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

by Adelaide Forrest

  He wouldn't have to look at Odina's face every time he looked at me.

  Mom held out her arms for me to step into her embrace, her face tight with the threat of tears. "You have your Euros?" she asked.

  "Yes, I have Euros and the debit card and traveler's checks from the program. I'll be fine, Mom," I said with a grimace. She nodded, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

  "My baby girl," she whispered, stepping back and cupping my cheek in her hand. "You stay away from trouble, you hear me? A place like that is bound to be filled with it."

  "We live in Chicago," I laughed. "It isn't exactly a Mormon community."

  "I've looked at pictures on that internet," she said with a frown. "It's one big party. One with very few clothes. Did you know there are beaches where people don't wear bathing suits!" She shivered back her revulsion, looking at me in warning. "Don't you dare."

  "Mom," I groaned, rolling my eyes as my grandmother chuckled in the background.

  "How else is she supposed to land herself an affair with a handsome Spanish stud to show her the ways of passion?" she asked, nudging my side playfully.

  She loved to rile my mother up, even as my Dad groaned, "Mom."

  "What? Sex is a spiritual act. She should know what she wants from a man if she's ever going to settle down and teach her husband one day," my grandmother inserted with an innocent smile.

  My mom's Catholic upbringing begged to differ. "Can we not?" I groaned. "My sex life, or lack of one, is none of anybody's business."

  Mom swallowed but nodded, looking at me with expectations in her eyes. The good daughter didn't have sex with boys at school or men she met in Spain. The good daughter didn't drink or do drugs or dance in no clothing.

  The weight of those restrictions came down on me, pushing me further into the place where I knew I had to belong.

  Because the good daughter was the only one she had left.

  I was mostly silent in the backseat while Chloe sat up front with her mom, who chewed her bottom lip so hard I wondered if there would be anything left when we came home. No parent wanted to see their barely legal daughter go to Europe without adult supervision.

  Glancing out the window as we drove, I tried to quell the nerves in my stomach. I'd never left Chicago. What business did I have going to Ibiza? I didn't even know who I was without my responsibilities to my family to dictate my every action.

  I steeled my spine, sitting up straighter as I exhaled. My grandmother was right. The trip was my one opportunity to forget about who I had to be at home. It was the only chance I'd have before immersing myself in the college experience and my studies, I'd be a fool not to take it.

  I didn't know what that meant for me. If I'd lose my virginity to a Spanish stranger, drink for the first time, or go to a nude beach and try to let go of the insecurity that I was unattractive. Boys were never interested in me. Not the way they were Odina.

  Every time I thought maybe, just maybe, one would ask me on a date, it never came. Given that the last boy who'd seemed to want to touch me had overdosed on heroin two weeks after, I wondered if I was cursed. Maybe I'd finally find out.

  Chloe's mom dropped us at the airport, sharing an excited hug with her daughter before she confirmed we had everything out of the van and went back to get in the vehicle.

  Hugo and his brothers were already waiting at the curb with their bags. Hugo looked at my suitcase like he wanted to carry it for me, but his own bags limited that ability. He sighed when I pulled the handle up and wheeled it toward the machines to print our tickets. Flipping him off only made the twisted bastard laugh.

  "Are you two going to bicker the entire flight to Spain?" Chloe asked as she gave me a saccharine smile and stepped up to a kiosk to print her ticket.

  "Probably," Gabriel said with a bright smile.

  I stuck my tongue out at the middle Cortes brother, ignoring the scowl Joaquin gave him and the sharp elbow to his side. I didn't understand the eldest of the three in any way. His demeanor was always off, like his brothers were foolish for not treating me as if I was made of glass and required kid gloves.

  The one time I'd suggested spending my birthday money on a kickboxing lesson, he'd practically bugged his eyes out of his head. Girls like me didn't need to worry about things like that, according to him.

  Whatever the fuck that meant.

  "Hush," I said as I stepped up to the next available kiosk to print my own ticket.

