6. Carina
CARINA
Ididn’t hurry back to my room. I didn’t rush to shower and clean up after my workout so I wouldn’t be a sweaty mess before the Volkovs arrived.
Their flight wouldn’t take more than an hour. The distance between our compound and Vegas wasn’t that great. As I stood under the water and let the shower run on and on, I wished they were coming from across the globe. Anything to add more time.
This is wrong.
Being handed over like this, set up in an arranged marriage on a whim?
That was exactly the kind of impulsive shit that Arturo would do. Not thinking things through. Grasping at any idea that popped up.
Frowning as I hung my head, I let out a long exhale and wished this weren’t happening. It was always a possibility. I didn’t need my brother to explain that I’d likely be married off sooner or later. Nor did I wish for him to remind me that I held no power in this male-dominated organization.
I knew that.
Painfully.
Annoyingly.
With a cringe.
I was well the fuck aware that I had no power as a woman in this Cartel, or any others.
But I hadn’t woken up this morning with any hunch that my brother’s latest fuckup would mean such a drastic alteration to my life. Usually, he’d screw something up and count on me to smooth it out.
How will I do that now?
How can I make sure he doesn’t ruin this place and this family now if I’m not here?
He could try to spin this as an assignment for me, that I could spy on the Volkovs for him. And that was true. I could.
But why bother?
He clearly didn’t give a damn about maintaining this partnership with them. If he did, if he valued the trade deal that our father established with Dmitri Volkov, he wouldn’t need to spy on an ally.
He’s already got it in his head to shop around, to form an alliance with someone else.
Shaking my head slowly, I tried not to let my worries get the best of me.
It was impossible. Because I knew. I knew better.
There were no other lucrative deals to be made right now.
There were no other powerful families who could be trustworthy like the Volkovs had always been.
In this competitive underground world of smuggling, trust was a hard commodity to come by.
He just doesn’t get it.
And his best fix to getting caught screwing over the Bratva with their shipment was to foist me to them in a hasty arrangement for marriage?
Fuck this.
I let my head fall back as the warm, steamy water pattered down to massage my face instead.
Fuck him.
As soon as he screwed up so badly that I’d need to come back somehow, until I could find a way out of this marriage and return here, to my home, to make sure my family’s organization didn’t crumble, I had no option but to go along with it.
That was the resounding goal that I kept as a mantra in my mind.
Play along for now.
I had to. The Volkovs had likely arrived sometime while I was stalling in the shower. There was no escaping it now.
Just go there and make the most of it. See what you can find out about them.
Drying off slowly as I stepped out of the shower, I snorted a mirthless laugh. Spy on the Volkovs? There was no point. We weren’t trying to hurt them or take over their empire. We operated as laterals in different regions. Spying on them would do Arturo and the Cartel no good.
Smile and shut up. And wait until there is an opportunity to leave.
Because that was the most grounding notion I could cling to. I didn’t belong up in the States or near Las Vegas. My role wasn’t to be some passive thing for a husband, regardless of what powerful family he was from.
Marriage was no doubt my sentence in life, but now? It was cruel, ill-fated timing when I couldn’t trust my brother not to bring the Cartel to ruin.
Maybe my husband will get sick of me and send me home.
The bright idea seemed too fantastical, like a pipe dream.
Or perhaps he won’t care whether I stay close.
Some couples didn’t live together, after all.
I dropped my towel and stepped into the dress that I’d chosen. Wrinkling my nose at the tight fight of the dress one of the men’s girlfriends had purchased for me, I tried not to imagine myself being suffocated and molded.
I wanted my combat-ready pants. The plain shirts that wouldn’t be an obstacle while I surveyed the compound and checked things off.
Arturo never appreciated how much I was his invisible, tireless assistant, but it was what I’d been trained to be.
My father and mother valued my interest and ownership in the Cartel, and they’d seen to it that I wasn’t just a stupid pretty thing to look at.
Too bad that’s all he ever treats me like.
I wanted to believe that if my brother weren’t so hell-bent on being in power, he’d be humble enough to admit I was much more than a tagalong or pain in the ass.
“Carina.”
I winced at the sound of his fist banging on the door.
“Move it. You need to leave.”
I need to do nothing but hold on to the hope that I’ll be home again. As soon as possible. And that it won’t be too late to pick up the pieces of this Cartel and save our family’s legacy.
