Page 6 of Obsession & Oath

God, I hope I’m the reason he’s suffering.

“Carmen Rubio.” His greeting rings through the room.

The other men and women fall silent and turn to look at me. Some with distaste, others with concern. I scan the crowd for people I recognize.

To Leon’s left is Teo Vitale, his second. Which means the rest are likely others from the Prince’s Guild inner circle. I spy Martino or whatever-the-fuck in the corner practically leering at me. Someone shuffles behind me, but I can’t turn to see with my restraints.

Then something shifts in my periphery, and my heart stops beating.

Her fiery hair is exactly the same. It’s impossibly slick waves fall just beyond her shoulders. She leans against the door, lean but still muscular. She has enough strength to take down a man triple her size.

I know because I’ve seen Red in action before.

She doesn’t meet my gaze. In fact, she looks anywhere but at me.

I don’t look away, letting the anger back out of its perfect little box. I don’t even look away when Leon starts speaking again.

“She’s proven to be quite the liability,” the don tells his little band of merry idiots. “We can’t afford to keep moving her with our current resources. Our options are becoming limited.”

I let a smirk tug at the corner of my lips.

Red still hasn’t looked at me.

“I say we kill her and get it over with,” number-two-on-my-list bites out immediately. The suggestion is met with a murmur of approval.

“Fuck you, Alex.”

If I hadn’t been watching her so intently, I would never have believed the words had left her mouth.

With all eyes on her, Red pushes herself from the door and walks straight to Leon.

Her husband.

“Killing her is not an option,” she says with a hand on the don’s shoulder. She’s powerful, poised, and staring daggers at Alex…oh, that’s his name.

If I hadn’t already suspected that Alex had a mental deficiency, there was no doubt about it when he squared his shoulders to verbally retaliate. “She’s a menace and a liability. It’s the cleanest solution.”

“You so much as touch her, and I’ll hand you over to Amos Rubio myself with your head shoved between your ass cheeks.” Red barely has to raise her voice to be threatening. I’d be impressed if it weren’t for…

“Mia,” Leon warns his wife softly.

That’s not my Red.

That’s Mia Natali, mercent for hire and spy for the Prince’s Guild, the woman they sent to befriend and use me for information on my father. Information she then passed on obediently to her husband, our greatest enemy.

If I’m being honest with myself, the root of my anger lies with my own self. For being so fucking naive.

“Carmen isn’t just Rubio’s daughter,” Mia continues as if I’m not even there. “She’s his sole heiress. She’s the Cartel’s bargaining chip for alliances across the border. Without her, they can’t marry her off to the highest bidder and claim the spoils.”

I stare at Mia blankly, wondering how she found this out. Was it when she was snooping through my father’s rooms when she was supposed to be looking out for me? Or does she still think enough of me to bother doing her own research?

“All I’m hearing is a more compelling argument for killing her,” Alex mutters under his breath.

Mia reaches for her gun and points it at the back of Alex’s head.

Leon quickly reaches up to lower her arm.

“We can’t kill her,” he says resolutely. “Not when it means we can keep the Cartel cut off from any further support. She’s valuable to them beyond sentimentality, which means she’s a bargaining chip I’m not prepared to lose. Give me other options.”

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