Page 57 of Married with Blood
Alexei nodded. “No mercy.”
“Just like there was none for John Morovov,” Nikolai said.
They all looked at me, as if asking the obvious question that would follow.
If I would execute Arturo Garcia as the next man we’d discovered to have a link to our nefarious relative who had faked his own death years ago.
It shouldn’t have even been a question. I’d lost count of all the people I’d killed. Many more were waiting to meet death by my hands yet. There was no changing that aspect of this violent life. I had no intention to change, either.
But this would be a uniquely tricky situation. Carina hadn’t cut ties with her family like Elena did when John Morovov gave her to Adrik. My wife hadn’t dismissed her brother and wished her Cartel would suffer. She was proud of her heritage. She had homesickness for what she’d left behind.
Killing her brother wouldn’t be an easy action to sweep under the rug.
“She already views him so negatively,” I said carefully.
“But…” Dean winced and raised his brows in a silent question. “If you had to handle him permanently…”
I shoved my hands into my pockets. “Then I would need to handle him permanently.”
Alexei crossed his arms. “Arturo can’t be left as a loose thread if he’s actively trying to stir up trouble with our distribution of guns.”
“We will not let him get any more leverage in this territory,” I declared. “Not for the benefit of Gregori and whatever he’s trying to accomplish.”
“Whatever he’s trying to accomplish?” Nikolai frowned. “It’s obvious. He’s here to take the throne. Again.”
“No, he’s not,” Alexei growled. “He can’t.”
If my uncle wanted to come and claim the position of Pakhan of the Volkov Bratva, it wouldn’t have been his first attempt. He set off those bombs at a meeting of the bosses to take out my grandfather. To also kill my father. He’d lived and he’d ruled with great success all this time that we thought Gregori was dead.
If Gregori wanted to come back and reappear to take the throne, he would need to assassinate Adrik. Then me. And then Viktor and Nikolai.
“None of us will let him try,” he growled.
“Regardless,” I said, sticking with the facts and needing to have a plan for a solution. Letting our anger or other emotions get the best of us wouldn’t get us any closer to fixing this. “We are aware of Gregori trying to sabotage us. If Arturo Garcia is implicit in that effort, then he will be dealt with accordingly.”
In other words, killed.
I wouldn’t let my wife’s concerns stop me from doing whatever was necessary to protect my family. She wasmy family, too. She was my wife. Maybe she could be the mother of my children.If she wasn’t already, she was bound to be soon. But I couldn’t prioritize her connection to her Cartel over the needs and threats that we faced as a Bratva.
Duty had to come before love.
Love?
I lowered my gaze and paused before saying anything else. Before thinking about anything else.
No. That’s not going to be another obstacle here.
Carina knew what she was getting into when she told me “I do” at our sham of a wedding. That forced and rushed ceremony was legitimate. And she damn well knew that by becoming my wife, she would be expected to adhere to the needs and demands of my family. Not hers.
Love wasn’t part of the equation.
“Before anything can be done or decided, we need more evidence and intel about Arturo doing business with Gregori,” I said. “Elena’s been digging into the financial records from the Hernandez Cartel and she’s trying to track more potential links between the Garcia Cartel and the shadow companies that Gregori hides behind.”
“Can’t we send her to the Cartel to get someone?” Dean asked.
I glared at him, genuinely pissed and curious how he thought I’d ever let her leave.
“Not to send her back for good,” he amended. “But she’s familiar with the compound. She has to know of someone she could bring out for us to question.”
