Until Tomorrow Comes: A Dark Mafia Romance (Beauty in Lies Book 1)

by Adelaide Forrest

  I'd tell her it was time, and that would be the end of it. The nightmare inside of me actually looked forward to her shocked expression and the fight I'd face in convincing her she couldn't change it.

  "Still. This business wasn't meant to be dealt with while I was here."

  "From the way you speak of Ibiza, I always thought it was home to you. Where are you from if not here?" she asked, glancing out the window. "You have such fondness for the island."

  "Ibiza is the closest thing to a home city I have, but I don't spend a great deal of time here anymore," I admitted. "I live on a nearby island, but it's much more isolated. My in-person business dealings always happen here out of necessity because the island is..." I paused, trying to think of a word that wouldn't convey just how isolated the island was.

  Nothing said wealth like a private island, and nothing was quite as inescapable for Isa.

  "More remote?" she asked.

  "Yes. It's less urban. There are no hotels or places to stay on the island. Only the people who live there. But because I don't come to Ibiza as often anymore, business associates who want my time can be voracious. I apologize it has interrupted our time together," I said again, pulling up to the boutique hotel that I'd booked for Isa and her friends. It had killed me to put her in a three-star facility even for a few hours, but Alejandro insisted it was far more believable lodging for a program. Even if the program in and of itself was a charitable operation.

  It would continue after Isa came home with me. Well, so long as it wasn't defunded due to her disappearance.

  That would be most unfortunate.

  With no valet parking, I pulled into one of the front parking spots and hurried out to help Isa from the car. She wound her way through the hotel, looking far more at ease with the lack of luxury than she ever did in the suite. I had to convince myself that was something that would remedy with time as she adjusted to being a very wealthy woman.

  When she was my wife, she'd want for nothing.

  She guided me into the elevator, turning to me to lean up and press a kiss to my cheek. "You don't need to worry about leaving me with my friends while you deal with your business. I'm capable of being without you for a few hours." She laughed, and the sound grated on my nerves.

  I needed her to want to spend all her waking moments with me. Even if it wasn't practical to actually happen, she needed to want it as much as I did.

  When the elevator emerged on her floor, she stepped out with a flounce and took my hand in hers to pull me behind her. Their room was at the back of the hotel, as far from the foot traffic of the elevator as I'd been able to manage. She knocked on the door despite having her own key to the room she was meant to share with Chloe.

  Her friend swung open the door, all blond haired and blue eyed as she smiled at Isa excitedly. Isa stepped into the room, hugging her friend without ever releasing my hand, and taking me with her. Hugo stood from his seat, his posture going from relaxed to on edge the moment our eyes connected. "This is Rafe," Isa said, as she pulled back from Chloe's clinging embrace. "Rafe, these are my friends. Chloe and Hugo," she said, letting go of my hand to step into Hugo's chest for a hug. He wrapped his arms around her, enclosing her in an embrace that clearly felt uncomfortable to him with me watching with a clenched jaw.

  "It's nice to meet you both," I said through clenched teeth.

  I wanted nobody to ever lay a hand on my princesa, but that didn't mean I could make that happen. Not until she knew the truth of my identity, anyway.

  Hugo rested his chin on her head, then pulled back to stare down at her as I might have expected if the friendship had been genuine. The expression on his face left little doubt that, no matter how it had begun, he did care for Isa much like Joaquin. "You good?" he asked as she smiled up at him.

  She nodded, biting her lip. Given the way girls spoke to one another, I knew Hugo would know about the pregnancy scare by the time I returned from dealing with Pavel. "I should go, Princesa," I said carefully. She turned to me as I approached, tilting her head up to accept my kiss. "Call me if you need anything or if you aren't feeling well," I said vaguely, trying to convey the message that if her side effects became too much, I would step in to help her through them.

  Or call a doctor to help her with the discomfort.

