Page 13

Chapter Seven

Luciana

I know better than to reach for the steering wheel despite the temptation.

Esteban is stronger than me and clearly trained to drive while pursued.

He takes turns at the last minute but maintains control of the vehicle.

I look at the gun in my lap, and I know I could kill him.

All I’d have to do is tilt it and have it aimed straight at his heart. That doesn’t tempt me in the least.

“Esteban, answer me. Where are you taking me?”

“To your parents’ house.”

“Then why did you stop Ricco?”

“Because I trust no one besides your father and brothers. None of them are here, so no one else gets near you.”

“Domingo? Is he?—”

“Yes. I found out today. I told Josue and Enrique. They sent me to the party to guard you.”

“They let me go anywhere with Domingo?”

“He doesn’t know anyone found out.”

“Then what the hell was that?”

“I don’t know for sure. Something Humberto orchestrated.”

“I heard Paco.”

“And I saw him. I don’t know if Domingo’s in on it or joined in once he recognized the Hierros. He didn’t put up a fight. He took one of Paco’s guns, and neither Chuy nor Cokie did anything about it. Paco just drew another one.”

“He shot at me.”

“I know, chiquita .”

“He knows the car’s bulletproof.”

“He did it to make a point. He will kill you before he lets Humberto kill him.”

“Why would my tío kill him? Because he’s loyal to?—”

I stop myself when I realize the error in my thinking. I tremble and wring my hands. Then I slide my left hand down my right arm as though I’m wiping off something invisible.

“God, I want a shower.”

“You told me?—”

“I didn’t fuck him today!” I scream but then take a breath. “He’s touched me. Period. I feel filthy. We haven’t had sex since before the cafe. I’ve made excuses.”

I finish in barely more than a whisper. Esteban rests his gun on his left thigh as he fishes out his cell phone.

I know he glances over at me, but I’m staring out the window.

When I realize he’s going to make a call, I shift my attention and watch him hit a contact’s name I can’t see before putting it on speaker.

I pretend disinterest until a voice answers.

“Esteban?”

“ Papá !”

“You’re on speakerphone, jefe .” Esteban might use papá ’ s name when he talks about him, but he would never use it when he talks to him.

“Ana, are you hurt? Ricco said Esteban hit him and drove off with you.”

“Esteban trusts no one.”

“I don’t, jefe . If the man’s not in your family, then I don’t trust him with Lucy.”

Mierda . Fuck.

“Lucy?”

?Qué mierda de vida ! Fuck my life!

I don’t want to explain that, and I doubt Este does either. I’ll contemplate why I came up with a nickname for him later. I need to distract my dad.

“ Papá , Domingo shot at us.”

The line goes silent for a moment.

“The gate will open long enough for the car to get through. Drive straight into the garage. I’ll be waiting for you.”

“Pa—”

“Do exactly what Esteban says, mija . You’re as safe with him as you are your brothers or me.”

Why didn’t anyone tell me this sooner? Why didn’t I meet Este sooner? When I look up at him, I understand. My family uses him when they trust no one else to infiltrate a group. The fewer people who know his connection to us the better for us and the safer for him. I sit back and close my eyes.

“ Sí, papá. ”

“Take care of her, Esteban.”

I watch him transfer his phone to the hand that’s holding the wheel. He slides his free one over mine, wrapping his fingers around it and sliding his fingers along my palm. I look over at him as he takes his eyes off the road long enough to meet my gaze.

“Of course, jefe .”

He’s speaking to my dad, but he’s saying so much more to me with his eyes.

I curl my fingers around his and squeeze his hand.

I let go, and he shifts his phone back to that hand.

He ends the call, and I stare out the window again until we pull up to my parents’ house.

The moment Este can inch the car forward, he passes through the gate.

I watch in the sideview mirror as it changes directions before it can even open all the way.

A garage door rises, and he pulls straight in. I see my dad, but I know the protocols.

Este doesn’t turn off the engine until the door’s an inch from the ground.

I don’t touch the car door handle, instead waiting for papá to open it for me.

I glance at Este, and he nods. I’ve never, ever looked to someone for permission to go to my dad.

