Page 21 of Corrupted

Carlos nodded. He jumped down off the table and sauntered over to the door. "Hades! Get your fucking ass over here."

I couldn't see who he was speaking to, but a male voice responded, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps heading out of the headquarters.

Damon's expression was tense. The muscles in his face were going to hurt later if he kept them as tight as they were.

I gave him a smile, which he responded to with a nod. That was as much comfort as he was going to accept right now.

Mina appeared less apprehensive, but she was getting better at containing her emotions.

Having only been around Kurt for so long, she'd had to relearn how to interact with other people. Including not flinching when the instinct told her to.

Honestly, I wished I had half of her self-control. Whenever she was in assassin mode, she was as closed a book as Damon or Reuben. Only the slightest twitch of her right hand gave away any hint of what she was feeling. Poised, ready to pull out a knife and use it.

I couldn't see one, but I knew she'd have several on her, within easy reach. Reuben would have insisted before bringing her here, but he wouldn't have needed to. She would have stashed them on her with as little thought as pulling on clothes.

The Vipers weren't given to being welcoming towards women.

I was tempted to suggest we take Carlos' sister, to save her from whatever might happen to her. Chances were, he'd sell her to a rival cartel to make an alliance. If she was the wildcat he suggested she was, she'd be pissed off at him for doing that.

Mina must have sensed my scrutiny. She looked over at me and offered a small smile. I gave her a bigger one in return.

Carlos stepped back into the room. "Seems you're out of luck. Enzo met with the wrong end of a bullet last night. He's dead."

CHAPTER 8

MINA

"Do you believe him?" I asked Damon as we stepped out of the warehouse and toward the ocean. Reuben and Gianni walked ahead of us, both quietly furious on my behalf. How did I feel about being robbed of my revenge? In some ways, this was easier. If Enzo was already dead, Damon couldn't blame me for killing him.

If he was dead.

"Not for a minute," Damon said. "Either he doesn't know where Enzo is and doesn't want to admit it, or he's expecting a bigger payday than we can offer." He looked ready to chew rocks.

"Who from?" Gianni asked over his shoulder. "You don't think Kurt would bother, do you?"

"I don't know," Damon admitted. "It might be that he doesn't know, but I can't see him giving up triple the shipment unless the stakes were really high."

"Maybe Enzo ran off with his sister," I said dryly.

Damon snorted. "She might be better off away from Carlos, but with Enzo…"

"Do you know her?" I asked. I was in no way jealous, but I was curious.

"Angelina Jones? Yeah, I've met her a couple of times," he said. "Wildcat is accurate. She doesn't take shit from him or anyone. If he'd suggested he'd sell her, she probably would run off. If he survived the night. She's as headstrong as they come."

"It sounds like you admire her," I remarked. Maybe there was a little jealousy there, but they all had a life before me, I knew that. Relationships, lovers. That was the past. It couldn't hurt me now, except to remind me of everything I'd missed out on. That would always sting, no matter how much time passed.

"He's scared of her," Gianni said.

"Fuck off," Damon told him. "I'm not scared of Angie. She's more likely to get a man killed than kill them."

"Carlos would kill Enzo if he ran off with her," I said.

"Very likely," Damon agreed. "He's probably planning to have Enzo meet the wrong end of a bullet as we speak."

I put a hand on his bicep. "I know this isn't how you want things to go."

"He was going to end up dead either way." He shrugged. "At least, this way, I don't have to kill him. And neither do you."

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