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the cartel ashley jaquavis

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urban books 1199 straight path west babylon ny 11704 the cartel ©copyright 2009 ashley jaquavis all rights reserved no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the publisher excepting brief quotes used in reviews isbn 13 978-1-59983-139-8 isbn 10 1-59983-139-2 first printing january 2009 printed in the united states of america

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5/646 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 this is a work of fiction any references or similarities to actual events real people living or dead or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality any similarity in other names characters places and incidents is entirely coincidental distributed by kensington publishing corp submit wholesale orders to kensington publishing corp c/o penguin group usa inc attention order processing 405 murray hill parkway east rutherford nj 07073-2316 phone 1-800-526-0275 fax 1-800-227-9604

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contents cover title page copyright prologue chapter one chapter two chapter three chapter four chapter five chapter six

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7/646 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

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8/646 chapter twenty chapter twenty-one chapter twenty-two chapter twenty-three chapter twenty-four

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prologue diamonds are forever carter diamond t he packed courtroom was abuzz as the anticipation built and the onlookers stared at the man who made it snow carter diamond was the head of the cartel an infamous crime organization and the entire city of miami knew it scattered throughout

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10/646 the courtroom the entire cartel was in attendance all of them wearing black attire with a model s posture he sat next to his defense lawyer slowly rubbing his salt-and-pepper goatee thinking about the weight of the verdict accused of racketeering and using his multimilliondollar real estate company to launder drug money carter could potentially go to jail for the rest of his life and the case had drawn a lot of heat when key witnesses began to come up missing or dead including a politician who turned informant to save his own behind a slight grin spread across carter s face as he looked at the judge and realized that the chances of a guilty verdict were between slim and next to none just the night before his accountant had wired the judge one million dollars

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11/646 to an offshore account and just to ensure his freedom eight of the twelve jurors had family members missing and in the custody of carter s henchmen at 43 years old he was on top of the world fuck the mayor carter ran the city carter glanced back at his family his beautiful wife daughter and twin sons who sat in the front row behind him he winked at them and gave them his perfect smile it amazed carter s family that he could be in the scariest of situations and still manage to make everything seem all right he stared into his wife s green eyes and admired her long flowing jetblack hair baby hair rested perfectly on her edges as her natural mocha skin glowed taryn his wife was a full-

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12/646 blooded dominican and could have easily been mistaken for a top model at age 38 she was just as beautiful as when she d met carter at 16 carter then glanced over to his daughter breeze the spitting image of her mother and also his baby girl at age 19 she was beautiful intelligent and being mixed with black and dominican gave her a goddess look she had long thick hair with green eyes which made her every man s desire and every woman s envy she smiled at her father letting him know she was there to support him carter looked at his two sons mecca and monroe aka money they were the two oldest at 21 and although they were twins they were completely opposite mecca was the wilder of the two he wore long braids and was a

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13/646 shade darker than money his body had twenty tattoos on it including the two on his neck enhancing his thuggish appearance he was the more ruthless one mecca wanting so badly to follow in the footsteps of his father and become the next kingpin of miami was notorious throughout dade county for his trigger-happy ways money was the humbler and more reserved of the two his dominican features seemed to shine through more than his twin brother s his light skin and curly hair made him look more like a pretty boy than a gangster but his looks were deceiving unlike his brother he wore a neat low-cut and had no tattoos focusing more on the money aspect of the game money was a born hustler and if the streets gave out degrees he would ve had a doctorate and although he wasn t as coldhearted as

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14/646 his brother he wasn t to be underestimated it was in their blood to be gangsters in the early eighties their dominican grandfather ran the most lucrative drug cartel miami had ever seen and their father was his predecessor their family was street royalty by all means the media had a field day with this trial covering it since day one and cnn news cameras and several other stations had been broadcasting live footage of the spectacle for the last six months the sound of the gavel striking the sounding block echoed throughout the packed courtroom when the jurors filed into the courtroom after two hours of deliberation the time had finally come for the verdict.

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15/646 order in the court the judge looked over to the jury pool has the jury come to a verdict all eyes were on the juror as he paused before delivering the verdict and all of the news cameras were pointed to carter trying to capture his reaction to his fate the courtroom got so silent you could hear a pin drop the head juror stood up with a small piece of paper in his hand yes your honor we have we the jury find carter diamond not guilty on all charges as the courtroom erupted with a mixture of victorious cheers and disappointing sighs carter nonchalantly loosened his tie and winked at the judge just before he firmly shook his lawyer s hand.

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