Page 100 of Beautiful Dangerous

“Fidel understands why Tony and Emilio had to go. His nephews, they were becoming erratic. Careless. Sloppy. They were as much a danger to their own family as they were to ours, so their removal from the picture, he considers that a favor.”

“A favor?” I laugh, even though there’s nothing remotely funny about any of this.

“This war between our families, it’s no longer necessary.”

“Just like that?”

“With respect, Olivia, I know more about the situation between the Delgado and the Pino families than you do, it’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. And Fidel and I…” He sighs quietly, and drops his head again, shaking it slowly before his eyes are once more on mine. “It makes no sense, to keep on fighting the way we have been. All we’ve been doing is destroying things, for all of us.”

“We’ve taken over half their contacts from them already, Javier. What happened to making the Delgado cartel the most powerful business out there?”

“We’ll still be powerful, but with the Pino family on board too, can you not see how truly in control we will be?”

“Hang on, are you talking about merging the two cartels?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. And that’s exactly what is going to happen. Fidel came tome,Olivia, and for him to do that – that is unheard of. For him to come to me, and almost beg for my help, that took guts. His family, they’re decimated now, what we planned to do to them, it was working…”

“So why stop? Fidel came to you, so what? Let his family go under, I thought that was the whole point of everything we’ve worked toward? I thought that was the reason you had to disappear for two fucking years!”

“It was, of course it was, but after he came to me – after I thought about it, and what it would mean for us, to have their men on board joining forces with ours, Olivia, our business would be more powerful than anything we could’ve imagined. And to all intents and purposes this is the end of the Pino cartel. They’d be joiningus, becoming part ofourbusiness, the Pino name, it’s dead.”

I take another moment to let everything he’s saying sink in. It still doesn’t make complete sense to me, but if this is what Javier wants, he’s right. I don’t get a choice in the matter. Not anymore. And then I remember what he said just a few minutes ago, when I’d questioned him about running the cartel together…

That was never really going to happen…

“When are you planning on telling everyone else about this merger?” I’m trying to keep the anger out of my voice because facing off against my husband right now is not the best idea.

“Fidel is talking to his people as we speak, as I am talking to you.”

“And what about Lucca?”

“I’ll talk to him later. And then I need to call a meeting with the bikers, we’ll organize that for this afternoon, at the casino. Can you ring Merv and make sure the back room is ready for us?”

What the fuck am I now? His secretary?

“And you and I, Olivia, we have much to organize, too.”

He’s going to start talking about vow renewals and babies again and I feel my stomach contract in a wave of nausea. I’m really not in the mood for this, not right now.

Not ever…

“We need to decide what we’ll be taking with us, when we move.”

“Move? Move where?”

I feel my heart shudder, and my stomach drops further as Javier’s mouth lifts slightly in a sideways smirk. “Mexico.”

The wave of nausea returns, swamping me, my throat tightening. “Mexico?”

“Yes. I want to run things that side of the border, and it means I can work more closely with Fidel. He’s very set in his ways now, he refuses any kind of permanent move to the US.”

“So, you’re lettinghimdictate wherewelive?”

His dark eyes bore into mine. “It’smydecision to move, Olivia, nobody else’s. And we need a new start. A brand new beginning, this is our perfect chance to have that.”

“I know, but…”

“Thereareno ‘buts’.” He stands up, in his eyes it’s over, he’s done with this conversation now, but I’m reeling. I’m trying to process too much information thrown at me in such a short space of time, and it’s overwhelming. “You need to start thinking about what you want to bring with you to Mexico. The house is already being prepared for our arrival.”

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