Page 78 of Wicked King

“Ah, you are awake.”

“I wasn’t,” I snap and pull the comforter up higher to hide the skimpy nighty. “You woke me up.”

“I apologize.” He clears his throat, but doesn’t move, still bent over my side of the bed.

“Why did you take so long to come home?”

He folds down onto the bed beside me, smirking. “Did you miss me, spitfire?”

“Of course not.”

“Liar.” His grin only grows more obnoxious. “You know, I’m starting to figure out your tells. When you lie, this tiny vein throbs across your forehead.” He reaches for me, but I swat his hand away.

“So, where were you?” I clutch the comforter, a tiny part of me terrified of what he’ll say. What if he was with another woman? I practically forced him into this stupid open marriage.

“Something urgent came up that I had to handle.”

“Was it about the shooting?”

His lips press into a tight line before he finally nods. “It was.”

I nearly leap up before I remember I’m trying to hide my scandalous sleeping attire. “What did you find out?”

“Why don’t we talk about it tomorrow? You said there was something you needed to say?”

I shake my head, in no mood to discuss our relationship now. “No, it can wait. Tell me.”

His shoulders sag and he looses a breath. “There’s a new player in town. Or rather, a new offshoot of an old one, I guess…”

My brows slam together as I try to decipher that cryptic response. “What does that mean?”

“Dante believes it’s La Sombra Boricua. They’ve been making moves in our key districts, burning shit and buying off our suppliers.”

My mind flies back to my years of Spanish tutoring. “The Puerto Rican Shadow?”

He nods. “Esmeralda has long headed the crime syndicate from her home on the island. She’s never caused any problems before. A few months ago, we had a slight misunderstanding, and I thought everything had been ironed out. I left Nico to deal with it, but it seems as if the head of her local operation is making a move on her own.”

The Puerto Rican mob was never a big player. After years with my father in charge of the Four Seas and then with my brother taking the lead, I would’ve known if they had been. I may not have wanted to be involved in the family business, but it was impossible not to overhear details over the years. “Who?”

“We believe it’s my brother’s housekeeper, Blanca.”

CHAPTER 37

LIKE A GOOD WIFE

Marco

“The housekeeper?” Jia balks.

“Crazy, I know.” I still can’t quite believe it myself. Nico’s girlfriend had caught her a few months ago snooping around his computer, and he’s had eyes on her since, but the woman is a pro.

She shifts beneath the comforter, and I catch a flash of red lace. “Why would the Puerto Rican mob want to kill me?”

“I don’t think they do, other than to cause tension between the big crime families. If we assumed it was Lei and his band of rebels, we’d break apart the Four Seas from the inside out.”

“And that would make us more vulnerable.”

“Exactly.” My hand nudges her leg hidden beneath the blanket, and she jumps at the brief contact.

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