Page 2 of Beautiful Dangerous

I smile but keep my back to him as I stare out onto the central courtyard of my San Diego estate. It’s dark outside, but the solar lights strewn through the palm trees and shrubs are just enough to make it all look cozy and inviting.

Cozy and inviting.

Something my life hasn’t been for a very long time.

“I’m fine.”

“Areyou?”

I drop my head and sigh quietly. “Pour me a whiskey. And one for yourself.”

I wait a moment or two before turning back around, leaning against the window-sill.

“The breaking the ground ceremony, for the new hotel, it’s happening on Thursday. So, I’m trusting the bikers to get on with distribution without any problems. Can you make sure that happens? I need to be at that ceremony.”

Lucca hands me a crystal tumbler half-full of whiskey and sits down on the arm of a dark-brown leather sofa. LuccaPérez. The only man I trust, with anything. My business. My life…

“I think we’ve worked with the bikers long enough to be able to trust them, Olivia. You know that.”

I take a sip of whiskey and drop my head again, staring down into the glass as I gently swirl the amber liquid around. “Has Casper received payment for this shipment?”

“Money came through half an hour ago. Everything’s good.”

“His product is some of the best out there, so we need to keep him happy. We were lucky to get him on board, he doesn’t allow too many people in.”

“Your persistence paid off.”

I look up, my eyes meeting Lucca’s over the rim of the tumbler. “I saw it as a necessary move. We don’t have time to come up with product ourselves, not anymore. We have other things going on now.”

“Look, Olivia, about that… Dealing in weapons, it’s not something we’ve ever felt the need to become involved in, to any great extent. Most cartels don’t go down that route, Javier certainly didn’t…”

“Javier isn’t here.” The tone of my voice has taken on a slightly colder edge, but that’s because I don’t like being questioned, something Lucca is very much aware of, and yet, he still does it. But he’s the only one who will ever get away with it. “And while I’m grateful for your input, Lucca, final decisions will always lie with me. Besides, the cartel itself won’t be involved too directly with that side of things, we’ve talked about this. You know what’s happening. It’s just another business deal.”

He breaks the stare, finishes his drink, and leaves the empty tumbler on the small glass coffee table before standing up, sliding his hands into his pockets. “It’s been a long day. We should both get some rest.”

“I still have a few things left to do here.”

Lucca sighs and rakes a hand through his short, dark-brown hair. “I’ll make sure the guards do a final check outside before locking up.” He starts to walk away, but stops in the doorway, turning back around to face me. “Seriously, Olivia, you need to rest.”

I smile at him, because I love that he cares so much about me. His concern comes from a good place, but I don’t need it. I’m fine. “Just a few more minutes and I’m done for the day, I promise.”

He remains in the doorway, and I look at him, raising a questioning eyebrow.

“Is there something else?”

“He’d be proud of you, Liv. Proud of what you’re doing; how you’ve stepped up, it was never his intention to put you front and center of all of this, not so soon.”

“I know that.”

“You’re doing good, okay?”

“I know that too, but, thank you.” I don’t need his validation, but sometimes it’s welcome, because there are still days when I wonder if I’m even coming close to running things the way Javier would’ve liked me to. Wanted me to. Taught me to. And Lucca – well, he’d never lie to me. So I believe him, when he tells me I’m handling this.

“Don’t be too long down here, Liv. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He finally leaves my office, but I wait until the door’s closed behind him before I move away from the window, over to a table lined with photographs in various-sized frames of gold, platinum, and silver. Picking up an oval-shaped, silver-framed picture I run my fingertips over the image of a dark-haired man with deep green eyes and a beautiful smile that hid a million secrets. My husband. My dead husband. Gunned down outside his own casino, by people who’d been determined to end his reign as one of the most powerful drug cartel bosses out there; people who hadn’t realized that killing Javier was never going to end his reign. Cutting the head off the snake, in this instance, achieved nothing. We’d mourned; vowed to take revenge, and we’re working on that. It’s all in hand, it’s happening, because Javier’s death will not be for nothing. The men – the family – who ended his life will get what they deserve, make no mistake about that. A war that’s been raging between the Pino and Delgado cartels for decades will be won, by us, I’ll make sure of that. They took the man I loved beyond anything away from me, and in return we intend to take them down. All of them. Piece by piece until they’re on their fucking knees, begging us for mercy.

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