Page 13 of With This Ring

CHAPTER 6

CARTER

Idon’t want to have this meeting today, but it’s best for my family to integrate more with the St. Clair’s inner circle now than right before the wedding in three days.

Three fucking days, I’ll be a married man. I can’t say it doesn’t piss me off. Despite how brutal this business is, Mom and Dad’s marriage was the real deal. Dad loved Mom and she loved him right back. He gave her everything she wanted and needed. The only thing he wasn’t able to do is save her from the bullets that were meant for him. The bullets she took for him.

I’ve wanted a marriage like that. Sure, it would have been hard, not many women understand the game and how dangerous it is. But I figured I’d have all the time in the world to find that special someone that would be Mrs. Whitlock.

Now, I’m marrying my enemy. It doesn’t matter than he’s a man; it’s the fact that it’s fuckingKai. Of all people, I have to tie myself to him.

I’m not naive enough to think it will only be for a matter of years like Kai is. This is for life. Our lives will be forever intertwined, and I fuckingdespisehim for it. My dad and Charlie St. Clair are also on my shit list.

It’s hard to be pissed at my dad, but he knows how important it is to make my own decisions. He said he would never use me or Declan as a pawn in his games, but that’s what he’s doing. Maybe he doesn’t see it as a game because if we don’t align ourselves with the St. Clair’s, we’ll end up dead. It’s a matter of survival. But fuck if I don’t feel a little miffed that I have no say in who takes my last name.

Will he take my last name? Knowing Kai, he’ll fight me on that, even if he doesn’t care.

“Fucking asshole,” I grumble under my breath, but Gavin hears me.

He glances over at me with a raised eyebrow. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” I say, not wanting him to know that I’m bitching about Kai taking my last name, even though I don’t want to be married to him at all. “Listen, don’t start bullshit today. It took Dad hours to convince Charlie not to kill you for your disrespect. I’d hate to kill that family off before this truce even got started.”

Gavin grins at me, but I can see he’s at least a little apologetic. One thing I can say about Gavin is he’s loyal and his loyalty doesn’t have a price tag. He’d never fuck me and my family over, no matter how bad his ego wants to rebel.

“You got it. I’ll be cool.”

I take his word for it because he’s not the type to lie.

Instead of meeting at our casino like we did last time, Dad agreed that it’s best to meet at theirs, to make the arrangement seem equal. I honestly don’t give a fuck where we meet. This marriage is happening, whether I like it or not, so where we meet to talk is the least of my concern.

My biggest worry? Kai coming to live with me. After Kai stormed off the other day, Charlie said that part of the deal is nonnegotiable. I broached us not living in the same place, under the guise of not being together if someone tries to kill one or both of us, but my Dad and Charlie saw right through that shit.

“You’re stronger together,” Charlie said, and Dad agreed.

I wouldn’t live with Charlie and Kai, so I guess it was settled. Why does Kai still live with his father? We’re the same age, but he has a room at his father’s place. Yeah, it’s big as fuck, but why not have his own home? I moved out of Dad’s house when I was nineteen, happy not to be under his watchful gaze all the time.

The Indigo Arc Casino is the first casino the St. Clair family built when they started buying up real estate, from what my father told me. It’s small, showing their lack of knowledge of casinos and their builds. Though I’m not sure how. Kai owns a construction company—why the fuck he hasn’t given this casino a facelift is beyond me. So he won’t embarrass me in this marriage, I’ll make him shut this place down for at least half a year so I can make it better.

There are no patrons today, the casino closed down for this meeting. With two rival mafia families gathered in one place, it’s smart not to have innocent civilians around. If this meeting goes awry, having an empty casino would benefit everyone.

When we step inside, a guard from my family and one from the St. Clair’s stand beside the door. I clap hands with Richard, one of our guys and give the St. Clair’s man the once over, dismissing him with a twist of my lip.

“Gotta search you,” Richard says. “No gun policy.” He looks pointedly at Gavin.

I take my piece from under my arm and from around my ankle and hand them to him. I keep my blade on me. They said no guns, not no weapons. I learned that little tidbit from Kai, when he pulled a knife on me at The Devil’s Den. It’s a handy weapon to have at the ready.

Once we’ve handed over our guns, the St. Clair man tells us where to go to get to the gathering. Gavin walks ahead of me, checking in the spaces of the doors to make sure no one popsout. Despite how much he jokes around, he doesn’t fuck around when it comes to my safety.

We make it to the gathering and there are wall to wall dangerous motherfuckers. On one side are my people, standing behind my dad and on the other side are the St. Clair’s, posted up behind Charlie. While Charlie and Dad have been working together on this bullshit arranged marriage for months, they still don’t trust each other. It’s evident in their eyes and their posture.

Kai is leaning against a window across from the door I just entered, directly in the middle of both families, his arms crossed over his chest. His expression appears bored, but I can tell he’s on high alert. When his gaze locks on mine, his eyebrows dip further and his lip curls.

Fuck him.

I don’t take a page from his book—I go to stand by my father, facing the enemy. Facing the family I have to tie myself to for survival.

Charlie grunts, his gaze straying over to Kai, then back over to us. “Let’s get down to business. Our families have been at odds for decades. Now it’s time to let bygones be bygones, for the sake of our families’ longevity.”

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