We were on our way to the shelter and I had asked Hugo to make a pit stop on the way. I was bringing Lucia with me for the day. She had spent a few weeks at the shelter when she’d first arrived in L.A. It was where the two of us had first met after she had turned up there with papers stating she was eighteen year old Lucy Gallagher. She had settled in well there, but hadn’t been able to stay once we discovered she was actually only sixteen – and pregnant. She was looking forward to coming back there with me for the day and catching up with some of the residents. It would save her sitting at home all alone, especially as Alejandro and I were going out later in the evening too.
Lucia had called her foster family, the Bakers, the previous evening and told them she was staying with us for the night, but now that we were making it a more permanent arrangement, I at least felt the Bakers deserved an explanation.
‘Here we are,’ Hugo said as we pulled up outside their house.
I stepped out of the car and straightened my shoulders.
‘You sure you don’t want me to come with you?’ he asked through the open driver’s window.
‘No. I’ll be fine. I’m sure I can handle the Bakers. You keep an eye on Lucia,’ I said, glancing back at the teenager in the back seat who was fidgeting nervously.
I walked up the path and took a breath as I knocked on the front door. A few moments later, a woman with short blonde hair and bright orange lipstick answered. She looked me up and down, giving my high heels a withering glance before she smiled sweetly.
‘Can I help you?’ she asked.
‘Are you Melody Baker?’
‘I sure am. Who wants to know?’
‘My name is Alana. I’ve come to speak to you about Lucy.’
Her smile immediately turned to a scowl. ‘If that girl has stolen from you, or been causing trouble, it ain’t no fault of mine. She can’t be controlled. She stayed out all night last night. Little tramp,’ she hissed.
I took a half a step back as her words washed over me. ‘What?’ I stammered. I’d heard that the Bakers were a good family. Sure, they were a little too God-fearing for my liking, but they were supposed to be caring. That was what Alejandro’s lawyer had promised me. That Lucia would go to a good, caring family.
‘I said she’s a tramp. She hasn’t been sniffing around your husband or something, has she?’ she sneered. ‘I saw the way she looked at my Gary and he saw it too. Girls like that don’t know when to keep their legs closed.’
I sucked in a lungful of air as I willed my heart to stop hammering in my chest. I couldn’t believe the level of hatred and nastiness directed towards Lucia, who was still just a kid. I took a step forward again, and brought my face close to Melody’s. ‘If you ever speak about Lucy, or any other young girl like that again, I will slap you so hard you’ll be brushing your teeth through your ass for the rest of your life,’ I hissed.
She took a step back and blinked at me.
‘And as for your husband, Gary is it? If I find out he has had even one impure thought about that little girl, I will hunt him down and castrate him myself.’
Melody kept blinking at me in shock, her mouth hanging open for a few seconds before she regained her composure. ‘How dare you come to my house and speak to me like that,’ she snapped, puffing her chest out. ‘Just who the hell do you think you are!’
I pointed my finger in her face. ‘I am Alana fucking Montoya. I am the fucking Queen of L.A, and I am also Lucy’s new guardian. Now, you can call the cops, or your church, or your momma for all I care, but I can assure you it will do you absolutely no good, because my husband owns this goddam city. Now, crawl back into your hole and go think about why you’re such a nasty bitch, and why your husband thinks that a sixteen year old child has been looking at him,’ I snarled and then I turned on my heel and marched down her path, my six inch heels clicking all the way.
I looked at the car and saw Hugo and Lucia, the windows rolled down, and both of them with huge grins on their faces. I bit my lip and flashed my eyebrows at them. I had never spoken to anyone like that before in my life. But, hearing her talk about Lucia like that had woken the tiger in me.
I climbed into the back seat of the car and Lucia threw her arms around me while Hugo gave me a round of applause. ‘Wow, Alana!’ Lucia said as she sat back. ‘You just gave Melody Baker what for!’ she started to laugh.
‘You sure did, Boss,’ Hugo added as he started the engine of the car.
‘I did, didn’t I?’ I said as my cheeks flushed with heat. ‘I didn’t go too far, did I? I just … God, what a horrible woman.’
‘You definitely didn’t go too far,’ Hugo replied.
‘No way,’ Lucia added.
I sat back against the seat and made a mental note to have another word with Alejandro’s lawyer. I didn’t think the Bakers were the right kind of family to be fostering any kids. What Melody had said about her husband had made my skin crawl.