Maybe not permission, but an acknowledgement that it’s safe.

I watch Este as I unfasten my seatbelt as papá opens my door.

Then somehow I’m in my dad’s arms. It’s always felt like the safest place in the world to be.

He’s in his late fifties and can still run six miles at the same pace he did in his twenties.

He lifts weights in the basement daily and boxes four times a week.

Papá definitely doesn’t have a dad bod. He reminded me of the Hulk when I was little, except he would never shred his designer suits.

This mountain of a man has made the ugly and scary world disappear for the past twenty-two years.

Now I’m looking past his shoulder for Este.

He calls me Lucy, and I call him Este. I’m certain no one calls him that. He’s not a man who goes by nicknames any more than Enrique or Luis do with the outside world. But he hasn’t stopped me, just like I haven’t stopped him from calling me Lucy.

“ Jefe , I need to talk to you.”

I cling to my dad since I can’t run to Este. Whatever they have to discuss can’t be good. I already sense they’re leaving, and we haven’t even gotten inside the house.

Papá guides me inside, and Este follows us. Mamá runs to me and practically snatches me from papá , who wisely pulls his arm away just in time. My mom kisses my forehead over and over, and I sink against her. The danger we were in slams into me, and I squeeze my eyes shut and cling to my mom.

“ Jefe ?”

I open my eyes when Este speaks. He’s watching me, but his head tilts to the hallway that leads to my father’s office. How the hell does he know it’s down there unless he’s been here before?

“Matáis, join us.”

I hadn’t noticed my sister or Matáis in the living room.

He’s holding Catalina while they watch mamá and me.

They walk over together, and my sister hugs me as the men leave us in the foyer.

Este may not have been a part of it, but mamá , Catalina, and I have been in this situation countless times.

In the past three years, Matáis has been part of it, too.

It surprises none of us when, half an hour later, papá and Este are leaving the house dressed in all black.

Este’s wearing some of Matáis’s cargo pants and a long-sleeve Henley.

Matáis keeps a spare go bag here since this has happened before.

Mamá gets a kiss from papá that’s embarrassed my siblings and me since we were kids. Normally, I can’t watch Catalina and Matáis since they’re no better. Right now, Matáis is hugging my sister again as she and I wait to say our goodbyes to our dad.

“ Te amo, papá. ” Catalina and I speak at the same time when he wraps one arm around each of us.

“ Os quiero mucho, mijas. ” I love you so much, my daughters.

I step away from papá as he gives mamá one more hug. I want to share with Este the kind of kiss my parents had, but we know it’s not possible with the others around.

“Be careful, Este.” I keep my voice low, but we know the others notice us talking.

“Go nowhere unless your mother tells you to. Wait for me to come back before you decide what to do next.”

I nod, but his gaze hardens. A silent command I want to answer.

“ Sí, Este.”

“My good chiquita .” He mouths the words as he shifts like he’s adjusting the bag on his shoulder. Only I can see his lips move.

Then they’re gone.

I nearly jump out of my skin when mamá ’ s phone rings.

None of us have paid attention to the movie we’re watching.

Matáis has checked on our guards every half hour for the past four hours.

When he isn’t doing that, he’s shared the loveseat with Catalina.

Mamá and I are curled up together on the sofa.

She reaches for the phone on the coffee table, and I see Cachetes on the screen.

Cheeks.

It’s Enrique. Mamá still calls him that because he had the roundest and fattest cheeks as a baby even though the rest of him was always long and slender.

“ Mijo ?” My son.

“ Sí, mamá .”

Something’s wrong.

“Kiko?!” I try to snatch the phone, but mamá moves it away from me.

“Is Cat there?” We can hear him because mamá holds the phone out.

“I’m here, Kiko. You’re freaking us out. You don’t sound right.”

“ Mamá , put us on speaker.”

No, no, no!

Luis is on the phone too, and I know he’s not with Enrique right now. They wouldn’t three-way call us just to say hi. It’s no one’s birthday and not a holiday.

“ Mamá, papá está muerto .”

There’s a moment of silence before the most gut wrenching, blood-curdling scream comes from my mom. She drops the phone, and I stare at it. Catalina does the same. It’s Matáis who has the wherewithal to pick it up.

