“It will work,” Carina said, as if she were reading my mind. “It seems too simple to be effective, but that’s the beauty of it. Demand a shipment of weapons we know he doesn’t have and it will make him admit to why. If he lies, we’ll know it. If he bluffs and tries to create some fictional version of what’s happened to the last of those rifles, then there’s no way to doubt his quickness to lie.” She furrowed her brow, watching the live feed on the cameras. “Anyone who wants to play games with us about being a trade partner can’t be trusted. It’s as simple as that.”
I glanced at Adrik behind her back, catching his sober and serious look.
That was the proof of whose side she would be on.
I just wondered if it was something that would plague her mind later.
When the Garcia runners showed up empty-handed, we all three watched in silence
The audio played clearly with the cams our runners were wearing, and the Cartel members’ excuses were picked up easily enough.
“Excuses,” Carina concluded bitterly when our men started to back up and leave. “He expected the men to show up with nothing but his lies and excuses. There’s no turning back fromthis.” She gazed at me with a look of resignation. “You can’t trust him.”
I nodded.
As she returned her gaze to the feed to watch our runners leave while the agents burst onto the scene, I once more looked at my brother.
He nodded. One time. An acknowledgment of the truth.
It was a truth I’d suspected already. The trade agreement made between our father and Miguel Garcia was dead. It’d been dead so long as Arturo Garcia wanted to call himself the boss of the Cartel.
Dead—but waiting for a bullet to end it completely.
Arturo Garcia was finished. I would see to it without a look back. I couldn’t look backward when I was too busy and dedicated to lookingforward, with my wife and the rest of my family.
34
CARINA
For the whole day that led up to the trap that Maksim devised against my brother, I went out of my way to stay busy. To avoid being idle and overthinking anything.
I was caught between two families, but by the end of the night, I wouldn’t need to be. I would know, without a doubt, what Arturo would decide. Like others had said before, he’d show who he really was and who his real “friends” were tonight.
In the morning, after I slept in, I spent time working out and letting that distract me.
Then, I had my first appointment with the doctor about my pregnancy. Elena suggested that we use the same doctor, who did house calls, and I was pleased with the competent woman who checked me and my baby over. All was fine, and I was thrilled to have an ultrasound of my little bean.
Later, Maksim seemed to sense that I needed to avoid being idle, and he took up hours of the afternoon making me come a couple of times. The long intimacy in bed had tired us both out and we’d napped.
After that, Elena kept me busy as we both looked up things we’d like to order for our respective nurseries. We’d almost lost track of time going through and comparing cribs and bassinets.
When night fell and we had our answer about my brother’s loyalty, we headed to bed. I didn’t feel as wired and restless as I imagined I might. Iwastired, and it was a soul-deep fatigue that wore on me. Maksim showered with me and gave me such a relaxing massage that I fell into a deep sleep. A true surprise, given the roller coaster of emotions I’d experienced while I watched the footage of the trap.
In the morning, I tried to embrace that this would be the first day of a new life. A new understanding and adaptation that I’d accept. Maybe today wouldn’t be the day that I would be fully comfortable about the Volkovs ordering Arturo’s death. But I could get there. I knew I would.
For the sake of my marriage, my child, and the Bratva, I would.
I got up with Maksim, who seemed to be checking whether I was holding up all right, which was sweet. Sticking with our usual routine helped. We went to breakfast and ate. We discussed other opportunities of what other smuggling runs we could plan. Instead of going to the gym, though, I was going to take a walk with Elena near the big house since it was going to be mild heat until later.
Before I could leave, though, Jeremiah and a couple of guards arrived and blocked me from leaving the hallway. The looks on their faces said it all.
Danger.
After the excitement and hope that filled me with the doctor’s report that I was healthy and my baby was too, I felt a surgeof extra protectiveness. I placed my hand on my stomach, even though I wasn’t close to showing yet.
“What’s going on?” Maksim ordered, stepping around me to block me.
As if any intruder could enter the building.
