Unfortunately, communicating that knowledge to the primal part of me that wanted to tear anyone who opposed her limb from limb proved to be an impossible task.
So yes, knowing she was off somewhere I couldn't get to her if I needed to had me stressed as fuck and not in the mood to deal with any additional bullshit.
I glanced at the two people I trusted beyond a shadow of a doubt and shoved my worries in a case with the rest. "Will one of you tell me why you both look like you're trying to swallow poison before my hair turns gray?"
Erin glanced at Isaac before nervously smoothing her hands down the front of her canary yellow dress. "You've got company waiting in the conference room. Unpleasant company."
I bit back a curse. Sylvia was one of only two people who would dare to stroll in here unannounced, and her location was accounted for. Which meant the fat son of a bitch I was supposed to be playing nice with for the time being was the only other option.
Warning bells rang through my skull and I grabbed a piece of gum from my inner pocket before my teeth could start clenching. He wasn't supposed to be here. I kept our interactions to a minimum for good reason. Our personalities mixed together about as well as oil and water before the power plays even came into the picture. This city was mine in everything but name and we both knew it.
But because he reported directly to the big bosses, he often allowed his ego to outgrow his sense.
A rare moment of uncertainty licked at my consciousness and I cringed with the awareness of it. I didn't have the liberty of indulging such weakness. There was too much to he done and nothing to be gained from allowing myself to falter. I would find out what he wanted and make the appropriate decision as I always had.
"Go home," I told Erin. Judging by her frown, there had been more chill to my tone than intended, but there were benefits to trusting people and letting them know how your mind works.
She knew how I got when I was problem solving. How there was no room for niceties when the cold, calculating machine in my head started to turn, grinding away at reality until I reached the outcome I desired. So she didn't take it personally, not then anyway. I would probably get an earful later on.
I left her behind as Isaac fell into step beside me without a word being exchanged. I would've liked to ask my brother for more details but it didn't take much for our long legs to carry us into the lobby and with our arrival came the unavoidable attention. Conversation died down to unintelligible chatter and heads turned our way, some more blatant than others. I normally didn't garner so much interest because these people were used to seeing me every day. This was another byproduct of Narciso's untimely arrival.
My involvement with those who ran the underground scene wasn't common knowledge but the rumors existed anyway. Having a known crime lord sitting in my conference room was exactly the kind of thing that made people notice the fire where before, they'd only noticed the smoke.
The whispers started the moment we turned the corner and disappeared back out of sight but I distanced myself from the distraction. One of the rat's goons was posted up at the end of the hall, arms folded, back to the door behind him. Dante was on the shorter side with a complex to go with it. He drove a lifted suv he could barely climb into, walked with an exaggerated swagger that reminded me of a clown, and wore shirts and jeans way too damn tight for his heavily muscled, roided up frame.
Today was no exception.
I didn't bother hiding my sneer as I stopped across from him, close enough he would have to look up at me, and his pitbull face glowered. As if I gave a damn. He was a sick piece of shit, cut from the same cloth as the monsters who had taken advantage of Sylvia.
Having so far failed to arrange for an accident to befall him was one of the few things I looked at as a personal failure.
"What happened there?" I asked casually, shooting a glance at his fully bald head. “Are all those cocktails you're taking finally catching up to you?”
Exactly as expected, his face turned a disgusting shade of purplish red, veins in his forehead throbbing. “One of these days you’ll learn to watch your fucking mouth, Carlito.”
Carlito. It almost amazed me how one individual could be so idiotic. Did he honestly think a childish nickname would get under my skin? “One of these days, a simple papercut is going to kill you. Now stop wasting my time and get out of my way. You shouldn’t be here in the first place.”
He puffed his chest out, fists balling at his sides. Then Isaac was at my shoulder, making his presence known and the false bravado provided by those overinflated muscles popped like a balloon. He backed down, eyes shooting murder.
“Watch your back, pretty boy,” Dante spat before throwing the door open.
Provoking him was fun, for me. Entertaining him further was pointless. This was the endgame. He would be dead before the month was out and I didn’t feel an ounce of pity.
The conference room layout was similar to the rest of the office, including a view out over the city, this one facing towards the football stadium that was under construction. Otherwise the differences were minor: longer, wider, room for a large, mahogany desk and enough chairs to hold a couple dozen people. Three of them were occupied, but only one of them mattered. Narciso was sitting at the head of the table, fat ass firmly planted in my seat, with Marcel and Jay flanking him on either side.
I deliberately made my way to the opposite end before taking a seat, lacing my fingers together. Isaac took up his position behind me and to my right. I shifted the mask of my face to calm disinterest and studied the man standing in the way of everything I had hoped to accomplish.
The years of having no actual work to do, thanks to me stepping in to run things myself, had been good to him. Too good. He'd been out of shape when Marco had introduced my brothers and I, and time and laziness had only exacerbated the issue. No amount of tailoring could get rid of the fat hanging over the collar of his suit. Nor could they do anything for the constant sheen of perspiration always dotting his forehead, giving it an unhealthy, greasy shine.
