I turn to my brothers, letting command settle on my voice.
“Prospects. Doors,” I snap. “Nobody in. Nobody out.”
A couple of the younger ones move instantly, hustling to the entrances, posting up like they’ve been waiting for permission to turn the building into a fortress.
Then I point at the men who matter.
“Magic. Six. Shady,” I say. “Bring me Rico.”
Magic nods once, already moving.
Six spits to the side like he’s itching for it. “Alive?” he asks, and the room leans in for my answer without meaning to.
I pause a beat, not for drama. For control.
“Yes,” I say, and the word tastes like poison because it isn’t mercy for Rico.
It’s for Darling.
Shady grins like it’s Christmas, eyes bright with the kind of excitement that makes decent people nervous.
“Copy,” he says, and then they’re gone, boots thudding, door swinging, motorcycles firing up in the alley.
Engines roar like thunder rolling down Calle Ocho, loud enough to wake the dead and warn the living.
I watch them leave and feel time start ticking in my bones.
Then I turn back toward the clubhouse, and Carmen is still there, still planted like she thinks she can block a hurricane with a smile.
She steps closer, voice low so only I can hear. “You’re going to start a war over her,” she says, and there’s no jealousy in it. Just calculation. Just the count of consequences.
I lean down, my face close to hers, voice even because control is power.
“We’re already in a war,” I tell her. “You just don’t like which side I’m willing to bleed for.”
Her eyes flick to my mouth for half a second. Not desire. Never desire. Measurement, like she’s weighing my bite radius.
“You made a deal,” she whispers. “You made promises.”
“And I kept them,” I say, and the truth tastes like ash. “For three years.”
Her lip curls slightly. “And now she walks in and you forget your place.”
My grin has no humor in it. “My place is as president of my brothers,” I say softly. “Not in your pocket.”
Her gaze sharpens. “Do not embarrass me.”
I straighten, gaze sliding past her to the stairs and my office door like I can feel Darling up there even when I can’t see her.
“You embarrass yourself,” I tell Carmen. “When you think you can control me.”
She leans in, words like perfume hiding poison. “If you do something stupid, I will make sure Miami hears about it first.”
There it is.
Not jealousy.
Not romance.
