Her gaze sweeps the room once, taking in the narrow space between us, the way Darling’s lips are still slightly parted. She notices Darling’s flushed cheeks. The way Darling’s hands are clenched like she’s holding herself together.
And Carmen’s eyes flick, fast and satisfied, to my mouth.
Like she knows exactly where I’ve been.
“How intimate,” she says lightly.
Darling straightens beside me. “Wrong room.”
Carmen ignores her completely and focuses on me.
“Investors are here,” she says calmly. “You disappearing into the back with your ex isn’t the message we need tonight.”
“This isn’t about optics,” I reply flatly.
Carmen’s smile turns sharper. “It’s always about optics. My father understood that.”
Her fingers lift to her hair again, slow, deliberate. The ring catches neon and throws it back in the room like a reminder.
Her eyes flick briefly toward Darling.
“That’s why he built alliances.”
Darling stiffens beside me.
“Is that what this is?” Darling asks softly. “Public?”
Carmen’s smile doesn’t waver. “This is survival.”
She turns back toward me, voice lowering just enough to sound almost personal.
“If this engagement collapses publicly, we lose more than a club. We lose brothers. We lose lives.”
There it is.
Not jealousy.
Leverage.
She isn’t fighting for love.
She’s fighting for power.
And she’s doing it in front of Darling on purpose.
I step slightly in front of Darling without thinking. My body makes the decision before my brain can.
“I’ll handle it,” I say.
“With what?” Carmen asks, calm. “Emotion?”
“With authority.”
She studies me in silence for several long seconds, calculating something I can’t quite see. Then her gaze shifts to Darling again, and the polite cruelty returns.
“You should consider how much chaos follows you,” she says gently. “First my father. Now this Rico. Both times our rivals getting the best of you.”
My stomach twists.
