An official gesture—Carrera to Carrera.
In the last forty-eight hours, my opinion had changed.
I’d turned my sister’s wedding into an exposed powder keg, and a lit match sat directly across the aisle wearing sunglasses and an arctic expression. A man who minutes ago had become an unlikely ally of the worst kind.
A thin truce, that when severed, would be felt around the world.
As Adriana and Brody held hands and gazed into each other's oblivious eyes, I settled in my designated seat at the end of the front row, my hand tucked under my tuxedo jacket.
On guard and ready.
I watched with the eyes of a falcon as Santiago directed his shaded gaze at my sister. For now, he sat leisurely in his chair with his elbows draped across the back, like he owned the goddamn place.
Fuck rivalry. Now I wanted to shoot him on principle.
“Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?” A thick curtain of long red hair fell over my left shoulder as Ava leaned in close beside me.
“Wonder what?”
She gave the slightest tilt of her chin across the aisle. “How a man like him keeps a woman like that.”
I followed her gaze to where the same petite woman we’d seen exiting the chopper with him was sitting elegantly beside my most unwelcome guest. “I heard he abducted her at gunpoint.” I cocked my chin, a diabolical smirk spreading across my face. “You tell me, Ava. How’d that work out for you?”
As anticipated, Ava’s eyes narrowed to paper-thin slits. “I suggest you calm your stone throwing, Carrera. It might just shatter that big glass house you live in.”
My self-indulgent smirk faded into a provoked scowl. I didn’t abduct Eden. I subdued her forcefully in order to secure her in a safe location she wasn’t allowed to leave.
Jesus, fuck, fine. I abducted her.
“That being said,” she continued, smiling dutifully at the altar as Brody spoke his vows. “Men of your caliber don’t so much conform to the rules of society as write their own. And I have to admit, while most women would find that abhorrent, there are those of us who find it...endearing.”
“Endearing,” I repeated, rolling my eyes with a huff. The move, although slight, caught Eden’s heated stare from the altar as she stood by my sister’s side. Fuck. My wife was too observant for her own damn good. Steeling my expression, I added, “Is that what we’re calling it now?”
“You’re missing the point.”
“You haven’t made one.”
“Eve Santiago has this sweet veneer of innocence about her, but I’m betting the truth is far more complex. She likes to give off the impression that she’s one of those women who’d chase down a waiter because he forgot to charge her for her virgin strawberry daiquiri—the kind who got perfect grades and was voted ‘Most Likely To Marry an Investment Banker’ in high school—”
“I’m still waiting for the point, Ava.”
Letting out a low chuckle, she slid those cat eyes my way. “Men like you and Dante Santiago take what’s left of that innocence and you twist it to your advantage. Your wives must learn to adapt or get consumed by your fire. I know Eden did. But, Eve Santiago…” Her voice trailed off as she cast another discerning glance at the brunette sitting quietly beside my reluctant ally. “How could any woman adapt to that?”
She had a point. From the outside, Dante’s wife appeared to be the picture-perfect trophy, but I’d learned even the most angelic appearances could be deceiving. No woman could lay with the devil and then rise free of sin.
The sweetest smiles always hid the sharpest fangs.
Which was a good thing. She’d need them as soon as my sister saw another woman wearing a white dress at her wedding.
As if the whispered name of his wife were a gunshot, Dante’s casual form stiffened, his chin slowly turning until his eye caught mine out of the corner of his dark sunglasses. His jaw clenched so hard I swore I heard his molars crack from across the aisle. Instead of casting an intimidating black cloud over Adriana and Brody’s first kiss as husband and wife, it shed a light he never intended.
I was right. Weddings were an unnecessary risk. They afforded a man’s temporary ally the opportunity of a lifetime.
Free and clear access to his greatest weakness.
His family.
Mr. and Mrs. Harcourt made their grand reentrance into the courtyard to thunderous applause and a chorus of well-wishes as a string quartet set their every move to music. Behind them, the best man and matron of honor walked a steady yet cautious gait, the rose pinned to his lapel and her flowing crimson gown shredding the remaining pieces of my patience.
There’s that fucking color again.
The moment Eden’s gaze wandered off to the left, she stumbled, causing Mateo to grasp her a little too tightly for my liking. When his dark head bent to whisper something in her ear, she gazed up at him with an assuring nod, her tactful serenity masking the troubled smile on her face.
Mateo’s eyes found mine; then they shifted left as well
I didn’t have to turn around to know what they saw; yet I did.
Santiago and his entourage hovered around the west quadrant like lawn snipers, eyes shaded, drinks in hand, and masks in place. It seemed every member was charged with a sector of my property to watch and dissect, which pissed me the fuck off. Adriana’s wedding wasn’t a battleground to defend and claim.
Señor Santiago and his band of smug bitches were one infraction away from being shown the fucking door.
“I believe you owe me an explanation.”
I tensed, a deluge of mixed emotion rushing through my boiling veins. There was only one voice in the world that could both soothe the beast and make him bare his fangs at the same time. Slowly turning on my heel, I took in the woman I’d burn every path from Mexico to Colombia to the ground to protect. “Cereza…”
“Don’t,” she warned, closing the distance between us. “Don’t you dare try and talk your way around this now. We’re not in your office, Val. You can’t just bend me over a desk and shut me up with a quick fuck.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Quick?”
Eden tossed me her signature deadpan “fuck-you” glare. “Are you trying to be an asshole, or does it just come naturally to you?”
As much as I enjoyed sparring with my wife, I needed to defuse the potential bomb her anger posed. One not only to her health, but to the brigade of Colombian watchdogs overly invested in our conversation. “What explanation is it you think I owe you, Eden? I already told you I’d extended Santiago an invitation.”
“Yes,” she hissed, dragging her steely blue eyes over my shoulder. “Dante Santiago… not Dante Santiago and fifteen of his boldest and coldest. I know you lied to me. Before the wedding, I...” With her last word, her lips contorted, all the color draining from her face.
“Eden?” I grabbed her arm as she leaned forward only to have her bat my hand away. I called her name two, three more times and all I got in return were clenched fists and closed eyes. That’s it. Fuck this. “I’m sending for Dr. Vidal,” I announced, scanning for Mateo.
Her eyes popped open, and I let out a curse as she sank her nails into my arm. “Val, no! I’m fine. It’s just a little false labor. Nothing to worry about.”