Page 12 of Queens and Monsters

Jasmine’s blue eyes opened wide as she looked from me to Em and around the room. In our few meetings, it was becoming clear whymí padrementioned her to me. Her beauty was unique. I’d had a difficult time, even in the meeting with the capo, thinking of anything other than last night’s encounter, the way her body responded to me. Taking her out into the city didn’t sit well with me. Nothing since I found her with Em had sat well with me. He was my friend andmí padre’ssoldier, but if he continued to put his hands on Jasmine, I would need to cut them off. The announcement that she was to be mine was supposed to wait. Dario Luciano had not fully agreed. There was more negotiation.

“No one’s watching,” Em said. “They won’t even notice.”

A sad shadow swept over her beautiful face. “You’re probably right.”

I was good at many things and extremely good at others. Give me a problem and I could navigate the web, light and dark. I could find answers to questions people didn’t even know they had. I was accurate with a gun and deadly with a knife. I’d never walked away from a battle. Something else I’d learned to do as the second son of the leader of the Roríguez cartel was read people.

Some individuals such as the capo dei capi were more difficult. He excelled at concealing his expressions. Jasmine was by contrast an open book. Last night she was both frightened and turned on. Tonight, she was less scared, yet cautiously leery. The shadow that just passed over her expression was another layer.

Sadness.

What does this gorgeous woman have to be sad about?

Her voice was low. “I should tell Piero.”

Em stepped closer, his expression calculating as if he had everything planned. “Tell Piero that you’re going up to your room. Let him claim ignorance if we’re caught—which we won’t be.”

She looked up at him, now standing closer than necessary.

He winked with a smirk. “Do you think he’ll let you off twice?”

Twice?

Her lips came together in a straight line as she shook her head. “There are cameras in the elevator.”

Em rubbed his palm over her arm, awakening a need within me to tug her away from his touch. I clenched my teeth.

“The guards are busy protecting the capo andel Patr?n,” Em said. “They won’t notice if we step out for a few hours.”

“She doesn’t have it in her to rebel,” I said. “Look at her. She’s a rule follower through and through. She’s probably scared to be without her bodyguards.” A smirk quirked my lips. “Frightening things can happen when you’re out of their sight.”

Jasmine lifted her chin and stood taller.

Watching her feign strength was entertaining.

My fascination with Jasmine didn’t begin last night. No, she’d been on my radar since Cat’s wedding.

My brother, Jano, had done his research. He usually did. That was why he was the right person to take over the cartel when the time came. Although he had a reputation as a hothead, the reality was that Jano strategized. He took the time to get to know his enemies and relished the consequences of hitting them where it hurt. How he found out about Jasmine I never asked.

Once he did, he made his way to New York and learned her routine. After running into her a few times at a coffee shop, he began the conversation. He was invited to a wedding in the Ozarks. Jasmine fell for his lines, and Jano made his unspoken statement to Dario, then the future capo.

Dario’s family didn’t want Jasmine at the wedding.

Jano brought her.

The cartel would work to make the alliancesuccessful on our own terms. We didn’t answer to the capo dei capi. Of course, that was before Jano married Dario’s sister. The threads that bind us were becoming more complex.

With the memories of last night’s encounter, I owed a thank-you to my brother.Mí padrewanted me to marry Camila. I wasn’t against it, but at the same time, I didn’t fight for her. As I looked down at this fiery redhead, I believed this time he had the right woman for me.

“I want to go,” she said. “Meet me in Dante’s apartment in ten minutes.”

“Dante’s?” Em asked.

She lifted her chin toward the foyer. Two guards stood at each side of the elevator. “We’re not going to walk right past them, not together. You two go down first. The doors down there won’t be guarded. I’ll make up an excuse for going down to his place. We still have the cameras, but if they’re not being watched continuously, we might have a chance at the escape.”

I hummed approvingly. “Not your first rodeo?”

Jasmine sighed. “My first rodeo, but I’ve given this possibility a lot of thought over the years. Leaving from Dante and Camila’s apartment is our best chance.”

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