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

by Adelaide Forrest

  Isa didn't move. She was as stiff as a log from her torso down, the only part of her that dared to move being what was out of the water.

  "It was barbed wire," Isa corrected herself, clenching her eyes shut. "It couldn't have been anything else."

  I knew better than most what it was to be haunted by spirits, by the tricks of shadows and light and what they could cause in our memories. Shadows had danced off the flames as my mother burned, looking like demons coming to raise hell on earth, to a child who watched his mother die a cruel death. They’d swallowed her whole until there'd been nothing left of the only woman I'd ever cared for.

  Until Isa.

  "What did you see in the water, Princesa?" I asked, waiting as the rest of her body went solid in my arms.

  "I saw phantoms," she whispered. "Shadows in the water as they moved like nightmares. Coming for me. Grabbing my leg and trying to pull me under. I know they weren't real. They couldn't have been, but—"

  "Nobody can tell you what you saw in the water. Whether it was real or not, you saw it. You felt it in that moment. You've lived with it for all these years. Have you told anyone about them?" I asked, pressing closer to her to try to use my body to comfort her. Under no illusions that I knew the whole truth regarding the accident, I regretfully knew that pushing her to talk about the shadows was the limit for the day. I wouldn't learn the truth of Odina's hatred just yet, not with the way she shivered in my arms as she thought back to those phantoms.

  Nightmares come to life, and yet she was comforted by a living embodiment of everything she feared in the water. I suspected my Isa also had a nightmare inside her, waiting to come out when I unlocked the part of her she so carefully controlled.

  Containing her would be like holding a demon in my arms, and I looked forward to the fight.

  "My grandmother says that water is sacred. That the veil between life and death is thinner in it. I was drowning, half dead already. She says what I saw was real, that I'm one of the few people to experience it before I die. They tried to take me, but they couldn't so they took Odina instead," she whispered, a tear dripping down her face as she cried for the sister she'd lost that day.

  Whatever had caused it, Isa wore the guilt of it on her soul. Maybe that was why she'd suffered through years of abuse at her sister's hands before putting a stop to it.

  "It sounds like your grandmother thinks it's a good thing," I murmured, inching my body away from hers so that she had to be on her own for a few moments.

  "She thinks it shows how strong I am. That they couldn't claim me as theirs," she scoffed. "But they would have if my mother hadn't pulled me out of the water. Everything had gone dark already. There was nothing but blackness and the sound of flames roaring in my head.”

  "Flames?" I asked, stilling at her side suddenly as the memory of my mother's lips moving as she burned on the pyre echoed in my brain.

  "They said it was just the sound of the current," she sighed. "That the woman screaming was my mother on the shore before she dove into the water."

  Flames hovered at the edge of my vision as I said the words I didn't really want an answer to. I hadn't paid any attention to the date on the reports, hadn't bothered to care about the details beyond how it would influence my understanding of Isa. "When was the accident?"

  "I was five," she responded.

  "The day, Isa," I said, my voice sharper than I'd intended.

  "June fourteenth," she said, her face turning more serious as she studied me curiously. My head roared with the connection, my mind working to convince me that coincidences happened sometimes. With anything else, it might have worked.

  If it hadn't been the fourteenth anniversary of my mother’s death.

  20

  Isa

  His sudden stillness felt like an omen of disaster, but he brushed it off and turned a smile to me as if the moment had never happened. "My mother died in a fire on June fourteenth," he said, exhaling a ragged sigh as he propped an elbow up on the rock face and ran a thumb over my cheek to wipe away my tears.

  "How is that possible?" I asked, my eyes widening as the implications of his words struck me in the chest. Three events on one day, in three separate years.

  "Our connection goes back farther than you can imagine, Princesa," he murmured softly, touching his lips to my cheek briefly before he pushed off from the rock face and floated on his back. I eyed the water below him, suddenly longing to take that leap of faith.

  But the shadows rippling in the clear waters did nothing to persuade me into pushing off the ledge. My hands clung to the rocks, needing the stability and the safety of knowing I could pull myself out of the water if something went wrong.

  If something grabbed me and tried to pull me under.

  The crystal clear waters showed straight through to the sandy bottom, despite the striking depth of the water. In spite of the shadows rippling, there was nothing in the water to grab hold of me. No barbed wire to get tangled up in and nothing to tear into my skin and rip the flesh apart as I struggled to get free.

  Rafael noticed the deep breath I took as I spun to put my back to the ledge, my fingers still clinging to it desperately as my lungs heaved with the exertion of suppressing my panic. "I dare the spirits to try to take you from me," he said with a dark smile. "There is nothing that can keep me from you, Isa," he said, dropping from his back and moving his arms in the water as his legs kicked to keep him afloat.

  I looked down at the water, at the solid bottom and the absence of a pit to lead me straight to the underworld.

  And I let go.

  Water rushed toward my face as I dropped into it, kicking my legs desperately to keep my head above water. A deep gasping breath escaped my lungs as I waited for the moment when something would grab me. For that second in time when my movement would attract the phantoms in the water.