He leaned forward, palms flat on the table, spreading pudgy fingers. His lips thinned into a severe line. “Carlos. Carlos. Carlos,” he started in that voice too high for his body. “You’ve done well for us over the years. So very well. Yet I’m beginning to have some...concerns.”
Do not throttle him.
I sat back, hands on my stomach beneath the table. It hid the trembling urge to choke the life from his fat, fucking face. “Concerns?”
He nodded, and he actually had the nerve to look disappointed. “You were supposed to keep us off their radar.”
The Sinners, because of course he wanted to make their presence my fault. Isaac blew air through his nose. He was probably trying to rid himself of the smell of bullshit Narciso was slinging this way.
“We wouldn’t be on their radar if Hector hadn’t been an incompetent fool.” The other side of the table bristled, chairs shifting and squeaking in the relative quiet. “I told you he was too goddamn greedy to be left to his own devices. We should’ve pulled him years ago.”
“He was set up.”
I grinned, smile razor sharp. “Right, by one of the Sinners. You realize you’re only proving my point? I don’t care what Rebel offered him. He should’ve known not to take the deal. Now there’s fire and brimstone at our doorstep and you want to put it on me? I don’t think so.”
“Fine,” he spat through clenched teeth. “Then onto the matter at hand. They’re still here, Carlos. You’re supposed to be handling this. I don’t want them snooping around in my city.”
My city, you foot-in-the-grave tub of waste.
Isaac cleared his throat. “They haven’t found anything and they won’t. We know how to keep money clean.”
Narciso ignored him, keeping his stare on me. There was something hateful in his face I knew I wasn’t going to like. I scooped up every non-essential emotion and threw it into a steel vault. The door was almost closed when poison spilled out of his mouth. Inj
ected straight into my veins. Burning. Feeding.
“Maybe I wouldn’t have to be concerned if you were actually dealing with the issue instead of running around with that fucking whore turned Sinner.”
Rage, red and pulsing, gripped my limbs so tightly my soul burned. A physical itch crawled along my spine, begging me to end it here and now. To blow his brains out right here in the office, broad daylight and all. My jaw flexed with enough force I felt something pop. But he wasn’t done. He was intent on digging the deepest grave of anyone I had ever buried while beady eyes took my measure.
He drummed his fingers on the tabletop and I wanted to cut them off one by one. “You don’t get to tell me about fuck ups, huérfano.” Orphan. That’s the best you can do? “Not when your own flesh and blood is the reason we lost our foothold to these fucking cunts in the first place. I told your father back when he started collecting that he was making a mistake. We take young girls off the streets for a fucking reason: so we can use them and ship them off. No one will miss them and by the time they do, it’ll be too late. Instead, he decided he wanted trophies. An entire operation collapsed because of his foolishness.”
“I'm assuming you have a point?” I halfway spat, tone colored by anger. Isaac shifted on his feet and I immediately cursed myself for not keeping that shit under lock and key.
Sure enough, Marcel rose to his feet in a rush, pushing his jacket back to flash the pistol at his side. “Careful there.”
Marcel’s show of force was just that, a show. Jay was the one to watch. His long, black hair was unruly, hanging into his face. Dull, green eyes looked out through the curtain of hair without much interest, unblinking. I wasn’t fooled by his passive demeanor. He was a hired gun, and I suspected he was a damn good one. I’d never personally seen him in action, but the black hole that was his past was enough to make me wary.
“Now, now,” Narciso’s smile held the warmth of a mannequin as he encouraged his lackey to take his seat once more. “No need for hostilities between any of us, is there? We're all old friends here, right?” He glanced at Jay and got nothing in return but more of the man’s blank look. His focus returned to me and I'm sure my expression should've left frost on his lashes. “I simply want to make sure you aren't following in your father's footsteps. It would be a shame to lose another Ortega over used up pussy.”
A bullet would be too kind. He would die a slow, painful death. Crying out for mercy he wouldn't be granted. It was inevitable, and there would be no escape. The heavens themselves could open and I would snatch him from their golden light and cast him below.
Knowing the steps I needed to take to reach my goal allowed me to swallow the boulder of rage closing my throat.
“The thinly veiled threats are unnecessary,” I said calmly. “I outgrew the shadow of my sperm donor a long time ago. We all did.”
I glanced at Isaac, returning his small nod. Behind those disarming glasses, a cunningly brilliant intellect resided. I thought of Manuel. The muscles of a brute and the easy disposition of a playboy, but his heart was solid gold. Then there was me, and what I might lack in strength or knowledge I more than made up for with an immovable will capable of giving shape and purpose to whatever it touched.
The three of us had become more than we could have ever been had we remained in the clutches of our father.
How long would it have taken dear old dad to break our spirits? To turn his own sons into mindless soldiers in his pissing match against Creed? I believed it was inevitable, and so were the gravestones for each of us had that come to pass.
We had been granted a second chance, and no matter how badly I wanted the man across from me dead, this wasn't about me. Not entirely. This was about my family. Sylvia. The city itself. I refused to risk the groundwork set over these years.
