“Kairi, I’m not interested in Ocean.”
I simpered.
“You might not be interested in her, but she damn sure is interested in you.”
He gave me a questionable look, as if he was waiting for me to elaborate, but there was nothing more I needed to say. She had made it very clear that Havoc was her man and that she was willing to kill my family just to keep him.
As I stood there looking at him, it pained me that I couldn’t be with him as much as I wanted to. Havoc was everything I ever wanted in a man that I just couldn’t have. It wasn’t worth risking my family’s life, though, no matter how much I yearned for him.
“Kairi, I have no plans on marrying Ocean because I wanna marry you.”
My jaw fell.
“What?”
Oh, he was really signing my death certificate with that!
“Did you miss the part about Ocean not willing to give you up? I’m not going to risk her coming for my family!”
“That won’t happen,” Havoc said, and I scoffed.
“You’re kidding me, right? We gonna act like we both don’t know how this thing works.”
We were at the bottom of the totem pole, and so it was nothing to get us killed. Even Havoc being Orlando’s son meant nothing to a man who didn’t even recognize him as his son.
“What if I told you that I’m going to take Sincere’s place?” He said something I wasn’t expecting.
“Wait. What are you talking about?”
“Sincere wants me to take over, and I’ve accepted. It’s the only way I can protect you.”
My head was shaking in disagreement before he even finished saying the words. I wanted nothing to do with The Society because of Sony and Ocean, and here he was offering for us to get in deeper!
I backed up from him, putting some much-needed distance between us.
“No, Havoc,” I said. His brows knitted.
“Kairi, I need you to trust me.”
I turned to look behind me, my mind on my father and brother. What if something went wrong or Sincere changed his mind? How did I stand and watch as they lost their lives becauseof me? I could see it in Ocean’s eyes that she meant the threat, and the only way I knew how to protect myself was staying far away from Havoc.
He stood there looking at me as I took another step away from him. The look on his face told me that he wasn’t happy about me stepping away from him but I had no choice in the matter. No matter what, my family came first.
“There’s going to be an official meeting next month where Sincere officially hands everything over to me,” Havoc explained. “If you trust me, meet me there as my wife-to-be.”
He said it as if it was that simple when it wasn’t. Any mistake and we didn’t get a second chance.
The easiest thing for both of us was for him to marry Ocean and I keep myself away from him. That was the only way we were gonna survive. There were just too many against us than for us—it just wasn’t worth it.
“One month, Kairi, and if you don’t show up, I won’t bother you again.”
I just stood there silently staring at him, my heart and mind warring against each other, and I didn’t know which one to follow.
He gave me one final look and walked out of the kitchen. I didn’t turn to look at him because I was ashamed that I couldn’t give him what he wanted.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
MAKARI “HAVOC” SANCHEZ
