A/N: Nice long update for you guys! Late Valentine's gift, and all that.

This is part three of a four part chapter. Kinda long, I know. But I needed to speed up these characters' storylines and get to the GOOD stuff.

"Would you all like a tour of the place?" Eduardo edged in. She caught his eyes, and there was mirth there- he was obviously very pleased with her. Was it sick that she got off on that? Isabella loved to make him laugh, and she loved even more the idea that she had stood up for him in a situation that he wasn't able to.

Rene and Phillipe answered with glee, as though they hadn't ever spoken down on him before. Juan replenished everyone's glass and Bella made it a point to reject another one, much to Rey's chagrin.

Eduardo took them around the casino floor, up a private elevator to the VIP Tasting Room where every kind of expensive wine and champagne lived, and finally to the rooftop where a live orchestra played against the city landscape of coastal Valencia. The lighting of the rooftop terrace was magical, with white lights strung overhead in zigzags tinkling and the sparkling bulbs adorning the railing.

He was explaining the architecture design but she floated away from the group, the iron railing calling her name so loudly. She braced herself against the balustrade, soaking up the nighttime air and the twinkling stars in the sky. This was… magnificent. It was no wonder why Eduardo spent all of his time here. He had dreamed all of this up- a boy that came from humble beginnings and little support in his life. He made all of this happen without a trust fund, supportive rich parents, nothing! It made her heart swell to think about it.

It was a shame that he couldn't get a handle on his womanizing ways. He had shown himself to be generous, humble, thoughtful, excellent in bed… he was almost perfect. He just couldn't keep it in his pants! And she refused to be humiliated like that.

"This is where I come to think." Eduardo's voice was smooth, no clear emotion inside of it. "And when you piss me off." A small tinge of humor laced his hostile words, earning a smirk from Isabella. He knew how much it pleased her to piss him off. "You look beautiful tonight. I like the color." He stood next to her, shoulder to shoulder with her as they looked out over the town of Valencia. Eduardo touched a small spot of her dress just under her breast, causing a string of goosebumps to appear on her arms. He could do that- send her body singing from a small touch!

"You should, you bought it." Isabella snapped in return.

Eduardo laughed, a lighthearted smirk emerging. "Yes, I was alerted of the charge. You are the most expensive nanny I've yet to have, Isabella."

Isabella shrugged playfully. "I'll be out of your hair soon enough."

Eduardo's smirk dropped, a different look on his face rising. "Isabella, about what happened last week… it was stupid." He ran a hand through his hair, inching himself closer to her. She instinctively leaned into him, one of his sneaking its way to hers. "We need to talk. I don't want you to-"

"Bella!" Rey's voice pulled her out of her fantasy land with Eduardo. She instinctively shoved his hand away, not wanting anyone to be privy to her personal business. If her parents or Reynaldo caught wind of a romance or a fling, she'd be humiliated. Eduardo was in the papers with numbers of other women, and they'd think she was a huge moron- or worse, a whore. They would gossip about him, too. Her parents were vengeful people. Who knew what they'd do to him socially, just to keep them apart?

She wanted to explain all of this to him, but the hurt look that flashed over his face spoke volumes. It was gone in seconds, and a cool mask slipped over his face once more. Those emerald eyes were shining in the nighttime glow of the lights, and she could feel daggers coming out of them. Unlike him, she never hurt him on purpose. There were just circumstances that were out of her control… and she wasn't perfect.

"Bella- let's get a picture!" Reynaldo called to her again.

She turned away and walked towards her parents, sparing only a single glance behind her. Eduardo had already turned his back to her, focusing on the night sky instead.

They were always so close, yet so far away from each other.

She posed with Rey and her parents for a dozen photos before excusing herself to the powder room. Juan had directed her towards a long hallway, filled with fine paintings and framed photographs of the city of Valencia- she followed it all the way down until she came into the restrooms. If it hadn't been for the loads of makeup on her face, she would have buried her face into a bowl of cold water.

This was so confusing. Eduardo confused her!

She could be like Rosalina and date someone well-to-do, someone so easily accepted by her parents and this torment could be over. Would she truly ever be happy with a guy like Rey? He was one of the nicer rich assholes she had met. A lot like Mick, except Spanish the way her dad expected. But these guys were always so out of touch with reality- they believed the world revolved around them and never knew what true hard work felt like. Everything was easy.

Eduardo was the opposite of easy. He was hard work- their relationship (if she could call it that) was hard work, getting him to open up was hard work, understanding him was the hardest of all! But it was worth it. She loved it, in some sick way.

She loved him.

Isabella squeezed her eyes shut and held in a small sob. She really loved Eduardo, and it tormented her.

