King of Hearts: An Arranged Marriage-Mafia Romance (Rake Forge University Series Book 2)

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King of Hearts: An Arranged Marriage-Mafia Romance (Rake Forge University Series Book 2) Page 25

by Ashley Munoz


  “He did…gave her an address for where to meet. I have it.”

  “Get it.” I turned away to give him room, walking toward Decker, who was still just watching things play out.

  “You done with him?” my best friend’s husband asked me, raising a dark brow.

  I nodded, pacing around the room while Kyle got to his feet so he could pull out his cell.

  “Here…” He handed it to me with the screen illuminated, and I put the address into my phone while Kyle held his stomach. “You should know…Ivan…he put her up for sale.”

  My fingers stopped moving as my heart seemed to flop the fuck out of my chest. Impossible…but it seemed her own father doing something so evil was too, yet here we were.

  “What does that mean?” I whispered.

  Kyle shook his head, wiping at the corner of his mouth. “It means I told Taylor El Peligro was the only safe place for her, but she said she couldn’t go back and needed Markos…said it was the safest place for her.”

  We’ll fucking see about that.

  Kyle grabbed a bag of peas from the freezer and plopped it against his jaw. “Ivan is after her. He wants to sell her as a form of punishment for going against his wishes. He isn’t honoring any deals or anything set up with you or Markos.”

  “Then he’s declared war against me.”

  I turned to leave, but Kyle’s question stopped me.

  “You didn’t get that memo when he broke into your security feed, had your lead man called off, and completely emptied your place?” The shit scoffed, which renewed my anger.

  I clicked my teeth shut. “Why, if he wasn’t planning on taking her?”

  Kyle shrugged. “To flex…show you what he’s capable of. You don’t think he knows she went to Markos?”

  I turned to leave without replying because it was just fucking noise at this point, but Kyle stopped me.

  “Wait, hold up—I’m lost. I know the baby isn’t yours…hell, Taylor isn’t even yours, so why are you doing this?”

  I turned around, flexing my fingers, getting used to the pain still vibrating along my knuckles from hitting Kyle. I hated explaining myself. My decisions were always my own and I didn’t owe anyone anything, but Decker was basically my family since he’d married my best friend, so I decided to explain for his benefit, but only his.

  “If you ever find someone you’d be willing to kill for…I mean really kill for, someone you’d die for because living without them won’t mean a goddamn thing, you’ll do whatever it takes to keep them.”

  I didn’t wait to hear him respond. I turned to leave, but the screen door snapped shut again as I scaled the porch steps.

  Decker’s voice stopped me as I reached my car. “Juan, I can’t not tell Mallory about this. It’s about two of the most important people in her life. She’s still pissed at you about leaving her out of the stuff about your past.”

  The rain fell lightly against my car as I stared over the roof at my best friend’s husband.

  “Tell her I’m fixing it.”

  “That won’t be good enough and you know it.” Decker stepped closer, panic urgent on his face. I wasn’t sure what he wanted from me, but whatever it was, I wouldn’t be giving it up.

  “She’s your problem now. Do what you have to, but this is out of your league…out of hers. Her dad can’t fix this. In fact, both of you need to stay away from this shit and let us sort it out.” I opened my car door. “Taylor and I…we were born into the same pack of monsters. We’re cut from the same piece of glass, and because of that, she’s tough enough to withstand whatever is about to happen…you wouldn’t be.”

  Decker’s jaw tensed, but he nodded, letting me get in the car without saying anything else.

  This sort of shit took a minute to work through. As badly as I wanted to walk in there and just start demanding Markos hand over my girls, I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. I needed to rely on my family, on the power the name gave me. This was the entire reason I had agreed to claim Taylor in the first place that night in my living room, to extend protection to her. Fuck if I cared if she wanted it or not.

  She’d have it.

  She’d have me.

