Their Cartel Princess: The Complete Series: A Dark Reverse Harem Box Set

by Logan Fox

  “That was your Cora,” he replied, trying to ignore the itch between his knuckles that made him want to punch Bailey in the face. “This one’s mine.”

  Ours, came the rustling whisper inside his head, almost the same time Bailey said, “Ours, don’t you mean?”

  Finn’s vision doubled. He’d been heading for the stairs leading off the roof, but had to pause and grip the banister as the roof sagged beneath his feet.

  “All right there?” Bailey asked. Luckily, by the time the guy reached him, the world had righted itself.

  He drew a deep breath, and ripped his hand away from the butt of his pistol where he’d been rubbing the smooth metal.

  “Fine,” he said, but through his teeth.

  They walked down the stairs in silence.

  Cora’s bedroom door stood open, which made Finn’s hackles rise the instant he noticed. He sped up, hurrying into her room and scanning it with a sweeping gaze.

  She sat in his armchair, holding a glass of wine. Opposite her, in the settee, perched a nervous-looking Lars.

  What the fuck?

  Bailey came in behind him, and Cora cocked her head to the door. “Close it. Lock it.”

  An invisible tremor shot through Finn. His beast sat on its haunches, sniffing the air as if trying to locate something.

  Like the Cora he knew.

  This woman sat that armchair like a queen…and a pissed off one at that.

  “What did you do?” Finn barked at Lars, and the man tensed.

  “Nothing,” he said, widening his eyes and spreading his hands. “I found her like this.”

  “Sit,” she said, taking a sip of her wine as her eyes tracked his and Bailey’s reluctant steps across the floor.

  There was only the armchair and the settee, which meant the three of them had to crowd into it. He sat on the edge, which meant at least one of his arms had elbow room. Bailey looked particularly uncomfortable sandwiched between him and Lars, and Lars hadn’t made a single wisecrack since they’d walked into the room.

  His beast growled, but low and soft as if it didn’t want Cora to hear.

  She took another long sip of wine, and then rested its base on the armrest.

  “Neo came to see me.”

  That had all three of them sitting forward. Bailey’s elbow slammed into Finn’s ribs, and Lars cussed under his breath so he’d probably gotten Bailey’s other elbow.

  Finn craned around Lars. “You were here, right?”

  “I arrived just in time,” Lars said, and then added, with a sheepish grin, “to see him leave.”

  Finn swung back to face Cora. “What did he do?”

  “Neo?” she asked, sounding surprised. “He had a discussion with me, Finn.”

  He drew a breath, and forced it to stay inside his lungs until his jaw relaxed. “That’s all?”

  “You think I can’t protect myself?”

  “I know you can’t—” Finn began, but Lars coughed so hard it was like he was trying to expel one of his lungs. He glared at Lars, who refused to look in his direction.

  “Our dealers want their product,” Cora said.

  He didn’t like the tone of her voice. It was like she was trying to sound ten years older with a degree in physics.

  “Product we don’t have,” she went on, when the three of them remained silent. “We’re setting up a meeting with them tomorrow to discuss—”

  “It’s too dangerous,” Finn said, almost on top of Bailey’s urgent, “You’re not going as well, are you?”

  Lars sagged onto his arm rest and let out a long sigh, dragging his hand over his face. “And here I thought the most complicated part of my day was going to be figuring out how to ship a lion back to the savanna.”

  Cora bristled. Her shoulders pushed back, her spine snapping straight. “You expect me to leave this to Neo?”

  Her voice could have kept meat fresh for a month.

  “That’s not what I meant,” Finn said. “But you can’t expect us to sign off on you—”

  “Sign off?”

  The temperature in the room dropped to ten below zero.

  Cora slowly got to her feet. Finn watched her as she stepped closer, and his eyes narrowed when he studied her face.

  She wore no expression; not anger, not frustration, not panic or fear.

  Because you told her to turn it off, his beast whispered from where it hunkered in a dark corner of his mind. Now we don’t know what she’s thinking. Now we don’t know if she’s playing along or not.

