⚠️ Warning - this chapter contains mentions of rape and sexual assault on a minor too. Please read with caution. ⚠️

~ Arturo's POV ~

If I wasn't so pissed off at the package we'd just received and what she'd figured out about Stevie and Katia, there's no doubt that her little detective moment would have turned me on.

"How the hell did you just figure that out?"

When she looked at me, she smiled when she saw the disbelief on my face.

"As an accountant I'm used to having to try and figure who stole money off my clients, so I just got really good at 'whodunnits'. Actually, that one was pretty easy, you guys should have figured that one out yourself."

The way she said this and just shook her head while taking a sip of her wine brought a small smile to my face.

"But...how?" She glanced over at Santiago before letting out a sigh.

"You told me everything I needed to know about that day and who was present and as you spoke I started to realise that there was no way Katia could have put the ball in the kitchen so someone had to have been helping her. That just left Stevie since Arturo would never cross you. Of course, I had to find out exactly what she was doing in the kitchen and also whether she had a motive or not."

She shrugged her shoulders while taking a bite of her food, while Santiago turned his attention to Maddie who was sitting there with a frown on her face.

No doubt she was feeling hurt and betrayed.

"Maddie?"

When she heard Santi's voice she lifted her head, her eyes filling with tears as she looked at him and then glanced in my direction too.

"I'm so sorry...I should never have brought her into your house Santi. I should never let her near the twins."

And guilty apparently.

"Baby you don't need to be sorry. It's okay." Santiago gave her a smile trying to reassure her that he didn't blame her in the slightest, but when the tears just fell from her eyes, he let out a sigh.

"I should take her home. Can you get this?" When he turned to me I nodded my head, patting his shoulder.

"Wait, before we go can I get my food packed up to take away? I'm still hungry."

Lucia rubbed her arm soothingly as Maddie sent gave a shy smile as she wiped away a few tears from her cheeks causing Santiago to chuckle.

"Of course baby."

Within a few minutes, Santiago had got a waiter to pack the rest of their food and on Maddie's request he'd also gotten her a dessert to take home with them.

Once they'd gone, I turned to look at Lucia who'd now finished all her food.

One thing I noticed about her is that when there were things going on around her, she had a habit of zoning out and doing her own thing.

That day when we had that fight with Nicolas and Noah, she was busy the whole time playing with Pancake as if she wasn't sitting in the middle of a war zone.

Now she'd finished eating her dinner during that tense ending to our dinner and while Maddie and Santiago got ready to leave.

"Did you enjoy that?" She lifted her eyes away from her now empty plate, giving me a smile as I took another bite of my food.

"It was really nice, thank you." I nodded my head as I finished eating my food while we just sat in a comfortable silence.

At least she wasn't like other girls who felt the need to talk and talk until my freaking ear fell off.

Of course Lucia loved to talk more than anyone I'd ever met, but she didn't force it if it wasn't necessary.

"You want dessert Lucia?"

"No, actually can we just go?" I rose an eyebrow at her before nodding my head, calling a waiter so that I could pay the cheque.

"How much was my food?"

Just as I was taking out my credit card to pay, she spoke up, causing me to frown.

"Does it matter?"

Of course she just nodded her head as she opened her clutch which had been resting on the table next to her throughout our dinner.

"I want to pay for mine."

When she said this, I couldn't stop the laugh that escaped my lips as I put my credit card into the machine before handing it back to the waiter.

"I'm not joking Arturo, let me pay."

"Trust me, I know you're not joking which makes this whole thing even funnier."

She seemed confused by my response as she frowned, gripping the money which was now in her hand.

"But-"

"That's $270 to pay sir." I nodded my head as I took the credit card machine from the waiter to type in my pin, ignoring the shock on Lucia's face.

"You spent almost $300 on dinner? Arturo please just let me-"

"Thank you." I cut her off as I gave the waiter a final nod, taking the recipes that he handed to me before I stood up, taking Lucia's hand as I pulled her up off her chair.

"Come on."

I knew she wasn't happy, but honestly that was one of the cheapest dinners I've had to pay for in a long while, so I didn't see the problem.

And there was also no way I would ever let her pay for anything, especially food, it wasn't even up for discussion.

The entire drive back home was unusually silent and the moment we stepped into the house, Lucia walked away from me causing me to frown.

Before I could try to go after her, I got a call from someone to do with an incoming drugs shipment which took me a few minutes to settle since it was a phone call I couldn't ignore.

By the time that was done I went into my kitchen where I expected to see her but instead, she was sitting in my garden, staring at the lit up pool in front of her.

The only reason I noticed her was because she'd left the glass door leading to the garden slightly open. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have made out her figure in the dark.

She looked like she had a lot on her mind.

Letting out a sigh, I grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses before I made my way out to her. She didn't look up at me as I sat down on the outdoor couch, keeping a little distance between us as I put the glasses down, filling them up before handing her one.

Thankfully she took it and didn't reject it although she didn't say a word, holding it in her hand as she stared straight ahead of her at the view of LA.

The only sound that could be heard was the sound of nature around us and the trickle of water from the small waterfall feature in the pool.

