Page 46 of Married with Blood
I stopped her in the middle of the room. “Right now?” Where the fuck did she get off thinking she was going toleaveme or get out of this marriage? I saw how she missed her home. I picked up on the way she likely wanted to be back where she’d come from. But that was bullshit.
Not happening.
“He’s going to ruin it.” She furrowed her brow and gestured at her phone. “Or he already is.”
Letting her pace, I reread the messages again. Lev and Viktor were already on their way here since I’d reported that drive-by attempt. They’d be fully invested in this development too.
“Who sent these?” I asked, needing to focus on one fire at a time. Finding out who’d ordered that drive-by or whether it was a fluke would have to wait. I could direct my attention to these texts now.
“Enrique,” she answered without missing a beat. “He’s a runner who’s been there forever. My father personally recruited him.”
And he might be more loyal to the memory of Miguel than Arturo’s leadership.
“If he’s shopping around and trying to work on having a new partner in business…” She stopped and hung her head as she exhaled roughly. “He’s going to trust the wrong person. I just know it.”
Here, we had a common interest. She still cared about her Cartel and didn’t want to see it ruined by her brother linking with a bad player. And I cared about my Bratva and refused to witness any threats against it.
“What third-party contractor is he talking about?”
She shrugged, scowling as she eyed her phone in my hand. “I can ask.”
She wasn’t askingmeif she could reply to Enrique. She was suggesting it. Tossing it out there. But bringing this matter to me showed how she wasn’t hiding anything. I couldn’t assume she wasonlylooking out for her Cartel, not the Bratva, but she wasn’t doing anything to indicate that she didn’t care about how this impacted us.
I held the device out to her and raised my brows.
My brothers and cousin arrived. Adrik had come along with Lev and Viktor, and I didn’t wait to explain what was going on. They’d come with the mindset of investigating that drive-by, but I was hooked on what Carina was doing instead.
She sat, letting her long, brown hair tumble down and cascade her face. The glossy waves framed her face twisted in concentration as she stared at her phone.
“He’s not replying yet, but my text was sent.” Carina showed us her phone screen with her response of asking who Arturo was being influenced by. Biting her lip, she stayed tense while we all stood. Adrik paced. Viktor moved off to the side to take a call.
“A third-party influence can only mean one fucking thing,” Adrik growled.
“What?” Carina watched him. “What can it mean?”
I shared a look with my brother, debating whether we could trust her with our current woes. The very one who had convinced me to accept the marriage arrangement Arturo had offered.
Before Adrik could reply, Carina glanced down at her phone. She cursed and set it on the coffee table.
“The text wasn’t delivered. He probably disabled the phone.” Slumping back, she covered her face with her hands and rubbed it as she groaned. Looking at me again, she shook her head. “He won’t be able to risk talking to me more than that. If Arturo suspected someone was turning traitor and spilling intel to me when I’m not there anymore…” She narrowed her eyes, scowling with more fury. “Fuck that.He’sturning traitor to the legacy our father created if he’s going to be so stupid, so rash, and so gullible to work with someone else who could dismantle our operations…” A low growl followed her rant.
I sat on the coffee table, facing her. “You don’t know who this third-party could be?”
She shook her head once more and watched Adrik pacing. “No. I suspected he was listening to someone trying to get in his favor, but he never told me anything. He never let me in on any conversations. My brother could be very secretive.” She flung a hand at Adrik. “Leaders must have confidentiality. I sawthat with how my father ruled. But Arturo…” Once more, her face contorted with anger. As quickly as it showed, she masked it with a focused frown. “I don’t know who this third-party contractor could be. Butyouhave ideas.”
She was turning this on us, and I supposed there wasn’t any need to hide our biggest dilemma from us.
I turned and caught Adrik’s attention. He nodded once but didn’t speak. It was as much as I’d get in the way of approval.
Before I could explain, though, Viktor stepped back in. “It was the seller. I just got confirmation from Dean.”
I glanced at my phone that I’d set aside to give Carina and those texts all my attention. It had been buzzing, but it could wait. He must have been trying to contact me.
“The seller had a leak. Some recruits got it in their heads that they could try to reclaim those chips we bought.” He smirked. “Dean had someone look into it and they fessed up.”
I was reassured that the drive-by at the handoff wasn’t anything more complicated than that and I didn’t need to spend any more energy on solving that problem. Dean would know to go after the perps and kill them without my order.
One problem of the day done with…
