Chapter 1
Stefano
“We burn this place to the ground by morning. No one gets out alive.” Adrian’s pale green, predatory eyes gleamed through the darkness. The ruthless, sadistic drug lord was out for blood. An example would be set tonight.
And I would get everything I’d wanted for years.
“What about Carmen?” I asked, keeping my tone carefully neutral. Despite the anticipatory excitement racing through my veins, my thoughts were edged with worry. I’d worked too hard for this night for too long to jeopardize my victory by antagonizing Adrián Rodríguez. I treated him as a business associate, but the truth of the matter was that he was in charge. My organization trafficked his Colombian cocaine through Mexico and into the States. If I challenged him, I would be eliminated as swiftly and brutally as the men we were about to destroy for daring to defy him.
But the complication of Carmen Ronaldo could be my undoing. The adrenaline surging through my system, preparing my body for violence, took on a possessive burn. For years, she’d been my weakness, an impediment to taking down her rival organization and establishing my dominion over the territory controlled by her brother, Pedro. I hadn’t dared to strike the Ronaldo Cartel as lethally as I could have, because I hadn’t wanted her to get killed in the fallout.
My feelings on the matter hadn’t changed, and we were about to take her estate in a full-on assault.
I couldn’t let Adrián kill the woman who had become the object of my twisted obsession. I knew my uncharacteristic attachment to her was fucking with my ruthless objectives, but I already harbored a shred of guilt when it came to Carmen. I loathed the foreign sensation: a sinking pit in my stomach that accompanied lust when I thought of the single, passionate night we’d shared so long ago.
That unpleasant feeling would only intensify if she were killed tonight. My gain might mean her death, and I would never be able to fully savor my victory.
Some of my tension must have shown in my features, because Adrián paused, his panther’s eyes assessing me.
“What do you think I should do with Carmen?” he asked, his tone cold and even.
I couldn’t read his stony expression at all; Rodríguez was an unnerving son of a bitch. If he thought I was challenging him, I would be dead in a matter of seconds.
I had to risk it.
“I want her,” I declared, the savage rumble in my words shocking me. The rough possessiveness betrayed the genteel manner that I’d so carefully cultivated.
Over the years, I’d found my own way to unnerve the people around me. No one knew if I would offer them my top-shelf mezcal or a bullet to the brain. I did it all with a smile. My associates—and potential enemies—were much more well behaved if they feared my capriciousness.
But now that Carmen’s life was on the line, I sounded more like Mateo Ignazio, the hulking brute at my side who hadn’t stopped growling since we’d arrived outside the Ronaldo family estate. His Sofia was imprisoned inside the high, defensive walls, taken by Pedro Ronaldo in a blatant act of war against Adrián. Everyone knew that Mateo meant more to his boss than just extra muscle watching his back, and Pedro’s decision to steal the woman he loved was an affront to Adrián. One that wouldn’t go unpunished.
Judging by the vicious snarl plastered on Mateo’s face and the blood that already coated his hands, Pedro wouldn’t live to see morning. No one on this estate would.
Adrián cocked his head at me. “If you claim Carmen, will you treat her gently?”
“No.” The swift, fierce response rumbled from my chest before I could consider my answer. I would never harm Carmen, but the things I wanted to do to her lithe body weren’t gentle.
Based on her responses when I’d had her for that single, scorching-hot night, she wouldn’t like it if I was gentle, anyway.
Adrián’s lips quirked in a cruel smirk. “All right, then. Do whatever you want with her. As long as everyone knows that the Ronaldo Cartel has been decimated, I don’t give a shit.”
A wicked image of Carmen kneeling at my feet made blood rush to my cock. I could adorn her in jewels and nothing else, putting her naked body on display for everyone to see that I’d tamed her. There would be no doubt of my absolute victory if I made haughty Carmen my sweet little pet.
A wide grin split my features, maniacal and fervent. Pure, savage pleasure rushed through my system, making me almost lightheaded. I felt like I’d just won the goddamn lottery. In the space of one night, I would become the most powerful drug lord in Mexico, and I would claim the woman I craved. Carmen would no longer be my weakness, but a symbol of my strength.