He was a culmination of a dozen things she never knew she needed. He was grumpy. He was sharp. He was thoughtful, thinking of things she hadn't even considered. He was soft with her, but he could always be rough when she wanted him to be. He had saved her brother. He had made love to her, in a way that was so wrong and yet so right. He was constantly looking to take care of her- no one else had ever even tried.

I love him. I love him. I love him. And he's sleeping with other women.

Small, stupid tears fell down her face. She loved this stupid guy. And he made her stupid along with him! What if she cast out all of the women in the background, forced him to choose between her or them? If he cared about her the way he pretended, he had to make a choice. Even if they didn't live happily ever after, she knew she couldn't just walk away and pretend like it was never. She would stick with him, be in Sebastian's life… she could make a life here in Valencia, if that's what it took. Or they could travel back and forth, creating some kind of elaborate schedule to stay apart of each's existences. If they really wanted it to work, they would find a way, right?

Isabella deserved to be happy, regardless of how it looked to anyone on the outside. She didn't care about news articles, magazine pictures, social media images- she knew firsthand how fake they could turn out to be.

The door swung open before she could begin to even wipe her tears, and the disapproving look on her mother's face made her eyes threaten to eject more. Crying was shameful in her family. She had only ever seen her mom cry behind a pair of oversized Chanel sunglasses at her grandma's funeral- once in the last twenty-something years.

Rene sent her a scathing look before turning to the lit up vanity mirror, touching at her own face gently. "I hope those are tears of regret for being so foolish tonight." Isabella was too choked up to speak, or nod, or do anything. Her mom had always frightened her. "A Rothschild is just the type of suitor you need. He will uphold you, despite your lack of tact."

"Mom-" Isabella spurted, looking directly at her mom's reflection and her mom looked back her through the mirror.

"I'm not finished." Rene said through her teeth, a nasty look going over her face. Her features were twisted, and Isabella was sure she was looking at the devil. "I am not so stupid as to think that you aren't sleeping with that…" she chose to consider her next word before she spoke, and Bella was thankful for it, "man." Her mom touched up her lipstick, puckering her lips in satisfaction. "Sow your oats for a few more weeks, get this nonsense out of your system." Rene squinted her eyes. "And when you return home you will focus on a husband, Isabella. Do not throw your life away for this Eduardo." She said the name with disdain, nothing like her early schoolgirl behavior. "You will not marry a man like that- and I promise, he will not want to marry you."

Isabella stiffened her lower lip to keep it from wobbling. Those had been some of her thoughts, exactly. They had even had her mother's voice attached to them in her head. And now she was hearing them spoken to her, in real life and technicolor.

"You don't know that." Isabella squeaked out.

"Get yourself together and when you rejoin us, you will be kind to Reynaldo." Rene straightened the fabric of her skirt and turned towards her daughter. "You never know how happy he could make you, Isabella. He comes from a wonderful family. Puedes amar a un hombre rico como puedes amar a un pobre." Rene stalled at the door for a few seconds, her eyes softening just slightly. "My mama told me that when I was eighteen. I was going to make the biggest mistake of my life and run off with a low-level baseball player. And instead, she introduced me to your dad. When I gave Phillipe a fair chance, he was able to show me what I truly needed. A good husband, a good father, and upstanding man- you may hate me now, but you will be thankful in time."

Puedes amar a un hombre rico como puedes amar a un pobre.

You can love a rich man just as you can love a poor man.

That's what it came down to- money. She mattered less than money to her mother.

Her mother left without another word, leaving Isabella in the corner of the luxurious restroom feeling much smaller than ever before.

Eduardo left the Aguirre-Lopes family and their guest to enjoy the remainder of their evening but allowed himself one more look at Isabella before they disappeared into the elevator lift. When she came back from the lavatories, she was different. She stayed glued to Reynaldo and made it a mission to make sure she didn't even look his way.

It was her parents, of course. He had known it all along. Phillipe Aguirre-Lopes looked at him like he was scum, even when he met them here upon their arrival and personally welcomed them to his establishment. He gave them the best room, with the best accommodations; he made sure they would enjoy themselves and know just how much money and power he had.

It wasn't enough. He didn't have a millionaire last name, like Rothschild. All of these wealthy men were incorporated into the same social circles, so they knew immediately when you didn't belong. He could buy out those stupid country clubs they frequented, yet he wasn't approved to join them. He was looked at oddly at social clubs and would never get a golden ticket to anything with a legacy name like Kennedy or Mariscos attached to it. He had all of these millions and he was still an outsider.

Eduardo didn't care for rich pricks, in any manner. He had his own yacht, a private plane, and several properties in several countries- he didn't need them! He didn't need anyone.

He sure as fuck didn't need Bella.