  Instead, Rafe moved into my space, taking my arms and sliding them beneath the water’s surface to sway front to back and side to side slowly. There was nothing but him as the steady motion of his legs and arms sank into me and I absorbed his rhythm into my being the same as when we'd danced. My legs stopped kicking frantically, mimicking the slow but wide kicks of his until I felt like a mirror of his movements.

  His hands slid down my arms until his fingers laced with mine.

  Forged in fire. Forged in water.

  Two opposites of the same coin, he moved our hands together and showed me how to float at the surface of the water as he held my eyes. "I'm the only phantom you need to worry about now, Princesa," he said, the words jarring loose a tendril of memory.

  Of the phantom who'd tucked me into bed and the shadows that hovered around him.

  Of the comfort I'd felt, despite the similarities between him and the beings who haunted my nightmares. Like I'd always belonged in the darkness, and my fear was all that stood in the way of me meeting that fate.

  "If you can float, you can swim," he said, guiding me to my stomach. He slid his hands beneath me, supporting me through the motions as my panic rose and I hissed out a breath. The position should have been better, I hadn't had the ability to float on my stomach when I'd been caught in the barbed wire.

  But something about having my stomach vulnerable to the creatures in the water somehow seemed worse. Only Rafe's hands on me prevented me from going underwater as common sense returned and I kicked my legs. I moved my arms through the water in the way I'd seen swimmers do in videos. My body slid forward, gliding through the water as Rafael's hands fell away and I nearly panicked. He swam at my side, encouraging me on until I huffed a small laugh of disbelief.

  I still watched the water for shadows. I never went far from Rafe's side. But I swam on my own, comforted that the phantom at my side would protect me.

  Because I was his to hurt, and nothing else would ever touch me.

  Rafe stood on the balcony, leaning over the glass edge in a way that made me wonder how he didn’t fear the fall should it collapse. But he wasn’t afraid of anything
, commanding the world around him as if he owned it. His phone was pressed to his ear as he dealt with something to do with his mysterious business.

  I couldn’t see his face, but the lines of his body were tight even from the back as I studied him. I turned away from the view, grabbing my phone off the coffee table in front of me and dialing Chloe’s number. Having already spoken with my Grandmother earlier in the day, I’d had enough of the evasive lies I told my family. I didn’t know how to bring Rafe up in conversation.

  With the grandmother who would fear I may not come home if she could hear how much I loved him, or the parents who would be horrified to think of their baby girl living a life of sin, nothing good could come from telling them about the man who consumed me, until I had a grasp on what was happening between us.

  “Hey,” Chloe said with a laugh. The loud murmur of voices came through in the background, and I smiled as I imagined she and Hugo living it up in Ibiza. I was glad that, if nothing else, my inability to party on their level wasn’t keeping them from doing exactly what they wanted.

  “Hey,” I said, speaking louder than I wanted. Rafe didn’t so much as twitch on the other side of the closed glass, and it reassured me that he couldn’t hear our conversation. “This is my daily phone call so that you know I am alive and not in a ditch somewhere,” I teased.

  She laughed on the other side, but the sound was more muted than I might have expected. “You seem off. Are you still struggling with your feelings?”

  “Yes and no,” I admitted. “He took me to some natural pools and waterfalls on the mainland yesterday. I think I’m just a little shaken up.”

  “Oh, honey. It’s okay that you couldn’t get in the water with him. If he didn’t understand that then it’s his issue and not yours,” Chloe said, the voices in the background quieting as she separated herself from whatever they were doing.

  “I got in the water,” I whispered, my voice hitching as I said the words. Tears stung my eyes with the confession, unable to believe them even though I’d been there. “He taught me how to swim.”

  “Wait, what?” Chloe asked, her voice rising an octave. “After all the years I’ve tried to get you in the water, he comes along and a few days and you’re magically cured of it? He must have a really good dick.”

  I laughed, despite how uncomfortable it made me feel for Chloe to talk about Rafe’s cock. That part of him felt like it was mine, not something that any other woman needed to concern herself with.

  Even my best friend.

  “Well he didn’t give me much choice,” I said, needing someone to reassure me that what he’d done hadn’t been in my head. That something had been innately wrong with his threats and the pressure he’d put on me to choose between a twisted chase and getting in the water.

  Part of me wanted to brush it off, to assume I’d read too much into his words and the scenario because of my own twisted desires and the way they consumed me. But the other part of me couldn’t help but hear his voice in my head, telling me he’d like it when I fought him.

  “What do you mean?” Chloe asked.

  “He surprised me. I didn’t know we were going there or I never would have agreed to it. You know that, and apparently he did too,” I sighed.

  “So you felt obligated because you’d gone all that way? I’m sure he could have found something else for the two of you to do, Isa,” Chloe said softly. “But for what it’s worth, I’m glad he broke through and helped you with that.”

  “I tried to leave,” I blurted suddenly, clenching my eyes closed as I said the words. “He wouldn’t let me. He said he’d chase me, Chloe. I don’t know if I’m just being weird, but he kind of scared me. Getting in the water was the less scary option and you know I don’t say that easily.” I twiddled with my fingers as silence hung between us.

