Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 104329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Getting to her feet, Ava wrapped her arms around the other woman, holding her tightly.
“This isn’t fair,” Raven said. “You’re making me cry. My hormones.”
“I know. They’re going to drive you crazy, and you’re going to struggle to make sense of everything, but it will be for your own good.”
Raven snorted. “No. This is not for my own good. This is awful. I hate crying.”
Ava laughed. She kissed Raven’s head and then sat down.
“It’s time for us to eat,” Ava said.
****
Carlos wasn’t leaving Fort Clover.
Drago wasn’t happy with his decision.
“You can’t stay here. This is not your town or your place. You’re needed back home.”
“I can do everything I need to do there, here,” Carlos said.
“Smokey won’t allow me to bring soldiers into Fort Clover. Marchetti is still out there, Carlos.” Drago paced the living room. “Raven will not leave this town. Can’t you see that you fathered a kid with her, but that is all it will ever be? She will never be your wife.”
“Raven will be my wife,” Carlos said. “I’m not budging, and if you continue, I will have you removed as underboss and demoted to a capo in a second. I do believe I have two openings for such a thing.”
Carlos wasn’t in the mood for Drago. He wanted to grab Raven. To take her away and force her to see reason.
She was carrying his baby. They were going to be together, and she had to learn to like it.
Drago put his hands on his hips. “Fine. You want to marry Raven and have your little family with her. That’s fine. You still have a job to do and a role to complete as Boss. You’re the head of the Santiago outfit, Carlos. You can’t stay here. You have to come and deal with your capos. Update them. Fill them in on the details.”
He knew what he had to do, but he couldn’t leave town, not without seeing Raven first. He and Smokey were not exactly on talking terms at the moment.
“What do you know about the Twisted Bastards MC?” Carlos asked.
Sebastian growled. “You’re just ignoring me.”
“You want me to come and deal with business, then I will. I happen to know that the Twisted Bastards MC is Smokey’s biggest fucking problem. Do you think I’m going to leave town with my woman and kid here, without knowing that they are protected?” He knew Raven had left the club today. Carlos wasn’t going to admit that he had resorted to stalking the past three days. Turning into a fucking peeping tom to get a single glimpse of his woman. Raven looked … ill. Did anyone see it? Did anyone see how she was struggling?
He did. It was all his fucking fault, and he had to fix it.
“We know they’ve picked a leader. We’re not sure who yet,” Sebastian said. “They’ve gone to ground, but that is as far as the information we’ve gotten.”
“That’s not good enough.” Carlos ran a hand down his face. “Reach out. I want a meeting with whoever is in charge.”
“That is an error, sir,” Sebastian said. “You swore your allegiance to Smokey. Reaching out to the Twisted is asking for disaster.”
“Then find a way of making sure Raven is safe.”
“They’re not going to attack,” Sebastian said. “They’re rebuilding.”
“Yeah, and I know when someone is rebuilding, it’s for an attack. Raven is not going to get caught up in the crossfire.”
“This is not our problem to meddle in.”
“It is for me,” Carlos said. He hung up the call and threw his phone onto the closest surface available. This wasn’t going how he planned, and he hated it when that happened. Shit like this wasn’t supposed to be hard.
Not with Raven.
Running fingers through his hair, he felt close to the end of this tether. Raven wouldn’t speak to him, and he was done talking with Smokey for some time.
He glanced around his home and at that moment, he hated it. He’d purchased it the moment it became available after seeing Raven.
Carlos knew his obsession began the moment he first saw her, and if he was honest with himself, it had never stopped. Not once had he wavered. Since meeting her, there had been no more women. In fact, from that first glance, when he’d gone home, he’d called all the women he was seeing, told them it was over, and paid them off so they wouldn’t darken his doorstep again.
None of them had.
Drago had thought it was to help strengthen the Santiago line. He expected him to pick one of the capos’ daughters, marry her, and be the nice little boss. Not for Carlos. He’d wanted Raven from the very beginning.
It hadn’t faulted. Not even now.
He had to find a way to make this right, but sitting in his home wasn’t going to make this right.