Page 89 of Married with Blood
I didn’t like the idea of him going to see my brother. Without looking back at him yet, I shook my head and expressed that. “I don’t want to worry about you going down there. Not after we were run off the road near the Cartel land.”
He shook his head. “You don’t need to worry about me.”
“Idoworry about you. You are my husband. You are the father of my child.”Iloveyou.“Why wouldn’t I worry about you?”
“Keep reading,” he said again.
Garcia:Now that a child is on the way, it’s time for us to discuss operational concessions in the territory. This child is a representation and token of how strong the alliance is between our families.
I jerked up to face him. “He didn’t even seem to care about this alliance anymore!”
He nodded. “Exactly. I base that on what you’ve shared, too.”
I thought back to the day of the fateful arms shipment that he’d sent to the Hernandez Cartel instead. Screwing up that delivery was the catalyst for all this trouble. He’d told me then that he was looking into new partnerships, but I hadn’t understood howdetermined he was to do that until after I’d married Maksim and learned more.
A sinking sense of dread returned to me. The rush of endorphins from my workout was over now, and I grew more uneasy as I read on.
Garcia:Now that you and my sister are clearly settled into your marriage and expecting, it is past time for us to discuss more details about business in the area. Where can we expand our routes? What else can we procure for you and deliver? How much more are you willing to increase your purchases within this quarter?
Once more, I jerked up to face him. “He’s fishing for intel.”
“I agree.”
If this weren’t such a serious conversation, I would have gloated on how he almost seemed proud of me for connecting the dots like he had.
“He wouldn’t have written this text either. He probably had it drafted or used Ai.”
“I agree,” he repeated.
I kept reading.
Garcia:This is why we need to meet. To discuss what else we can do through our business alliance.
The final piece of the thread ended with Maksim. He had the final word, and it wasoneword.
Maksim:No.
Arturo hadn’t replied. No dots indicated that he was intending to shoot a message back, either.
I set the phone on the vanity and let out a deep sigh. So much for that glow after my workout. So much for those warm thoughts about belonging here and feeling confident in the future.
Seeing my brother’s words renewed the anxiety that I couldn’t ever silence about him.
“He told me, Maksim. He told me that he was looking into other partners and opportunities. Elena’s already working on following a money trail that links him with the Cartels who are probably under Yusef Antonov’s influence.” Each word I said drove this unease deeper into my soul.
“Andthatis why I need to meet with him. To speak with him directly and resolve this.”
Resolve this, meaning…?
Lowering my face, I accepted the bald truth of what he wasn’t coming right out and saying.
He would resolve any threat or danger to us or the Volkov empire and businesses by killing him. As hard as it was to consider my brother being killed, to realize I would be the last member of the Garcia family to survive this violent world, I couldn’t deny that it was due. That it was a long time coming.
Arturo hadn’t been earning anyone’s trust—especially not mine. He consistently made poor choices and decided to do rash things that would harm or weaken the Cartel’s standing.
I licked my lips and nodded as I faced him. “I think I have to agree with that.”
I couldn’t statefullagreement. That would be the same as declaring that I wanted my brother dead, and a small part of me, a tiny piece of my soul, resisted.
