The Carrero Series Bonus Book: Alexi's View
Author
L. T. Marshall
Reads
125K
Chapters
61
This is a bonus book to accompany The Carrero Contract trilogy.
Behind the suits, skyscrapers, and shadows of New York’s underworld, Alexi Carrero rules with cold precision. But in these exclusive scenes, the ice cracks. This bonus book dives deep into Alexi’s mind—revealing what really burned beneath the surface during his tangled, volatile love story with the fiery redhead who turned his world upside down. From backroom deals to bedroom tension, fans finally get the moments they craved—from his point of view. It's raw, it's ruthless, and it hurts in all the right places.
Chapter 1: The Investment
PART 1: SELLING YOUR SOUL
I watch the lifeless figure lying in the bed as the sound of machines beeping and echoing around me eerily. The only noises coming my way in the darkness of this unlit space. Serenely quiet despite being in a private side room of one of New York’s busiest city hospitals on a weekend night.
The only illumination is provided by the moon coming from the window behind me and the subtle shadowy flicker of artificial light from the hall behind the closed door through every crack.
I check my watch for the tenth time, knowing I should have left already and beginning to feel restless. The numbers glow in the dark at me, almost like an urging beacon to hurry up and get moving, but something is pulling me to stay until she awakens.
Some invisible force keeps me rooted to the spot, waiting patiently and pondering my plans for the rest of my evening. It’s rare for me to get even five minutes of headspace nowadays, but I am savoring the moments of stillness to figure out my next move in terms of the people I still need to see—and her.
She has barely moved since I walked in here. It’s not like she is showing any signs of properly rousing, even though she has stirred several times in the last twenty-six minutes. The nurses have pumped her full of pain relief and are doing well to keep this sleeping beauty in the land of slumber.
My phone discreetly buzzes in my pocket, impatient for me to get on my way. Mico is probably asking me what the wait is about as he sits downstairs with the car running. We have so much still to do tonight after this little fuck-up with Tyler’s men taking one of mine.
The stupid fool kidnapped Little Sophie and is still breathing, not that it’s my choice. I would have buried a bullet in the dumb fuck’s skull had it been down to me.
Sophie is family. Even if she isn’t blood, she is as good as family, and no one touches the Carrero family if I have anything to do with it. I watched that kid grow these past years and consider her one of us. I have real affection for her.
Tyler, however, is important to an ally, which means I have to play nice and follow the rules to keep this amicable, against all my instincts. Tyler’s saving grace.
It’s churning me up inside, making me aggravated and tense. Those waves of raw animalistic urges coursing through me in a frenzy that I must keep under wraps. That longing to snuff out the insult by removing Tyler permanently would have gone a long way to ease my rage, instead of standing in a quiet hospital room with a strange girl and pondering all this.
It doesn’t silence the part of me that sharpens when someone forgets who they’re speaking to. Disrespect me, undermine my authority—and I don’t forget. That’s a major misstep.
I’m not good at waiting. Already, the restlessness of being still races through every muscle and nerve ending.
My family is my only real weakness, almost like a trigger that should carry a clear warning for all to see. It gnaws inside me and pushes my simmering anger to the surface in the worst ways. To know someone dared to touch one of them, one of my kin, one I love and care about—but I am doing well to control it. Always the master of control on the outside.
It’s what I excel at, after all. A blank slate on the surface while the storm rages within. The disorder of my brain and body is kept behind so that no one would know it exists. I am famous for my cool and cold exterior, but very few know of the chaos that dwells inside me.
The result of the blunder is that now I own this piece of skirt lying in bed before me, looking like she’s been mauled by dogs and is half dead.
Not that I have any need for a woman in my life, let alone one now owing me fifty grand. I have enough fuck buddies and no desire for anything else. Saving Sophie came with a price tag and baggage I definitely did not need.
Camilla Walters—infamous drug-pushing party girl to the rich and famous in this city. Known for underhanded dealings that got her jammed in a bad spot and a ticking clock on her lifespan, if I hadn’t handed over the money she owed to save her skin. Sophie was the reason for doing so, or so I told myself.
I don’t need this headache of a girl.
I could have gotten Sophie without the broad if I had been inclined. However, it seemed like Sophie was her friend, and I always endeavor to make my loved ones happy.
Although…
I am not being entirely honest if I said Sophie was the main reason, though.
Watching her now, I replay the moment my men pulled this redhead from the car and delicately hauled her to one of the four-by-fours to bring her here.
It was a second, a glimpse of just a battered face, unnaturally bright hair, and blood-stained clothes in a tall, slender body that befitted a seductress. Despite the mess she was in, she stood tall, with enough curves to get her noticed. Figure-hugging clothes, even dirty, reeked of class and expensive taste.
She lifted her chin defiantly and walked like a queen, almost unaided, to the awaiting car despite everything they had done to her.
That was no shrinking violet.
That was someone worth paying attention to.
I have no idea why it made me watch her go. Every movement and mannerism told me she was a born player, practiced grace, and probably made men melt at her feet. Distracted at the moment and blanking Tyler’s groveling pleas and apologies as he sweat out the possibility that his time was up.
I watched her a tad too intensely. In that tiny flicker of brief observation, I decided that I wanted her.
I can’t explain it.