  “Hector,” I said over the phone, trying to explain the entire situation to him, bringing him up to speed. I’d driven to New York, walking into the house my father once owned that now served as the center point of operations for our family in the city. Each larger city along the eastern border had a main office or central location where members of El Peligro would meet, get orders, stand guard, and watch and move product.

  Punching in the access code I had set up, I greeted a few men who roamed the property armed to the teeth.

  “There’s been news,” my cousin said in my ear, and I held the phone there while moving through the large courtyard.

  I eyed one of the men guarding the front door; he seemed hesitant to move until someone next to him leaned in and whispered something. He immediately straightened and opened the door for me.

  “There was a leak in our communications. Javier says he’s narrowed it down to the location Ivan was staying at while he was visiting. We think he’s planning something.”

  I moved through an opulent room where multiple computer monitors were set up, and there were crates of guns and more crates of unopened shipments. I was going to shake shit up with this family, and I didn’t really care who stuck around for it.

  “Ivan has decided to go to war with us,” I stated plainly.

  “Seriously?”

  I ignored my cousin’s rhetorical question, jogging up the steps. Three women were lounging on chairs with their cell phones in front of their faces, their small dresses riding up with their legs draped over the sides of each chair.

  I didn’t have time for this. “Get out.”

  They each dropped their phones and stared up at me. Dark lips, long lashes, caramel skin…all beautiful, and all completely wrong for me.

  “Now!”

  They scrambled up and ran downstairs in a rush.

  “What do you need?” Hector asked, likely understanding that I wasn’t exactly in the mood to stay on the phone any longer than I needed to.

  “Men. Guns. Taylor is currently in the company of Markos Mariano, and we’re going to relieve her of said company tomorrow morning. Be ready.”

  “It’ll be done, primo, but I just want to be sure…” Hector began but stopped like he wasn’t sure he wanted to say it.

  I walked down the hall and gently knocked on the black door that had a holographic spider sticker set in the center. The man I was here to see greeted me with a nod and led me to a reclined chair in the middle of the room.

  “Just say it,” I bit out.

  Hector let out a sigh on his end, likely running his hand over his head. “You do this, and it means you’re in…no backing out after this.”

  I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it in the corner of the room.

  “I know.” I hung up and set the phone aside while I prepared for war.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Heartache wasn’t a new sensation.

  My heart had been slowly breaking since I was young, since that first time my father shot someone in front of me, my ponytail caught in his meaty fist when I tried to run away. He wanted me to watch, to see what betrayal looked like. He wanted me to be a tool for him, a broken doll he could pick up and place where he needed me as he saw fit.

  So this new feeling flaring to life shouldn’t have been new…but somehow it felt different. The loss of a life I had convinced myself I might be able to keep…all it did was drive the hammer into what was left of my heart at a much more damaging pace.

  I blinked, watching the rain smear the glass near my face. I’d been leaning against the balcony door for what felt like an hour, tucked away in the Mariano mansion. There was a courtyard three stories below my window, and inside the fortress stood a myriad of foot soldiers pacing the property carrying semi-automatic weapons. Surely, they weren’t alwa
ys this obsessive or alert…there had to be something that had them on edge, and the hope that flared to life like a tiny match was unwelcome.

  I didn’t want to think that Juan would come for me. If he came, they’d kill him, and I’d have nothing left but a broken heart and a baby girl who would likely grow up in the exact same fashion I had.

  A small knock on the guest room door had me swinging my head around.

  Markos strode in, giving me a small smile. His dark hair was slicked back in a menacing way, the black strands matching his all-black suit and gleaming ebony watch. He’d grown to be a handsome man, but he had a darkness inside him that matched my father’s, so I found myself dreadfully repulsed by him.

  “Just checking on you…and…” He looked down at the swaddled babe lying on the bed.

  He seemed unsure of how to process her existence, but he was crazy if he thought I wasn’t on to his ruse. He had picked me up at the meeting location the previous night with a comforting arm around my shoulder and a gentle welcome to his mansion. He’d even prepared this beautiful room for me, not pressuring me into his or trying anything reprehensible.

