Page 158 of Craving Carla

The office beyond the doors is centered around a long table of polished ebony. At the far end, two white men sit bound and gagged, straining against their restraints with muffled screams. Amari sits at the head of the table, reviewing a stack of papers. Bobby stands on one side of him, while Tofi—ever the daddy’s girl—settles comfortably on the other.

Amari looks up as I enter, immediately setting aside his papers and standing to bow his head.

“My Queen,” he says, a smile playing at the corners of his lips.

“My Queen,” Bobby says, offering me the same respectful bow.

I smile and return Bobby’s greeting with a Black Panther salute—executed correctly this time. He grins back at me, his eyes twinkling with approval.

“What’s going on?” I ask, eyeing the bound men at the end of the table.

Amari clears his throat and adjusts his tie, a gesture I’ve come to recognize as his tell when he’s not being entirely forthcoming. He walks around the table to approach me, and I smirk, leaning in for a kiss but still waiting for my answer.

“I was just going over some legal documents to shut down Brookstone and Blackburn Enterprises,” he says after our lips part. “It would only be temporary, but it’s a start.”

I grin at that. “Are you going to Detroit?”

Amari glares at me. “You know I won’t step a foot off Wintermoon without you.”

I play with his tie, straightening it unnecessarily. “I’m just messing with you. What else?”

“And looking over the five finalists for the Medina Corp scholarship fund,” he continues. “I want to get five Black students into some of the best universities in the country. Each one has begged for a position with Medina Corp when they graduate, which I’m going to approve, of course.”

“Why pick one when you can pick all five?” I suggest. “Just make only one the face of the fund so that it looks challenging.”

Amari smiles, moving closer to me. “You are magnificent. That was my plan all along.”

I look over to the bound men and point at them questioningly. We both look to Bobby, who chokes on a laugh.

“I miss hunting sometimes,” Amari admits, watching my expression carefully.

I place my hands on my hips, narrowing my eyes at him. He looks nervous, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“I have no desire to visit Midnight Moon for a feed,” he assures me quickly. “That life is beneath me.”

“I know that,” I say. “I’m not questioning your loyalty. I’m questioning why you haven’t been forthcoming about your struggles.”

“I told you so,” Bobby mutters under his breath.

Amari shoots him a look. “Shut the fuck up,” he says, but there’s no heat behind it. Bobby just laughs. In the past year, he’s become more of a brother than a lieutenant to Amari. He loves Wintermoon so much that he spends more time here than at the office, and Amari often has to remind him to maintain a presence at the company.

Amari turns back to me, his expression softening into that adorable, puppy-like look he knows I can’t resist. “I was afraid of what you would think of me.”

“What did they do?” I ask, nodding toward the bound men.

“They committed a modern-day racial crime,” Amari explains. “They opened fire at a peaceful civil rights protest,claiming self-defense. Should have been prosecuted, but the law let them walk because of their white privilege.”

“The family has been compensated properly for their loss,” Bobby adds. “We made sure of that.”

I look over at the men, studying them thoughtfully. “Hmm, that’s interesting.”

“I know the law of the vampire,” Amari says before I can comment further. “Don’t interfere with human affairs. I’ll release them and send them back over the border.”

I grin wickedly at him. “Why?”

Amari looks up at me, surprise evident in his features. Then understanding dawns, and he wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me closer.

“You’ve been doing this while I’m in limbo?” I ask, placing my hands on him and pushing him back slightly. “Sneaking them in so you can feed?”