Chin held high, dress secured, and strappy—impractical—heels under my feet, I strode for the door and hoped to mask my loathing for him.
He rolled his eyes. “Thank fuck you’re not rebelling and wearing some of that other shit.” After a scornful and rushed once-over, he shrugged. “You’ll do.”
“Fuck you,” I muttered under my breath.
“You knew this would happen someday,” he said as I exited the room.
Maids and house staff were already almost done in here. They’d been clearing out my closets and packing up my things to move.
It’s so sudden.
Too quick.
Like he wanted to erase that I was ever here.
“I didn’t think I would be married off like this,” I replied, grabbing my purse and phone from a side table in my suite. “I didn’t imagine you’d have to use me to get out of a mistake that was only your fault.”
“I’m not calling anything a mistake.” He shot me a dirty look. “Except you. Maybe it’s been my mistake not to force you onto some other asshole in marriage sooner.”
I shook my head. “Why did you mess up that trade deal?” I asked again.
“I didn’t mess up anything.”
Walking down the hall with him, I realized I was running out of time. “How am I supposed to report to you?” I asked. “Daily? Weekly?”
He furrowed his brow. “What?”
“To report with intel,” I clarified. Not that I can see why any secrets about our trade partner would help us.
“Oh.” He shrugged. “It’ll all get sorted out. You’ll see.”
I opened my mouth to ask for more specifics, but it was too late to say anything at all.
He preceded me into the largest lounge of the villa, and I stopped short at the tall man who watched me.
Dark brown eyes locked on me as I stayed put.
The lean lines of his rugged jaw showed despite the stubble of his facial hair.
Unlike Arturo’s weak attempt to appear distinguished and older, this man looked like a god chiseled from stone.
The granite expression only heightened his masculinity, giving me the hint that he was the sort of man who never had to beg.
Or force laughter to feel confident.
Or allow stupidity to drag down his day.
He was also the sort of boss who’d have women fawning over him. Sexier than any man had the right to be, he was just the kind of attractive specimen who’d convince a nun to do something dirty.
Wickedly handsome.
Sinisterly hot.
You can’t be serious.
I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry, as I realized the joke was on me.
I was supposed to marry this massive, hulking man?
Who could try to eviscerate me with a stare that was both smoldering and scolding?
“Maksim, I present my beloved sister, Carina Isabella Maria Garcia.”
I blinked, jarred back into having to act or speak with my brother’s flowery introduction.
Beloved, my ass.
He couldn’t very well tell my fiancé what a pain in the ass I was.
I stepped forward with his cue as he held his hand out to me and shot me a stern look to cooperate.
He didn’t care if I didn’t want this to happen today. My wishes didn’t count.
Yet, as I approached the Volkovs, Maksim and another brother, probably, a man who resembled him and stood behind him, I forced myself to maintain an icy, regal mask of indifference.
They weren’t here to get a bride.
They were here to accept a remedy for their grievances for how my brother tried to thwart them at the last minute.
I dipped my chin in an acknowledgment, and that was about all I wanted to do.
No one said I had to be cordial. No one said I had to pretend to be happy or compliant. I would be. I’d leave with them and be stuck in this stupid marriage, but I’d be damned if I smiled and gave anyone the impression that I was cool with this.
Play along.
Do what you have to until your stupid brother begs for you to come back home.
“Pleased to meet you, Carina,” Maksim said in a sure, cocky tone that implied he never had to simper or wait for approval from others. He instinctively commanded it somehow.
You won’t get anything from me.
I didn’t react as he took my hand and lifted it to his mouth. The touch of his warm lips shouldn’t have jolted me and sent that zing of awareness lancing through me. It did. But I didn’t show it.
Arturo resumed kissing ass, complimenting Maksim and Viktor, who had to be the other Volkov. Acting like a weak moron, he probably thought he was being suave and cool, admiring their suits and suggesting that we enjoy the trip out of here before the threat of a storm could come through.
All the while, I stood there like a thing, not an intelligent woman who could rule this damned Cartel.
I stayed silent and passive as they discussed the nature of a wedding that Arturo would “regrettably” not be able to attend.
I kept my mouth shut and screamed internally as my brother told Maksim that “of course” all the proper documents would be signed off for the legitimacy of this marriage.
Call it legitimate all you want.
But his home will never be mine.
Force me to take his name.