Carrera Cartel: The Collection Read online

  Copyright © 2020 by Cora Kenborn

  Cover design by Cover Me Darling, LLC

  Editing by Mitzi Pummer Carroll

  Proofreading by KC Fernandez

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. The following story contains mature themes, strong language, and sexual situations. It is intended for adult readers.

  This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchase for your use only, then please return to your e-book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in the work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owner.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  BLURRED RED LINES

  Playlist

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Epilogue

  FADED GRAY LINES

  Playlist

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chaper Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Epilogue One

  Epilogue Two

  DRAWN BLUE LINES

  Playlist

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Epilogue

  STAINED WHITE LINES

  Introduction

  Playlist

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Epilogue

  Bad Blood

  Darkest Deeds

  Prologue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Author Library

  Author Links

  Carrera Cartel Collection

  Blurred Red Lines

  Carrera.

  A word whispered in fear and respect.

  A name to avoid at all costs. Until I see something I shouldn't and come face-to-face with it.

  Abducted. Held against my will. A prisoner of a war I know nothing about.

  But my kidnapping is more than a case of mistaken identity, and my captor is more than a stranger.

  He's the heir to the devil.

  Faded Gray Lines

  I never meant to start a war.

  Then I fell for the b
oy my mother warned me about. A soulless killer for the Carrera Cartel.

  We were the virgin and the villain.

  The debutante and the devil.

  He swore we'd end in ruin.

  I swore love would conquer all.

  I was wrong.

  Drawn Blue Lines

  Brody Harcourt exposed me as a fraud, turning me from a queen into a pariah.

  Now there will be hell to pay.

  But I'm back for more than revenge.

  More than blood.

  My eye is on the prize.

  The Carrera throne.

  Stained White Lines

  (Bonus Novella)

  Every great rivalry has a beginning.

  Ours was my sister’s wedding.

  An event that masked the joining of empires.

  Betrayal changed everything.

  Carrera. Santiago.

  One bullet started a war.

  Two stained our history red.

  BLURRED RED LINES

  Carrera.

  A word whispered in fear and respect. A name to avoid at all costs. Until I see something I shouldn't and come face-to-face with it.

  Abducted. Held against my will.

  A prisoner of a war I know nothing about. But my kidnapping is more than a case of mistaken identity, and my captor is more than a stranger.

  He's the heir to the devil.

  A ruthless cartel prince who takes everything and promises nothing.

  I should hate him, but the deeper Valentin Carrera drags me into his corrupt world, the harder it becomes to resist either one.

  He's determined to take more than my freedom.

  He wants to own my soul. I'm at his mercy. A plea that means nothing to a man whose hands are stained with blood.

  Until that stain? That blood?

  It becomes mine.

  And I'm no longer a prisoner of war.

  I am the war.

  For those who have ever wondered how completely different your life would’ve turned out if only you’d closed your eyes and leaped. . .

  This is for you.

  Playlist

  Till I Collapse - Eminem, Nate Dogg

  Bring Me To Life - Evanescence

  End of Me - Apocalyptica, Gavin Rossdale

  Gun In My Hand - Dorothy

  Dark Nights - Dorothy

  Mad Hatter - Melanie Martinez

  Pony - Ginuwine

  Criminal - Fiona Apple

  I Put A Spell On You - Marilyn Manson

  Closer - Nine Inch Nails

  Creep - Radiohead

  Stay - Shakespears Sister

  Pretty Baby - Vanessa Carlton

  Hands To Myself - Selena Gomez

  Without You - Lana Del Ray

  Bad Blood - Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar

  Love On The Brain - Rhianna

  Issues - Julia Michaels

  Listen to the Blurred Red Lines playlist!

  Prologue

  There’s a fine line between love and hate.

  I’d heard that cliché all my life thrown around by half-interested adults who gave few fucks about either one. The idiom du jour served to placate me enough to remove my adolescent angst from blocking Monday night football and return to my room, where I belonged.

  It wasn’t until my heart blackened to a charred void that I understood the true meaning of the phrase. I found it amazing how much that fine line thickened while sweat dripped from the brow of someone I loved as I aimed a gun at his heart.

  “Eden, you don’t know what you’re doing.”

  His image blurred although my hand held steady. “Yours is the betrayal I never saw coming…congratulations.” In my head the words sounded cold, despite the wetness that trailed from the corners of my eyes. Crawling to my feet, I paced the small space in front of him before I realized I’d uprooted from my spot. Keeping my breathing shallow, I focused on inhaling only when necessary. The run-down house reeked of dank mildew and death.

  The number of deaths that would be added to the stench remained to be seen.

  “I never wanted to hurt you,” he implored, begging me to recall what we’d meant to each other. When I vacantly stared at him, he licked his lips and attempted to reach me on another level. “After all we’ve been through, it ends like this?”

  “You’ve left me no choice.”

  “There’s always a choice.”

  Hatred burned my eyes, incinerating the man reflected in them. “Fuck you.”

  His sigh turned into a cough, rattling his chest. A knowing smile curved his lips. “There’s my feisty girl.”

  I waved the gun in the air—a stupid move on all accounts, but his play on my emotions ripped at my soul. “I’m not anything of yours. You sold me out. You made me believe we were on the same side.” Tears rolled harder, ignoring my commands to stop and pissed me off further. “The whole time you had an end game, you son of a bitch!”

  One step. Two steps. Three steps.

  If I pulled the trigger now, it’d be point-blank range. I couldn’t claim self-defense. True, it hadn’t been his hand that’d pushed me off the step and sent me careening down a flight of stairs. But, in the end, it was his actions that brought me here.

  And I wasn’t the one looking down the barrel of a Colt 1911 .38 Super.

  All this time I’d believed him. All this time I’d trusted him. In the end, I’d been a fool because all this time I’d been used.

  “Eden,” he pleaded, searching for a shred of the affection we’d shared. “I love you.”

  There’s a fine line between love and hate.

  Watching him grovel for his life, I suddenly understood the meaning behind the phrase. When I loved a person, I saw them through rose-colored glasses. Everything was perfect…until it wasn’t. I walked the line until I got knocked off and opened my eyes to the person I’d been blind to. My heart became torn…desperate to recapture the first untainted moments where the line was straight and steady. Before I knew it, hate filled the space where the love vacated, and my heart battled with my head.

  Like an addict who promised one more hit would be the last, I knew it was a lie but told it anyway. I knew I couldn’t stop. The cycle always repeated and I hurt myself until there was nothing left but hate for both of us.

  Unless the cycle ends.

  I thought the past eighteen days had hardened me to violence, so it surprised me when my chin quivered. Vengeance took my salvation, but apparently, a conscience still resided somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind. Maybe that was one thing he hadn’t killed. Maybe that was the last shred of humanity I could hold onto as I burned in hell for the path I'd walked.

  I would’ve done anything for him. He’d held me in his arms and promised to protect me.

  I didn’t bother to stop the lone tear as it rolled across my nose and fell onto my bottom lip, pausing briefly before tumbling down my chin. “I love you too,” I whispered as I unloaded the gun, my mask slipping as he stumbled.

  It’s funny how sometimes the people you’d give your life for are the ones who take it.

  Chapter One

  Valentin

  The chair creaked as I leaned forward for the small glass, while seated at my desk. It pissed me off, and I made a mental note to have Mateo replace it tomorrow. To most people, a creaking chair was a minor annoyance. At the very least, it wasn’t worth the destruction of an eight-hundred-dollar piece of furniture. However, in my line of work, the creak of a chair could mean the difference between life and death. The slightest sound determined whether my head rested on my pillow at the end of the night or splattered in pieces against the wall.