  “Cora, don’t—”

  “I am speaking now,” she said quietly. “And you won’t speak again until I’m finished.”

  Arctic penguins would have been right at home. That the air wasn’t crystallizing into diamond dust…

  He opened his mouth.

  His beast growled in warning.

  So he closed it again.

  Heat coruscated through his chest. But whether it was because he was holding himself back from ravishing Cora, or slapping some sense into her, he had no fucking idea.

  “You three,” she said, pointing out each of them “work for me. I am capo.” She pointed at Lars. “You are my lieutenant—” and then at Finn “—as are you.”

  Bailey shifted a little, and her finger moved to him like a heat seeking missile. “You are my sicario. If I point and say ‘kill’, you kill. You don’t ask questions. You don’t tell me it’s too fucking dangerous.”

  Cora took a few steps to the side, studying them with a tilted head.

  “I need your answers now.” She spread her palms, like a teacher waiting for a pupil to spit out his gum.

  Silence whispered like a gentle breeze. The settee creaked as first Lars, and then Bailey, shifted in their seats.

  Cora rolled her eyes up. “You can speak.”

  “Fucking finally,” Lars muttered. “Thought I’d never be able to order take out again.”

  “You can do it online now,” Bailey said, which made Lars laugh. Which made Cora scowl at him.

  And that made Finn’s chest relax.

  She was still there, buried somewhere deep. But where the fuck had all this imperious bullshit come from?

  “What answer?” Finn said, and the brief mirth in the room evaporated.

  Cora hugged herself. “Are you staying? Because if you are, you have to listen to me. You can’t undermine me every step of the way.”

  Finn opened his mouth, but she didn’t give him chance to talk.

  “How am I supposed to get any respect if you three keep treating me like a piece of glass?”

  She swung out her hands, but it obviously wasn’t a signal for them to agree with her because she kept talking.

  “You know what I realized today? When Neo was here? I could actually hold a conversation with him. We discussed cartel business.” She pointed at them. “Because you three weren’t giving me looks, or interrupting, or—” the finger moved to Lars, quivering, “—cracking jokes all the time.”

  Finn half-expected Lars to have a retort, but the man remained silent.

  “So…” Cora brushed off her jeans and drew a visible breath that pushed her breasts against the thin fabric of her t-shirt.

  Was that what she’d been wearing when Neo had been here? Because then he wasn’t in the least surprised there’d been a conversation. That thin fabric left nothing to the imagination, especially since she hadn’t bothered with a bra.

  He’d probably been speechless the entire time. If he remembered anything about their ‘meeting’, it would most likely be the size of Cora’s breasts.

  “Who’s with me?” Cora asked.

  Lars snorted, and she turned an astonished face toward him.

  “You know what’s funny?” he asked, leaning back in the armchair and lounging despite how cramped it was. “The fact that you still think you have to ask.” He touched fingertips to his chest. “And apparently I’m an authority on the matter, so you can take that the bank.”

  “I think an off shore ac
count might work better,” Bailey said.

  Lars laughed and slapped Bailey’s thigh. “There’s the Bailey I don’t know.”

  “If it’s so obvious that you’re here for me, then why don’t you act like it?” Cora said.

  And now her voice was unsteady, as if this entire episode had drained her bitch reserves.

  “Guess we all have issues with authority,” Lars said. “Some of us, more than others.” And then he pointed at Finn.

  “It’s one thing for you to make decisions,” he said, ignoring Lars’s incriminating finger. “But if you’re going to step in front of a moving train, do you really expect us to stand and watch it pulverize you?”

  “Ouch,” Lars muttered.

  “He’s right, Cora,” Bailey said, lacing his fingers together and dangling his hands between his spread legs. “I get you have to be in charge, but we’re here to protect you. You can’t expect us to stop doing that.”

  Her mouth worked, but she looked at a loss for words.

  “This thing tomorrow,” Finn said, waving a hand at her. “What were you planning?”

