Page 28 of In the Dark

“What is going on?” Perla hissed softly next to her.

“The conversation will happen now, Jas.” I told her with authority. I wasn’t leaving until everyone knew she was going to be my wife.

“What is a conversation needed for?” Perla’s dark eyebrows pinched together. “We promised you our daughter already. You were not to bring harm to anyone. Jasmina has done nothing—”

Monte put his hand on her shoulder to calm her before he inclined his head toward the living room. I walked with Jasmina by my side where the furniture was worn but clean, where candles smelled like home, where the old wood trim made you feel cozy rather than sterile.

“What have you come here for? We gave you what we could, Knight,” Monte said, his eyes darting to Jasmina as if he wanted to tell her sorry.

“You realize that Jasmina burned down a Diamond Syndicate building?”

“What?” Perla screeched. “How dare you accuse her of such a thing. Our family—”

“It’s true, Tía,” Jasmina said, her head held high by my side. She didn’t even mutter it quietly. She had that look of determination in her eyes instead, like she was going to hold onto her pride no matter the cost.

“Aye, dios mío.” Perla brought a rosary from her pocket to her lips and leaned into Monte.

“We don’t have anything else to offer. We’ll—”

“I’ll still protect your territories and your lives, but the price has changed. I want the girl who burned down my building.”

Monte’s eyes widened. He thought I wanted to exact revenge. And maybe I did a little. Jasmina would pay with her pride more than anything else, though.

And maybe, just maybe, over time she’d give up a secret or two also, because Monte immediately looked like he was squirming under a microscope.

“Jasmina isn’t someone you want—”

“Why is that?” The more he fought me, the more I leaned into the idea.

“She’s not good wife material. Her father was Sanchez. You don’t want a baby with her when you can have—”

“Your blood is no better than your brother’s, Monte. Right? If anything, Sanchez was the leader of all of you. His grandbaby would solidify respect from your family and partnerships most, wouldn’t it?”

Monte’s jaw ticked, and it was all the tell I needed. “But Sanchez has been gone a long time …”

“Oh, I’m aware.” I pulled her close. “And yet he’s the one who was good enough with numbers that billions disappeared from the Irish you were all helping at one point, no?”

“That’s not true.” Monte waved his hands around the house. “If we had it, we’d live with it.”

Maybe, maybe not. I wasn’t sure. “She’s the one you don’t seem to want to give up, which means she’s far more valuable than anyone else. If you can’t pay back what I am afforded after the burning of my building, it’s only fair I get her.”

Monte and Perla both fidgeted on their feet, and then Perla seemed to look to Jasmina for answers.

“Tell them, Jasmina,” I prompted, my voice a soft goad.

She tightened the blanket on her shoulders, glancing at Perla, then back at me, her eyes filled with a glittering, beautiful hatred. “I’m marrying him, Tía,” she whispered. “It’s the only way.”

Perla’s eyes welled with tears, but she nodded.

“In exchange for our safety and our businesses continuing to run?” Monte asked, his voice breaking.

“As long as certain businesses allow us into the fold,” I made clear.

“Two years still stands?”

“You know, Monte, your family is drowning, and if I’m to throw a life raft, I don’t think there should be a time limit, do you?”

“She doesn’t belong with you. She’s a Ruiz, Callahan.”