"You completely ignored me when I said I wanted to pay."

When she spoke, breaking the comfortable silence between us, I turned my head to look at her but she still refused to look my way.

"I know you wanted to pay Lucia and that's admirable but there's no way I'd ever let you pay for anything. I'm lucky enough to have the money to pay, so I will."

"You don't get it do you?" When she said this, she finally turned her head to look at me and I was surprised to see the anger on her face.

It was the first time I'd seen it and I was suddenly missing her beautiful shy smile.

"You're just like all the other men I've come across. You don't care what anyone else wants, what I want. It's all about masculinity with you, you want to prove you're a man - that's all that matters."

"No it isn't-"

"Yes, it is. You're not my boyfriend Arturo, you're not even my friend. You're letting me stay in your house for free, you protected me from Hugo's anger by doing all that work for him, the least you could do is let me pay for my own food."

You're not my boyfriend, you're not even my friend.

And I was such a freaking idiot for ever thinking otherwise.

"Lucia I didn't do it to prove I'm a man. I did it because you shouldn't have to pay for it, you deserve someone to treat you like the queen you are."

This time she didn't reply to my words as she sat there, staring at me with wide eyes like she didn't ever expect me to say something like that.

Honestly neither did I.

It had been a long time since I felt possessive enough over woman to force her to accept that I was going to pay for her.

A comfortable silence once again settled around us and minutes passed between us as she drank her entire glass of wine before she refilled it.

Finally she spoke again, turning to glance at me.

"I don't know what your intentions are with me, but I've sworn off men Arturo."

"Are you into women now?" When I said this giving her a teasing smirk, she turned to look at me with a small smile before shaking her head.

"No. I just...I don't want to get hurt. This life is no life for romance."

"What makes you say that?"

"I've spent two years of my life with El Dios Del Diablo and I've hated every second of it Arturo. Every man that I've met is just...disgusting in every single way possible. Like I said at the restaurant, they tried to turn me into a prostitute when I first started."

She refused to meet my gaze as she brought that topic up again and for some reason as much as I could tell it was hard for her, it seemed like she wanted to talk about it.

But that didn't mean I couldn't hear the pain and sadness in her voice.

She was trapped in a life she hated .

"What happened?"

I almost regretted asking her until she let out a soft sigh, trailing her finger around the rim of her wine glass.

"They tried to make me sleep with multiple men and I guess I got some bad reviews because after that they decided to turn me into an accountant."

The thing about Lucia was that she was very good at keeping the most important details quiet.

And I was someone who picked up on that easily.

"Bad reviews?"

When she said this, she gave me a shy smile as if she was embarrassed about what she was going to say.

"I cried every time a new man came into the room. They pretty much had to force me to lie down so that they could get what they paid for."

When she said that, I suddenly felt an overwhelming amount of rage flow through me and the only way I knew how to cope was to drink the wine in my glass.

It fell silent for a moment before I finally spoke.

"Those were the bad experiences you mentioned on the plane?"

As I sat there, it sounds weird to say it but hoped she would nod her head. I hope that those encounters with the men were the extent of the pain she'd gone through.

She was too pure to go through anything else.

"No." She shook her head, looking out at the pool and the view of LA behind it as she spoke. "I was raped a few months into my job as an accountant and then again a couple of weeks later."

As soon as I heard her say that word, it just brought up a whole new type of feeling inside me that I'd never felt before.

There's no way to describe it easily, it was mix of anger, rage, devestation, panic and horror.

I just felt sick at the thought of her going through it too.

Not her.

Even though her voice was remained strong and she refused to look at me, I noticed a singular tear fall down her cheek as she said it out loud.

"I taught myself self defence afterwards so that it would never happen again. So far, I've only had to use it a couple of times."

She finally looked down at her glass again, taking a sip of the wine before wiping her cheek to get rid of the tear.

It was like she was holding the weight of the entire world on her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I told you that Arturo, I-"

"Me too."

She frowned at my words as she looked at me before she nodded her head, clearly not getting what I meant.

"I know, I'm sorry, it just came out and-"

"No Lucia, that's not what I meant."

"What?"

She seemed even more confused while I just let out a sigh running a hand through my hair, numerous thoughts filling my head.

Are you sure about this?

If you say it you can't take it back.

You're going to look pathetic and weak.

How are you even going to say it?

You're just telling her to make her feel better.

It'll be out there for more than just Santiago to know about.

Can you trust her?

Once I thought about that particular question, I knew my answer.

"My mom cheated on my father and then got remarried to the man she cheated with when I was 4 years old. My stepfather...he...he-"

When my voice felt like it was about to break, I cleared my throat, looking down at the floor by feet as I struggled to get the words out.

Even at 27 years old it was hard for me to talk about.

"Arturo? What is it?"

Her voice was so soft and caring, something that I'd never heard from a woman before. Not since my mother last spoke to me like that.

As much as my inner thoughts were telling me to shut the hell up, I knew in that moment that I could trust her.

"He was a complete ass for my entire childhood but when I turned 11 it got worse. He started to come into my room at night to-...to make me do things. It continued for so long until I hit puberty and then after that it got even worse. He started doing things to me. It was like he enjoyed my pain and my pleas for him to stop."

