by Karina Halle
“All the time.”
She smiles.
Happy.
Javier - Sinaloa
Javier hangs up his cell phone and stares at the koi pond.
Yes, there are finally fucking koi swimming around in there.
He’s even got the lotus plants he loves so much.
It’s pretty much perfect.
Except Luisa wants to get flamingos and keep them around the pond.
Javier can’t be a man with pink fucking flamingos running around his compound.
What kind of drug lord would that make him?
Well, it would throw people off guard, he thinks to himself, putting his hands in his pockets. No one would ever suspect the man with the flamingos.
“What are you doing?” Luisa calls out.
He looks over his shoulder at her, sitting by the pool and taking sun. She pats the empty lawn chair next to her. “You said you were going to actually relax for a moment. Get your ass over here.”
“I say a lot of things,” Javier says, strolling toward her with a smile on his face.
“Who was on the phone?” she says, looking up at him over her sunglasses, a big floppy hat shielding her face from the sun.
“Marisol,” he tells her, feeling a burst of pride.
“Did she sound excited?” Luisa asks.
He nods. She did.
A lot has happened over the last few years for Javier. Things he doesn’t want to think about. Dwell on. Things that wake him up in the middle of the night.
So many nightmares he tries very hard to forget.
The sight of Ellie as she died in front of him, right in his arms.
The look in Vicente’s eyes when he told him he wasn’t his son anymore.
Luisa’s shock when she realized what she’d done, that she’d killed Ellie.
She hadn’t meant to.
She was just trying to save her husband.
It didn’t matter.
Their family was ripped apart for a long time.
In a way, it kind of served them right.
Being drug lords and all.
You can’t run this type of business and not expect comeuppance from time to time.
But in the end, Javier still counts himself lucky.
The cartel is still number two and holding strong, maybe even climbing thanks to his wife’s involvement. Sure, Vicente now works for number one, but he tries not to think about that. It rains on his parade.
And, of course, there is his wife herself, whom he loves more than ever.
She’s his angel, soulmate, the light of his life.
His partner in crime.
His heart in everything.
And now there is Marisol.
While she was growing up, Javier never had the best relationship with his daughter. But after everything that happened with Vicente, he’s really tried to be a better father to her. Talking to her almost every day, really reaching out and being involved in her life.
And it’s working.
Marisol is graduating university in a few days and leaving New York City in a week with a degree and her aunt Marguerite in tow.
Javier hasn’t seen his own sister in a very, very long time.
He’s not really sure what Marisol has planned for next but he expects that while Marisol is here, at least for the summer, they’ll figure that out together.
Who knows, maybe she’ll end up having a taste for the family business.
She didn’t get a business degree for nothing.
Yes, the world certainly put the Bernals through shit there for a while.
But through every season, turn, turn, turn and all that crap.
Things are starting to look up again.
“Hey,” Luisa says to him, pulling him out of his thoughts.
He eyes her curiously.
“Did you give any more thought to the flamingos?”
“Luisa, I swear to god…”
“They’re beautiful, Javi.”
“I can’t be the drug lord with the flamingos. I just can’t.”
“Darling,” she pleads, pouting slightly.
He closes his eyes, sighs. He can’t say no to her. Wishes he could.
He can bargain though.
Wouldn’t be good at his job if he couldn’t.
“All right,” he relents. “If we get fucking flamingos, can I use them as target practice?”
“Javier.”
“Fine, fine,” he says. “We get flamingos and you have to do anything thing I want tonight.”
“Why do your negotiations always involve sex?”
“Because I’m a smart man who takes what he can get when he can get it.”
“That you are, my king. That you are.”
The word king sends a thrill through him, all the way to his toes.
He hasn’t been called a king in a while.
But that time will come again.
He’ll make damn sure of it.
***
THE END
***
Thank you for reading Black Hearts & Dirty Souls – I hope you enjoyed the ride!
For something completely different, I have the rockstar accidental pregnancy Rocked Up coming in May, co-written by me and my husband! You can preorder it now and save 40% off the release price.
I also have a bunch of other fabulous contemporary romance standalones coming your way soon.
And for something of the same, I *might* have plans for standalone books about La Mueca, Ben McQueen, Marisol Bernal and the “fake priest” Evaristo (this book would be set back in the old timeline, so if you’re read Dirty Promises you know it takes place after that). At least one of these books will come out in 2017, so if you want to keep in the know, I’ve provided lots of links below where you can stay up to date with me!
In the meantime, if you haven’t read the backstory of the Bernals and the McQueens, now is the time!
Start with The Artists Trilogy
-Sins & Needles
-On Every Street (just 99 cents!)
-Shooting Scars
-Bold Tricks
And then move on to the Dirty Angels Trilogy (please note that this series is set in Mexico and revolves around the Bernal family and the cartel lifestyle. Though a romance, it is very dark and disturbing and some books contain graphic scenes of rape and torture)
-Dirty Angels
-Dirty Deeds
-Dirty Promises
To get updates and stay connected with me:
-Join my exclusive readers group on Facebook where I have awesome giveaways, sneak peeks, fun trivia, great people and lot’s more. Seriously. We’re the best group of readers on the internet: Karina Halle’s Anti-Heroes
-Sign-up for my newsletter to get alerts when new books come out, plus exclusives such as FREE books, excerpts and cover reveals!
-If you dare, follow me on Twitter (@metalblonde)
-Watch my daily adventures on Instagram (I practically live here)
Also, I have written over thirty novels in a range of different genres, from contemporary romance, to romantic comedy, to romantic suspense, to paranormal romance. Want a list of them all? Visit my Amazon author page HERE and give me a “follow” while you’re at it so you can stay up to date with new releases!
Playlist
Black Hearts & Dirty Souls playlist can be found at:
bit.ly/KHBHDSPLAYLIST
About the Author
Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, Dirty Angels and over 20 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pit bull Bruce, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.
Halle is represented by the Waxman Leavell Agency and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK
.
To connect:
@metalblonde
Karina Halle’s Anti-Heroes
www.instagram.com/authorhalle
Also by Karina Halle
The Experiment in Terror Series
Books #1 – 9
Edgy Suspenseful Romance reads by Karina Halle
The Devil’s Metal (The Devil’s Duology #1)
The Devil’s Reprise (The Devil’s Duology #2)
Sins and Needles (The Artists Trilogy #1)
On Every Street (An Artists Trilogy Novella #0.5)
Shooting Scars (The Artists Trilogy #2)
Bold Tricks (The Artists Trilogy #3)
Donners of the Dead
Dirty Angels (Dirty Angels Trilogy #1)
Dirty Deeds (Dirty Angels Trilogy #2)
Dirty Promises (Dirty Angels Trilogy #3)
Veiled
Black Hearts (Sins Duet #1)
Dirty Souls (Sins Duet #2)
Contemporary Romance reads by Karina Halle
Love, in English
Love, in Spanish
Where Sea Meets Sky
Racing the Sun
The Pact
The Offer
The Play
Winter Wishes
The Lie
The Debt
Smut
Heat Wave
Before I Ever Met You (coming April)
Rocked Up (coming May)