  She gave him a grateful smile, and then nodded to herself. “We don’t want to meet them here. This is our sanctuary, after all. Right?”

  Lars and Bailey nodded. Finn just watched her, studying her face as she spoke.

  “So…I was thinking…we have a party.”

  There was silence. And then Lars let out a strangled sound. “A…party.”

  She held up a hand. “The way I figure, if there’s a lot of people around, it’ll neutralize the situation. It’s like meeting in a public place, except—”

  “You might be on a DEA or FBI hit list, so that’s not an option,” Lars finished for her.

  Her mouth tightened, but she gave him a grudging nod. “Exactly. So I turn somewhere else into a public place.”

  “Filled with public people,” Finn said, standing. “People we don’t know we can trust.”

  She held up a finger and took a hurried step back when he came forward. “No, you see, it’ll all be El Calacas people.” She patted her chest. “Our people.”

  Finn paused mid step. “How many?”

  “I…don’t know yet.” She shrugged. “I’ll have to speak to Ana. A hundred, maybe?”

  “That’s a lot of people to keep track of,” Finn said.

  “These the same people that fled the wedding, screaming blue murder?” Lars asked. “’Cos I kinda have a feeling they may have a bone to pick with you.”

  Cora pointed at Lars, and blurted, “No! You see, that’s exactly it. I’ve been thinking, right?” She turned to Finn and took another step back. “This party can set things straight. Neo and I can announce our partnership. Our vision for the cartel. With him up there with me, they’ll understand that Javier was a problem.”

  “That’s…not actually a bad plan,” Bailey said.

  “It’s a fucking terrible plan,” Finn said, “But you’ve come up with worse, so I’ll take it.”

  Cora looked at him as if she hadn’t registered what he’d said. And then she hopped and clapped her hands together. “Really?”

  He frowned at her. “We’ll have to approve everything first. Location, guard duties—”

  Cora squealed and ran into him full tilt. He caught her with ease, and held her tight against him, inhaling her scent.

  It was so easy to forget how young she was but when her enthusiasm burned like an incandescent flame…it was as if her youth scorched away layer after layer of hardened cynicism from his soul.

  “We’re having a party!” she exclaimed into his chest, wriggling like she was bursting with energy.

  “We’re having a party,” he said as he stroked her hair.

  “A birthday party, if I’m not mistaken,” Lars said as he walked past them. “Sweet twenty-one.”

  And then he was out the door without another word.

  Cora leaned back from Finn, glancing up at him with wide eyes. “Is he—?”

  “He’ll be fine.” Finn pulled her back to him. “But we should get Ana in here so we can plan this thing. I don’t want any surprises.”

  12

  Its taboo nature

  It took Lars about twenty minutes to find what he was looking for. By the time he got back to Cora’s room, it had transformed into party planning HQ. A laptop sat on the coffee table, two notebooks open beside with Cora’s illegible scrawl filling a page.

  Even Ana was there, and she was only one that noticed he’d arrived. Her eyes darted to the rope and silk scarf dangling from his hand, and then back to him. Color painted her cheeks a moment later, and she rushed to her feet, almost knocking over Cora’s glass of wine as she brought it to her mouth for a sip.

  “Ana!” Cora looked away from the computer, lifting her arms away to check if she’d gotten wine on herself.

  And then she looked up and saw Lars. And her eyes darted to the rope.

  “What are you—?” Cora cut off, throwing Ana a guilty look which Ana missed.

  “I, uh…I’ll come back later,” Ana said hurriedly.

  “But we haven’t even decided on—” Cora began, but Ana waved her hand absently behind her as she made her way past Lars with a knowing smile directed in his direction.

  “We can make anything happen with enough cash,” Ana called out behind her. “Trust me.”

  She winked at Lars as she turned to close the door behind her.

  When he faced the room again, everyone had gone silent. Cora put her glass of wine down, her eyes flashing to the rope and back to him. “Lars, we have to—”

  He tossed the rope and silk scarf onto the table, where it landed in a heap on top of her notebook.

