Page 67 of Taking His Heart

Elias laughs. “Wannabe cartel prince. They’re not worth a piece of shit.”

I roll my eyes. “You should have told me.”

“You never would have left Vegas if you knew.” He shrugs. “And my job was to make sure you two were far away from that city.”

“I don’t care what your fucking job is. You should have told me!” I yell at him.

“Okay, well, we’re all here now. What’s the plan?” Aiden cuts in.

“The plan is for us to sit still, wait for the oldies to eliminate the problem.”

“Really? That why they’re sending Aunt Lailani in? Because there’s no threat here?” I counter.

“Aunt Lailani’s coming? That I didn’t know,” Elias grumbles.

Aiden sits up straighter. “Shit just got real.”

“You think?” I huff at him.

Aurelio disappears back into the house with his phone to his ear. No doubt to call his father to try to get more intel on what’s happening.

“I need to go find my wife,” I say.

“You know you could just call her Daniella—that’s her name,” Aiden tells me.

“I like saying my wife way better.” I grin at him. “You’ll get it one day.”

“Fuck, I hope not,” he grunts.

“Well, I for one am not falling down that rabbit hole of a shitshow.” Elias stands. “There is no woman on earth who is ever going to turn me into the raving lunatic that you all seem to become when you get hitched.”

“Daniella De Bellis, get your ass out here right now. Where the hell are you, bitchface?” A female voice echoes through the house.

“Who the fuck is that?” I ask, already walking inside.

I stop when I see a woman with fire-engine red hair, very unnatural coloring, standing in the foyer looking around in a circle.

“I know you’re here somewhere, Daniella. Get out here. I’m not walking through this entire house to find you.”

I stare at the woman, who I now recognize as one of my wife’s friends. I’ve seen her in pictures on Daniella’s social media.

“Who is that?” Elias stops right beside me. I look at my cousin and then back to the tiny woman in front of us.

“That would be Faith Williamson. One of Daniella’s friends,” I explain as I approach the girl. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah, where the bloody hell is Daniella hiding? And you.” She points a finger at me. “You went and married her and no one thought to tell me?”

“Faith, what are you doing here?” Daniella walks into the foyer and runs for her friend.

“What am I doing here? Your bitchface got married without me. And you didn’t even call,” Faith says as the two women embrace each other.

“Interesting friends your wife has,” Elias mutters under his breath. When I look at him, I can see a puzzled expression on his face, as if he’s trying to figure something out.

“Elias, don’t fuck with my wife’s friends,” I threaten him.

“Pfft, I have no interest in fucking with your wife’s friends.” He huffs as he turns and walks out towards the back of the house again.

“I was a little preoccupied. I’m so sorry,” Daniella says to Faith. “But come meet my husband. CJ, this is Faith. Faith, CJ.”