Page 50 of Broken Queen
Zira was controlling as hell. Sometimes, I even liked it. On the other side of my recklessness, sat her manipulative, controlling side. But this was the first time that it got on my nerves. I didn’t need her to control every detail of Ernest’s abduction. That took the fun out of it.
“I don’t need assistance,” I said. “I’m just going to knock him out and take him back to my motel.”
“He has a surveillance team working for him,” Carter said. “One of my rivals. They’re not as good as us, but they know what they’re doing. If you do this alone—if anyone does this alone—you won’t get out alive.”
I scoffed. I had already broken into three different members’ houses in this private community. The three of them might have been overly confident, but I didn’t see how Ernest Dumas could be any worse. Even if he had a little security, a game of bullets would only add to the entertainment.
And goddamn, with Zira’s reins wrapping around me like a noose, I needed some entertainment.
“I can handle it,” I said.
“Callen has provided?—”
“Now, who the fuck is Callen?” I asked.
“He owns Universal Medical Industries. He’s another member of the Marked Blooms Syndicate.”
“So another idiot that got into some trouble and begged Zira for help?”
Carter sucked in a breath, but his gray eyes stayed still and glossy. “Callen has provided sedatives that will render Ernest completely unconscious. We can drug him before you?—”
“Where’s the fun in that?” I asked.
Carter pinched his brow like he was getting ready for a real business talk.
“There’s nothing fun about this,” he said. “Killing and capturing are jobs, not past times.”
“Maybe to you,” I said, slapping him on the shoulder. “You didn’t come from a town like mine.”
He stared at me, his eyes flinching back and forth, like I was both irritating and familiar. And for a second, I wondered if we actually did know each other. Oakmont was a piece of shit town, but plenty of people came through. When you were lucky, you got out, but not many of us did.
And sometimes, when you got out, you died in a place like this. Like my sister.
“Let’s make a concession. If you want to do this alone, we’ll stay out of your way,” he said.
“‘Preciate it, man.”
“But we’ll get rid of the surveillance team so you don’t have to deal with that kind of trouble.”
Annoyance leaked into my chest as sweat dripped down my neck. He acted like he knew everything, and that made me itch with jealousy.
“How do you know Zira?” I asked.
Carter paused for a moment, then ran a hand over his forehead. “She helped my wife save my life.”
Zira had mentioned that, hadn’t she? Curiosity spurred inside of me, cooling me down like an icy breeze. It must have been hard to admit for a burly ass man like him, saved by two women. But I respected that. Zira must have respected him as well.
But then that burst of jealousy grew inside of me, knowing that he knew Zira before me. If he ever had sex with her, I’d kill him. And yet, with the way he stood, all stiff shoulders and flexed arms, I knew he hadn’t. It was like he thought he was better than us.
“You think you’re too good for Zira?” I asked in a low, calculated voice.
“When did I say that?”
I leaned forward. “You didn’t have to,” I said. “I can see it in your eyes. You fuck her too?”
His brows furrowed in disgust. “No.”
I let relaxation melt over my shoulders. I didn’t have to kill him then. He hadn’t touched my queen.
