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want to find out?”
    My stomach churned and cramped. I’d never been more frightened of anyone or anything in my entire life. “N…n…no.”
    He released a heavy breath into my ear. “Because if you challenge me, if you keep asking questions, it won’t be pretty. I know all your secrets, Dakota,” he whispered. “Every one of them. So think hard about which ones you want to get out.”
    I felt beads of sweat erupt on my forehead. “Wha…what do y…you mean?”
    He pulled back a bit, and annoyance flickered in his eyes. “You were sixteen. You took the BART train into San Francisco with Mandy. Do you want me to go on?”
    My jaw dropped. No. I didn’t. What I saw that day was horrible. We’d ditched class and snuck off to Saks in the city. As Mandy and I came around the corner, I saw my dad leaving a hotel right there in Union Square with a blond. Not my mother. He kissed her passionately, and then they went in separate directions. Mandy had been too busy staring at a passing cable car to notice, thank goodness. At first, I tried telling myself that whatever happened in my parent’s personal life didn’t affect me, but that was silly. How could I ever trust him again? My mother worshipped him—waited for months to see him while he galloped the globe on photo shoots. All the while, he cheated on her.
    Not only wouldn’t I trust him , I wouldn’t trust any man. After all, if you couldn’t trust your own father, then who? Things were never the same again between us. It was almost like he sensed that I’d discovered his secret.
    “But how do you know?” I asked Santiago. My father hadn’t seen me. I never told anyone. Ever.
    “I know everything, Dakota. The question is, do you want your mother to know everything, too?”
    Bastard. If my mother found out my dad had cheated on her, it would break her heart.
    “No,” I replied, gritting my teeth.
    “Then who am I?”
    I stared into his eyes. I had to find a way out of this. “My boyfriend.”
    “Good girl.” He grabbed my arm and helped me from the bed.
    Not knowing what else to do, I nodded cautiously and left with my captor.
     

CHAPTER NINE
    “How can you stand eating that shit?” Santiago stared from across our antique, country-style kitchen table. It was surreal to see such a lethal-looking man sitting in our cozy, homey kitchen. But then again, nothing about this situation fit.
    Knowing my body needed food, I forced myself to take a large bite of my microwaved veggie burger and chewed, ignoring his question. How I managed to swallow anything, I didn’t know. My stomach had been in huge knots from the moment we’d left the hospital and headed straight for my house. Yes, he knew where I lived, like he’d driven to my sandstone-colored stucco house, which looked like all the others on the block, a thousand times. He’d even pulled into my spot, right of the garage. When we got to the front door, he took out a set of keys from his pocket to open it. The guy had my house key. I immediately headed for my room, hoping I could hole up inside, but he’d grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the kitchen. “You need to eat something,” he’d scolded.
    And now, he simply stared with disgust, watching me chew, and I couldn’t help my stomach from plummeting and clenching or my hands from shaking.
    Nervous as hell, I looked up at the clock on the wall. Normally, my mother came home around midnight. It was a quarter to.
    I choked down another bite and focused my eyes on the table, avoiding eye contact. Somehow, someway I needed to figure out what I was going to do. What if this guy never left? Be brave. Be brave. Start asking questions . “Are you staying tonight?” I blurted out.
    “Are you inviting me?” he asked.
    I gasped and looked him.
    “Didn’t think so,” he responded dryly. “I plan to stay until your mother gets home. Then I have business to attend to.”
    He was going to leave? Thank God. And he had business at this hour? Probably