  “Get undressed.”

  Cora spluttered, started to get to her feet, and then stayed seated cross-legged in front of the computer. Milo and Bailey sat on the settee behind her, and both glanced between the two as if they were watching what was turning into a very interesting tennis match.

  “The longer you take, the more brutal your punishment, Princess.”

  Her chest expanded how she inhaled.

  Lars lifted his hand, fingers outstretched, and twisted it at the wrist. “The more you protest, the longer you’ll have to count.”

  “Count?” she snapped, her voice wreathed with caution.

  “Get up,” Lars said.

  She glanced at Milo over her shoulder, but he just got to his feet and made his way around the settee, heading for the bathroom.

  Cora threw him a pleading look. “Lars, listen, this isn’t the right—”

  “Five,” he said.

  “Five what?”

  “Six.”

  She got to her feet, but she was frowning hard. “Maybe, in an hour—”

  “Seven.” He wriggled his hand again. “I’ve got a strong arm. I don’t think you’ll make it to ten.”

  Realization bloomed in her eyes. “Oh no,” she said, lifting her hands as she backed up. “There’s no way—”

  “Eight.” Lars pointed to the closed bathroom door. “And then Milo takes over.” He laughed. “You think I’ve got a strong arm?”

  “What?” Her voice was a mixture of outrage and disbelief. “You’re joking, right? No.” She swiped her hands in the air. “You hear me? No.”

  Lars ambled closer. He snatched his paraphernalia from the table and gave her a smarmy grin. “You’re forgetting something, Princess…”

  Cora was retreating again. Her legs bumped into the dresser, and she fumbled around as if looking for a weapon. “I don’t care what you say,” Cora said. “You’re not going to—”

  “…We make the rules in here.”

  She raced for the bedroom door. But he’d seen her intention, and darted to the side to intercept her. Cora squealed when he snatched her up and wriggled like a fish out of water.

  “Put me down!” But it was less a command and more a restrained giggle. “Lars! Put me down!”

  Bailey got to his feet as Lars passed him with t
he laughing, thrashing Cora.

  “Please!” she begged through a laughing sob, going limp in his arms. “There’s no time for this.”

  “Oh, there’s always time for this,” Lars murmured into her ear. “You only live once, Princess. Remember that after the third time you come tonight.”

  As much as she wanted to break free, to yell at Lars to put her down, her traitorous body wanted nothing more than what Lars had promised. She should have been planning, making sure nothing would go wrong tomorrow night. Instead, her belly writhed and the thought—just the thought—that Lars was actually going to tie her up…

  Cora attempted to break free, but she couldn’t stop laughing, and that had weakened her muscles to the point where she had zero control over her body.

  Lars dumped her on the bed. She tried to crawl away, but he caught her ankle and dragged her back.

  “You gonna strip, or am I going to have to do it for you?”

  And God, that question set off a fireworks of tingles through her. “No, I’ll do it.”

  But she was taking too long, laughing as she was, because a few seconds later, Bailey appeared beside Lars. He ran his hands roughly up her thighs and tugged at the button of her jeans. She gaped at him, tried to slap his hand away, and then delivered a kick to Lars when he tried to pin down her ankle.

  “Hey, I’m serious,” she said, grabbing Bailey’s wrist. “There’ll be time for this—”

  “Bailey, gag her.”

  “What?” Her heart gave a hard thump in her chest. “No. No way!”

  Which was when Finn came out of the bathroom, his shirt off and his eyes bright and fixed straight on her where she struggled on the bed.

  And her body, as if sensing a predator, went limp in self-defense.

  Holy hell, but he had a beautiful body. His sculpted muscles stood proud as he worked his hands together. They shone too, as if he’d put oil on them.

  A massage?

  Now that would be a treat.

  Her body relaxed even more at the thought, and Bailey peeled off her jeans while she lay hypnotized by Finn’s slow, determined approach.

  “Thought she’d be naked already,” Finn said, his ruined voice sending a shiver all the way down her spine.