Page 26 of Empire of Carnage
“That simple. However, this ledger, as you can imagine, is very precious to me. It stays in my possession at all times. If I were to be a casualty in this war that willno doubtcome to fruition… Well, it would be a shame if Ignacio were to claim what isn’t his. Wouldn’t it?” My gaze at Gabriella turned into a menacing one so that my message could ring loud and clear.
It wasn’t a threat; it was a promise.
If my tío got ahold of this ledger he would use it to trap every single one of my father’s soldiers permanently, through as many generations as he could until he was dead and gone. I was offering freedom. I was offering a life where I wouldn’t hang the threat of revealing their dirtiest secrets out into the world if the opportunity struck.
Because there were many. You didn’t sign yourself over to the cártel if a life of clean money was something you could easily attain.
“If you help me through this fight, you can retire, without worrying whether or not your daughter is going to be stuck under my heel. That’s a promise. Your secrets die with me.” I stuck my hand out in an offering and raised an eyebrow at him. “Maybe this ledger even ends up falling into a fire at some point. Maybe we can rebuild on a truer loyalty.”
“Rule with respect, huh?” he said as he clapped his hand against mine in agreement. “You’ve got yourself a deal reina.”
“No offense Dom, I’ll take you by my side any day. You’re as fierce as they come. But you’re an old man these days, and aside from your connections, I just need your voice.” He scowled, taking offense at my bluntness. “What I mean to say is, Gabriella over here looks mighty hungry.” I smirked at her, and she returned a matching smile that let me know I was reading her right. “She’s all grown up now. Maybe she wants to fight too?” She didn’t look to her papá for approval and right then I knew she was my type of girl.
“I do,” she confirmed with a steady voice.
“Good girl.” I shook her hand as well and stood from the table. “Then we’re in agreement. Contact the men under you, and I’ll send over more information in regards to finances and where we’ll be meeting soon.”
“I look forward to it. My men will be ready as soon as I give them the go ahead.”
I nodded my approval and made my way out of his home without looking back, my men surrounding me as we walked through the threshold and made our way to the next name on the list.
Every conversation went the same. Old men, tired of hiding their families from my tío, hoping for something to come along and end their bad luck streak. I was just that thing. Soon my papá’s entire council was behind me, and every connection he had was ready to back me. Well, at least those who hadn’t betrayed him for Ignacio or gone running to him the minute todo se fue a la verga.
There was only one place left to go, the place that still lived in the back porch of my mind. Where I tucked away the little girl I had once been and became the woman I was today.
13
Mateo
Aretinal scan and a digital fingerprint of all five fingers were needed before the main doors opened. We were in the absolute middle of nowhere. It was as empty as it got out here in the desert, aside for the five by five metal barrack with steel reinforced doors sticking out of the ground. The doors opened with a mechanical hiss, sliding inside their compartments and allowing us to enter.
She looked calm, comfortable. Like she was in her element. But I’d watched enough of those videos to know that behind those doors was also the place where her monsters tried to eat her. She of course had ended up eating them instead, but nonetheless, no child should have faced the burdens Celia Flores had been made to bear.
It was a tiny steel room with a trap door on the floor, we turned on our phone flashlights and the stairs presented themselves.
“There are many entrances, but to unlock them I have to open the main door and turn the system on then send power to all the other doors,” she explained.
The stairs went down into another room, and there an elevator, with far too many digital screens on it, waited for us. First another retinal scan, another fingerprint on one of the glass screens on the wall. Then a device came out of the wall holding a piece of glass that reminded me a lot of a microscope slide. She reached her hand out to us.
“Who’s got a knife?”
Santos was the quickest, placing the blade in her hand. She gripped it tight, pressing the sharp edge against the pad of her index finger until blood pooled around the blade. She squeezed, the droplets of blood straight onto the glass. She pressed a button, and the device withdrew back into the wall, the lights turning green and the elevator opening up.
“No fucking wonder he couldn’t steal this from you,” Zerkos snorted out.
“He is just a pretender, playing at being the boss. My papá worked hard to make sure that his empire would only be accessible to me.” Her eyes seemed to darken as she turned toward him. “Now he will feel the full force of my fury. He’s going to pay for what he did to my family, for turning my sister against me, and for all the lives he’s taken.”
The elevator opened, and the screen read negative fourteen, which meant we were a long way down. Far below civilization—where no one could hear your screams. It opened up to a massive room, the walls lined with large stones and a cold concrete slab floor. Several hallways split off in different directions letting me know this place was bigger than it seemed. This wasn’t somewhere you wanted to get lost.
She seemed to know exactly where she was going, head held high like none of the trauma she suffered here had been anything but a stepping stone on the way to becoming who she was always meant to be.
She even looked like she fit the part. She wore a black two piece suit, fitted to her curves from every angle. She wore her long black hair slicked back into a low ponytail and her lips were painted a captivating black.
Battle colors.
“How soon can you get Taylor down here working?” she asked Ronan.
“She’s just waiting for you to give her the word.” He had no problem deferring to her, it was an odd thing to see because Ronan Zerkos didn’t defer to anyone.