“The Reaper and I have history,” I said, posture relaxing more with each word. Using truth as a weapon was a special kind of therapy. “I plan on settling the accounts between us while they remain in the city. And I plan on doing it a way none of them will ever forget.”
His head tilted, eyes narrowing. “Don't bring them down on our heads, Carlos. We don't have the manpower for such a thing.”
My smile was a bared blade and twice as sharp. “Trust me, jefe. You'll be surprised by what I've got coming.”
We stared at each other in silence for a moment before he stood, clapping his hands together. “That's what I like to hear. I'll be expecting great things. Don't let me down.”
He waddled from the room and out into the hall. Dante shot me a glare over his shoulder before following in the trail of his master. My brother and I stayed completely still until Erin came in and shut the door behind her before sagging against it on a rough exhale.
I frowned at her. “Didn't I tell you to go home for the day?”
“You did,” she confirmed. “I actually grabbed my purse from my desk before remembering that I don't take orders from you.”
“I'm your boss. Taking orders from me is literally in your job description.”
She kicked off the door and took a seat on the edge of the table, legs crossed and hands folded primly in her lap. “Technically, you're only one-third my boss. Since Isaac told me earlier he was going to need me to stay late to help with scheduling client meetings, that means there's now a contradiction in what I've been told to do. So unless he changes his mind or Manny votes I should go...it seems like I'm staying.”
Isaac coughed into his fist and I pinned him with a glower.
“You think this is funny?”
“Only because she's right. We did hire her as an assistant to each of us, and the contract does state that if our decisions are ever a conflict of interest, then the item is tabled until a majority vote can be established. I should know. I drafted it.”
I glanced back at Erin to find her smiling sweetly at us both. “This is a mutiny,” I muttered.
She shook her head, curls bouncing. “The word you're looking for is democracy.”
“Isaac, if you don't change your vote right this minute I'll-”
“Lo siento, hermano, but beyond being right, she has a point. There's a lot to be done around here. While I love not being able to leave the office until three in the morning, I do have other things I need to do.”
“Fine,” I said standing. “You two have fun and I'll remove myself instead.”
I made to move for the door but his hand on my shoulder stopped me.
“Oh, no you don't,” he said. “I know exactly where you think you're headed and it isn't happening.”
My easy mood started slipping. “She-”
“Is a grown woman more capable of taking care of herself than any of us combined.” He raised a brow, daring me to contradict him.
“If you want my two cents,” Erin started.
“I don't.”
She ignored me. “You'd be wise to give her some space when she needs it.” I didn't question how they knew the direction of my thoughts. Where Sylvia was concerned, I was easier to read than a children’s book. “Let her clear her head and make a decision. If she comes back to you, you know it’ll be because she wanted to.”
I bit into my cheek, hard enough to elicit a wince. “What if she doesn't?”
Erin hopped down from the table and came to me, wrapping my stiff body in a hug. “Then you go after her anyway,” she whispered. “You're not a quitter, are you?”
“Never.”
“Good.” She released me with a smile. “You only need to wait. I'm willing to bet you my salary for the year that you'll see her before the day is out.”
Isaac whistled. “Someone's confident.”
“Call it women's intuition. Now I'm going to go catch up on the scandalous office drama. Beep me if you need me.”
“Why did we hire her again?” I asked Isaac once we were alone.
“Because within an hour of being rescued from a gunfight, she was able to navigate around our egos and soften our hard edges.”
“
Have I mentioned that I fucking hate it when you're right?”
“Only enough times to write a book.”
“Asshole.”
“You love me.”
“Fuck. Off.”
“You don't have to ask. You know I love you too.”
It was my turn to walk away, flipping him off as I did so. His laughter followed me.
CHAPTER 21 - Carlos
Women's intuition my ass.
The morning had turned into afternoon. The afternoon to evening. The evening to night.
There was no sign of Sylvia.
I stared out the tinted back windows of the Escalade and into the dark sky as George drove me towards my apartment, trying to turn my mind to other matters. It was impossible. She was front and center of every thought.
Isaac had done what he could to distract me, although his methods left something to be desired. I had left my phone unattended in his presence for maybe three minutes before he managed to lock me out of the app I used to track locations. The same one I had been checking every sixty seconds to no avail other than to know my woman remained within the city.
I had allowed it, because I knew he would keep me updated.
Now, there were no more distractions to keep me occupied.
My temper had taken a sharp dive off controllable and was heading straight into the deep dark waters of surging rage. This was dangerous territory, especially for me. Anger on its own was a tool I could use, but this?
There was a recklessness inside me I didn’t recognize and my muscles were pulled taut like a rubber band, ready to send me down a path I didn’t trust.
I slammed the car door as George dropped me off in front of my building and ignored the perturbed glare I knew he was sending at my back. This wasn’t the time for it. I was liable to say something I couldn’t take back if we engaged in our usual back and forth.
My thousand dollar loafers carried me onto the immaculate white tile of the lobby, each furious step reverberating like a gunshot. The doorman glanced up from his small booth, features paling at whatever expression he saw on my face. I heard his sigh of relief as I continued by him and towards the private elevator behind an unmarked door.
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