24
Rafael
Istrolled through the halls from the library where the men had gathered to discuss the details of our trade. Some territories who’d been excluded from the meeting and the alliance had previously been key suppliers, like cocaine from Samuel in Colombia.
It was only a matter of time before we stole his territory from him, but in the meantime arrangements had needed to be made to ensure none of us needed to function without it. Cristiano in Peru would take care of that for us, stepping up his production as much as possible to make up for the difference.
I was just glad that the negotiations had gone relatively smoothly, prices set and determined without any guns being drawn or lapses within the tentative bonds of the new world alliance. I nodded to Joaquin as I passed, his brow furrowed but a smirk on his face when I practically glided into the room.
The smell of cigars clung to my skin, and I realized it would be the first time Isa was confronted with that scent on me. I wondered if she’d like it or need to grow to appreciate it with time.
She sat in the center of the room with Sigrid at her side, a beaming smile on her face as she threw her head back and laughed at something the older woman said. I tilted my head to the side and leaned against the door frame, watching the interaction with interest in the moments when Isa didn’t know I was there.
Isa raised her hand from her lap, bringing it down to rest firmly on Sigrid’s arm and squeeze, as if the two women had known each other forever. It warmed me to see her fitting in so well, something I’d doubted would come easily to Isa.
She wasn’t one to thrive in crowds or embrace having attention on her, instead choosing to stay at the edges of the group and observe everyone. There was power in that, just as there was power in the way Sigrid worked a room and owned her outgoing personality.
Isa didn’t need to be someone she was not to bemi reina, she just needed to own her place and demand respect, but I appreciated the effort on her part regardless. She’d figure it out for herself in time.
Joaquin stepped into the room alongside me, nodding his head toward where Isa sat. “Somethings wrong,” he said, and I followed his line of sight to where Isa had yet to turn her head and find me.
Something was very wrong. Isa was as linked to me as I was to her. Shealwaysknew when I entered the room. I turned my head to meet Joaquin’s fixated stare, sensing the worry that filled him. “Did anything unusual happen?”
“Nothing. She was awkward, normal Isa. There was a little tiff with Vera but nothing Isa couldn’t handle on her own,” he explained.
“What changed?”
“She went to the bathroom and seemed to collect herself. She had more energy when she came out,” he said. I turned my eyes back to Isa’s, watching as she finally shifted her attention over to me. Where I might have expected her to flush at being caught in her over the top performance or for her eyes to flare with heat like they usually did when she saw me after a brief separation, her eyes were oddly blank. The answer for that was very simple.
That was not my wife.
* * *
Iunlocked the door to our private rooms, letting Joaquin enter with us as we stepped inside. Odina trailed behind us, smiling and looking around the suite subtly as if she needed to hide the fact that she hadn’t been inside before.
Joaquin closed the door behind him, flipping the lock as he watched me. I didn’t know if he’d come to the same realization I had yet, but he would understand soon enough.
It seemed impossible given I’d watched Dima slit her throat, but had I? He’d conveniently ended the call before we saw the blade drag across her skin, and the name carved into her flesh was fresher than Isa’s. Healed beyond the point where it was an open wound, but definitely newer than the name that I’d cut into Isa.
Seeing it on Odina was an abomination.
I didn’t know how she’d managed to pull off the switch, or how Joaquin had missed it happening, but I’d deal with him later.
After I had my wife back.
“Where the fuck is my wife?” I growled, staring Odina down as she moved into the center of the living space. She spun, staring at me with a furrowed brow and trying to mask the shock in her features as confusion. But predators could smell fear, and Odina’s was potent. It was obvious she’d truly thought she would get away with it, that I wouldn’t know she wasn’t the woman I’d been obsessed with for nearly two years.
Only an idiot would have agreed to this if she thought otherwise.
“What are you talking about, Rafe? I’m right here,” she said, stepping closer to me. Her hand touched my chest, fingers brushing against the fabric of my suit in the same area she’d kissed back in Chicago. I grabbed her wrist, tugging her hand away from my suit. She wore the dress I’d picked out for Isa earlier in the day, and the chess piece necklace lay clasped around her neck.
But her freckle was on the wrong side of her neck, leaving absolutely no doubt about who she was.
“Did they really think I wouldn’t know you aren’t Isa?” I asked, tearing the wedding rings I’d given Isa off her fingers. The tattoo and brand on her arm were a decent mockery of everything I’d done, but they weren’t enough to fool me.
“You’re scaring me,” Odina said with a swallow, staring up at me with wide eyes. The hollowness in them faded a bit with her fear, and a better man might have seen the terrified girl lurking beneath the surface of her hatred.
I just didn’t care.