  She sighed against me. "Okay, Rafael," she said, clinging to my suit. It was the only physical sign she gave of her unhappiness with my leaving her, and I took it for what it was. Isa wasn't a verbal communicator, and she probably never would be.

  But her body told me no lies, only ever showing me the truth of her feelings for me.

  "I'll be back as soon as I can," I told her, running my nose up the side of hers.

  "You promise?" she asked, and the weakness to her voice almost compelled me to stay. It was as if she went through every moment of every day waiting for me to discover that she wasn't worth my time.

  "I promise," I murmured, kissing her one last time before I spun on my heel and left her to Hugo's protection, to talk through her feelings with her friends. I could only hope Chloe would encourage her alongside Hugo, not serve as a deterrent to prevent her from giving herself over to her emotional connection to me.

  I would hate to have to get rid of her blond friend if she got in my way.

  The address where I'd chosen to meet with Pavel wasn't one of my finer moments. In the moments following the agreement to meet with him, I'd almost instantly regretted the choice. But it was one of my more frequented sites to do business in Ibiza.

  My business associates tended to be distracted by the strippers who twirled on the pole. The finest women in Ibiza served me well, allowing me to negotiate deals that were more favorable to me than they might have been otherwise.

  I owned the city, and I would never be forced to operate in the shadows as many others had to do within theirs.

  My men were already inside the club when I arrived, guarding the women who danced on stage despite the limited audience. Far too early in the day for the club to be open officially, the girls working during these hours of the day were among my more trusted. The women who knew the score, could keep their mouths shut, and knew the types of men who walked into the club for my meetings wouldn't be gentle.

  But I'd pay them well for volunteering for the hazard of the job.

  My lead bouncer threw open the front doors as I strolled up to them, shifting my pace to an easy saunter the moment all eyes in the room fell on me. I moved through the room without sparing a glance for the men I knew would be in position should the meeting turn particularly sour, and I knew this one would. Pavel remained in his chair, glaring at the girl dancing on the stage as if he didn't sense my entrance. His fury only grew when she turned her eyes to me, smiling as she wound her body around the pole.

  I ignored her, sitting at the table with Pavel with my back to her. All my girls knew the score. They weren't there for my entertainment.

  "You're late," Pavel said, stubbing out his cigar into the ashtray on the table.

  My response came easy, "You're lucky I'm here at all."

  "I never thought I would see the day when the almighty Rafael Ibarra was caught in the trap between a woman's thighs," he scoffed. "Just because you have a pretty face does not mean she's capable of loving such a monster."

  "You're so concerned with the woman. I should think you have far more important issues to address with your time, Pavel. Let me assure you, the time I’ll allow you to waste is very limited." I tapped my fingers on the table as I leaned in.

  He sighed his frustration at my unwillingness to make small talk before diving into the subject he’d been so desperate to discuss. "This universal alliance. I will acquiesce to most of Bellandi’s terms, but I cannot agree to the terms of trafficking. He must know this is how most of my money is made. Russian women are the standard of perfection," he argued. "I could find you one to keep. She'd be much less bothersome than this American of yours."

  My fingers itched for my gun as I sneered
at him in warning. "I am uncertain what makes you think Bellandi concerns himself with Europe, but I promise you, this is not Bellandi’s crusade."

  "Yours?" Pavel asked, sitting back in his chair. He scoffed. "Your time with those soft-hearted Americans has weakened you. If only your father could see you now, boy."

  "He can't, because I tied him to a post while he screamed and set the platform beneath him on fire. Your friendship with my father ended with his death. It will not gain you favor with me," I said, inspecting my nails. "To be frank, I'm confused by your concern over the terms of the contract. You were not invited."

  His face paled for a moment before turning red in his anger. "You intend to establish an alliance of this magnitude without Russia?" he scoffed in laughter. "Good luck."

  "No. I intend to establish this alliance without you. Once you're out of the picture, the person I help rise to power in your absence will be someone who is agreeable to my terms."

