AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You do?” My heart races, and I try to sit up, but the slightest pressure against my belly stops me and holds me down. “Dix.”
He opens his mouth, and I hold my breath to hear what he’s about to say, only he doesn’t say anything because someone picks that moment to knock on the door like the clubhouse is on fire. “Yo, Dix! Open up!”
“Banger,” he growls and stares at the door with enough ferocity to explode the damn thing. “What?”
“Open the fucking door, man. It’s important. You know I wouldn’t interrupt you with your girl if it wasn’t.”
“Shit,” he growls and flashes an apologetic smile at me. “Sorry,” he mouths and pushes off the bed, yanking the door open with an angry scowl. “What?”
Banger flashes a smile as if he knows what he’s interrupted. “Sorry, man, but there’s a problem at Morgan’s house, and we need to get there. Fast. Lucky is there with her. Alone. Get Nova. I’m on my way out.”
“All right. One fucking second.” He slams the door and turns to me.
I know the Morgan name. Papa’s done business with him for many years, but this frightens me.
“Stay here with the girls. Find Letty or Gia, and they’ll introduce you to the others.”
I nod again, “Okay.” I breathe out. “Gia and Letty.”
He smiles and leans in to press his lips to mine, a hard and possessive kiss that makes my heart thump even harder. “Be back soon, fiancée.”
Fiancée. I don’t know how long I sit on the bed and watch the space where Dix just stood, but eventually, I push to my feet and walk down the hall to find plenty of women inside the clubhouse, drinking and playing darts, billiards, and just being together. Friends.
Family.
Most of them probably view me as the enemy thanks to, if not my father, then my brother. So I order a drink from a woman dressed in black standing behind the bar. She serves me with an unfriendly scowl, and I sit at an empty table. And drink. Alone.
“Yo. Valentina, right?”
I look up at a woman with bright blue hair and tattoos, a small smile on her lips. She’s standing with an arm flung around a woman who looks much nicer. “Yes, I’m Valentina. And you are?”
The pretty lady introduces herself. “I’m Letty,” she says and drops into a chair beside me. “And that’s Gia. She looks tougher than she is.”
I glance at the woman called Gia as she sits and rolls her eyes, full lips in a wide smile. “I’m exactly as tough as I look,” she says and leans in. “But I’m only a bitch when I want to be.”
Gia and Letty. Ouch.
I nod and look between the women who couldn’t be more different but somehow belong to this family. “And do you want to be a bitch now?”
She shrugs and leans back with another unamused smile. I know women like her. I’ve met plenty in my life. She’s tough, sure, but mostly she’s scared. “Kind of. Why should we trust you?” she asks.
I shrug in the same way and lean back, mirroring her posture. “I’m not here to earn your trust.”
Her eyes go wide, and I can see Letty start to squirm nervously just as Gia’s lips pull into something resembling respect. “Then what the fuck are you doing here? I mean, really.”
“Not that it is any of your business, but I’m here with Dix. Nothing more.”
Letty sighs, her chin resting in one hand and a smile on her face. “That’s sweet.”
“Is it?” Gia snorts and leans in, even the pretense of humor is now gone. “Or are you here thinkin’ you’re gonna be some kind of mole for your psychopathic father?”
“Psychopathic?” I purr the word and lean forward, again matching her stance. “Is that all you have? I have known that about my Papa since I was a little girl. The things he’s done in the name of the family business would make most grown men cry like babies. So, Miss Gia, I don’t need to be a mole, not when your man and her man are all doing business with him.”
“Your man, too,” Gia reminds me.
“I am well aware of the connection, thank you.” I stare at Gia for a long moment and realize that, while I still feel uncomfortable, it’s good to know these women aren’t just quiet women who do as they’re told. At least Gia isn’t. “What else do you want to know?”
Gia grins. “I thought it wasn’t any of my fucking business?”
“It’s not, but I’ll be around for a long time, and if this will put your mind at ease, ask away.” I give a dismissive wave of my hand that I think will piss her off.
Gia responds as expected. “What do you do for the cartel?”
“Nothing at the moment,” I snort and shake my head as I recall the past couple of years. “I met a man, Jake, in Costa Rica while I was on my first mission for my papa. I failed and he forced me to marry a man he thought would be good for me.”
