Page 35 of Princes of Carnage

“A legally binding act,” he points out. “So don’t get any ideas about going back on our deal. Now that our interests are bound together, if one of us goes down, we both do.”

“I know how it works,” I say, forcing my voice to remain even. It’s been a long day, and I’m fucking tired of this. Atlas and Killian standing there watching it all go down like creepy statues doesn’t make it any better. “And the fact that I agreed to this at all should show you that I care enough about my gang and keeping my people safe to put up with your bullshit.”

Nico puts a hand over his heart—right where I left the tattoo that serves as his wedding ring. “You think so little of me, wife,” he says flatly. “I’m wounded.”

“Not yet, you aren’t,” I mutter. “But I could fix that.”

He arches a brow, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Not even married ten minutes, and you’re already threatening violence.”

“Believe me,” I snap, unable to help myself. “When I decide to hurt you, I won’t bother threatening you first.”

“Careful, Nico.” Atlas’s voice cuts into our exchange, dragging my attention to him. He’s glaring at me, his hands curled into fists as if he’s ready to finish the fight we started in that empty building right here and now. “She means it. She’s a vicious little thing.”

“I can handle her.”

Nico’s smirk widens a bit as he speaks, and I take a step back, needing to put some space between us. My head is still buzzing from the endorphins of the tattoo and the unexpected heat of our kiss, and being this close to my new husband and his two friends is only making it worse.

“I’ll be in touch soon so we can start coming up with a plan,” I say, bringing the subject back around to business as our people start to slowly file out of the church, eyeing each other suspiciously. “Whoever’s been coming after Carnage and Enigma is still making moves, so we need to do something to show that we’re a united front. Now that your ‘conditions’ have been met, I expect you to live up to your part of the deal. We have each other’s backs, and we take the threat down.”

I don’t wait for Nico or the other two to say anything, instead turning to speak to my men for a moment. I tell them to keep activity low for the next few days while we figure out our next move, then I dismiss them all.

As they start to leave the church, I follow, slipping out the front door and heading toward my car. The only thing I want right now is to get this damn dress off and maybe to sink into a hot bath so I can scald the surrealness of this day off my skin.

But before I can get very far, Nico emerges from the front door of the church and stops me, reaching out to grab my arm.

“Hold on,” he says.

I whip around, irritation rising in me as I wrench my arm out of his grip. “What?”

He folds his arms, pinning me with a look as Killian and Atlas take up their positions by his sides again. “We’re not done here. Not yet.”

“The hell we aren’t. You wanted to get married. We’re married.” I draw aside the plunging neckline of my dress so he can see the tattoo he put on me not twenty minutes ago. “It’s done, Nico.”

“The wedding is, yeah,” he agrees. “But not what comes after.”

I raise my eyebrows, choking back a laugh. “If you say something about a honeymoon, I swear to fuck, I will cut your dick off and feed it to you,” I hiss. “We’re not doing that shit.”

“I’m not talking about a honeymoon.” He shakes his head, ignoring my threat. “I’ll have some people come to your place to pack up your things and bring them to our headquarters. How much time will you need to get ready?”

I blink. “What?”

“You heard me.”

My eyes narrow. “Yeah, I heard you, but I don’t understand what you mean. Why the fuck would anyone need to move my stuff?”

Nico lifts a brow, giving me a look like he’s surprised he has to spell it out for me. “Because you’ll be moving in with us.”

The bottom of my stomach feels like it drops out as he says that. The wedding was bad enough, but I had no idea he planned for us to live together after it. I should have known he was going to pull something. Should’ve known that it wasn’t going to be this easy.

I take a step closer to him, anger radiating from me.

“That wasn’t a part of the deal,” I bite out. “I never agreed to that.”

Nico is glaring at me too now, irritation finally winning out over his smug indifference. He leans in closer to me, and I’m painfully aware of our height difference as he looms over me. It’s interesting, how he switches from being an arrogant shithead to putting on the attitude of a domineering leader in a second flat.

Or it would be interesting if I wasn’t practically shaking with rage at him.

“What did you think was going to happen, mia cara?” he growls, using the same nickname for me that he did back in the church. “Of course we’re going to have to move in together. That’s what married people do.”

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