8. Cashlynn
CHAPTER 8
CASHLYNN
“ W hat do you mean, Dad?” Nazai questioned his father in Spanish.
“Do you know who her family is? The Cavanas are blackballed disgraces. They're untrustworthy bastards that deserved what they got,” Dominic ranted in Spanish. “I'm sure they raised their daughter to be just like them!”
“I'm confused, Dad. You demanded me to find a wife and I did, yet you're still unhappy?”
“ Not to a Cavana. ”
My eyes bounced between the two as they continued arguing in Spanish. Irritation rose inside me. I could feel my brother’s tension radiating off him as he shifted closer to me. Although I’d heard of Dominic Tavarez, this was the first time I had laid eyes on him in the flesh. He was said to be a cruel and calculated man. He started a law firm shortly after retiring from being a judge and built it from the ground up to what it was today. He was a smart man to question my motives after learning who my parents were. When most people heard my last name, a negative reaction followed. Turns out Mom and Dad had burned a lot of people before they died. However, I would not allow him to talk about me as if I wasn’t sitting here.
I broke into their exchange, also speaking Spanish. “Excuse me, Dominic, knowing what you and your family are into, I would be the last to judge anyone,” I started. Nazai looked at me surprised and Dominic’s face hardened further. “And for the record, your son came to me and demanded I marry him. I didn't ask for this. Who my parents were has nothing to do with who I am . ” I picked up the glass of water in front of me and brought it to my lips.
“Damn,” one of the brothers muttered under a laugh, but my eyes were too focused on Dominic to tell which one.
“You speak Spanish?” Nazai asked, still shocked.
Setting my glass down, I twisted my neck to face him. “I actually speak four different languages. Spanish being one, yes.”
Dominic cleared his throat. “Offending you wasn’t my objective, but you must understand where I’m coming from. My family has a lot to lose and your parents were shady bastards.” My brother flinched at the mention of my parents.
My eyes narrowed at Dominic. “You’re right, they were, but they’re no longer here or a problem, now are they?” I blinked at him blankly.
“Oh she’s feisty. I think Dad’s about to blow a gasket too,” Ezra said with a chuckle.
My parents might not have been the best people but they raised me to stand on my own. While my heart pounded wildly inside me, not knowing how Dominic would react, I refused to show any fear. He could shoot me dead right here and no one in this room but my brother would bat an eye. Yet I sat straight and stared him in the eyes.
He truly was a handsome man. His genes passed on perfectly to his sons and blended well with his wife’s. The main indicator of his aging was the gray speckling his goatee.
“A’right, that’s enough!” Nora spoke up. “Dinner is on the table and I for one refuse to eat cold food. You also know I don’t like business talk at the table. Dom, you two can discuss this after dinner. Now let’s bless the food.”
Dominic clenched his jaw but didn’t argue with his wife. We lowered our heads and Nora blessed the food before everyone dug in.
“Cashlynn, Carson, go ahead and get whatever you want,” Nora encouraged.
I looked down at my brother who was eyeing the fried chicken in front of him. “Do you want some, bud?”
He looked up at me and nodded. I gave him a small smile. “Okay,” I started preparing his plate. This was the first homecooked meal we’d had in ages. Even when we were staying at Maddox’s house, we rarely got homecooked meals, always forced to fend for ourselves.
Tension was still high but the conversation seemed like no one knew how to proceed after Dominic’s rant. All that could be heard was the forks hitting the plates as we ate.
“Cashlynn, what is it that you do?” Dominic questioned.
“Dominic,” Nora warned.
“I’m just curious, Miel . From what I heard, your parents were training you to join the family business, sí?”
Wiping my mouth, I gave Dominic my attention. He didn’t try to hide the disdain as he stared at me with cold eyes.
“I hear a lot of things about you too but that doesn’t make it all true.”
His jaw clenched. “You disrespectful little pu?—”
“Dominic!”
“Padre!”
Nora and Nazai shouted simultaneously. Dominic’s face reddened as veins bulged from his forehead. Nazai glowered in my direction. “Have some more respect!” He faced his dad. “You need to respect my choice and my fiancée.”
My nostrils flared and my brows furrowed. “Respect is earned and since I sat down he’s lacked it for me!” The man in front of me wasn’t the same Dominic I’d heard rumors about. From what I was told, he was normally calm and levelheaded. He was intelligent too. Whatever issues he had with my parents must be bad if he was this upset just by my last name.
“Oh shit.” The brother I learned to be Ezra laughed. “Big bro, looks like you got your hands full with your fiancée.”
