Raina buckled down and worked with Daniela for the rest of the afternoon, pouring over paint, tile, and texture samples. Raina wanted to enjoy the process; she really did, but the reality was, she really didn’t care at all about matching anything. She was not a domestic goddess.
However, she did appreciate being surrounded by beauty, so she attempted to put some real effort into the project. Frequently, Daniela would give her head a small shake and redirect Raina if she believed Raina was going off the rails when it came to choosing samples.
It didn't take long before Raina realized that her home was going to be mostly fashioned by the elegant interior decorator. She decided not to care. If the outcome was beautiful, then Raina was more than happy to accept it. What she wanted out of this whole project was to erase any trace of Ignacio Hernandez from the home. So far, so good.
She was in the process of turning the man's office into a library. This was the one room that she was taking a heavy hand in decorating; it was to be a gift for Mateo. Knowing his love of the written word, Raina poured over hundreds of library designs on Pinterest and had chosen a few to combine.
The room was dark, but the windows and French doors leading out into the gardens would keep it from feeling oppressive. The bookshelves and the desk were made from cherry oak and she'd commissioned a couple of original paintings. When it was finished, the room would have a gothic romantic theme without crossing over into feminine. She thought that Mateo would appreciate his new library.
After she finished with the interior decorator, Raina settled back behind her desk to make a few phone calls. She decided to take Mateo's advice and speak to her mothers. Both of them. At the same time. She needed advice. It helped that they loved each other as well and made it clear that they had Raina's best interests at heart.
Raina set up the three-way call and waited breathlessly for the two women to connect. Vee was first.
"Raina?" Her voice was clipped but eager.
"I'm here," Raina said happily, smiling at hearing her mother's voice.
"I'm here too!" Diane's voice chirped. "So good to hear both of you. This was such a wonderful idea, Raina. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to figure out the mechanics of it, but Joe helped."
Raina smiled at the image of her mother struggling to understand a new technology. Diane was an extremely capable woman in many ways, but she had no appreciation for modern technology. Every time smart phones received a new upgrade, Diane was the first to shake her head. It had taken a lot of convincing for Raina to get her mom to give up her BlackBerry and buy a smart phone.
"Talk to me about this wedding," Vee demanded. "I want to know everything."
"Yes, everything!" Diane gushed.
It was funny that both of her mothers had the same reaction, but for very different reasons. Vee didn’t want Raina marrying into the mob and had spent many hours over the past few weeks grilling Raina on her future plans. Vee made it clear that she didn't entirely approve of the wedding, but she didn't have a choice in the matter. If she had been able to help Raina escape again, she would've done it. Diane, on the other hand, loved Mateo and was extremely excited for the upcoming nuptials.
"To be honest, that's why I'm calling. I need help," Raina said. "According to Mateo, our wedding is supposed to be in a few months, but I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I don't know anything about flowers, dresses, wedding invitations. The whole thing feels like a nightmare, but he insists that it has to happen."
Vee snorted. "I've been in that boat and it wasn't particularly fun."
Vee had been completely against marrying Sotza, but he hadn’t given her a choice. He had essentially locked her up until the moment she was forced to take her vows with him. Despite that, the marriage was a happy one.
"It'll be fine, honey," Diane said reassuringly. "Once we finish seeding the fields, I should be free to fly down to Miami and help you with some of this. I don't know if my tastes are any good for the fancy people that’ll probably be coming to the wedding, but I'll help where I can."
"Thank you, mom, that's exactly what I needed to hear."
"If Diane is heading your way, then so am I.” Vee’s voice had more of a menacing quality than Diane's had. Raina bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud.
"I prefer if my fiancé stays alive until the wedding," Raina said dryly, pointing out the dislike between Mateo and Vee.
"I won't kill him," Vee assured her. "Not unless he tries to kill me first."
"Well that makes me feel better," Raina said sarcastically.