We’d done a full day at the shelter and Lucia had loved catching up with some of the women and children she’d met there while she’d been a resident herself. She had been put to good use entertaining some of the younger kids for the day and was proving herself to be a natural. I was just thinking it was almost time to go home when Hugo popped his head into my office.
‘Evening, Boss. I’m going to take Lucia home now. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
I blinked at him. ‘You’re leaving without me?’
‘Yup. Your chariot is awaiting outside, ma’am,’ he said and laughed to himself. ‘Have a lovely evening.’ Then he walked out of my office leaving me staring after him.
I closed down my computer and made sure I had all of the paperwork I needed for home before grabbing my purse and locking up my office. I shouted goodbye to the shelter manager, Kristen and then walked out of the doors.
My breath caught in my throat at the sight of the sexiest man in the world, sitting outside waiting for me in the sexiest car I had ever seen. He revved the engine of the Bugatti Veyron and grinned at me as I approached.
I opened the door and climbed inside, sinking into the luxurious leather seat and inhaling the new car smell. ‘This is like a million dollar car, Alex. When did you get it?’
‘More like two million, princess. And, I’m test driving it for now,’ he said with a shrug. ‘I’m going to see if it makes this hot chick I’m into put out before I make a decision.’
‘Well, if she doesn’t, let me know, because I will so put out for this car,’ I grinned at him and he started to laugh as he pulled the car away from the curbside.
‘You like it then?’
‘Hell, yes.’
‘Then it’s all yours, princess,’ he said. ‘As long as you don’t mind me breaking it in for you first,’ he said as he pressed his foot down on the gas and the engine roared as he sped off down the freeway.
‘What?’ I shrieked above the noise. ‘I can’t take this. It’s too much.’
He slowed down and turned to me. ‘Too much? You’re my wife, princesa. Besides, it’s not a gift. My money is yours too. You know that.’
‘I’m not quite sure it works like that,’ I laughed.
He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my fingertips. ‘It does where I come from.’
I shook my head in amazement. This life felt like a fairytale sometimes. ‘Anyway, where are we going? And what have I done to deserve this?’ I asked.
‘I just told you the car isn’t a gift,’ he replied.
‘I didn’t mean the car,’ I smiled at him. ‘I mean you coming to pick me up from work. I thought I was meeting you at the hotel later?’
‘Well, I heard what a badass you were today at the Bakers house, and I couldn’t wait any longer to tell you how proud I am of you.’
‘You heard?’ I put my hands over my face recalling how rude I was to Melody Baker earlier. ‘Does Hugo tell you everything about my day?’
‘Yes. Ever since the whole Amelia Grant lunch incident, he tells me everything.’
‘Oh yes, the lunch incident,’ I said as I recalled the time Alejandro had thought that Hugo and I were having an affair because I hadn’t been going to the charity ladies lunches he’d set me up with. After I’d discovered they were a bunch of stuck-up bitches who were more interested in champagne and gossip than charity, I’d found charity work at the shelter instead.
‘So, I cancelled my late meeting, and I thought we could both get ready at the hotel. I’ve had some dresses sent over for you.’
‘Thank you. That sounds perfect,’ I said as I sat back in the seat with a sigh. He had great taste in clothes, and I loved knowing that I was wearing something he had helped to choose for me.
‘I’m proud of you, princess. Standing up to that Baker woman like that.’
‘Well, you know I don’t usually like conflict. But she said such horrible things about Lucia, and I just saw red. It was like something inside me snapped and I couldn’t help myself from telling her what I really thought of her.’
‘You’re going to be an amazing mom to our kids, Alana,’ he said, his tone serious all of a sudden.
‘You think so?’ I asked. My mom had never really been there for me and I wondered if I’d inherited her selfish streak. I was mostly raised by my grandma, and she was one of the kindest and toughest women I had ever known. I liked to think that when Alejandro and I had children, I’d be just like her, but who knew?
‘I know so. Mi reina feroz,’ he said as he kissed my fingertips again.
‘What does that mean?’ I asked him.
‘My fierce queen,’ he replied, squeezing my hand tightly. ‘Our kids are going to be amazing, you know that right?’
I smiled at him. ‘Yes.’
‘I can’t wait to have some little Montoya’s running around,’ he smiled and then he turned to me. ‘You are ready for that, aren’t you?’
I nodded. ‘Yes. With you, I’m ready for anything,’ I said and I meant it. I couldn’t wait to spend every day of the rest of my life with him and fill our house with children and grandchildren.
‘You ready for me to open this baby up?’ he grinned.
‘Hell, yes!’ I laughed. ‘What are you waiting for?’