Nazai shot his brother a look. I was learning Ezra was the brother that lacked a filter. He favored Nazai the most. His body less bulky, but it was clear he worked out. His arms were decorated with colorful ink as if it were a mural. His goatee surrounded his square jaw perfectly.
I rolled my eyes and caught Emmet’s eye. He had a wary aura around him. I didn’t know much about him. Out of all the brothers he seemed to be the one that stayed out of the public eye the most. He had been staring at me all evening, like he was watching me. His face gave nothing away. It was creepy honestly.
“Cash.” Carson tapped my arm, gaining my attention.
I glanced down at him. “What’s wrong?”
“I need to use the bathroom,” he whispered.
I nodded and looked toward Nazai and got his attention. “My brother needs to use the restroom.”
Nora spoke up. “Oh, Macy can show you. Macy!” she called out.
Before I could protest Macy had appeared.
“Can you show Carson the bathroom?”
“Of course.” Macy smiled down at Carson. “Follow me.”
Carson looked hesitant but I gave him a nod of assurance. He stood up and followed Macy, looking over his shoulder at me and nibbling on his bottom lip.
“Why little dude look like he be ready to jump out his skin?” Lucas asked.
My eyes cut to him. “He just doesn’t trust people easily,” I defended. No one would understand Carson’s behavior because they didn’t go through what he did growing up.
“You would think the boogeyman was about to jump out at him,” Ezra joked, but I didn’t see anything funny. My grip on the knife in my hand tightened. My body grew hot. Nazai must’ve noticed because his large hand covered mine and clenched it tightly. Shooting a tight glare up at him, I bit the inside of my cheek.
“When do you plan on having the wedding?” Nora asked.
“In two weeks,” Nazai answered.
I bit the inside of my jaw again, this time harder. I still wasn’t happy about being forced into this marriage. “That quick?” Ezra asked.
Nazai shrugged. “I only got two months left, why wait?”
“What about the bounty?” Emmet asked. Those were the first words I heard him say all night.
“What bounty?” Nora asked.
“Ah yes. I do recall there’s a two hundred and fifty dollar bounty on your fiancée’s head. What do you plan to do about that?” Dominic jumped in questioning with a smug expression plastered on his face.
“Once word is out Cashlynn is my wife, everyone will know not to lay a hand on her or they’ll be killed. The bounty is non-factor at this point.” I couldn’t deny the confidence in Nazai’s tone was attractive as hell. He spoke so sure of himself and with authority in his voice. If only his personality wasn’t so shitty, maybe this marriage thing wouldn’t be so bad.
A few minutes of silence passed between us. Carson returned and took his seat, going right back to eating. I hated how invisible my brother always made himself. When he was younger, he was such a vibrant kid, but my parents made sure to kill that light quickly.
Dinner wrapped up after a while and I couldn’t be happier. Nazai’s mom wasn’t bad, and even his brothers, but the longer I sat at the table with his dad, feeling his judging stare, the more I wanted to react.
“Cashlynn, I know dinner started off rocky, but don’t mind my husband. He’s just protective of his kids. We want to welcome you both to the family.” Nora caught me off guard when she pulled me into a hug. “Try anything funny with my son and I’ll slit your throat myself,” she whispered and released me with a smile on her face. Her husband stood at her side. The brothers had already left, leaving just us three here still.
My body stilled at her threat. I blinked slowly at her.
“Son.” Dominic held his hand out for Nazai. “Come to my office tomorrow. We need to discuss a few things and how we’re going to announce all the changes happening.” He shifted his eyes to me but didn’t speak further.
When we finally left the house and got back into Nazai’s car, I turned to say something to Nazai but he was already facing me with cold, darkened eyes. He grabbed the collar around my neck and yanked me forward. “If you ever disrespect either of my parents again, I’ll hang your naked ass from the ceiling for a week and use you for target practice. If you’re gonna be my wife, then you need to learn some fucking respect.” He shoved me away and pressed the button to start the car.
A heavy breath pushed through my nose and fire raced through my veins. Who the hell did he think he was throwing out threats and demands? Nazai was getting too comfortable with how he handled me. It was time to show him I wasn’t gonna be some meek wife he could control.
____
Later that night I changed into black leggings and a black hoodie, put my hair into two braids and pinned the bottom so none was hanging before covering them with a black cap.
I grimaced looking in the mirror. The black collar on my neck could be seen as a fashion statement. It had a heart metal lock in the front, but that wasn’t what bothered me. It was the tracker inside. I attempted to pick the lock when Nazai dropped me and Carson off to go handle business, but it seemed to need a special tool to unlock it.