  He moved quickly, drawing his weapon and pointing it at me as his men moved to follow. "You think to threaten me?" he asked.

  I stood from my chair, flipping the table to its side with a quick sweep as I stepped into his space. His gun touched my chest, the room waiting as they held their breath. His men pointed guns at my men, and mine returned the favor. But Pavel knew as well as I did that no one would walk out of the room alive once the first shot was fired.

  Moving quickly, I grabbed the barrel of his gun with my left hand at the same time I thrust my right hand into the inside of his wrist. With the force of both hands, the gun turned on him as I pried it from his hands. He stood, raising both of his hands as his cowardice showed. It was easy to have a sense of false bravado when you had a gun in your hand.

  The moment he opened his mouth to speak, I struck forward with an open palm. Catching the blow on the bottom of his chin, his head snapped back suddenly. He fell to the floor, as close to dead weight as he could get without actually being dead, as he blacked out and hit the ground with a thump.

  His men hesitated, not wanting to sacrifice their lives if Pavel was already gone. Leaning over him, I slapped him across the face until he woke up. "I don't need to kill you today to know you're a dead man, Pavel," I growled, straightening to my full height. I brought my foot down on his kneecap sharply, his scream of pain as it crushed beneath my shoe soothing the edges of my anger and the frustration that I couldn’t kill him then and there. Going back to Isa with a bullet hole after the inevitable shootout would be difficult to explain. I turned my back on him and made my way for the door.

  He'd signed his warrant in blood the day he threatened Isa.

  All that was left was to slowly carry out the sentence.

  16

  Isa

  My body felt so heavy that it ached, but I'd be damned if I admitted it and called Rafe to take me back to the suite. I didn't even want to tell Chloe and Hugo about our carelessness, but with every step it got worse and worse until I just wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep for a year.

  But Chloe wanted to go for a stroll through Ibiza Town. She chatted about all the parties they'd gone to while Hugo smiled, watching me thoughtfully. "So how is it?" Chloe asked finally. I'd waited for the question, knowing she wanted me to bring it up. But given the intensity of the night before and that morning, I didn't know what I could say.

  "I feel like he's hiding something from me," I said, looking at her. "I'm probably just being paranoid."

  "You're good at that," she agreed. "But either way, it's a fling, Isa. He doesn't have to spill his secrets and neither do you. Because in a few days you'll go home and he'll be nothing but a fun memory as you flounce on to the next guy."

  "That's not me," I said with a sigh. "I don't think it's that simple."

  "Isa, you aren't supposed to develop real feelings for him," Chloe groaned. "If you can't do that, then I think you should end it now." Hugo snorted at my side, sputtering on the swallow of water as he pulled the bottle away from his lips.

  "Wrong tube," he grunted, smacking his chest lightly. We walked a few paces as I considered Chloe's words. She was right, I knew. My feelings for Rafe grew every day, even with the drama we'd had.

  If I kept going with him, I wouldn't be able to help falling in love with him. "I don't think I can," I admitted, working to convince myself that the inability to walk away was because of my feelings.

  Not because of the danger I saw in his eyes when I talked about leaving.

  "There need to be some boundaries, at least," Chloe said with a sigh. "Force yourself to talk about going home. Talk about your family. Remind both of you that you'll be ending things soon."

  "I don't think that's necessary," Hugo interjected. "You saw the way he looked at her. I think he's interested in Isa enough that he knows when she's due to go home. Have you tried talking to him about how you feel?"

  Chloe scoffed, echoing my instinctive reaction. Emotions and feelings and the conversations about them: not my thing. "Yeah okay," she said.

  "That's what normal people do in relationships, Isa," Hugo sighed. "When they feel insecure, they talk about it. When they feel like things are moving too quickly, they talk about it so they know they aren't alone."

  "That's too much emotional involvement for a fling," Chloe argued.