"Oh, you two," Diane said with gentle chiding. "So much alike."
Raina felt a rush of love for both women. It was beautiful to her that they were both able to love Raina and be part of her life while maintaining a friendship themselves. There was no jealousy and no fighting over Raina. They wanted her to be happy. It was hard not to feel loved when she was surrounded by such difference, but strong and independent women.
They made plans for both Vee and Diane to fly out the following week. They would stay for several days and help with the wedding plans, then they would be back in a couple of months for the actual wedding.
Raina hung up feeling content.
Chapter Thirty
Later that night, Raina was sound asleep in her bedroom when the door was flung open. She blinked rapidly and shielded her eyes from the sudden glare of light coming in from the hallway. She pushed herself up in bed and stared toward the door squinting at the blurry person who interrupted her beauty sleep.
"Mateo?" she asked sleepily, covering a yawn.
"It's me," he confirmed, striding toward her bed, taking hold of the edge of her comforter and dragging it off her. "Get up, you're coming with me."
His voice was serious, his demeanor foreboding and closed off. What was going on? It must be something awful for him to wake her up this way.
As she climbed out of bed, Mateo strode to her closet, jerked the door open and disappeared inside.
"Hey!" she yelped, wobbling to her feet and taking a couple of steps after him.
She didn't want him rifling through her stuff, particularly the lingerie and other delicates. They hadn’t established that kind of relationship yet and until they did, she didn't want him looking at the things she wore beneath her clothes.
Before she could follow him into the closet and scold him, he came back out and tossed a bundle at her. "Put these on, meet me downstairs.”
"Are you going tell me what's going on?" she yelled after him as he quickly exited the room. She could hear his shoes tapping against the marble as he made his way rapidly down the hall toward the stairway.
She made a face, shoved her glasses on and began dressing in a pair of baggy sweatpants, a stretchy tank top and an oversized hoodie that zipped up the front. She pulled on a pair of sweat socks and running shoes and then took off after Mateo, curiosity driving her steps down to the main floor.
She was positive that if they were in a life or death situation that Mateo wouldn’t have left her alone. He would've stayed with her while she changed, and he would've protected her as they left the mansion. No, this was something else, and she was dying to know what.
She nearly crashed into him as she hurtled down the marble steps to the main floor, leaping off the last two steps and landing flat on her feet. She gasped as a hand gripped her arm to steady her. She looked up into Mateo's deadly serious face. His eyes were shuttered, cold as the grave. His face was devoid of all expression. This was scary Mateo.
She took a step back and got another good look at him. Holy shit, was that blood on his clothes? She wanted to ask him, but he took hold of her wrist and walked her toward the back of the house. He was so fast that if she didn't keep up, she was positive he would drag her.
What the hell was going on?
He walked straight through the back door and into the yard, toward the outdoor gym. Once they were on the workout mats Mateo dropped her wrist, kicked off his shoes and reached for his shirt, draggin
g it over his head. He stood in front of her wearing only a pair of pants and a leather belt. His chiseled chest was only somewhat visible in the dim lighting of the backyard, but she squinted, trying to trace every detail.
"Do you want to tell me what's going on?" she asked him, hands on her hips.
He ignored her question and growled, "Take your shoes off, get into position."
Raina thought about it. The rebel in her wanted to argue, to demand what he was thinking, waking her up in the middle of the night and forcing her into the back yard for a fighting session. But the other part of her, the woman who was gradually becoming attached to the man standing across from her, urged her to do as he said.
For one thing, the faster she took off her shoes and got into position, the faster she could get her hands on that bare chest, even if it was a quick feel as he dropped her to the mat. But the other reason she was more inclined to obey, was the look on his face. Though it was completely blank, she sensed an underlying turmoil. Something was hurting him, something that he didn't know how to process. He was dealing by dragging her into the yard in the middle of the night.