“Enrique?”

“Matáis? Thank God you’re there.”

The relief in Enrique’s voice is palpable.

He and Luis must have believed we were alone in the house.

Silent tears trail down my cheeks just like they do my sister’s.

Mamá sobs with a keening wail every few seconds.

Catalina and I wrap our arms around her as she rocks.

We look at each other over our mom’s head. Neither of us knows what to do.

“Who?”

It’s mamá who asks the single most important question.

“He’s dead too.” That was Luis.

“Humberto?”

“No, mamá . The man who did it.” Luis speaks softly as he explains, but he could be shouting for how loudly it rings in my ears.

“What about tío ?” Catalina meets my gaze as she asks.

“Caty.”

Matáis’s voice holds an edge of warning I’ve never heard him use with her before. Only he calls her that. She shakes her head and tries to shake loose of his hold as he wraps his arms around her. I don’t even remember when they both left the loveseat and moved over to the sofa.

“Caty.”

My sister turns a mutinous glare on Matáis, but she doesn’t fight him anymore.

Instead, she lets go of mamá and turns toward her fiancé.

Mamá ’s staring at the phone I put on the coffee table.

She’s wrapped her arms around her waist and leans forward as she rocks.

She pulled away when Catalina turned to Matáis.

My sister has her fiancé, and my mother doesn’t want me.

I have never felt more alone than I do right now.

I have a fiancé—or at least I did. I shouldn’t have to be alone, but I am.

“Kiko, what about Esteban?” I can’t stop the question because I didn’t know I was going to ask it.

“Banged up but alive.”

“Where’s papá ?” Mamá ’ s voice is hoarse already.

“On his way to Rafael’s.”

The mortician. Papá never made it to a hospital.

“When can I see him?”

“In the morning, mamá .”

“I want to see him now, mijo .”

“You can’t, mamá . You need to wait until morning.”

I close my eyes and suck my lips in between my teeth. It’s that bad that Rafael needs the rest of the night to make papá presentable.

“Enrique, I’m going.”

“ Mamá —”

“You may be el jefe now, but I still run this family. You will not keep me from my husband.”

If papá was the head of this family, mamá was the neck that turned it.

They trusted each other implicitly, and mamá was papá’s closest confidante.

She likely knows far too much. It wasn’t like papá was ever a hands-off or an absentee parent, but he ruled the Cartel while mamá ruled the family. It made for the perfect partnership.

“ Mamá , I need you to stay at the house with Matáis. I want all of you in the safe room until I know who we can trust.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

“Ma—”

“Luis, you won’t convince me either.”

“ Mamá , please don’t leave us.”

I grasp her hand as she starts to stand. She stares at me before she sits again. She wraps her arms around me and rocks me as she strokes my hair.

“Kiko, how soon can you get men here you trust?”

“Hopefully, not long, mamá . But I have to be positive before I agree to you leaving the estate. Promise me you’ll all go to the safe room. Matáis?”

“Yeah.”

“Keep my sisters there. Don’t take your eyes off any of them.”

My brothers know what Catalina and I are capable of.

They’ve seen us kill before. Papá made sure we knew how.

We learned alongside Enrique and Luis. We never discuss it, but situations beyond our control have forced Catalina and me to defend ourselves.

I carry a gun and a knife everywhere, just like she does.

My brothers know Catalina and I would have the best chance at succeeding if we wanted to kill Humberto.

They’re just unconvinced she and I would make it home.

“What will happen to him?”

“ Mamá , I’m taking care of it.”

“Will he keep breathing?”

There’s a pause before Enrique answers.

“For as long as I decide it’s convenient.”

Much like I’m not used to the command in Matáis’s voice when he warned Catalina not to do anything, I’m unprepared for the frigid tone Enrique has.

It’s one I’m certain many men hear just before they die.

It’s one that proves he’s already used to running part of my family’s empire.

No one can fake that level of authority in his voice.

He’s earned that confidence that his word is law.

I keep glancing at the door, praying Esteban will come here. I don’t know what he’s doing or if he’ll even think of me. But I need him.