Fuck her.

Eduardo rode the elevator to one floor below and entered the personal pin onto the lift's pad before the doors opened up to his penthouse suite.

He yanked off his tie and threw off his dinner jacket, then ripped off his golden cuff links before tossing them aside and rolling up his sleeves. He. Didn't. Need. Her.

With a pep in his step, he pulled out one of the tablets that connected with his security system of il Siempre. Why did he even care what she was doing? If she wanted a tonto like Reynaldo, good for her! She was a bruja, wasn't she?

Let the tonto and bruja ride off into the sunset together.

Good riddance.

No, he hoped they died.

Yes, death was the only way he could properly forgive Isabella if this was the way she decided to walk away from him.

No- just let Reynaldo die.

A grim smile went over his mouth.

Die, fucker.

After going through half an hour of prowling through live camera feeds, he found them. Isabella was standing too close to him, hand in hand with that stupid motherfucker as the Aguirre-Lopes looked on with delight.

Isabella was beautiful that night. Breathtaking, even. Had she known that her parents visiting would turn into an evening of matchmaking? Is that why she bought a new outfit? Is that why she did so much to her face, turning herself into one of the women he usually surrounded himself around?

Fixed. That's what he would call it. Women that never looked out of place, not even a curl on top of their head. They were the epitome of perfection, yet still weren't in any kind of comfort and it could show.

He liked a frazzled-looking Isabella. Her hair in a pulled into a bun on the top of her head, without any makeup on, in stretchy pants. That was when she was the most comfortable in her own skin and it was just as breathtaking as the blue number she was wearing that night.

Eduardo followed them throughout the hotel, switching the different cameras in order to catch all of the ordeal. Why was he torturing himself like this? If she wanted to hitch her wagon to a dumbass like Rothschild, it wasn't his problem. In fact, the snobby prick got what he deserved with Bella- Reynaldo made his childhood hell for the two years that his mother worked his family. Hopefully Bella would torture him in the same way. Their families were mirror images of each other. Wealthy for generations, Spanish-American, highly favored in social circles; they would make a magazine couple, more important than even her sister and his best friend.

Reynaldo was the smart choice for her. Her parents would treat her better and she'd be set for life.

What did Eduardo really even care?

He would never even think about sharing a life with another woman after what he had been put through with Sebastián's mother.

And if he ever did want to fuck up his life again, it wouldn't be with Isabella. He would never marry a woman like her. Someone so loud, so crazy, so…infuriating. If he did settle down, it was going to be a quiet and agreeable Spanish woman that appreciated her culture and old school values.

Not Isabella. He had been over this plenty of times.

So why was he cyber stalking her then?

He should do the right thing and leave her alone. She should enjoy her night and they both could move on with their lives. He made a vow to himself- tomorrow morning, he was going to purchase a ticket for her to go home on a flight with her parents and call everything a wash. If he didn't push her out of his home and out of his life now, things would just get worse.

The faster she was gone, the faster he could get back to his normal life.

But when he watched Reynaldo lean down and steal a kiss from his Isabella, all rational thought left his brain.

She deserved better than Rothschild.

Isabella deserved villas, gifts, and to be fucked everywhere in a home they shared. She didn't deserve a life of cool indifference like Rene and Phillipe- she deserved to be happy and crazy and he wanted to be there to be a present party to it all.

Without another good thought, Eduardo sent her a text that told her to meet him on the twentieth floor and gave her the code. It was her move now.

He had too much pride to go down there and snatch her away from her date. He was not the kind of bleeding heart romantic that wished to steal away the distressed princess. And he wasn't a chump, either. Making a scene in front of his paying customers didn't make money sense to him. Nothing mattered more than his business or his money. She got the text, he could see through the cameras that she had opened her phone. He was giving her an out- if she really didn't want to be anchored to a man that her parents would approve of for the sake of their happiness (the way that she told him in the late of nights), then she would come up to his penthouse and they would continue on with their arrangement.

But if she decided to spend the night with that piece of shit bro, then he would cut his losses with her. Despite what he had led her to believe, there hadn't been anyone but Isabella since before she even arrived in Valencia. It was pure fate that he had noticed Roberto Aguirre-Lopes in Valencia. They happened to be patrons of the same gentleman's club on the same night. Was it fate that Eduardo had his acquaintances entice Roberto to go to il Siempre?

Maybe not, but he couldn't count on the universe to do everything for him.

He had no idea how everything would go down. He didn't know Roberto was so immature and reckless, but it played better into his hands than any other scenario in his mind. Other scenarios included a cash bribe to fake an emergency to lure Bella out, offering him a high paying job at the casino to make him indebted and possibly asked to be introduced to her, and he even thought of taking it back to his roots and merely intimidating the kid into doing what Eduardo wanted.