She kicked off her running shoes, tossing them to the side of the mat and then reached for the zip on her hoodie. Though the night was somewhat cool, she would warm up quickly once they got started.
Mateo was merciless. He attacked, he punched, he kicked, he threw her across the open space. As she hit the mat for the third time and rolled until she hit the grass, Mateo strode over loomed over her. He wasn't even breathing hard, but he wore a thunderous expression. He was angry that she couldn't fight back the way he wanted her to.
He reached down and gripped both of her arms, lifting her up so high that her feet left the ground before he set her back down. "Again," he demanded, taking a few steps back and lifting his arms in an aggressive position.
She shook her head, rubbing her shoulder where it had been jarred by her last fall. "I need a break, Mateo," she begged him. "I need some water."
There was a catch in her voice. She felt like she was going to cry. The Mateo that she'd been sparring with all week had been gentle, fun, patient. He’d been teaching her different defensive techniques, but he'd made it clear that sparring was also an excuse to get his hands on her. He hadn't hurt her. Now, he wasn’t playing around. He hit her hard and yelled at her when she didn't properly defend herself.
She turned away so he wouldn't see the tears in her eyes and reached for the mini fridge that sat out next to the workout area. She pulled a bottle of water out and uncapped it.
Mateo came up alongside her and after she'd finished gulping down half the water, he took it from her hands, drained it and tossed the empty bottle over his shoulder. He took her arm and pulled her back onto the mat.
"Again," he said firmly.
Once more, Raina was forced to defend herself as Mateo came at her, taking hold of her arms, her hair, her waist and throwing her. He would aim punches and kicks at her while she was down, forcing her to roll away or kick up at him. She used every technique that he, Danny and Angela had taught her, every technique she learned in self-defense classes at university. It still wasn't enough. He countered every move she made almost before she made it and then he showed her why she needed to defend herself.
She knew that Mateo was stronger and more skilled than her, but she'd never imagined that he could be this brutal. And she knew, that even though he was hitting her hard, he was still pulling his punches. She suspected that if he really hit her full force that he would be shattering her bones. The thought that he had that kind of power made her shudder in fear. It was one thing suspecting that someone you cared about could do something horrible to you, it was quite another to see it firsthand.
Finally, after they'd been sparring for hours and Raina hit the mat for probably the dozenth time, she threw her arms up as he came at her and yelled, "Stop!"
Mateo ignored her scream, took hold of her wrist, flipped her onto her stomach and kneeled on her back, twisting her wrist up behind her until she felt as though her arm would break. This was the third time he’d done this to her and so far, she hadn’t been able to break the hold.
It was at this point that an exhausted Raina burst into tears. She lay helpless beneath Mateo’s bulk, sobbing her heart out. He moved quickly off her and fell to his knees beside her. He reached for her. She didn't trust him to be nice to her, if his intent was to comfort, so she shoved his arms away. She huddled on the mat, dropping her head to her knees, and allowing the tears to fall unchecked.
Mateo tried to touch her again and she jerked back violently, yelling at him, "Leave me alone, don't touch me!"
Mateo didn't touch her. He watched as she continued to cry, wiping the tears on the hem of her shirt. Finally, as the tears slowed and her hiccupping gasps stopped, he attempted to offer an explanation.
"You must learn, mi amor," he said urgently.
"I'm not your love," she lashed out, her voice wobbly with tears. "If you loved me, you wouldn’t have done that to me. I'm going to be covered in bruises from head to foot. This isn't you teaching me self-defense, this is abuse."
He flinched when she said the word abuse, the look on his face suggesting she’d gutted him. Through their sparring session he had lost the emotionlessness that he'd been exhibiting before; he'd released some of the violent tension from within. Unfortunately, he'd chosen her as his punching bag.
"You have to understand, Raina, I – " he began, but she interrupted him.
