Page 37 of Fierce Monarch

Mari

If I was a queen, Emmanuel Osorio was an emperor, which meant only the best of the best for him. Lil Sal’s was always my first choice when it came to lunches, even for business, but no way in hell was I bringing a potentially hostile entity there.

Over my dead body would I let the Wolf darken their door.

Instead, we sat high above the water in a fine dining establishment so pretentious, I was getting hives, and I owned the place. Everything was bright walls and bright metal. Sterile and boring.

I missed chipped tables and waitstaff who knew me by name. Maybe I’d convince the boys to stop off at Sal’s on the way home. I could use a pick-me-up.

Dominic and Greyson sat on either side of me in beautiful chairs that hurt my spine around a table that was covered in a tablecloth with a higher thread count than most people’s sheets. Tennessee and Moore stood against the wall behind us, playing the silent sentinels. We’d shut the whole restaurant down—hell, we’d shut down the block—because I didn’t trust anyone beyond us to know who was coming. I hadn’t even told Cameron what we were doing.

My empire was already on thin ice. Inviting a man who was practically a god into my city without letting the other leaders know? Yeah, that would go over well. The only person I’d told was one of the chefs, Justine, who was in the kitchen and would play server for our meal.

“Incoming,” Greyson muttered, eyes glued to his phone where we had a live feed of the security cameras.

“Emmanuel?” If so, he was early.

“Worse. Rafael.”

Ah.

I hadn’t seen my uncle since the news came out, but it struck me last night that a man who’d worked with Nate in the past would’ve known who he was when I introduced them. Had he kept the secret to save his own skin or to protect Nate’s?

That was if what Nate said about his history was true.

Operate as if everything was a lie, I reminded myself.

“Tesorita.” Rafael’s gaze was warm and wary, and that alone told me everything.

He knew. He knew the whole fucking time who Nate was, and he said nothing. Just like Two-Bit.

And just like with Two-Bit, I couldn’t afford to war with him about it.

Rafael fidgeted uncomfortably, likely because my glare was so hot I could melt metal. Too bad that wasn’t one of my party tricks. “You seem to keep finding yourself on my shit list, Uncle.”

He grimaced. “I can explain.”

“He can explain!” I crowed with thick sarcasm, enjoying Dominic’s brutal grin. Even Greyson looked ready to unleash his inner psychopath. “Explain then, Uncle. Tell me how you let me get involved with my enemy. Or how you helped him hide the truth so he could gather information right under our noses. Tell me how you gave me an entire file of lies. Go on. I dare you.”

“I gave you what I was permitted to give you.”

I wanted more than that. I wanted him on his knees begging for forgiveness, but I was also smart enough to know it would never happen. Just like I was smart enough to know he’d burned the fragile bridge we’d been building between us to ash.

Brushing off the ache of his betrayal—because, really, what was one more? —I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why are you here so early anyway?”

The meeting with the Wolf was almost an hour away. My paranoia refused to allow the building to stand empty, so we’d been holed up working inside since dawn, much to Dominic’s disappointment. He hated waking up early.

“Checking your security,” Rafael answered.

“Well, go on, then,” Dominic drolled with that lazy wave of his that made him look like an arrogant king. “Have a look around.”

Rafael looked at me for confirmation, but I said nothing. Finally, he made himself busy, getting close to every camera he could see—and some he shouldn’t have—and inspecting them. I could feel Tennessee’s irritation almost as heavily as I could feel Greyson’s. Neither liked their toys played with.

Finally, Rafael nodded to himself and took a seat across from us to send a text. With that done, he turned his attention back to me. “Don’t say no.”

“To what?” The sudden conversation switch was probably to throw me off, but if so, he’d have to try harder than that.

“If the Wolf offers you aid, don’t outright tell him no.” I opened my mouth to answer, but Rafael held up a hand. “Please just listen. We don’t have time to argue. Emmanuel will ask for something outrageous, and you’ll be tempted to deny him immediately. Don’t. You may not be willing to accept his terms now, but keep the option open for later.”

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