I didn’t say anything because I wanted to see how the hell this was going to play out. Adriana and Brody bickered like children, but I’d never seen him pull rank on her like that.
Adriana’s face twisted with fury, and we all waited for the storm, but instead of leveling the room, she clenched her teeth and lowered back down in her chair. “Fine.”
I’ll be damned. He’d tamed my sister. Which, as far as I was concerned, was the first sign of the Apocalypse.
“Let’s get started.” I’d grown bored of all the shit slinging.
Santiago tossed his sunglasses onto the table. “First, I want to know who the body is.”
It was the first indication he’d even noticed Ronan’s corpse.
“A human trafficking piece of shit who didn’t deserve a seat at this table,” I responded coolly.
“Was this your idea of a welcome present?” For the first time since he’d entered Senado, I saw his lips twitch.
“He was the first of the Mexican links.”
“And the others?”
Dios mío. This man didn’t miss a beat. His version of hardball was a concrete fist.
“Why don’t you let Brody go get you a bourbon.”
It was another “fuck you” wrapped up in my reluctant hospitality, but I wanted him to know I had detailed intel on him too.
“So, I drink bourbon and I enjoy fucking my wife,” he sing-songed as if he were being drawn into some childish game of mine. “I know for a fact you enjoy fucking yours too, and that you named your son after me. I hope the two aren’t related. Does Señora Carrera have a crush?”
“Santiago is my mother’s maiden name, pendejo,” I replied through gritted teeth.
He’d fired back by bringing my family into this, and the bullet had strayed too close to the mark.
“Is he a danger to society like me, or just another Carrera disappointment?”
“Would you like a twist of acid in your bourbon?”
Someone cleared their throat to my left, and Santiago laughed. I didn’t give a shit if he feared me, but respect was another matter. He’d give it or get the fuck out.
“The body was a show of faith, cabrón. A simple ‘thank you’ would suffice.”
“It’s a pretty blade sticking out of his face.” The room fell silent as he rose to his feet and made his way over to Ronan’s corpse. He bent down and removed Ava’s knife without flinching, and then ripping open the front of the dead man’s shirt, he calmly carved a couple of bone-deep initials into his chest.
S
C
“Consider this a show of faith returned,” he declared, rising to his feet again, skidding the knife across the table toward me and leaving a crimson trail in its wake. “This truce is now borne in the blood of our joint enemy.”
I stopped the blade with a single finger and held his gaze. “Then consider these negotiations open.”
A second throat cleared to my left, and I smirked as with a flick of my wrist, the knife made a second trajectory down the table straight into Ava’s waiting hand. Shifting my gaze beside her, I arched an eyebrow at her husband. “I’d sleep with one eye open if I were you, Gaheris.” Raising my glass, I added, “And a hand over my dick.”
Chapter Ten
Adriana
“Go away,” I yelled, hurling the sharpest point of my stiletto against the door. I didn’t care if it chipped holes in the expensive wood. After choking on a thick cloud of testosterone and bitch-fumes for the last hour, I deserved an outlet.
A brief pause preceded the sound of shuffling feet from the other side. “What the hell was that?”
“A five-thousand-dollar Jimmy Choo I’m imagining driving into your skull!” Drawing my arm back, I sank the shoe deep into the wood again for emphasis.
Brody and I had gone back and forth like this for a solid ten minutes with him demanding entrance into Val and Eden’s bedroom, and me screaming obscenities through the door in Spanish before assaulting it with designer footwear. I assumed by now he would have given up, but I should’ve known better.
The man was a skilled prosecutor. He didn’t hold the highest conviction record in Houston for nothing.
Damn him.
“Adriana, don’t you think you’re overreacting a little?”
My pulse skyrocketed, and I wasn’t positive, but I might have blacked out for a second. “Oh, mi amado, overreacting would have been blowing your kneecaps off when you followed me into the house.”
Followed... Right. More like chased. If I hadn’t been so fucking pissed, I might have laughed. We looked more like a victim and her attacker than a bride and groom. While climbing the stairs, we traded insults back and forth, and just as I sprinted toward the bedroom, he lunged. Seconds away from grabbing me, I slammed the door in his face.
So, I did what any sane bride would do while her groom tried to kick the door off its hinges. I slipped back into my wedding dress.
It made absolutely no fucking sense, but then again, nothing about this day did.
This perfectly fucked-up day.
Now, here I was, all dressed for a wedding I wasn’t sure was even going to happen.
My grip tightened around my weapon of choice.
Well, mostly dressed.
Brody let out a long, drawn-out sigh. “Princesa, even you have to admit you were out of line back there. Yes, you’re a Carrera, but inside the walls of Senado, bloodline doesn’t matter. There’s no hierarchy. Val is king, and his word is law. Challenging Ava Chernova and Viviana Santiago like that undermined his authority and made his command seem chaotic. First, eyes see, and then mouths talk.” He paused, his tone softening. “You know that better than anyone.”
I winced. Padding barbed wire with cotton didn’t make it any less painful. It still had spikes. And when flung in your face, it still drew blood. My time spent as a prisoner of my own cartel wasn’t a topic I cared to think about—now or ever.
“First of all, Viviana Santiago threatened to kill me, in case you’ve forgotten. That bitch deserved to have her fucking tongue ripped out.” Just the memory of her smug smile made me want to put my fist through the wall. However, I inhaled a calming breath and blew out any lingering animosity toward that Colombian whore. For now. “But I’m not talking about that.”
“Then help me out,” he prodded. “Why are you so pissed off? And why are we having this conversation through a piece of wood?”
For a few brief moments, I considered lying. But that wasn’t the woman I’d fought my way back from Hell to become, and it sure as hell wasn’t the couple Brody and I were. As mad as I was, he deserved the truth.
The whole ugly truth.
Closing my eyes, I slumped against the door, the pent-up wall of aggression inside me slowly crumbling. “I’m not like her, Brody.”
“Her who?”
“Leighton.” I clenched my teeth as I spoke her name. “Your sister is content with shaded half-truths, wagging her tail and barking on command like a Cocker Spaniel when Mateo tells her to heel.” Opening my eyes, I sank my bottom teeth deep into my upper lip. Comparing his sister to a furry pet. Nice touch. “No offense.”