Page 5

“They’re here!” Natasha is Julian’s wife and is the prettiest little thing, with long blond hair and big blue eyes. “It’s about time.”

“I didn’t realize I had to punch a clock, little one,” I reply with a wink.

She simply rolls her eyes. No one but the women in this room would ever get away with rolling their eyes at me.

Anyone else would be eating their own eyeballs for dinner. Including Spider.

And they know it.

It’s a full house tonight. Even Rose is here, which surprises me.

My brother Mateo married Rose’s sister, Violet, a few weeks ago. Rose was missing for a long fucking time, a victim of being trafficked herself by the man I’m trying to find so I can rip the skin from his body one disgusting strip at a time. Damien has many crimes to pay for.

We rescued Rose, and since then she’s been very shy. Unsure. The only people she truly trusts are Violet and Diego, Mateo’s number two.

In fact, she’s sitting next to Diego right now, holding his hand.

“Let’s eat,” Lulu says as she offers me a smile. “The baby’s hungry.”

“Then we’ll feed you,” I assure her with a wink, following the others into the dining room. Even though rage and destruction are my new factory settings, I’m always surprised by how calm I feel when I’m with this group. The women are funny and soothing, not unlike the way I feel after I tear a trafficker’s throat open.

Of course, I’ll keep that information to myself.

I sit between Spider and, to my surprise, Rose. She doesn’t even shy away from me as she sits in the chair next to mine, and I act like there’s nothing at all abnormal about the usually scared woman sitting next to someone like me. Most people cower from me. I know I’m good looking, with a tall, muscular body and plenty of ink. Women usually look twice.

But that second look instills fear, and they usually run away. Because although I might be what they think they want on the outside, one look at my eyes gives away the fact that I’m nothing but a soulless son of a bitch.

The dining room is loud with several conversations happening at once, when Rose casually says, “Carson? Can I ask you a question?”

I glance down at her and force myself to smile at her because I don’t want to scare her. “Anything you want.”

Rose clears her throat and looks across the table at her sister, who’s frowning in return, and I get an uneasy feeling at the nape of my neck.

“Violet doesn’t think I should ask you because it’s personal, and it might make you sad, but I’m curious.”

I know without a fucking doubt that I don’t want to talk about this.

“What’s your question, little flower?”

Her eyes soften at the nickname. I call all the girls some variation of little something because they are small compared to me, and it puts them at ease around me. None of these women ever has reason to fear me.

“I heard that you were once married.” She swallows hard when I go very still. “And that he, well, he⁠—”

“Killed her? Yes.”

She nods and lets out a short breath. “Carson, what was her name?”

I frown down at her. “No one has told you her name? It’s not a secret.”

“No, they usually change the subject, and I get it. It’s so damn sad, and I’m so sorry, but I have a feeling about this, and you’re the one to ask because everyone else treats me like I’m fragile. I know I’ve only been with you guys for less than two months, but I’m not breakable, and like I said, I have a feeling. If they won’t talk to me, I’ll go to the source myself.”

I turn in my seat and give her my undivided attention. At this point, the entire room has gone quiet.

“Rose, we can talk about this later,” Violet says softly.

“No, it’s okay. I want to know what her gut’s telling her,” I reply, still watching Rose, who doesn’t drop her gaze from mine. No, she’s not as fragile as everyone seems to think she is. “Her name was Rina.”

Fuck. I haven’t said that name out loud in fucking years.