She remained silent and I refused to look at her as I spoke, suddenly feeling like I was that pre-teen all over again, stuck in the bed with a drunk man next to me, feeling like I was suffocating.

"I was thirteen when I finally got the courage to tell my mother about it but of course she didn't believe me. So...I killed him."

Still she stayed silent as I continued to tell her, someone I hardly knew, my deepest darkest secret.

"He was the first person I ever killed. I ran away before my mom could find out what I did and that's when I joined my first gang. I bounced between gangs until I finally met Santiago when I was 19 and he was 18. He's the only person I've ever told...apart from you."

Finally when I lifted my head, my eyes widened a little when I saw the tears falling from her eyes as she listened to what I said.

When she saw me looking at her, she took a second before she slowly shuffled across the couch towards me before gently pulling me into her arms.

She didn't say a word as she held me in her arms, but there really was nothing that needed to be said.

I have no clue how long we stayed like that but eventually she pulled away from me, giving me a small smile as she placed a hand on my cheek.

"I'm so proud of you, of the man that you are, who you've become."

I instantly shook my head at her words, a scoff leaving my mouth.

"I'm broken Lucia."

"Of course you're not. You're fearless and strong. You're independent and you definitely don't take anything from anyone. And, I know that even behind all of that anger and coldness you show to the world you're so sweet and caring inside."

She gave me another smile as she placed one hand behind my neck, keeping her hand on my cheek.

"And you're good looking too."

When she said this she let out a small laugh to lighten the mood but all I did was just continue to stare at her.

I had to resist every urge inside me telling me to just lean in and kiss her knowing she'd been through things and I had to respect that.

So I had to act like a freaking pussy and ask for the first time in my entire life.

"Can I kiss you?"

Her eyes widened a little at my question and a few moments passed before she eventually nodded her head, a nervous look flashing through her eyes.

Since she was already so close to me, I just had to close the gap a little more between us before I pressed my lips to hers.

It started off slow but pretty quickly she'd pressed her body up against mine, deepening the kiss.

We continued to kiss for a while until I eventually pulled away from her, looking into her eyes while she still looked so nervous.

"Do I say thank you now?"

As much as I tried to, I couldn't hold back the laugh that escaped my lips when she asked me this.

"No baby."

I shook my head as another laugh escaped my lips before I kissed her again, pulling her into my lap as I wrapped my arms around her waist.

After another minute or two she eventually pulled away from me, a blush coating her cheeks as she got off my lap. I watched as she shuffled back to where she was originally sitting, quickly picking up her glass to finish her wine.

This time when she refilled her glass she put some more into mine since it was empty.

"Can I ask you a question?"

I nodded my head as I drank the wine, watching her carefully.

"Why did you hate me so much when you first met me?"

"I could give you a long list of excuses that I tell myself, but the truth is I'm an idiot. Every time I looked at you, I was just mesmerised. Even when you were doing the weirdest things I found myself captivated by you. You had me hanging off every word you said and I hated it."

"But why? Why would you hate that?"

"I don't do feelings Lucia. I've only ever had one girlfriend and she left me when I told her who I was so after that I just screwed around. I did it to protect myself and after all this time I have no clue how to deal with this." I gestured between myself and her while she just nodded her head.

"Well, I think you're doing very well." She gave me a cute a smile before drinking the last bit of her wine. Finally she stood up, picking up the bottle and her glass before turning to look at me.

"Are you done?"

I glanced down at the glass in my hand, drinking the last few sips before I handed it to her. She gave me one last smile before making her way to the kitchen to put the glasses in the dishwasher and the bottle in the recycling while I just followed behind her.

It felt so right to see her in my kitchen, moving around as if she knew exactly where everything was.

Like it was our kitchen.

Bro I think you should slow down, you just kissed her and now you're thinking of sharing a damn kitchen with her. To a girl, that means everything. They love kitchens.

Once she was done in the kitchen, she turned off all the lights and we walked upstairs together in silence before stopping outside her door.

She turned to look at me, giving me a soft smile as she leaned against the wall. It was like she knew I wanted to say something but I didn't have the guts to just come right out and say it, so she waited.

"I do trust you Lucia but, I just need to hear you say it. Promise me you won't tell anyone what I told you? I won't tell anyone what you said either."

Surprisingly she didn't even seem the slightest bit offended that I had to ask her.

"Of course I won't Arturo." She gave me a reassuring smile before wrapping her arms around my waist in a hug.

"Goodnight Lucia."

She gave me a smile as she pulled away from me, mumbling 'good night' as she went into her room leaving me standing there alone, wishing that she was going to sleep in my bed tonight and not in her room.

For the first time in my life I wanted to just sleep with a girl instead of have sex with her.

And that's how I knew she'd screwed me up way beyond repair.

~ Madison's POV ~

Santiago was sitting next to me on the couch in the living room while we were finishing our dinner from the restaurant. We hadn't really spoken much since we left the restaurant but I was just busy lost in my own thoughts, my mind so focussed on what had happened.

"You okay baby?"

Would Stevie really do that to me?

After all that we'd been