I shook my head, not bothering to think about it right now. I had more important matters to tend to. I checked my phone, making sure I had the location of my next kill. A rideshare was on the way to take me to my car. Thankfully, both my favorite gun and butterfly knife were in the truck of my car. I didn’t want to leave Carson here alone, but it wasn’t the first time and the security in this place was top notch so I knew he would be safe.
Leaving the bedroom next to Carson’s, I went to his door and knocked. Nazai thought we were about to share a bed and I refused. I didn’t trust him and wouldn’t be able to sleep next to someone I didn’t trust. As soon as he left, I took my bags out of his bedroom and moved them downstairs to the second floor. I wasn’t his child for him to demand anything from me.
Pushing Carson’s door open, I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. “Hey, bud. I’m going out for a bit. Will you be okay here?” I asked. He lifted his eyes from his Switch and faced me.
“Do you still need to go? We’re safe now.”
I sighed and looked around the bedroom. It was a nice size, but empty. I made a mental note to take him shopping to get some things to fill it. Since Nazai was gonna take care of my Rhodes situation, I was free to use my debit card without fear of being tracked. There was over thirty-five thousand in my account. It wasn’t a lot but enough to get Carson comfortably set up here.
“I know you don’t get it, but we’re still not safe, Carson. We don’t know Nazai and he can kick us out at any time or things could go wrong. I wanna make sure we’re always prepared for anything. I won’t be gone long, okay? Don’t leave this floor and I have my phone if you need me. Do you have yours?”
He nodded. “It’s in my bag.”
“Okay, good. Call me if you need me. I’ll be back.” I stood and leaned over the bed to kiss his forehead then stood straight.
My only issue with leaving was that I would have to be buzzed in when I got back since I didn’t have a key fob or code to the elevator. It was a nuisance to think about, but I would worry about that later.
____
I wiped my brow and tapped my foot, waiting for the elevator to get to the top floor. The kill was simple and went easy enough. The guy was a wife beater whose wife got fed up. He deserved worse than what I did if you asked me, but it was handled and I had another five thousand in my account.
Nazai had beat me home, which was good since I didn’t have a code to get into the house. The new doorman had to call up to get permission to let me up, not believing when I told him I lived in the penthouse now.
I stepped off the elevator and walked to the door. I had made sure to purposely leave it unlocked so I could get inside. When I stepped inside, Nazai was standing in front of it with a hard expression on his face. His arms were crossed over his chest and he was dressed in a wife beater and basketball shorts. This was the first time I’d seen him dressed down since I’d been with him.
“Did you enjoy yourself tonight?” he asked.
My eyes swiped across the room before settling back on him. “You can say that.”
“What were you doing by the docks?”
Defiance filled me. “That’s none of your business. I had business to handle; that’s all you need to know.” I needed to shower. I enjoyed what I did, loved it even. It always caused a thrill to shoot through me, but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel nasty after. I also wanted to check on my brother.
Walking through the foyer, I stepped by Nazai so I could get to the elevator when he grabbed me. His hold on my upper arm was painfully tight, but I refused to show any fear. Before I could blink he had a gun pointed under my chin. My jaw clenched.
“If I find out you’re on any funny shit, I will blow your fucking brains out. Do you understand me?” He pushed the gun further into my chin. His eyes were as dark as coal and his jaw twitched violently.
My hand balled but I didn’t react. My brother was upstairs and the last thing I needed was for him to think something was wrong or for something to happen to him.
“We have an agreement,” I reminded him calmly. “As long as you keep your word, I’ll keep mine.” Rage filed through my veins, swarming my body. My right eye twitched but I kept calm.
Nazai narrowed his stare on me. His face suddenly twisted and his mouth curled into a crude smile. “Make sure you remember that and we won’t have any problems.” He ran his eyes down my body and licked his lips. Flashbacks of the training my parents put me through when I was younger flooded my head. My jaw clenched tighter and my body stilled. He inched to reach behind me and grab the gun I had tucked in the small of my back before releasing me.
Shooting lasers his way, I turned and stalked to the stairs, not even caring about the elevator.
My heart pounded behind my breasts. My pulse was elevated and a pounding grew in my ears. My body felt like a volcano exploded in my stomach as heat flooded my body. Typically when a gun was pointed at me, that person didn’t make it out alive.
I peeked in on Carson when I got upstairs then went to the room I was staying in and shut the door behind me.
I was too wired to get ready for bed now. At first I was willing to give Nazai peace, but he wanted to choose violence, so violence was what he’d get.