  "Maybe it's not a fling," Hugo disagreed as the pair of them stopped in the middle of the walkway. "It might have started that way, but you can't predict love. If Isa really has feelings for this guy, she owes it to herself to explore them. She should give it a chance."

  "I know you did not just advise her to drop her plans for her future so she could stay and have a fling with some guy she just met. I'm so sure it has nothing to do with you living in Ibiza and wanting your friend to be close by!" Chloe shrieked, and I watched the conversation devolve into one of their fighting matches. Each one wanted the best for me in their own way, but neither knew the full scope of what might be at stake either.

  "I have watched Isa go through the last year of her life without ever being so much as interested in a guy. Then this guy comes along, and she immediately reacts to him. All I'm saying is that it deserves to be explored. She doesn't have to know that she's staying in Ibiza right this second, but she should give it until the end of her vacation and not cut it short because she's scared. Living a life afraid of everything that makes her feel is no life at all,” Hugo said.

  Chloe opened her mouth, her anger rising to a new level as she narrowed her eyes at Hugo. "There's a...small chance I might be pregnant," I said, cutting off whatever Chloe had been about to say in response to that.

  "You what?!" she shrieked.

  "Would you keep it down," I hissed, taking her arm and guiding her over to the side of the road. "I took the morning after pill. It's probably fine."

  "I can't believe you of all people would forget about something like that," she spat back, staring at me with a slack jaw as if I'd lost who I was.

  Sometimes it felt like I had.

  "He makes everything else go away," I whispered, watching as she rolled her eyes.

  "It's called being horny, Isa. We all go through that, but that's no reason not to be responsible."

  "That's not what I mean," I argued. "Even when we're not having sex. He just—he makes me feel like I'm right where I'm supposed to be. He gives me all his attention, and it's unnerving and flattering all at once. He listens when I speak, and he hears the things I don't even say."

  "Jesus fucking Christ." Chloe hung her head, rubbing a hand over her face. "You're in love with him."

  I didn't respond, mulling over the words even if I wasn't ready to say them. They didn't feel untrue, as much as I wanted to be able to deny them. The truth in them hovered in the air between us as she gaped at me. "Isa?" Hugo asked, prodding me to respond. "Are you?"

  "I've only known him for a few days," I evaded.

  "Tell him how you feel, Isa," Hugo stressed, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "For both of your sakes, just tell him how you feel.
"

  "I guess at least if you're pregnant, you know he has the money to make sure you and the baby are taken care of," Chloe said, her voice soft despite the harshness of the words. "If you had to fuck up epically, this was a good time to do it. I'm amazed he let it happen though. A man with as much money as he must have has to be used to watching his back. How freaked out was he?" she asked.

  "He wasn't," I said, furrowing my brow as I looked over at her. "He was perfectly calm. Just said he was older than me and he knows he wants kids, so it was only natural for him to not be as bothered as I was."

  Hugo stilled at my side, looking down at me affectionately as he kissed the top of my head. "Well, I've never met a guy who didn't panic with a pregnancy scare unless he wanted a baby with that girl. It seems to me you aren't the only one who has some feelings to confess."

  I nodded thoughtfully, pausing to start the process of walking back to their hotel to rest when I turned and ran face first into a man's body.

  The familiar heat of Rafe's hands branded my skin through my sundress, comforting me until I looked up into his tense face and searched for signs that he might have overheard our conversation. He gave nothing away, bending to kiss me with that odd distance in his eyes while he nodded a greeting to my friends.

  "How are you feeling, Princesa?" he asked, his face softening when his eyes returned to mine and he cupped my cheek.

  "Tired," I admitted.

  He nodded thoughtfully, pursing his lips as he looked to Chloe and Hugo. "Let's get you back to the suite then." His hand at my waist steadied me as he walked me toward a parking area and away from my friends.

  It wasn't until I was already safely tucked into the McLaren that I realized he hadn't spoken a word to them, or even given me the opportunity to say goodbye.