabrera would be super disappointed if we got married somewhere else."
"Oh, right. I guess we can visit Cuba another time." I smile and glance out the window of the car. We're only a minute or two away from Sylvia's house.
There is no reply so I turn to look at Raul. He is staring into space, his jaw set. I can't help noticing the tension in his body.
"Raul?"
He blinks and turns to me. "Sorry. Yeah, of course." He puts an arm around my shoulders. "I'll have Olivia arrange my schedule to give me a few days off next month."
"Really?" I smile up at him.
"Well, I may have to put in some overtime to make that happen." He bends down and whispers. "I won't mind if you dropped by once in a while at the office."
My eyes grow wide. "Shhhh." I purse my lips toward Santino in the driver's seat.
"I promise you, it will take more than that to make Santino blush."
It takes me a moment to figure out what he means. Of course. As Raul's driver, he was certainly aware of Raul's sexual escapades all those years on the job.
The way I was.
I swallow a lump in my throat and force myself to smile. "Right," I say, then look away. "But I think I'll leave you to do your work without, uhm, interruptions.
"You don't have any plans this afternoon, do you?"
He's trying to sound casual, but there's something in the tone of his voice that makes me whip my head back to look at him. "No, why? Do you have to go to the office today?"
"No, no. I just thought we'd stay in today. It will be quiet, just the two of us."
He wants to talk to me about something. I'm sure of it. Only I can't tell if it's something bad or just serious. "Okay." I smile. "After a week of meeting with florists and tailors and caterers, a quiet afternoon will be heaven."
"Poor baby." He pulls me close. I lean against his chest and try to hide my giddiness at the intimate public gesture. "If it's too much," he continues, "we can call it off. Fr. C can do the ceremony after mass one Sunday and everyone who stayed to attend can meet us at the Shake Shack for the reception."
I laugh.
It looked like everyone was already at Sylvia's by the time we walk into the house. There's a great hubbub among the guests, everyone seemed to be excited about something.
Yandra is sitting on a sofa chatting excitedly with Safia and Tia Carmen. When she sees Raul and me, she waves frantically at us before rushing over.
"Oh, Kate, I'm so glad you see you!" she says, then calls out to someone in the hallway. "Nico, they're here!"
"Hey, primo," Nico says, looking almost shy as he walks up to us. "I didn't see you at mass, I thought you weren't coming."
"We were almost late so we sat at the back," I explain. "Then we had a long chat with Fr. Cabrera after. He's going to be officiating our..."
I trail off when Yandra holds up her hand, displaying a large sparkling diamond. "We're engaged!" she squeals.
Nico puts an arm around her. "We picked out the ring yesterday afternoon," he says, beaming. "We sort of got carried away."
"I can see that," Raul says. There's an odd tone in his voice and I wonder if he's not pleased with the news.
I can imagine this engagement might come as a shock to Nico's family. He may have known Yandra for years but as far as I can tell, they haven't even started dating. Or maybe they've just been keeping it a secret? Nico does travel a lot.
"Aren't you going to congratulate us?" Nico says.
"Oh, yes, of course," I say. "Sorry I was just surprised." I hug them both. "Congratulations, Nico, Yandra."
"Congratulations," Raul says. He shakes Nico's hand. "Have you set a date?"
Yandra and Nico exchange looks. "Well, we thought we'd talk to Tia Sylvia and Tio Basil first," Yandra says.
"And we can't possibly have two weddings in one year," Nico says. "So it will have to be next year."
"Then there's medical school," Raul says.
Yandra's smile falters a bit, but only for a moment. "Right, med school," she says. "Hopefully, I'll be able to get time off for the wedding."
"I expect your first year has already been paid for."
What an odd comment. I stare at Raul with raised eyebrows, but he's studying Yandra intently.
She laughs. It's a feminine laugh, delicate and refined. I could never laugh like that. "Yeah, my Dad will kill me if I mess it up." Looking around, she adds distractedly, "Excuse me, I promised Tio Basil to help him with dessert."
"What was that about?" I ask Raul after Yandra leaves.
"What do you mean?" he says.
"That thing about med school."
"Her father always wanted a doctor in the family. I wondered if she was going to give it up now that she's getting married."
"You know, women don't give up their career plans just because they get married." I feel my cheeks grow warm. Who was I to talk; I was unemployed. "I mean, not all women."
"No, they don't." He squeezes my hand, as though to reassure me that it was no big deal. "Let's go say hi to Tia Sylvia."
I nod, but I have a feeling in my gut he's lying to me. And I don't understand why. Yandra is just a family friend, isn't she?
Raul and I are spending this afternoon alone together. I'll ask him then.
________________________________________
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I'll post Chapter 27 ("No Negotiations") here next Monday, January 30.