But when his head of security caught the whole debacle of Roberto happening in real time, it just fell right into his lap.

No one had to be bribed. No one had to be intimidated.

And he got Bella.

He had no idea what he wanted with her, though. If he wanted to fuck and blow off steam, there were plenty of local women that did the job well. If he wanted a nanny, he could hire a team of them and let his housekeeper oversee them. If he wanted some entertainment, there was a gentleman's club not too far from his estate. So, what was he doing with this woman?

Obviously, he couldn't put his finger on it. He spent plenty of sleepless nights asking himself why. He couldn't get that night he spent with her out of his head. From their intimate moment in the dark hallway of the gala, to the tense ride to his penthouse, and all of the breathtaking moments they shared in his bed… she was an enigma. She was a splash of color in what was becoming a grueling life of black and grey.

Sebastián was his saving grace from the moment he was born, but when he met Isabella… it was like she brought him back to life. She dragged him from the pits of hell, where he had set up a makeshift home and became contented to live the rest of his life there. Isabella, with her big mouth and witty tongue, sparked something deep within him. After Sebastián's mother left, Eduardo couldn't take it. He didn't want to feel, talk about it, or deal with it.

Instead, he took to focusing on work more than ever and decided that he could happily live his life like that forever. He didn't need a significant other. He could rent out women and their time if he was really ever so desperate! Eduardo didn't need to worry himself with silly women.

He wanted to fight with her.

He wanted to be notified of her charges on his Amex when she was mad.

He liked the difficultness that she brought to his life- and maybe it couldn't last forever.

But he would find a way to keep her here as long as he possibly could.

Eduardo checked the lobby camera again. His heart sank as he watched Rene and Phillipe wave off the new couple; Isabella was walking out of his hotel with Reynaldo. She had seen his text, and still went. He felt stupid for even offering her in the first place! Now she thought she had the upper hand on him, didn't she?

He slapped a tall glass vase off of the center table, feeling only smally satisfied when the crash resounded through the room. Eduardo grabbed his tablet from the counter and smashed it against the oversized mirror on his way to the bedroom.

Well, she could fuck off for all he cared now. She was a goner, and he would throw her shit out onto the street outside of his private community as soon as he got home. If she wanted to go off and marry the airheaded frat boy, good for her!

Eduardo had every intention of stripping down and taking a hot shower. If he gave himself some time to cool down and gather his thoughts, he would see that this was all very foolish and not worth his time. He could convince himself that she was an easy lay and not half as mysterious as he thought she was. His good sense would come back to him.

But before he could think on it some more, he shot out of his bedroom and threw himself into the elevator lift. What was he going to say if he did catch them before they left? Yell at her? Curse both of them for their existences? Punch Reynaldo square in the face just as he had always wanted to?

Eduardo didn't have much more time to think when the elevator landed on the first floor and the glass doors opened promptly. He rid himself of dignity and ran through the casino floor, his black Armani shoes acting as his athletic Pumas instead. He propelled himself past the lobby, ignoring his staff calling worriedly after him; they were paid to tend to every whim and worry of his, but right now they needed to fuck off.

The crisp air of the cold night hit him as soon as he made it past the revolving door. He had shed his dinner jacket earlier and was left to the chill of nighttime Valencia on his own- but he was on a mission. A little cold didn't scare him.

He combed through the crowd of people, some exiting and some entering, that were in the valet area and felt a pang of defeat when he couldn't spot her baby blue dress. Reynaldo had taken something else of his. Would Eduardo never stop paying for his mother's sins? He wasn't born into privilege but was constantly surrounded by the filthy rich due to Sebastiana's work, and he had been punished for that fact for his whole life.

Each new rich kid of his mother's many bosses were just as cruel as the next. Sometimes they'd taunt him, other times they would look right past him and act as though he didn't exist. Perhaps it was his own bias talking, but he didn't feel like he would ever amass enough millions to make him belong.

But then the most beautiful thing happened- he heard her annoying voice, and it was like a sweet melody just then.

His eyes laser focused on where they were loading into an awaiting SUV almost a yard away. Isabella was laughing but her body language was tense. Or was he imagining that?

Either way, he pushed himself to run faster in their direction even as he saw the backseat door slam shut and the brake lights let off. He ran faster, throwing himself nearly on top of the hood of the massive car to make sure it didn't go anywhere. He caught Isabella's eyes through the windshield, begging her to do something he hadn't even figured out yet.

Her large, brown eyes looked like they were going to fall out of their sockets. And he felt just as perplexed as she looked.

A/N: The last part of this chapter will be out next week. Love you guys! Please review.