  "Sweet! I got upgraded to first class!" Chloe said with a bright grin. My heart dropped into my throat, realizing I'd probably not get to sit with her on the plane. The moment I logged into my reservation, the same words stared back at me.

  "I did too," I whispered, glancing over at Hugo when he held up his own First-Class ticket. "That's so weird," I said.

  "Nah." Hugo shrugged it off as his brothers printed their tickets. "It happens a lot. It's hard to fill up first class since it’s a lot more expensive for what is basically just more leg room. So they randomly upgrade people if they get last-minute economy bookings when the flight is full. No use having empty seats," he explained. "That's why I booked our flights together. Just to be safe."

  "Makes sense to me!" Chloe sang as she followed Hugo while he led the way through the airport.

  I shoved down my feeling of foreboding as my tentative excitement built. I hadn't really let myself look forward to the trip, always believing something would go wrong at the last minute. My ticket would go missing. I'd get held up at security. I'd miss the flight for any number of reasons.

  Although we had a long journey ahead of us, with a stop in Lisbon before landing in Madrid and getting a connecting flight to Ibiza, for the first time in what felt like forever, I was excited to see what was coming my way.

  I just hoped I wouldn't regret it.

  2

  Rafael

  My shoes tapped against the tile as I made my way through my home. Most of the men kept their distance from the main house even on a good day, but knowing that only hours stood between me and mi princesa being in my arms meant they most definitely were as far away as the island would afford them.

  Regina stood in the kitchen, chopping garlic to cook something for Alejandro that night. My greatest regret in going to meet Isa was that I wouldn't get to eat it.

  I hated being away from her cooking.

  "Mi hijo, why must you pace so much?" she asked, casting a wrinkled smile my way. She'd been my mother's best friend once upon a time, the only reason I tolerated her overly familiar greetings. She was the closest thing I had to family.

  Regina had even taken my mother's place in my father's bed after he burned her alive. Not that she'd had much choice in that matter. Miguel Ibarra wasn't known for his kindness to women.

  "Where's Alejandro?" I snapped, snatching a bite of peach off her cutting board while she tutted at me and waved her knife in my face. Another day, I might have laughed at the audacity of the woman.

  "If he's smart? Hiding," she said, wrinkling her forehead while she turned her face back down to the peaches. Glancing at the watch on my wrist, I frowned. Isa's flight was due to arrive in a matter of hours, and she would make her way to Ibiza Town shortly after.

  I very much needed to be in the city before then, so I could ensure all my plans went off without issue. I detested depending on other people to move the pieces into place. Nothing set me on edge more than the lack of control I felt knowing that if the hotel manager failed to give Isa the invitation to the party at my hotel, she wouldn't come.

  I'd kill the fool and then have to come up with an alternative plan.

  "I know you are eager to see your Isa," Regina said with a smile as she wiped her hands on her apron and took mine in hers. The stickiness of the peaches touched my skin, making me frown in consternation. "But she will love you. How could she not with a face like this?" she asked, tapping the end of my nose. I scowled at her as I moved to the sink to wash the peach juice off my skin.

  "I imagine it would be ea
sy not to when he scowls all the time," Alejandro, my second in command, said as he stepped into the kitchen with his arms crossed over his chest.

  "Where have you been?" I growled, my voice holding every bit of the warning that had sent the rest of my men running to the other buildings in the compound to keep busy. "I'm due to leave in less than an hour."

  "Rafael, you will be gone for a week. We will survive with you off the island for a few days," Alejandro said, raising a brow at my impatience.

  I scoffed. "I have complete faith in your ability to keep my home from burning down. I am more concerned with how your conversation with Pavel went." He pursed his lips in thought. The hesitation did not bode well for my desires to delay the bastard's requests for a meeting. "Regina could make a nice supper out of your tongue if you aren't inclined to use it," I warned him.

