Chained - Zara Novak Page 0,36

wants. It’s obvious you have come here with the intention to set House Cartello up to fail.”

Rose smiled at me, tonguing her cheek in a way that suggested she was done. She looked at Vincent. “Is this how you run your house. Your slave skips about, talking to others however she pleases?”

“She seems to be doing a good job so far,” Vincent said. “Is she correct?”

Carmen took point again. “As a matter of fact, she isn’t, and she is incredibly disrespectful. We will let father know that you are not interested in any sort of affiliation. I think we are done here—”

She turned to leave when I spoke again. “You are not,” I said. “You need us more than we need you.”

Carmen looked back at me, fury brewing in her eyes. “What did you say?”

I must admit I was a little afraid of her. If Vincent wasn’t by my side I wasn’t sure I’d be so bold. Carmen looked like she wanted to launch forward and rip my throat to shreds. “You need us more than we need you,” I repeated. “Your father sent you here with a task. You obviously respect him, so you came here to honor his request, but your personal… issues made you cloud the truth. No?”

“Get to the point,” Carmen said.

“Your father wants something of Vincent,” I said. “It does concern Logan Monroe, but it’s not an assassination. You decided to give Vincent the wrong job. Send him to the right place with the wrong instructions. Della would get her revenge on Logan, and Carmen, well… I understand why you want to foil Vincent. In a strange and twisted way.”

Vincent stared at the trio. “Is she correct?” he said, his voice sharper than a steel blade. The three of them looked down at the ground, seemingly ashamed and embarrassed that I had dissected their plot so easily.

Della let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. “I told you it was a stupid idea. Just give him the letter and let’s get out of this hell hole!” The three daughters looked furious, but Rose fished something from her person and threw it through the air.

Vincent caught the envelop between two fingers. He broke the seal and pulled out a letter.

“It’s a note from Vigliati himself,” he said to me. “Monroe has something that Xavier wants stealing back. An old family heirloom. Is that it?” The daughters would no longer meet Vincent’s eye. Carmen offered the slightest of nods and inspected her nails. “Tell him I accept. This request is much more reasonable than I had expected. If we are done here, then you may leave. Wait outside and my servants will take you back again.”

Without another word Carmen and Della both turned and left quickly. Rose remained behind for a moment. She looked from Vincent to me.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Rachel,” I answered. She obviously wanted more than my name.

“Consider me impressed, whoever you are,” she said. She looked back at Vincent. “You might not realize it Don Cartello, but this meeting in itself was a test. Father wanted to see if you could see through our lies. It seems you couldn’t, but your wife here.” She looked me up and down. “Very impressive. Father may have underestimated you Vincent, you have picked yourself a strong adversary.”

Vincent looked at me. “Oh, I already know,” he said, a hint of pride in his voice. “Let your father know I will regain the heirloom. He will have it within a month.”

Rose nodded and left, heading back outside to join her sisters. Vincent then turned to face me, his red eyes twinkling with promise and intrigue. “You can also consider me impressed, Rachel. I did not expect that meeting to go anywhere near as well. How did you know they were lying?”

“I guess I just have an eye for these things,” I said.

“What of Carmen? Why did she try and ruin the meeting?”

“She loves you,” I said. “I think she came here with the intention of making her own alliance. Seeing me at your side was enough to flip her switches. They had to honor their father’s request though, regardless of their intent towards you. Dissecting their lies was perhaps sign enough that you were worthy enough to take on the real test.”

“Or choosing a partner that could dissect their lies. I can see why Vigliati would send his daughters now, instead of his son. He knew they would complicate things and try to obfuscate the truth, for