  I knew he’d only accepted this as a way to assuage his pricked pride, that or he had another use for me because, for all his faults, I believed Kyle when he said my father wasn’t making a deal with Juan or Markos. That meant Markos was now making his own plans, and he had just picked up two new pawns to use on his gameboard.

  “Her name is Alex.” My arms banded across my chest as I looked down at her sleeping form. Markos looked too, but nothing changed in his features; they didn’t soften or transition to anything fatherly. Once, when my mother was feeling maternal and opened up about how she knew Charlie was someone she could trust, she had said she knew based on how he looked at me, someone who wasn’t his child. She had told me he was the only man she had ever met who didn’t look at me like I was a ticket or a price tag. She said his features would transform entirely when he watched me, and said it was the same way he looked at his own daughter.

  I had doubts back then about that statement because he loved his daughter and treated her like she had hung the moon and sun. Now, comparing how Juan had looked at Alex to how Markos looked at her, I understood what my mother meant. Juan looked at Alex like she was his, his to protect, to love, to raise. Markos looked at her like she could prove to be useful, but he wasn’t sure how yet. I wouldn’t give him the chance to find out.

  “How are you settling in?” Markos moved his greedy gaze to my cleavage, slowly perusing my form in a sensual way. I was still healing and hadn’t hit my six-week mark, so there was certainly no way I could have sex…but I wasn’t sure if Markos was the kind of man to care about details like that.

  “I’m okay.” I shrugged.

  I had only told Markos that I needed to get away from my father and would find a way to secure all the original terms of his contract regardless of what my father said. Markos had said we’d discuss it, but for now he was happy to resume the planned marriage.

  “Well, I wanted to let you know that we received something today. I’m hesitant to give it to you, but…” He pulled out an envelope, looking down at it with his dark brows caved in question. “I think it might help you put whatever happened behind you and get closure so we can move forward. I’m planning to have our ceremony take place this weekend.”

  My brows arched, hitting my hairline. “So soon?”

  “I think it’s best we do not tempt your father any more than we have.”

  I looked down, ignoring his smarmy smirk. Something about him made my skin crawl. I hated not knowing what plans he had for me, what assurances he’d made for himself where I was concerned.

  “What if that’s from my father?” I gestured toward the letter.

  Markos gave me a little scoff with a lift of his shoulder then he handed it over to me. A leaking black heart was stamped into the middle of the white surface.

  “Something tells me it’s not.” Markos ran the back of his knuckles down the side of my face, tucking a few strands behind my ear. “You grew up to be more than I imagined, Ari. We will have to get to know one another once again. I’ve always cared for you, even when I learned that you had gotten involved with…” He looked down at the letter in my hand. “No matter. We will right everything and put it behind us.” He gave my face one last stroke before turning away. “I’ll give you some privacy to read it.”

  I watched as he walked away, and once the door clicked shut, I turned back to the falling rain and broke the seal on the envelope. My heart hammered behind my breast, telling me not to hope, begging me not to give in to this feeling that began to swell inside me. The letter was probably just a response to mine, wishing me well and telling me to have a nice life. Knowing Juan and how he’d reacted to all the times I had brushed him off or acted as though I preferred someone else over him…he usually just went along with it.

  He allowed me to indulge in my lies, even if it meant I’d drown.

  My journal entry paper was used, the same jagged edge from where I’d pulled it out crinkling the sides. It made my stomach flutter for some reason.

  Then, readying my heart, I began to read.

  Lie little pup.

  Lie with those ocean eyes.

  Lie through those pretty red lips.

  Lie with your legs wrapped around my hips.

  I don’t care for any of your truths.

  Just stay with me.

  For as long as you are able.

  Give me your stars, your moons, and all your light.

  We’re monsters, you and I.

  The darkness is where we’ll hide.

