Page 20 of The Love Language of the Cartel

Ozias’s laugh was genuine this time. “Oh,mi amor. The delusional bubble you live in is truly captivating. But I’m afraid you’re in for a rude awakening. If your father comes for me, I’m chopping him down. No question.”

I said nothing, content in my secret knowledge.Let him think he’s won. Let him believe he has the upper hand. My father will find me, and when he does, El Diablo will learn what true power looks like.

All I had to do was bid my time and play along until rescue came. I could do that. I was a Malone, after all. Deception was in my blood. The tension in the cabin thickened as Ozias’s dark orbs bore into mine. I refused to back down, meeting his gaze with boldness burning in my chest.

“How much longer did you say we have until we land?” I inquired innocently.

“About another hour or so. Why?”

My eyes pinged around the enclosed space before landing on a box of playing cards. “You play poker?”I asked, recalling the deck of cards I’d spotted earlier.

He shrugged. “It’s been a minute, but yeah. I do. You?”

“Yes. Play me. No chips. No cash. But if I win, when we land, I’m a free woman.”

“And if I win?”

I paused, unwilling to automatically accept defeat. “You tell me.”

“I’ll tell you after I win,” he boasted.

I scoffed. “We’ll see about that.”

The tension in the air was thick as Ozias and I sat across from one another. I wasn’t even sure if I was in the right frame of mind to play at my best, but I didn’t care. My freedom was on the line. My bones crackled with anticipation, knowing the stakes were higher than ever.

Ozias shuffled the card deck with ease. I watched him closely, convinced I’d find his tell, and when I did, it would be all over for him.

“Ready to lose?” he inquired, right eyebrow arched toward his crisp hairline.

“You’re too cocky for your own good, y’know that?”

“You’re only mad because when you look at me, you see the parts of yourself you try to pretend aren’t there,” he replied before delivering a knowing smirk. “You like the darkness, Demi. I bet it makes that pussy drip, doesn’t it?”

My heart fluttered as I picked up the two cards he dealt. He was trying to throw me off my game. I couldn’t let him get inside my head.

“You know,” I said, my voice dripping with venom as I tried my best to turn the tables, “I don’t understand why my father would ever agree to let me marry a monster like you in the first place.”

Ozias’s expression hardened, a muscle ticking in his jaw. For a moment, I thought I’d struck a nerve, but then his lips curled into a smirk. “You love that term, monster. Tell me, Demi, what makes a monster? Is it the blood on one’s hands? The power they wield? Or perhaps it’s the fear they instill in others?”

I swallowed hard, fidgeting with the nape of my neck, an anxious habit I’d picked up over the years as I fought the urge to shrink back into my seat. “All of the above,” I retorted.

Ozias nodded slowly as if considering my words. “Then, by your definition, your father is as much a monster as I am. Yet you don’t seem to view him that way.”

His words hit me like a slap. I parted my lips to argue my point, but he continued before I could speak.

“The truth is, Demi, I have more foes than friends these days. Your father included.” He leaned back, his gaze never leaving mine. “This arrangement . . . it’s not about love or even alliance. It’s about survival, whether you choose to believe it or not.”

I blinked, caught by surprise by the unexpected vulnerability in his tone. “Survival?” I probed, listening more.“This is the second time you’ve mentioned that now.”

“In our world, you’re either predator or prey,” Ozias explained as his left eyebrow twitched. “I’ve made choices—some I regret, others I’d do again—but they’ve all led me here. To a point where I need your father as much as he needs me.”

I struggled to process the information.Is he manipulating me, or is there truth in his words?The calculating part of me wanted to dismiss it as a ploy, but something in his eyes made me hesitate.

“I don’t believe you,” I protested, but there was less conviction in my tone than before.

Ozias shrugged as a ghost of a smile played on his lips. “You don’t have to. But consider this—in a world full of monsters,sometimes the wisest choice is to align yourself with the devil you know.”

I narrowed my eyes, studying his handsome face for any sign of deception. “You’re lying,” I declared, but the words came out less certain than I intended.

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