I shrugged. “I never deal with him personally.” Dean usually arranged the deals with someone from the Cartel, and I supervised what he did. If I had to make and babysit deals on a one-on-one basis, it’d take forever. Delegation was key. But having our shipment end up in enemy territory was a grave enough incident that I’d take the helm of investigating it instead of leaving it up to Dean.
Over coffee, Arturo painted the picture of a simple mishap happening with communication.
“You see…” He paused to chuckle, like everything was well.
I don’t fucking see, you asshole.
“We originally had a different, smaller shipment arranged to head to Texas. And bear in mind, this was not the same kinds of guns that were supposed to go to them. You’re still our arms distributor throughout the continent. Of course you are.” He smiled wider.
The number of times you’ve saidof coursemakes it mean the opposite.
“It just so happened that the other shipment coincided on the day ofyourshipment. Some wires were crossed—here, not with you, of course—and it seems that yours went to them.”
“It doesn’tseemthat way,” I replied coolly. “Thatiswhat happened.”
“Regrettably,” he said, frowning and donning an immediate expression of discomfort. “It pains me that such a mishap could have happened like this.”
If you saymishapone more time, it will prove that it wasn’t one at all.He was being too fucking careful with his words there.
“And it won’t happen again,” he promised. “I have already arranged plans to investigate who in my employ has dropped the ball, so to speak, and you have my utmost sincerity that this willnothappen again.”
Cue his smarmy smile that didn’t convince me of anything good.
That hours-long conversation of his kissing ass, repeatedly apologizing, and exaggerating his flattery of us had already kicked me into suspicion.
But when he added his idea of showing good faith, I wasn’t sure how to react.
“To make up for this mistake, I would like to suggest a demonstration of the friendship our families can maintain.” He glanced at one of his men with a nod. “Of course, you will have noticed that we immediately refunded the payment you’d given us for the lost shipment. I only want to remind you of that so there are no grounds for any concerns of theft from our part of this arrangement.”
I nodded, obliged to confirm that we had noticed the refund and that the money was back where it belonged after he’d botched the shipment. It was what triggered us in advance of the handoff that something was wrong. “What are you proposing?” I asked with a blunt tone that suggested heshouldbe groveling to make amends with us.
“I am heartily willing to show that we honor this alliance and friendship with the offer of my sister, Carina Isabella Maria Garcia, in marriage.”
I didn’t move.
I didn’t blink.
Did he seriously just throw that out there?
His sister?
He’s arranging a marriage to get on our good side again?
Strategically, it wasn’t a bad move. Arranged marriages were nothing new. When they were orchestrated, they often represented a solidification of a merger or alliance.
It wasn’t what I had been expecting, though. If he’d offered to throw in a bonus or surplus with the next shipment, that would’ve made sense. Or if he’d suggested more checks and balances throughout our process of shipments, I wouldn’t have been shocked.
But his sister?
Before I could commit to reacting one way or another, I racked my mind for whether I’d ever met his sister. The use of her full, formal name wasn’t going to throw me off.
Carina…
I couldn’t put a face to the name. I was aware that hehada sister, only because I remembered my father commenting on how upset she had been at the funeral for her parents.
As a woman in the patriarchal setup of the Cartel families, she wouldn’t have established a reputation for herself. And why would she? These Cartel daughters were often only discussed when the topic of marriage was raised. Same as the Mafia princesses in our world.
“You want to arrange a marriage between your sister and me?” I asked at last.