  He sighed, finally opening his mouth to tell me what I needed to know. "He does not want to wait. We knew he would be impatient. His livelihood is at stake."

  "More like his life," I returned. "I do not care what you have to do to make him understand, but I will have nothing to do with Pavel until I have Isa safe on my island. He will wait until I deem it an appropriate time to discuss his removal as Pakhan."

  "I'm fairly certain talking about his removal won't help him lean toward patience," Alejandro said with a shake of the head.

  "So remind him he has sons. He doesn't need five of them, but I could kill one for every opportunity he takes to annoy me," I said, making my way to the windows to overlook the pool area. The Mediterranean Sea shimmered with azure waters down below where the compound I called home sprawled into the hillside of my private island, El Infierno.

  A simple walk down a wooden path would take me to the beach that I knew Isa would love when she finally came to the island and got over her fear of the water.

  "Mi hijo, you cannot threaten a man's lineage because you are impatient. Off with you!" Regina said, shooing me toward the front door. My bag already waited for me in the car, loaded by the house staff.

  "Verify the arrangements with everyone one last time, please?" I asked her. She rolled her eyes but nodded her head in agreement. She would do as I asked, because she knew better than most what the consequences might be should I be disappointed. I may not murder my mother's best friend, but I had no such loyalty toward random business owners who didn't do as El Diablo commanded.

  "I'm going!" I protested, making my way down to the path that would take me to the marina.

  When I’d hurried down the steps, there was no doubt in my mind, as I watched my men load my neon orange McLaren onto my yacht, that Isa would need time to adjust to her new life.

  She’d have ten days.

  Tossing my keys to the valet driver, I climbed out of the McLaren and made my way toward him. "Not a scratch," I warned. He nodded his understanding, eyeing my car like the masterpiece it was. I had several vehicles in my garage, but the McLaren was my favorite for the moment.

  Moon was a massive white structure and looked commercial in the front, but the interior was pure luxury, and no hotel in Ibiza Town could compete with the views from the pool area. It would be the perfect place to seduce Isa and start our lives together, second only to my home.

  Sadly, that wasn't an option. Convincing Isa to go up to a hotel room with a strange man would be tricky enough. Taking her home with me would prove impossible.

  As I made my way into the hotel lobby, the reception desk shone with the brilliance of blue stone mosaics artfully placed along the front. "What can I do for you, Sir?" the woman behind the desk asked, her lips moving before she even glanced up from her computer. The moment she did, her eyes widened, and she dropped her mouth open. "Señor Ibarra," she said, reaching out a hand to probe the manager standing next to her.

  He grinned, bringing up the reservations on his computer. "Señor Ibarra, I have you for ten nights in the Penthouse Suite. Is that correct?" he asked.

  I nodded in response. "I trust the couple didn't give you any trouble with switching to the private villa?"

  "Not at all. They were shocked, understandably, but thrilled to have a space to themselves in such a way. Thank you for your generosity. We would have accommodated your request either way, of course," he said.

  "Of course," I agreed. The man wasn't stupid enough to think that anyone in Ibiza could deny me what I wanted without risking his head.

  He handed me the key card for my suite. "Your bags will be delivered shortly."

  "The arrangements for the party are in order, I presume?"

  "Invites have been sent to the hotel, along with very specific instructions, as requested," he confirmed. I nodded without another word, turning and making my way to the elevator that would take me to the Penthouse Suite on the top floor of the hotel.

  A woman followed me in, sliding her body in front of me to press the button for her floor with a smile. I pulled my phone from my pocket, ignoring her presence entirely as I scrolled through my text messages to pass the time. The woman stepped off with a huff, clearly unaccustomed to being dismissed so readily. I'd gotten that reaction often over the past sixteen months.

  But none of them could elicit even a modicum of interest from me. It was a reaction I never could have expected, something I would have mocked my men for before laying eyes on my princesa.

  Stepping out of the elevator on the top floor, I strode across the hall to the only door. The Penthouse I would spend my week in occupied the entire level, and a quick swipe of the key card turned the light green so I could step into the room.

