Page 73 of Empire of Carnage
“Then I’ll go kill him for you so you can get some adequate rest.” He smirked, pulling away from her.
She shoved him playfully. “You’re a pain in my ass Ronan.”
“And I’ll continue to be that till the day one of us dies, flower.” He reached over the counter pulling a large paper bag and began distributing the tortas wrapped in aluminum foil to each of us as we gathered around the kitchen for our first meal in our new home.
28
Celia
Ibrushed my hand over the black Armani two-piece suit I paired with red bottomed overpriced heels. I couldn’t deny how much better expensive clothes felt than my normal jeans and T-shirt attire. “Finally… you show your face,” Ignacio groaned from his restraints.
He didn’t look nearly as bad as he seemed to be last night, which made me wonder if I should have just killed him instead.
“It was a big night. Had to move into a new house and everything. Who knew the villa could burn down twice?” I mused casually.
“You won’t get anything out of me,” he spat out.
“Who says I want anything from you? Maybe I’m just going to make you my plaything until your body gives out from the pain. You’re a bit expired viejo, I don’t think you can take much these days.” I walked by the metal table, running my fingers over all the surgical steel tools and torture devices.
“You should have come to me Celia, we could have done this together.”
“Together? You mean after you killed my mamá, I should have come to you for help?” I laughed. “That’s rich.”
“I didn’t kill Jamila.” He pulled against his restraints angrily.
“That’s not even a worthwhile lie. Jamila hated me. If you expected her death to devastate me, you were hurting the wrong sister.”
“I didn’t kill Jamila!” he screamed again. “Your hermana lost her shit and went out there after I left her with Guillermo. I would have never hurt Jamila on purpose,” he gritted out.
I lifted an eyebrow.
Curious.
Maybe I did want something from him.
“Tío. Do you have more secrets for me now?” I tilted my head, pulling up a chair and sitting down casually as I waited.
There was no gossip better than family dirt, it was a Latin American right of passage, after all. If you came from Indigenous ancestors, we were well accustomed to passing stories down as history.
There was always time for the chisme.
“I should have been the one to marry her. She wasmine. We had been together for years when Augustin Ortíz killed his own son and then forced her to marry my brother in an attempt to keep his hand in the business.”
“And my mamá just went eagerly? The obedient little pawn she was?” I asked, unsure if I should even bother believing the words coming from his mouth.
“Your mother was as ruthless as you are. You think you’re a killer because you’re a Flores? Nah Celia, that’s the Ortíz blood running through your veins. She orchestrated the whole thing, killed your abuelo execution style in front of your papá’s men and told them they followed Rafa now. Made a big show of that ledger full of bought secrets too before she made it disappear from the face of the planet.”
“Seems like she wasn’t right for a cobarde hijo de la chingada like you then. You make it sound like she was perfect for my papá.”
“Shewas. Then he put her fire out, kept her in the background, away from any decisions until she settled for the realization that she’d lost the very thing she’d dirtied her hands for. I would have stoked her flames. We would have controlled this country together.” His upper lip twitched angrily.
“But instead, you let my psychotic revenge fueled sister kill her instead. For what? To send a message to me?”
“I told you; I didn’t have a hand in it. Your sister is a loose fucking cannon. She makes bad calls up and down, she aligns herself with our enemies because she thinks she’ll gain the upper hand. She’s robbed me blind and used that money to pay my men to do Bratva bitch work.” He spat onto the floor.
“So sheisgetting in with Sokolov?” I asked and his eyes hardened, as if he remembered this wasn’t family social time and needed to stick to his promise not tell me anything.
I sighed, grabbing pliers and a rubber block about an inch in size off the table Mateo had left prepped for me. I stepped one foot directly in front of the other until I found myself across from him.
