Raven crossed her arms over her chest as they both suddenly stayed silent. She couldn’t eat.
This was another reason she tried to eat alone.
****
Carlos Santiago stared across the table, pissed off. They expected him to pick one of their daughters as his wife. Ever since he’d earned his place as the new boss changing the family from Garofalo to Santiago, the capos had all been vying for his attention. Trying to win him over with wealth, deals, and women.
It was well-known that to stay in power, he had to also produce an heir to one day take over. After how he got to power, it was laughable. He hadn’t been in any way connected to the Garofalo, but when the truth of what that asshole Nico was truly like with underage girls, and the tainted life he was living had spread, no one wanted any connection to that name.
Carlos had always hated Nico.
He’d not been entirely sure of Nico’s perverted nature, but he’d known something wasn’t quite right with the Boss. When the truth came out, he had assumed Sebastian Drago would take the reins, but as always, he had other ideas.
Then it was suspected that Umberto would take over, but he refused, preferring his life in the MC.
After that, it became a challenge.
Carlos knew the capos all had their own agendas, and each one of them was not to benefit the whole, but to destroy each other. They were all enemies in some way. After Sebastian had come to him, Carlos had no choice but to see sense and then fight his way to the top.
He’d done that, and he’d won the capos’ respect, not that it was hard to do.
With no father to hold him back, no family to try to take power from him, he’d been a lone shark, bigger and deadlier than all of these capos combined. They all had a weakness — their greed for wealth and power. Carlos had nothing.
He had nothing to live for and nothing to lose. A dangerous combination that had earned him the respect he was granted right now.
Even as he thought that, a raven-haired woman entered his mind.
He’d never been drawn to a woman. Yes, he used women to fuck, women who knew the score. He never got attached. Never cared.
Raven was different. If she was here now, she would’ve made this dinner far more interesting.
As it was, the capos, their wives, and their eldest daughters were all in residence. Fear also flooded the table.
For the longest time, he hadn’t been in the city. He had purchased a home in Fort Clover, the town closest to where the Hell’s Bastards MC lived. He hadn’t decided to do that because of Raven.
He saw a perfect investment opportunity, and well, city life had always bored him. Carlos liked to slow things down from time to time. To clear his head. He couldn’t do that with people constantly knocking at his door.
Fortunately, the Hell’s Bastards had such a bad reputation that none of the capos would ever attempt to come near him or to go to the small town. He was the only one willing to deal with Smokey.
At first, he’d done so at Sebastian’s suggestion. The underboss knew of Smokey, of how important it was to have an MC on their side. With the cartels and bratvas close, not to mention rival mafia families always willing to take turf, having loyal allies was important.
Smokey and his men, and Raven, had dealt with Garofalo, removing that evil bastard from power. Stopping him from hurting any other girl. That was a reason why Carlos was more than happy to … accommodate the gruff man.
In a way, he understood Smokey. The man was a natural-born leader. He saw what their relationship could bring the both of them. It also meant he had a reason to see Raven more often.
“Your home is nice,” one of the young women said, trying to draw him into a conversation.
They were all so young. All of them shaking with fear.
“Fuck you, asshole.”
The first sentence Raven ever spoke toward him. She hadn’t given him the time of day.
Glancing around the table, he couldn’t help but wonder what these women would have done in a similar situation to Raven. Would they have taken the beating or offered up something else to stop the pain? They were not strong women, but weak.
Even their hands shook as they cut into their steak that had been prepared by the best chef in the fucking country.
Slamming his fist down on the table, he grabbed his plate and swiped it across the room.
“Get out!” he yelled.
The capos were so startled, as were their wives and daughters, that at first, they didn’t move. Sebastian was unaffected by his outburst and sat chewing on his steak.
“Get the fuck out now!” Carlos got to his feet, and they all vacated.