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“Excellent. Her boy toy will be at club Em Dívida tomorrow night, and I would love for us to finally meet face to face.”
“What do we need to do?” Melody asked with a bit too much excitement in her voice.
“Nothing. You do nothing. They do nothing,” I directed at Mateo.
“I was going to bring you in with us. As soon as he sees your names on the guest list, he’s going to call Rihannon. One of you will innocently approach him, or lead him astray, and then I can handle the rest.”
“That sounds simple enough,” Peyton mused.
“It sounds vague as fuck, dangerous, and suicidal. Why wouldn’t you just use me? Why would this guy go for one of them?”
“That’s too risky, and it would never work; your mother isn’t stupid. She knows we wouldn’t allow anything to happen to you,” Sergio answered.
“Your mother wants to hurt you in any way she can. Those men she sent to take out Raine only came back to get you next. You’d have been lucky to receive the same death sentence the little redhead got in place of what Rihannon would do to you,” Elias added.
I briefly wondered how he even knew about that, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know Mateo had shared this with him.
I looked to the ceiling as if it could offer me some guidance. I understood my friends’ overwhelming desire to constantly help, but I really didn’t want them having anything to do with my crazy bitch of a mother.
They continued to talk, hashing out details and different scenarios.
By time they were done, I was ready to light Mateo on fire.
We finished our meal and then he excused himself, kissing my cheek on his way out of the room.
“El—” Peyton began.
“No, I don’t care what you have to say. Why would you agree to this? We don’t know how big this club is, or how many people will be there.”
“Because just like you can make choices for yourself, so can we. How many times are we going to go back and forth with the same outcome?” Melody asked, draining the rest of her glass with a shake of her head.
“Do you two not understand you could die? Are we already forgetting what she did to…what happened with...” I stopped and took a deep breath. Clearly, I’d had too much to drink.
“We know all the risks, El. Are you forgetting we grew up in Vice City? You were sent away. This is all we know.
“Why do you think it’s so easy for us to accept that our best friend is forever tying herself to a notorious kingpin, kills people, and will know all the ins and outs of dealing coke by this time next year?”
“I’m sorry; you’re right. You two have been there for me through everything. I can respect your decision, even if I don’t like it,” I resigned.
They looked shocked I’d given in so easily for a full minute, quickly trying to play it off.
I didn’t want them to go, but I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t physically barricade them in a room, or demand they not do something. We were all adults now.
I just hoped their decision didn’t get them killed.
Chapter Seventeen
I was climbing into bed when Mateo finally returned from wherever he’d gone.
He undressed down to a pair of black briefs, and then came to sit beside me, resting a hand on the comforter right above my knee.
“I know you’re upset—”
“Understatement of the year, Mateo,” I snapped, but the anger from earlier wasn’t behind it. Honestly, I was too tired to argue with him, and it would change nothing.
“How could you drag them into this?” I mumbled, rolling onto my side to get more comfortable.
“Because your mother will be coming for them, and this way I can try and beat her to the kill…so to speak.”
