Page 89 of King of Hearts

He’d come for me.For us.

I let out a strangled sound as I tried to walk forward but was jolted back by my father’s grip.

“Ivan…funny seeing you here. I came here to pick a fight with Markos, but it looks like you’re trying to run away with his fiancée.”

The words burned from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. I wanted to scream that I didn’t belong to anyone but him, that Markos was no one and nothing.

“She belongs tome. Not you, not Markos…no one but me…so fuck off and get the hell out of here.” My father started forward, his men falling in like a V in front of him.

“See, you’re wrong again,” Juan yelled above the sound of the men moving along the debris.

“Not this again with the baby being yours.” My father rolled his eyes.

Juan laughed, giving us a beaming white smile. “No…not with that. You’re right—by blood, she isn’t mine.”

Juan stepped down from a large piece of rubble, drawing closer, his men fanned out behind him. My father staggered back a step as he saw what I saw. Juan had them outnumbered, vastly so. If Markos allied with Ivan, he might have had a shot, but it was clear that Markos wanted nothing to do with this; he and his men were nowhere to be found. My father had made a massive mistake by not bringing in his full force.

“Do you know what laws we live by in El Peligro?” Juan asked, casually skirting a car that was on fire.

My father spat on the ground near my feet. “I care not for your fucked up family.”

“Well, you will care for this, because it’s law,” Juan yelled in response; the echoing silence seemed to spread around the courtyard.

The feeling around the space was uneasy. I held my breath as I waited for him to speak, knowing there would be gunfire shortly after.

“You see, these laws are absolute, and they matter, so when I say those two are mine, that means they’ve been claimed by me. No one else can have them, and they fall under my protection. There’s nothing you can do to fight it, other than going to war with me over it, of course.”

“I’m not at war with you,” my father shot back, sliding away nonchalantly while keeping his gaze on the men who were suddenly everywhere, surrounding us.

Juan began taking off his vest, unstrapping one Velcro piece at a time until he was slipping it over his head. “You see…you’re wrong again. You declared war when you tampered with my communications, and again when you attempted to leave here with them.”

“They’re mine!” my father yelled, moving his grip until it was a solid piece of steel around my arm.

Juan bared his teeth and suddenly ripped his shirt, exposing his chest.

“Wrong!” he snapped with so much venom I winced. “They’remine!” he yelled so every single soul in the courtyard would hear him.

The look on his face was devastating, like a warrior toeing the line in battle, a man ready to fight his way until death claimed him.

There on his chest, right over his heart, were two black hearts inked into his skin. I hiccupped as I realized what he’d done. He’d claimed not only me, but my daughter as well.

“Mine, and it is law in my family. Their hearts are now on my chest, so you will let them free of your grasp, without issue, or you will go to war with me, right now, right here.”

My father seemed to struggle with his decision as he staggered backward. I could feel the tension in the air as the men around him began to look back and forth between El Peligro circling them and my father at the center of their circle. I tried to look behind me at Alex to ensure she was okay. She was starting to stir, her little blue eyes opening, no doubt searching for something familiar. She couldn’t make me out this far away; the man handling her held her carrier down near the ground, just barely hovering above it, which made me instantly nervous.

These men killed for a living. They’d killed entire families, women, children…probably babies. They’d have no qualms about dropping my kid or tossing her entire car seat toward the enemy. I realized as I glanced back, seeing our surroundings, Ivan had surrounded himself with his men but backed us into a wall so that Juan’s men wouldn’t be able to circle from behind, which only meant he’d have more leverage to use me or Alex as hostages.

“I’ll go to war then,” my father finally said through clenched teeth, grabbing a hold of me tighter than before. “The first casualties in this battle will be the two hearts on your chest, you fucking idiot.”

I screamed.

I screamed so terrifyingly loud that I thought my voice would leave me entirely. I thrust what I could of my body backward to try to protect my daughter, but whatever I thought was going to happen didn’t. My body went slack as my father’s grip released me and he staggered forward. I watched in confusion as blood began to bubble from his lips, and his men seemed to be at a loss as well. Then Kyle sidestepped the man he’d just killed, the bloody knife dangling at his side.

Decker was behind the man holding my daughter, holding a gun to his head. The man who had been with them at the wedding, their Uncle Scotty or something, was behind another man, holding a gun to his temple. My father’s men lifted their arms in surrender and stepped away from the circle they’d formed with Alex and me inside.

I unbuckled my daughter as she began to wail, and I clutched her to my chest as I tried to soothe her. Kyle handed the bloodied weapon back to his uncle, who tossed the knife under one of the burning cars. Decker lowered his gun, handing it over to his uncle as well.

“You…” I started but couldn’t speak over the bubble in my throat.

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