  I reread the entire thing ten times before I folded the paper into a neat square, then I tucked it along the same inner lining of my bag where I had my gun hidden. I ignored the tears that fell in drops against the leather of my purse and swiped at my face.

  It didn’t matter. His poem was beautiful, but it was pointless. I’d already gone out of his reach, and there was nothing left for us to do except mourn the future we were both now forced to live without one another.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I hadn’t slept. It seemed impossible with the knowledge that she was there and I wasn’t. The image of that letter she’d left me was in my mind every time I closed my eyes. She had tried to end this…she’d tried to walk away. Deep down, I’d always known she would. It was obvious with how we seemed to entertain the idea of a relationship but required each aspect of it to be guarded with a chain linked fence, like she didn’t know how to love people without fences, walls, or rooms, enough space to keep her demons hidden away. My brave girl…she should have known me better than that. By now, she knew my demons looked just like hers, knew I had been raised by a monster too and the roaring in her blood was the same that echoed in mine. She was meant for me, and I was going to have her.

  “What are we waiting on?” Hector asked, standing close so the others wouldn’t hear.

  My cousin had brought up all of our numbers from Rake Forge, Greensboro, and the other surrounding cities to convene in New York. There were armored cars, trucks, weapons, and enough members of El Peligro in one place that if the FBI caught wind of this little meetup, we’d be fucked.

  “Just for my letter to be delivered.” I rubbed my thumb across my lip, thinking about her reading it. I’d sent it that morning, and while I didn’t know Markos Mariano, I had a feeling he was the sort of man who wouldn’t shy away from letting his newfound bride have one last letter from the man who had claimed her without permission.

  It had been roughly an hour since I had delivered it, so by now she’d know I was coming.

  “Let’s head out. Have all the men been instructed on what to expect?” I asked Hector as I pulled on a bulletproof vest.

  He already wore one, along with his bandanna folded and wrapped around his head with the colors of El Peligro. All the men wore the colors…all of them but me. I would start instating changes in the family as soon as thi
s business was done, one of them being the colors. I had a feeling I’d get some pushback, but with time, they’d start to see things my way. We could be a family…one of honor, one that lived and worked by a creed, one that helped and benefited the cities we existed in. I didn’t want El Peligro to be a stain on the population anymore. I wanted it to be a symbol of honor, of safety and peace.

  I knew I was stretching my hope and you can’t ask a monster to suddenly shed its teeth, so I’d determined to be patient as we worked toward that goal, something none of them knew anything about. Once Taylor and Alex were safe with me, we’d begin to build that dream.

  “The men know we’re there to protect Taylor and the baby…but what we don’t know is if Ivan’s men will be there. We’re all a little nervous about our numbers compared to theirs.”

  I nodded, understanding that concern. We’d tried to get a pulse on Ivan and his wolves but had been unsuccessful. “Just assume the worst. Prepare for Ivan’s numbers, along with the Marianos.”

  “You say that, but we don’t have the numbers on both…” Hector laughed like he finally realized how unhinged I was.

  “We’ll manage.”

  I knew it was senseless. Hell, I even knew the odds were stacked against us. I also knew I was risking men who would follow me in. For that, I knew I had to say something, so I climbed up into one of the truck beds and yelled into the mass of men who had gathered.

  “We’re likely outnumbered. They have the advantage, being at home, and this could very well be a suicide mission. If your heart isn’t in this, leave. No harm will come to you, no expectations of blood and bond. I am doing this for my own gain, my own reasons. I can’t ask you to sacrifice your life for my own goals.” I looked down, seeing several eyes stare back at me, unchanging in their demeanor. “But…as your leader…I’m asking that you help me bring home my queen. She walked in through those doors as a way of protecting me, and I won’t rest until I’ve pried her out of there and brought her back home. I may die trying. If I go down, I ask that you get her out. Get the baby out. Neither of them can stay there. If you’re with me, come with us…if you’re not, drive home.”

 

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