"How do you want to proceed?" my uncle asked. "Would you like to leave Isa with us while you and your men handle him?"
"No," I said, turning my eyes to Sebastian. He grinned back at me, always testing me and pushing the limits of what I would tolerate. We'd grown up together, almost exactly the same age, and been competitive on the best of days.
My wife was not a competition he wanted to test me on.
"Isa will come with me," I said. "We'll have dealt with Maxim by the end of the day." I stood, holding out a hand for Isa and helping her to her feet. She looked confused, baffled as to what part she might play in the murder of a man.
She didn't yet know she would be the one holding the knife.
Isa stared out the window of the car as we drove through Barcelona in the night. Her eyes worked to absorb all the details, memorizing everything she saw. I wished desperately that I could give her the kind of honeymoon she deserved, an exploration of all the history Europe had to offer that she would adore.
But until the conflict with Pavel was resolved, I could only afford short excursions offEl Infierno. We could only venture so far without risking Pavel's anger. While I was confident in my men, I would not risk her for anything.
"I'll bring you back to see the city as soon as it's safe,mi reina," I assured her, squeezing her thigh until she turned her attention to me.
"Will it ever be safe?" she whispered. "It seems like your life is dangerous by nature. How do I know I won't be trapped on the island for the rest of my life?"
"Your happiness matters to me. I'll give you whatever I can so long as it is safe for me to do so." I parked the car on the side of the street up the road from the restaurant where Maxim wined and dined his conquest for the night. She had no way of knowing that we would save her from what was likely to be a miserable fate, and she'd probably be traumatized by watching him be snatched off the street.
Where Leonid was nothing but a creep and showed his colors at every opportunity, Maxim was far better at hiding the darkness within him. He wore a mask, much like I had done when I seduced Isa.
I just didn't do it regularly or sell the women off when I was finished with them.
I guided Isa out of the car, the sound of her heels clicking against the pavement as we moved to lean against the Mercedes we'd borrowed from my uncle. Watching Maxim through the window, we knew he was entirely unaware of the devil lurking outside the restaurant. Waiting for him to step outside. Joaquin emerged from the backseat, resting his ass against the hood of the car on Isa's other side as he watched and waited.
In the event something went wrong, he was under strict orders to get Isa to safety immediately. But nothing would go wrong.
Not with the van filled with my men waiting directly in front of the restaurant.
"Why am I here?" Isa asked, her voice barely a whisper. "Wouldn't it have been better to leave me at home?"
I ignored the way it felt to have her refer to the island as home, the distinction something I wasn't certain she was ready to face herself. "You're here because this is a part of me, and you cannot love part of me without loving the devil too," I said, turning my attention away from the restaurant. I leaned in and kissed her softly, melding our mouths in the same way our souls felt combined. I only pulled back when Joaquin cleared his throat, forcing me to turn my attention back to where Maxim and his date stood from their table.
He helped her into her coat, playing the role of the gentleman so efficiently that I would have believed it if I hadn't seen the evidence of what would follow.
Of what always followed his dates.
They stepped out of the restaurant, the woman giggling drunkenly at his side, far too lost to the alcohol he'd plied her with to understand what was coming. With Isa's hand held tight in mine, I guided her into the center of the sidewalk until we stood directly in Maxim's path. "Hello, Maxim. Welcome to Spain," I said, tilting my head at him with a dark smirk.
He stopped short, his eyes going wide for a moment before he released his hold on his date and moved to reach for his gun.
The gun that was already gone, clutched in the hand of the shadow who moved without ever being seen. Joaquin tossed me the weapon, melding back into the shadows next to the car as he watched and waited for Maxim's next move.
The bag came down over the top of his head as two of the men jumped out of the van, grasping him around the shoulders and prying him away from the woman who stumbled away in terror. Isa was quick to move to her, touching her arms gently and rubbing them with a soothing touch. "Let's get you a cab," she murmured softly, guiding the woman to the side of the street. Entirely uncaring about the people who watched her from inside the restaurant, she accepted the Euros I held out to her and helped the drunken woman into the back of a cab while the driver stared at her baffled.
Isa trusted me to protect her from any repercussions that might come from her being recognized, of being left to deal with the innocent in the situation while my men secured Maxim into the back of the van.
Once the woman was on her way home, Isa returned to the car and lowered herself into the passenger seat as Joaquin held the door open for her.
I smiled, knowing I'd made the right choice.
Mi reinawas ready.