I walked with Marco to a separate wing of the mansion. He had his hand on the small of my back and it was creeping me the fuck out.

I couldn’t believe what I had just done. As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I regretted them. Sure, I’ll sleep with you. How much money do you have?

How is it that those words came out of my mouth instinctually just so I could convincingly play the role of Alexa, but when I was actually in love with a man I couldn’t tell him.

“I’m so happy to have you for the afternoon,” he said. “Corbin has always been quite protective of his women. All of them.”

He said it as though Corbin had been chasing tail for years. “All of his women?”

“Yes, he’s had many. You didn’t think you were the only one, did you?” he laughed.

Maybe not the only one, but a very special one.

“Of course not.”

Marco opened a door, let me in, and flicked the lights on illuminating a large room. The space inside looked surprisingly modern in comparison with the rest of the old fashioned mansion. Dual monitors sat on a large wooden desk with a keyboard and mouse on top. Behind the desk was a king sized bed.

“Welcome to the control room. AKA my bedroom.” Marco pursed his lips and angled his mustache up on the sides. I resisted cringing as I took a seat on his bed.

“Wow,” I said, trying to sound ditzy. “You’ve got a real big fancy computer.”

“Do you like computers?” He walked over and sat down at his desk.

“Well I don’t use them much—my family is very poor, you know—but yes, I’m interested in them. I’ve never seen two computers next to each other like that.”

What the hell am I even saying? “I’m interested in computers?” Was that a real statement? I’d say anything to delay Marco from sitting next to me on the bed.

“Well let me show you what I do with this little thing. Come over here,” he said.

He moved the mouse and the home screen came on. He clicked on an icon and a program loaded.

“Why don’t you have a seat, mi amor,” he reiterated when I didn’t move, and patted his thigh.

I gulped and had a weird déjà vu moment, picturing the first time I met Marco in the bar. I wanted to slap him across the face and tell him that wasn’t his love. But I couldn’t. So I strutted over to him and sat down on his lap with a generic smile on my face.

“Corbin does know how to pick a good woman. You are beautiful, Alexa. I have a confession to make.”

“A confession? Don’t worry, I’ll forgive you,” I giggled—hopefully not too fakely—and tapped his nose with my index finger in a flirty sort of way.

“Oh, mi amor, you are too kind. Let me show you, here.”

He pointed to the screen. He had pulled up a camera feed to Corbin and I’s room.

“I’ve been watching you and Corbin when you…do your thing.”

My heart dropped. But not because my suspicions about Marco watching us were confirmed—the creep. The sick fuck.

On the contrary, my heart dropped because of what I saw on the screen: Corbin sitting next to Louisa in our room on the bed. Her arm was on his bicep and it looked like they were sharing a tender moment.

For a millisecond, I wished I could jump into the screen and attack her like in some crazy sci-fi movie. What right did she have…?

And what is Corbin thinking?

“Does this thing have audio? It actually kind of turns me on to listen to other people,” I said. I needed to hear what they were saying. I wanted to know how much of our pillow talk Marco had been able to hear. Sometimes, Corbin and I would whisper things to each other that we maybe shouldn’t have in case Marco was listening, but we’d do it softly.

“Really?! I must admit I’m a little surprised you like that kind of thing. Of course it has audio. I’ll turn it on.”

Marco clicked a button and their voices were instantly as clear as an HD movie.

Shit. That is some clear damn audio.

“Where are the microphones for this?”

“Little microchips fit really nicely in the middle of the pillow,” Marco said. He turned the volume up on the audio so we could hear them both speaking loud and clear.

My heart sank.

What else had Marco heard? Corbin confessing his love for me? Something suddenly seemed very off.

Louisa spoke first. “I mean I always found you very attractive, Corbin.”

“Let’s just do what we came here to do,” Corbin said.

My eyes bulged out of my head. Was he really going to hook up with her?

“Why so serious?” Louisa answered, and then she grabbed Corbin’s face and plopped a big kiss on his lips. Corbin didn’t fight it off.

“Turn it off,” I said. I held back tears, trying to keep the smile on my face, but one escaped and rolled down my cheek. Marco clicked out of it and the audio turned off.

I tried to wipe the tear but Marco grabbed my arm before I could.

“Oh, are you sad, mi amor?” Marco cocked his head and pursed his lips. He reached a finger out and wiped the tear for me.

“No, I’m not,” I scrunched my face. “Why would I be?”

Marco patted my back a couple of times and I stood up, getting out of his lap. He stood up, walked over to his desk and opened up a drawer. He turned toward me with a scowl on his face and a gun in his hand.

“Oh, I don’t know Eva. Why don’t you tell me?”

My heart beat out of its chest, like I had just started heading down a rollercoaster. I felt physically dizzy, like I’d just been hit with a ton of adrenaline bricks.

“Eva? What do you mean, papi?” I acted confused and stared seductively into Marco’s eyes as he walked toward me.

“Oh mi amor, please don’t take me for a fool,” he said. He snapped his fingers and two men came in from outside and grabbed me by either arm. Marco leaned in and whispered in my ear. “You’ve done that enough already. And fools die much faster. So let’s stop playing games.”

I stared at him, but I had nothing to say. Then I gasped, remembering what Corbin had said to me earlier this morning. He’d used my real name many times over in bed—even though he’d only whispered it.

“Put her in the chair and tie her up,” Marco said to a couple of security guards. “We’ve got a double agent on our hands.”