"You're right, I don't understand!" she shouted at him, rubbing her shoulder. "You’re impossible to understand. Sometimes, you're so sweet to me, I can't imagine a life without you. But then you do things like this. I watched you kill men in cold blood in my apartment. I could justify it because you were saving my life, but I'm coming to realize, there are two sides to you. And I don't feel like I can deal with that. I can't deal with this again."
Raina tried to stand up, intent on storming back to the house and locking herself inside. She’d go find a guestroom to sleep in so he wouldn't know where to find her and pick her up again, but Mateo stopped her with a hand on her arm. He gripped her and forced her to sit back down. She landed on her butt with a thump and glared at him, sniffling back more tears. Was he going to force her to fight again? If that was his plan, then he may as well beat her up, because she was done pretending to defend herself.
"Listen to me, Raina," he began, his voice hard, taking on that tone that she knew meant she wouldn't have a choice. She bit her lips to keep herself from screaming at him again. Maybe if she let him get whatever this was out of his system, he let her go back inside. "I will admit, I shouldn't have come straight to you tonight after what I'd seen, but I had to make sure you were okay. I had to set eyes on you myself."
"I was perfectly okay, sound asleep in my own bed before you dragged me out and beat me up," she snapped scathingly.
Mateo grunted his annoyance but didn't contradict her. He continued, "As you know, I've had my work cut out for me during this takeover. I knew it wouldn't go smooth, though things have been going better than I expected. Sotza is well respected in this area, and as his right-hand man, that respect seems to extend to me. However, there is some resistance coming out of Mexico."
Raina knew that Mexico had been the point of contention for her mother when Vee was boss in Miami. Mexico was the reason that Sotza had come to Miami to end her reign and install his own regime in the area. Miami had gone through many bosses over the past several years, Mateo was meant to become a permanent fixture.
"I had a liaison here, a Mexican-American who acted as go-between for me and several of the cartels. For the most part, the cartels have fallen in line. They’re pleased that we intend to keep our trade routes intact, to allow the flow of goods to continue through our ports. But there is one, the cartel that Casey and Reyes were supposed to have crushed. Somehow, this cartel continues to have power, though the figurehead and his progeny are dead. They went after my middleman and h
is family. I knew the threat was coming, but I arrived too late to his house. It was a slaughter."
Raina's heart pounded in her chest. Sympathy, horror, terror. This was the shadowy mob life she feared, that she wanted no part of. "Who did they kill?" she asked tentatively.
He confirmed her fears. "My man was killed, his wife, his mother, their three kids. It was brutal. It was a message."
Raina felt sick. “My god, Mateo. I’m so sorry.” She understood what he was not saying. This family wasn’t just executed. If there was a cartel attempting to send a message, then they would have done it in the most gruesome way possible to ensure that the message was received.
Raina took a deep breath and reached out to touch Mateo. "You want me to be able to protect myself." Now she understood why he dragged her from her bed and out into the yard where he could repeatedly beat her. "You know this isn't the way to do it. This past week, the patience you showed me, I've learned so much. Tonight, I learned nothing, except that my boyfriend doesn't know how to properly deal with grief."
He lifted his head, guilt bright in his eyes. "I should've realized this was going to happen. I should've protected him and his family better."
She shook her head and rubbed her hand on his arm. "My understanding is that the mob rarely goes after family, right? You couldn't have known that they would target everyone under his roof. There's only so much protection you can offer a person."
Though her words were meant to be comforting, Mateo's gaze became sharp and fierce. He brought his hand down on top of hers and gripped it so tightly that she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out.
"Nothing can happen to you. I will wrap you in so many layers of protection, that this will not even be a possibility."
She reached up to touch his cheek, running her fingers down the rough whiskers. Two years ago, when she learned who her mother was, Raina had reconciled herself to the idea that she was essentially married to the mob. Maybe not literally, but through her family connections. And though she'd only had a vague idea of the dangers involved, she was a realist, she never once deluded herself into thinking she would be safe forever.
Born a Queen (The Queens Book 3) Page 16