  “Do you think you’re in danger?” she asked, her voice carefully measured as she crafted the words. Even with me reaching out to her for advice, I couldn’t imagine it was an easy line to walk between being concerned and treading carefully because your best friend had feelings for a man she shouldn’t.

  “No. I don’t think so. He didn’t give me the impression he’d hurt me,” I whispered, even if the words didn’t feel entirely true.

  He might have, but I would have liked it and that was a worse admission that I wasn’t ready to make with my friend.

  “So he just stopped you from leaving?” she asked. When I hummed my agreement, she continued on. “I’ll see what Hugo knows about the name. He’s been pretty quiet whenever he comes up, so I don’t think he knows much. But I’ll see what I can find out. You just be careful until then, okay?” she asked.

  “Okay. Talk to you tomorrow,” I murmured, ending the call and leaving my phone on the coffee table as I made my way to the bathroom. I started the shower, determined to scald my skin until nothing remained of the traces of darkness coating my skin.

  I’d likely confused Rafe with my mixed signals. The best way to keep his darkness at bay was to control my own.

  21

  Rafael

  Isa stepped out of the bedroom after her shower, towel drying her hair as she walked my way with her legs revealed by the shorts she wore around the suite. The cheap cotton didn't suit her skin, and the knowledge that she would soon be bathed in a luxury so unfamiliar to her that she'd never be able to go back settled over me.

  The scar seemed more stark against her skin now that I knew the reason for it. As her skin turned richer from the increased sunshine, the paler, raised skin never changed.

  She froze in place, her attention catching on me sitting in one of the chairs on the terrace. The chess board sat on the table between the chairs, and she squinted her eyes as she stared at it. Finishing drying her hair, she turned back into the bedroom to hang the towel in the bathroom before coming out more cautiously the second time.

  "Have you ever played chess, mi princesa?" I asked, waving a hand to indicate she should sit in the chair opposite me. She shook her head as she lowered herself into it gracefully, crossing her legs as she leaned an elbow on her knee and looked at the board.

  "I don't think I'd ever even seen a chessboard in person before coming here," she said, studying the pieces. She picked up a white pawn, turning the smooth marble in her hand as she ran delicate fingers over it.

  The piece belonged in her hand.

  "Chess can teach us a lot about life," I told her, taking the pawn and setting it back into its place on the board. "Every piece can move in a particular way," I said. I guided her through all the individual pieces and the ways they could move while she listened with rapt fascination.

  Isa often downplayed just how intelligent she was, hiding behind her books and charitable work at the Menominee community center. She seemed to struggle with the difference between herself and Odina, never allowing herself to truly excel. Hugo said he'd seen her diminish her mind frequently, sometimes going so far as to forget about an assignment so she wouldn't have a perfect grade. He'd watched her circle the correct answer on a test and then change it when she was finished.

  But within her lurked a mind I suspected would rival the smartest men in my organization. If only she existed in a life that encouraged her to own it, rather than act like it was something shameful.

  "This is the Queen," I said, holding out the piece for her to wrap her fingers around. She took it, tilting her head as she studied it and ran her thumb over the crown at the top. "She's the most powerful piece."

  "Not the King?" she asked, righting her head as she met my eyes.

  "The game is over when the King is dead. But without a Queen, it never truly begins," I said softly, watching as she pursed her lips thoughtfully. "She can perform the most moves on the board. The Queen protects her King, no matter the cost."

  She reached out a hand and grabbed the King, running her other thumb over the cross like she had the crown on the Queen. "This is probably the only game in existence where men gave a feminine symbol all the power," she s
aid with a huff of laughter.

  I grinned back at her, nodding my head. "You're probably right."

  She placed the pieces back on the board. "The King controls the board, but the Queen is what gives him that power," she said, her voice dropping as she accepted the fact that she understood the basic premise.

  "Exactly," I said. "Your move."

  She widened her eyes at me, pursing her lips and looking down at the board. She moved a pawn, watching as I moved my own. The first pawn I moved had a tiny fissure on the top, a crack I only noticed when my palm brushed against it. I was too preoccupied with watching her to look down at the board, with observing her eyes as they flitted around the pieces and studied the game. She thought everything through, observed all the pieces as she bit her lip in concentration.

  One day, she'd be a force to be reckoned with. Both on and off the board.

  But today was not that day.

  22

  Isa

  I pouted playfully as Rafe guided me up the steps to the private rooftop terrace we had to ourselves. I'd known about it, but never had the opportunity or need to utilize it. It was foolish to think that I'd ever be able to beat Rafe at chess given the limited time I had to try, but the competitive part of me that didn't often get the opportunity to rear its head wanted nothing more than to prove him wrong.

  Even knowing chess was something that took people years to master.

  Rafael pushed open the doors to the rooftop, bathing us in the dim lighting from the stars above. Music pulsed below us as people enjoyed the music by the pool. But none of the buildings around us were near as tall as our hotel, and it gave us the illusion of privacy. Even if people danced below us. Even if they swam in the pool or frolicked on the beach.