Page 112 of Dark Desires

“Peace, huh?” Lev asks. “Let’s hear it.”

Jose smiles. “Thank you for taking the time. Allow me to explain…”

Jose tells us his terms or, I should say, what price he’s willing to pay for us to leave the remnants of the De la Rose cartel alone. He offers to leave the city, to never trouble us again. And he offers a sizable cash payment as a gesture of good faith.

“Christian overextended himself,” Jose says. “That won’t happen again. We have our territory in Colombia, and you have yours here. No need for war. Not to mention, with Christian in jail, and his son MIA, we have the advantage of avoiding any sort of succession crisis.”

“That’s right,” Isabella says. “You can have the cartel all to yourselves. I know for a fact that Omar wants nothing to do with it.”

“Omar,” Jose says. “What happened to that young man, anyway?”

I chuckle. “He’s safe, sound, and in love. All you need to know.”

“Couldn’t have happened to a nicer boy,” Jose adds. “Anyway, are you agreeable to my offer?”

The group and I share a look that makes it clear we’re all on the same page.

“The Ivanovs accept your terms,” Lev says.”

Isa nods. “As do the Mancinis.”

Jose smiles. “Wonderful. In that case, I’ll leave you to your celebration. We’ll be in touch to discuss the finer details of our alliance.”

Isabella leans forward. “Good. And remember--you get one chance. Don’t waste it.”

“Gracias.” He bows his head, relief in his eyes.

With that, Jose and his entourage prepare to leave.

“Jose,” Isa says. “Stay a bit. You’ve given us one more thing to celebrate.”

“It would be my pleasure.”

With that, he and his group head off to join the other guests.

“Well handled,” Lev says. “And that means we can put this war behind us.”

Luk leans forward. “There’s still the matter of the Chinese.”

“And the Greeks,” adds Grigori.

“True, true,” Elena says. “But we’re more than strong enough to handle them.”

Yuri grins. “For now, we celebrate.”

“And you two need to dance,” Luk adds. “Business is over.”

I grin. “There’s nothing I’d like more. Shall we, my love?”

She smiles. “Let’s.”

With that, we leave the table and join the others on the dance floor. I hold her close as we sway to the music. But just as I’m ready to tell her how proud I am, her hand grips my arm. Her eyes widen in surprise.

“Alexei,” she whispers. “I think we have one more thing to celebrate today.”

“What’s that, my love?”

“My water just broke.”