Page 40 of In the Dark

“He comes with.”

“Get real, Jas.” Callahan pinched the bridge of his nose. “You think I’m going to cater to your every need? I’m not bringing that cat on a trip every damn time we have to go somewhere.”

“He goes where I go.”

“You’ll have meetings. Specifically, I expect you to come with me to ease my partnership with Fuerte Firearms.”

I hated hearing he’d be a part of it now. That business was ours, was the one we had pride in, the one that was actually doing well. “Why are you so interested in that one?”

“Shouldn’t I be?” Callahan lifted a brow at me. Then he smiled. “I’m not just a pretty face, Jas. I can read the reports too. That’s the one your family always skimmed over. We watched it from that point on. And the numbers speak for themselves. Monte and Perla know that. It was why they offered that with Maribel.”

Ugh. I hated how well he could read people, how Monte and Perla had discussed it without me.

“I don’t have to go to those meetings or anywhere with you.” I wasn’t going to help him get comfortable with anything. “I’m supposed to be your dutiful wife keeping a loving home while you’re away.” How are we bickering already?

“Exactly what we need to talk about. You read the whole contract?”

“Of course,” I scoffed at him.

“You’re going to be a dutiful bride that goes to meetings with me, plans a beautiful wedding, and then has sex enough to result in carrying my baby by the end of the year.”

That was never happening. “You’re a pig,” I said, making a face so full of disgust, he could have seen it from a mile away.

He laughed at my insult, nodding like it was truly bringing him joy to fight with me. And then he held my gaze and licked his lips. “Don’t act like you won’t enjoy it, Viper.”

My stomach actually fluttered, and my thighs tightened.

His hand went to my chin slowly, and he tipped my head to the side as his eyes scanned down and up, taking in my body, my clothes, everything. “You have weapons on you?”

I chewed my cheek. “No.”

“Bull,” he said quietly, and then his other hand went to my hair I had tied up with needles that were more than a little sharp. He didn’t remove them. He just tapped one. “You won’t need weapons against me or anyone else for the next two years. It’s in the contract. I’m protecting you now.”

“Is that so?”

“I take care of what’s mine. That now includes you.”

“Maybe I just like to be prepared.”

“Yeah.” He nodded over and over again. “You wouldn’t have followed that part of the contract even if your life depended on it.”

That part of the contract? Shit. I should have read a bit more.

He didn’t let go of my chin. His eyes scanned my face like he was searching for answers, and then he asked quietly, “How did you get this cut on your mouth?”

I tried to move, but his fingers held firm. So I answered, “Air’s very dry lately.”

He hummed, and then his thumb swiped at my lip. I winced at the gash and knew some of my lipstick smeared because he wasn’t as gentle as he could have been. “How many lies do you tell through these lips a day?”

The SD card burned in my pocket; the weapons felt heavy on my thigh, ankle, in my hair, and up my sleeve; and my abdomen pounded with my heartbeat.

Even still, I grabbed his wrist and shoved it away from me. “None.”

10

Jasmina

LOVE WASN’T MEASURED BY large homes or extravagant things. I enjoyed little comforts—my family, my cousins, their laughter, my cat and modest apartment—when we weren’t out trying to keep the family name alive in the way my uncles had wanted.