Page 12 of Bound By A Promise

The first few months were the most difficult.

Neither Dario nor I wanted to end the lives of people who had been loyal to our father. Then again, you know what they say about one rotten apple. Now, nearly a year later, the purge was complete. That didn’t mean it wasn’t a constant job to ensure continued fidelity.

The rather recent alliance between the Luciano famiglia and the Roríguez cartel proved to be a double-edged sword. Or in our world, a sharp fucking knife. To say that Dario was committed to the alliance was like saying that winter was cold, or summer was hot.

Last June, Dario wed Catalina Ruiz, the elder daughter of a Roríguez cartel lieutenant. In another few months, the alliance will further be solidified with the birth of their first child. If anyone had a problem with the famiglia and cartel unification, they had a problem with their boss. Fucking with the alliance wasn’t something Dario would allow.

That was why I was now entering my brother’s office. In our newly redefined organization, I was now my brother’s underboss and his consigliere. It was in that capacity that I stayed in SanDiego after our sister’s wedding. There were a few business deals I wanted to see for myself.

Dario looked up from behind his desk, his dark stare meeting mine. Newfound tension radiated from his being, emanating from his pores, and displayed in the taut muscles and tendons in his neck and jaw. “What the fuck do you know?” he asked as I entered.

Shutting the door, I walked closer. “Not a lot more than you. Catalina’s family was attacked—their home.”

Her parents.

Her brother.

Her sister.

My mind inappropriately went back to Camila. Her petite figure, delicate fingers, large green eyes, the way her maid-of-honor dress hugged her curves. I even had visions of her at Mia’s wedding. I’d kept my distance, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t noticed how nicely she’d grown up in the last year. And then seeing her this morning outside her father’s office—it took all my self-control not to reach for her and to assess that she wasn’t harmed.

I wanted to strip off that sweatshirt and verify her lack of injuries.

Dario stood. “One of their guards was killed. What did you learn about anyone else? Getting fucking information from our new brother-in-law is slow and tedious.”

The capo dei capi was wearing his usual formal attire. His custom suit coat hung from the back of his chair. His button-down white shirt was crisply starched, and diamond cuff links glistened at his wrists. Besides the physical clues, the only outward sign of his stress was that his normally perfectly styled dark hair was tousled as if he’d run his hands through it more than once.

I continued my report, “Aléjandro was on his way from the Bella, Jorge’s floating mansion, when I left with the women. According to Andrés, Mia is out there too.”

Dario exhaled. “How are Valentina and Camila?”

“Scared but unharmed,” I replied.

Dario nodded. “I’d told Andrés to send them here. Your still being in San Diego was fortunate.”

“I did what we talked about yesterday, getting a feel for their operation. I was going to go to visit a few other cartel drop-offs today.” I shrugged. “Instead, I got to babysit the women.”

“They’re Catalina’s fucking mother and sister.”

Shit. I wasn’t complaining. My brother was definitely wound tight. “What does Catalina know?”

“The basics. She was asleep when I got the call. With traveling to and from California for Mia’s wedding, she’s worn out. I waited until she woke.”

I settled in one of the seats across from Dario’s desk. “I didn’t stop to talk to her.” I needed to make space between Camila and me. “How did she take it?”

“Not well.” His nostrils flared. “She was better when she learned Valentina and Camila would be coming here.”

Dario stood and gripped the back of his tall leather chair and pressed his lips together before adding, “There’s more.”

Leaning forward, I stared at my brother. “What?”

“Last night, earlier in the evening, Mia and Aléjandro’s new home was ransacked. No one was hurt. Apparently, no one was there.”

“The fuck? Why wasn’t I told.” I thought of something he said. “No one was at their home?”

“Aléjandro had guards outside, but he believes the perpetrators came from the ocean, unseen by the guards. It’s a situation he decreed to resolve.”

“Fuck,” I sighed as I leaned back. “That wasn’t mentioned when I was at the Ruizes’ home. Two separate incidents seem unlikely.”