Page 24 of Ruthless Rival

Alberto stared at me as he paused. “I don’t usually work with people who run out of meetings,” he stated in an even tone.

The corner of my mouth curled up as I moved to sit in the cushioned chair in front of his desk. He hadn’t told me to get out yet, so I intended to speak my piece. “Aw, don’t be upset with me. I had to run out or I wouldn’t be able to resist your charm,” I said with a fake pout. Some part of this was true, but he shouldn’t know that.

Alberto tightened his jaw. “So, you were just messing with me?” he asked.

Something sounded sad about his tone. He probably didn’t mean for me to hear it, but his agitation faded for just a second to let his tone shift lower.

I had studied him enough during dinner to notice it. “No, I don’t mess around, Mancini. That’s why I asked you out,” I replied.

Alberto scoffed. “Whatever game you’re playing, I’m not interested,” he said. “What do you want from me?”

“A partnership,” I told him. It wasn’t what I wished for the most in life. I wished I could get my children back and that Alex was alive. However, this was the one wish I could actually execute at the moment.

“You didn’t seem all that inclined to work with me the other night,” Alberto reminded me.

“Momentary lapse in judgment. No one likes being painted as a cheap whore,” I replied evenly. This point had been when I started to lose control. The kiss was when I reached my breaking point and snapped under the pressure of my desire for him.

“Which I didn’t mean to insinuate,” Alberto told me. “You know that money can buy actions from people as much as it can buy food at the grocery store.”

My father hardly used money to sway people. He usually resorted to violence, beating people up to scare them without having to pay them a cent. Alberto had more mercy than him, using his mind to conjure up a non-violent solution first, which probably worked most of the time because people were money hungry.

“I don’t want your money. I have plenty of my own,” I assured him. It would take a long while and many costly shopping trips to spend all of the money Señor Mora left to me after he passed away. “So, you want the governor to do something for you, right? I know you don’t just want to be friends with him. The man is insufferable.”

Alberto eyed me for a few seconds before nodding. “I want him on my payroll. He refuses because that evidently goes against his morals. Either I need to convince him otherwise or just give him no other choice but to cooperate with me,” he explained.

Exactly what I figured and didn’t affect me negatively from what I could see so far, so I was willing to help him if he helped me in return. “I have an idea in mind for that. You won’t have to do any dirty work at all. That’ll be up to me,” I said as I crossed my legs, seeing his eyes flash down to them briefly. I bet he wanted to stare and drink up the sight of me. Heat threatened to gather between my thighs, but I stayed focused on the plan.

“What do you have in mind?” Alberto asked, sitting up straighter.

“The governor can’t lose his reputation if he wants to stay in power.” I stared back at Alberto. “The easiest way for me to get him to roll over is to threaten to show the public a side of him he doesn’t want them to see. All I have to do is seduce him, which will be easy, and take some dirty videos of him. I’ll give you the videos and let you bully him into working with you.”

Alberto’s eyes widened and he didn’t try to hide it this time. “You’re going to record yourself having sex with him and use it as blackmail?” he questioned me.

“Didn’t think I’d stoop to that level?” I asked him. I tried to be civil and stay a good person as much as possible, but there were always exceptions to my usual actions. I had to stay flexible in a cruel, unpredictable world.

“Everyone has their own way of doing things,” Alberto said. “If that’s the way you choose, I’ll use the videos to coerce the governor into working with us.”

Now, it was my turn to get what I wanted. “Are you familiar with the Castillos?” I asked.

Alberto scoffed and stood from his chair, putting his back to me as he gazed out of one of the windows in his office. “Of course. We have a truce right now, but they tried to kidnap my daughter and burn down my place in Cutover a few months ago. The only reason we have a truce is because Santiago Castillo’s son is in a coma.”

I needed him to be angry, to hate the Castillos. I didn’t care if it made him sour toward me. I would win him back over with my plan and we would be partners in no time. “And do you think you’re strong enough to take them down?” I asked as I slowly and quietly rose to my feet. My eyes latched onto him as I carefully crept my way over to him behind his back.

Alberto chuckled low. “What kind of question is that? Of course,” he said. “We’ll stop at nothing to take them down and run whoever is left alive out of town, once the truce is broken.”

The second Carlos’ heart stopped beating, I knew my father would go to war with the Mancinis whether there was a truce or not. He didn’t care about promises or agreements. He cared about what he wanted in the moment, acting as impulsive as he had always done. “Santiago Castillo is your worst nightmare,” I told him, needing him to realize that this wouldn’t be an easy fight. It could likely kill him and his entire family if he wasn’t careful.

“Why are you speaking like you know him personally?” Alberto asked as he kept his back facing me.

I moved closer to him from behind, placing my hands on his back to coax him to turn around.

He looked unsure and confused.

With a coy smile on my face, I spoke to him, “Because Santiago Castillo is my father, and he deserves to be buried six feet underground for what he’s done to me and others.” Someone or multiple someones would die at the end of this fight. Hell, I had a chance of being taken out, especially once my father figured out that I was actively working against him. I would be the first target on his list, but I would have protection unlike anything else to protect me from him.

Alberto gazed at me in shock, his eyes peering into mine.

I placed my hand on his cheek, feeling how tense his jaw was now. The innocent, cheeky version of myself in his mind immediately crumbled to dust, leaving behind a revenge-hungry, sneaky woman who needed his help, while he needed mine.

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