LOGINElena's POV I turned around to face the view while Carlos kept approaching, his footsteps growing louder and louder every passing second. I could tell he was angry, it was obvious from the sound of his footsteps. Good, it was good that he was angry, at least he had a taste of how it felt to be infuriated by someone you thought was on the same team with you. I felt Carlos before I saw him. The heat of his body cut through the breeze as he stopped right behind me, close enough that his presence pressed against my back like an invisible wall. He didn't speak right away. He never did when he was this angry. There was a thick silence, a long one too. Tired of playing pretend, I turned around and faced him. His dark eyes were storm-black, controlled fury simmering just beneath the surface. No shouting. No scene in front of the other guests still milling inside. Just that lethal calm that always made my stomach twist in ways I hated admitting. He reached out and caught my wrist in a gri
Elena's POV The refusal landed like a slap I hadn't seen coming, leaving me reeling even though no one had physically touched me. Carlos's dark eyes stayed calm, almost pitying, as he looked down at me with that infuriating control he always wielded like a weapon. "Not here," he said quietly, voice low enough that only I could hear over the fading music. "You're already losing your calm, Elena. This isn't the place. I'll tell you everything when the time is right." Something inside me snapped clean in half. I was done. Done being patient. Done being his obedient little wife on a leash. Done waiting for scraps of truth from the man who had bought me like a piece of property and then dared to dangle my family's secrets in front of me like a carrot. The anger boiled up so fast and so hot it burned away every single rule he'd drilled into me in the car on the way here. Stay by my side. Smile. Don't act out of line. To hell with all of it. I yanked my hand free from his, the massive
Carlos's POV The Vargas family was one of the top members of the syndicate, old money laced with fresh blood, the kind of power that could make even my brother Marco pause before crossing them. Raquel's father had built an empire on cocaine routes through the Caribbean and political bribes that reached all the way to the capital. He'd tried to tie that empire to mine through marriage. I'd walked away the night before the wedding when I learned he'd been feeding information to my brother. Nico Vargas was a man I'd never want to cross. Sure, I'd managed to gain a reputation in the syndicate, it didn't mean I had the strength to do whatever I wanted. Walking away from a contract I'd signed with Nico Vargas meant war, and Raquel had made that painfully obvious with her slap. I still thought about what would happen from now onwards, and I was certain Elena did too. She hadn't said a word since Marco walked away, but her eyes kept darting to the crowd, searching for threats she didn't y
Carlos's POV Marco Hernandez had always been a thorn in my flesh for as long as I could remember. And while I completely loathed my senior brother, I couldn't exactly blame him for turning out the way he did. He was the first born and first son, the heir to the Hernandez family empire. He'd been burdened with responsibility right from the second he was born, and that type of burden always had its effect. Unlike Marco, I never really got to face the mafia life early on in my life. I was always the second option, insurance if anything ever happened to the golden boy. I stayed by my mother's side most of the time, learning basic things that the son of a mafia lord shouldn't concern himself with. Marco hated that, he called me weak, bullied me every chance he got, and never failed to rub the fact that he was going to inherit everything in my face. I'd endured it all as a child, and whenever my mother interfered, she'd get beaten up by my father. One day, Marco and I had gotten into
Carlos's POV Three days had passed since Elena signed her life over to me in blood and ink, and the change in her was… interesting. She still glared at me like she wanted to carve my heart out with a butter knife, but the fight had settled into something sharper. I'd spent the last two days in the basement range with her, teaching her to shoot. She was gifted, scary gifted. Turns out her father had put a gun in her hand when she was sixteen, back when he still pretended to be a decent man. She picked up the Glock like it was an old friend, adjusted her stance without me having to correct her twice, and by the second afternoon she was landing tight groupings at twenty-five yards while I stood behind her, chest pressed to her back, whispering instructions against her ear.She hated how much she liked it. I could see it in the way her breath caught every time I praised her with a low "Good girl." I liked that even more.Tonight, though, there would be no targets, just wolves in tuxedos
Carlos's POVI watched her hand tremble as she slid the signed contract across the ebony table. The ink of her initials E.B. still glistened, and the sight of it sent a dark thrill straight through my veins. She was mine. One hundred million dollars' worth of fire and fear and reluctant beauty, now bound to me in black and white. The deal was done. She completely belonged to the Devil now.She didn't look up at first. Her lashes cast shadows on her cheeks, and I could see the war raging behind her eyes, the part of her that still wanted to fight, the part that already knew fighting was pointless. Good. I liked the fight. It made the surrender taste sweeter.I rose slowly, letting the chair scrape back just enough to make her flinch. Her gaze snapped to me as I rounded the table, each step deliberate. When I reached her, I held out my hand, palm up. She stared at it like it might burn her."Stand," I said.She hesitated, just long enough to remind me why I'd paid so much for her. Then







