I don’t hesitate.
“Especially Carmen.”
The corner of his mouth twitches like he almost smiles. Then he nods once and heads back toward the music.
When I step back into the room, Darling is standing at the window with her arms folded across her chest. Neon washes her in red and blue. Her jaw is tight like she’s chewing rage.
“I have a pet bird,” she says suddenly.
The sentence is so unexpected I blink.
“What?”
“A cockatoo,” she continues, still staring out the window. “White. His name’s Disco.”
She turns slightly, watching me like she’s daring me to laugh.
“I have to feed him.”
The image hits me out of nowhere.
Darling in some small apartment with a bird chirping at sunrise while she pours cafecito into a chipped mug. A life that kept moving while I stayed here building an empire out of blood and steel. Something normal. Something soft.
Something I told myself she could have if I pushed her away hard enough. I just refused to think that it might include an abusive piece of shit boyfriend.
Something tight twists in my chest.
“I’ll have someone go,” I say immediately.
Her head snaps toward me. “Go where?”
“Your apartment,” I answer. “Pack what you need. Bring the bird. Bring everything.”
Her eyes narrow.
“You think I’m moving in?”
“I think you’re not sleeping in a place Rico knows about,” I say. “And I think you’re not walking the street alone while my enemies are watching.”
Her chin juts out, fight rising in her eyes again.
She hates when I’m right.
I pull out my phone and send a quick message.
Get her stuff. Bird too. Now.
Magic’s reply comes almost instantly.
On it, Prez.
When I look up again, Darling is watching me like she’s trying to decide if she knows this version of me at all.
“You don’t get to buy me,” she says quietly.
“I’m not.”
“You’re sending men to pack my life into boxes.”
