Page 58 of Married with Blood
“I won’t risk her getting back in her brother’s reach.” I shook my head and wished I could throttle him for even suggesting it.
Something didn’t add up with Arturo offering me his sister the way he had. Something bothered me about what he could be viewing as an ulterior motive. It was a strong enough suspicion that I didn’t care for the idea of sending her to the Garcia Cartel for any reason unless I was there with her.
“We can considerbothof us, both me and her, going to visit and to potentially find someone to question,” I said.
“But how the fuck would that work?” Alexei asked. “They’re loyal to him. To the Cartel. Not her or you.”
I shrugged. “Then maybe we can set up another sting, only this time to lure Arturo out too. I don’t know yet. We’ll decide more about how to obtain more intel so we can decide if he needs to be taken out or not.”
The sooner that was decided, the sooner that was done, then I could begin to coax Carina into a new phase of fully and wholeheartedly accepting that her life would always be here with me.
No one else but me.
As my wife in the Volkov Bratva.
Not a dismissed princess in any Cartel.
20
CARINA
Having lunch with Elena changed my perspective about being with Maksim. It wasn’t a life-altering revelation that she’d given me but a gentle encouragement to consider that I was perhaps being too closed-minded about how I viewed him.
That he heldallthe power between us.
That’s not how it was with them.
I stared at the image of my parents. Their wedding picture was a snapshot of the grand and elaborate event that marked their marrying. Even then, on that first day as an official married couple, they had that spark, that hint of love in their eyes as they gazed at each other, not at the camera.
Without a doubt, my father was the boss of the Cartel. Everyone listened to him and all of us respected him. Including my mother. However, when it came to how they partnered and approached life, they shared the responsibility and burden of keeping us all safe and prosperous.
My mother had deferred to him, but he never tried to lord over her. He never ruled with an iron fist or demanded anything unusual for her just for the sake of his being the boss. As I zoned out at the image on my phone, one I’d never delete so long as I kept this old drive on the device active, I thought back to all those times when my mother had kept my father in check. She’d never shied away from giving her opinion at the same time that she never talked over him just to be loud. She’d never held herself back from hearing him out just like she never let him take her for granted as someone inferior to him.
They were equals, as equal as a boss and his wife ever could be.
And that was a little of what I got from Elena’s advice.
She’d told me how Adrik had needed her and valued her skillset as an accountant. It was similar to how it seemed to be with me and Maksim, where he appreciated all the knowledge I had about the smuggling business.
“Carina!”
I jerked my head up at the sound of one of the guards calling for me.
No. That’s Jeremiah.
The tone and urgency in that summons had me on my feet. He never spoke to me like that, and he never used my name. Formality was the name of his game, but whatever was going on now was something so different and important that he was shouting for me like the world was ending.
Hurrying out of my room, I stuck my phone in my pocket and sought him out. Maksim was out today with his cousins, but he’dbe back soon. If something was seriously wrong, thenIwouldn’t be the one to settle it.
“What is it?” I called out as I picked up my pace and ran across the foyer.
He stood at the door, his face serious and stern. “Quickly.”
“What is it?” I ran to him, my heart racing high in my chest and my stomach tensing like I was going to get a hard hit.
The bloody and ragged mess of a man on the stoop had me skidding to a stop. I gasped, stunned at how badly he’d been beaten.
“Enrique!” I dropped to my knees, heartbroken and so instantly worried for one of the Cartel’s older runners. He crouched over. Deep wheezes escaped him while he panted so hard and heavily like he couldn’t stand upright for more than one more second.
