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This is the by-product of his greed. Believing himself untouchable.
Jaime tries to fight off my hold, pushing back, but I dig my foot into his spine and use the imbalance as a counterweight. Within a minute I’ve torn open his neck, severing his jugular, and only let go, removing the wire when he spurts blood from the wound.
He’ll choke on his blood, unable to breathe without blockage.
But before he takes his final bloodied breath, I lower to my haunches and speak loud enough that everyone hears. “Your brother died in a similar fashion, Jaime. I used the same wire that up until a few minutes ago only carried his blood. Dalian took his final breaths inside a gator’s mouth, but I’d sentenced him to death before that. He died thinking you’d betrayed him.”
“I’ll step down and disappear. You won.” Placido’s voice is shaky, some might say stressed, but I know better than to believe an asshole like him has a heart. It’s not grief he’s facing, but self-preservation.
“No.”
“I’ll pay you to let me live.”
“No.”
“Then what can I do? Tell me, and I’ll—” President Placido Rodriguez didn’t get to finish begging for his life as Amberlyn raised the gun I’d given her from my collection and fired the first shot. Her decisiveness in stressful situations leaves me in awe of her. She did the same thing with Karen; Mermaid laid no blame on the woman who the Uriel brothers abused and forced an addiction upon.
Moreover, she offered to help them get settled after my guards retrieved her husband and reunited the pair shortly after we landed. And tomorrow, when they’re back on American soil, I vowed to buy them the house this family promised and failed to deliver.
Following Mermaid’s lead, I sank a bullet into his skull and then through his neck, as did those traveling with us. Every clip was emptied on a man worth shit, and who’d more than deserved the ending he got.
He ruined many lives and targeted my family, but his biggest mistake was threatening the safety of the woman intertwining her fingers with mine as we exit. She comes above all others, my biggest sacred rule, and I’d bring him back from the dead and do it all over again if I could.
Cheers ring out in the streets as we exit the palace. Many dance, some cry, and others drink to the end of an era not worth mentioning in the history books. No, it’s time to remember what once was and what will be again: a culture of beauty and happiness.
Thriving people. A united community.
The devil lives among them now; I’ll be relocating here with Amberlyn by my side to start our own dynasty. Thiago has Miami. I’ll control Cuba. And who knows where the future generations will go.
Yet this place will always be home.
They’ll live in peace, and I’ll have my ports, and no one steps out of line.
I want a future here. With her, my sirenita.
In the back of the chauffeur’s car, Amberlyn rests her head on my shoulder, still holding my hand. “Are you ready to start the next chapter with me, Ivan?”
A simple answer. No hesitation.
“Yes.” What’s more, I kiss her temple and nuzzle the soft skin there. “But I don’t want one chapter, bebe.” In my pocket, I’ve been carrying a ring since she disappeared. When I knew I couldn’t let this treasure slip through my fingers again. “Today, tomorrow, and always. I want to own all the tomorrows we have left to share.”
“Papi, that’s so—”
“Marry me, Amberlyn Ibarra. Claim my future as I’ve already laid claim to yours.”
“Yes.”
Eight Months Later…
* * *
“YOU’RE FREE TO go,” I say, tapping the metal door keeping Kyle Montgomery trapped inside a small room in the basement of the private estate Amberlyn and I built in Cuba. He was smuggled in with Henry months ago, kept on the family compound, and then moved here when the accommodations were finished. I didn’t kill him. Instead, I served as judge and jury while serving him with a one-year sentence that I’m ending today for good behavior. “My men will escort you home.”
“I’m free?” He stands from the cot and walks to the metal bars of the door. This room isn’t like the standard jail where my livestock roams and eats on the compound, but more refined. It’s on the lower level of the main house; comes with basic human commodities and three meals a day. After all, I do plan to do business with the man.
He has connections. New routes to move merchandise.
Thiago also sees this now, and I plan to exploit every single one of them for my family’s gain.
