Page 60 of Demanding Mob Boss

"How will you trust me if I rat them out?"

I don’t lie. "We won't at first."

"But trust can be earned," Ronan adds.

She frowns. "How do I know you won't use me just like they did?"

"You don't. Like Ronan said, trust is earned, but know this. We'll never use you as a mule to carry a biological weapon into another outfit's territory. That's not how we operate."

"I didn't know that was how we operated either." The tough exterior crumbles and tears wash into Carmen's dark eyes. "I wanted children, but he planted death in my womb instead."

"Your husband?"

"Did I mention that Bernardino is one of our doctors?"

"He performed your surgery?" Ronan asks, his voice deadly.

No question. My captain is compiling a hit list.

Since they are the fuckers who tried to infect my people with Anthrax, they're already on mine.

"Our chemist confirmed the biological weapon inside you held Anthrax."

"Anthrax?" Carmen whispers.

"Yes. Were you aware your people had access to it?"

She doesn't answer, but she doesn't have to. Her dark eyes reflect the knowledge that what I'm saying is possible.

"That thing wouldn't have just killed me," she says with horror. "It would have infected anyone I came into contact with and anyone they came into contact with until your forces were decimated."

Not to mention the thousands of other people in the city that might have died. People like Anna.

My beast paces inside me, looking for an outlet.

"It was a smart plan," Ronan says. "But it didn't account for the fact I don't beat women."

"Just waterboard them."

My captain shrugs. "You were never at any risk of drowning."

"You scared me."

"No. You were not afraid to die when you thought it was your choice, when you believed your cause was just."

"Not then, no." Carmen puts her hands over her face and turns away like she doesn't want us to witness her grief.

Too bad. That grief will get us what we want. Information.

"Do you want to see him dead?" Ronan asks.

Her hands come down and her eyes blaze with anger now, not grief. "Can you make that happen?"

"Yes," Ronan and I say at the same time.

She nods, seemingly coming to a decision. "They want to take over Chicago."

"The Kicks Bandidos? They're not that big of a gang."

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