  I pushed the door open, making my way past the entry table and into the kitchen of the suite. Through the living room, I passed the chess set resting on the coffee table as requested and moved to the sliders and opened them.

  Stepping out onto a terrace, one of two on the level with our suite, in addition to the private rooftop terrace we had to ourselves, I looked out over the water as my phone dinged with the alert of a new message.

  I swallowed as I read the memo from Joaquin. It was just one simple word. Nothing that should have changed my life, but it did.

  Landed.

  Isa was in Ibiza.

  3

  Isa

  The sun hit my face in a crash of warmth the moment we stepped out of the airport, lugging our bags behind us. If Chicago hadn't been warm before we'd left, I might have collapsed into a puddle with the joy I felt in that moment.

  The air didn't sting my face, and I didn't have to suffer through the cold weather without a jacket.

  There was only sunshine and blue sky as I tipped my head up to search for clouds. Not a single one lingered on the horizon, nothing to taunt me with the promise of dreary weather lurking around the corner. The breeze was practically nonexistent, but it smelled like saltwater.

  I'd never understood what people meant by that scent. Having never been near the ocean before, I wouldn't have thought I'd understand it so instinctively. But there was no doubt in my mind that was what it was.

  "How does it smell like the ocean and pine trees all at the same time?" Chloe asked. I realized she was right when I drew in another deep lungful of island air.

  "The beauty of Ibiza," Hugo said with a grin. "When we get away from the airport, you'll smell the almond flowers too. It's just...Ibiza," he said, exhaling a huge breath as he closed his eyes and tipped his head up to the sun above. "It's good to be home."

  "I can't imagine whatever possessed you to come to Chicago. If this is what it's like all the time, then I never want to leave," I joked, stepping out of the way when a large crowd of travelers came out of the airport behind us.

  "You could always stay," Hugo said with a shrug, but his eyes turned sad as he tilted his face away from mine. The reminder that the end of the trip meant the end of seeing him every day plagued me.

  "Where are your parents?" I asked to change the conversation.

  "Oh, they aren't coming," he said, rubbing the back of his neck the way he did whenever I said
something that made him uncomfortable. "They're really traditional. People aren't allowed to visit our house, so the program booked us a couple of hotel rooms in Ibiza Town for the week instead."

  "They what?" I furrowed my brow at him, opening my mouth to say something when Joaquin interrupted.

  "Trust me, it's better this way. You don't want to meet them unless you absolutely have to," he said, stepping toward one of the two black SUVs waiting at the curb. I followed him, only halting when Hugo caught my arm in his grip and pulled me toward the second vehicle.

  "We aren't going together?"

  He shook his head, a note of sadness in his face as he studied me. "Joaquin and Gabriel are going home."

  "Oh," Chloe said. The smile dropped off her face while she watched them load their bags into the back and turn to us. The moment was awkward at best. I wouldn't say that I'd gotten close to either of Hugo's brothers, as they kept their distance from us most of the time, but still the knowledge that I may never see them again was like a prick to my heart.

  A foreshadowing of the pain that would come when I lost Hugo.

  Gabriel stepped forward, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into a hug as tears stung my eyes. "Get into some trouble while you're here, yeah?" he asked, resting his chin on top of my head.

  "Yeah," I said with a sniffle, drawing back to look at Joaquin.

  He surprised me when he sighed, stepping forward and hugging me in the same way his brother had. He stared down at me when he pulled back, wiping a tear off my cheek. "Head high, mi reina. It will be over before you know it."

  He stepped back, keeping his eyes on mine while he and Gabriel climbed into the back of the SUV without another word. It pulled off, and I looked over to Hugo to find him studying me intently.

  "That bastard didn't even say goodbye!" Chloe protested as Hugo sprung into motion suddenly. He grabbed our bags, loading them into the other vehicle while I watched Joaquin and Gabriel drive away.