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“That was fast,” Prince murmurs before I answer the call, bracing myself for what comes next.
“Who the fuck is this?” Alvarez growls. “Where is she? Who are you?”
“Calm down, Tio Josef,” I murmur, unable to keep from smiling. All this time, he’s considered himself on top of things, having a good laugh at my expense when I believed he was Alicia’s father. I would ask him how it feels, but that seems a bit heavy-handed. It’s enough satisfaction to listen to him melt down, ranting in Spanish once he recognizes my voice.
“You motherfucker,” he growls. “I’m going to cut off your balls and feed them to you, you piece of shit.”
“You underestimate me,” I tell him with a sigh. “Again, I’ve never been one to fuck my mother. Have you ever considered going to therapy to work out this fixation you seem to have?” Prince snorts at this, and I wish he could hear better, but then Alvarez isn’t trying to be quiet.
“Where is she?”
“She’s safe with me. And lucky, too.”
“Lucky? How the fuck do you work that out, genius? She doesn’t look so lucky to me.”
“Simple. She is completely at my mercy right now yet is relatively unharmed. I could do any number of things to her—then again, for all you know, I already have. Me and all of my men.”
“You’d better fucking hope not.”
“Or else what?” I drop the humor, now mirroring his attitude. “You’re going to bring an assassin here and shoot someone close to me? It’s a bit too late for that one.”
“What do you want?”
“Exactly what I asked for in the text I sent. I want to have a talk.”
“So talk.”
“Right. As if it would be that easy.” I glance at Prince, who only nods firmly, his gaze steady. “I want to see you in person. Face-to-face. Tonight.”
“And you’ll bring her with you?”
“Of course I will. Unlike you, I’m a man of my word. You want her back; you meet with me. And I promise…” I look down at her, still sleeping away, thanks to Prince’s efforts. “She’ll be more or less in the same condition she was in when she arrived. Really, someone should have taught her not to leave herself wide open to an attack like this.”
“You fucking watch your mouth. You don’t talk about her that way.”
“Or else what?” I ask again, this time with a laugh. “What, all of a sudden, you want me to be a gentleman? After the shit you’ve done? Please, don’t pretend to be a loving family man now.”
Behind him, there’s shouting in Spanish, a language I’m not fluent in. But I don’t need to be. The obvious anger, frustration, and confusion are easy enough to interpret. I can’t help but savor the knowledge of the disarray the family has been thrown into.
“I want a face-to-face meeting in a neutral location,” I explain. Prince pulls out his phone, prepared to arrange our guard. “I’ll even let you name the location, but it has to be in neutral territory with which I’m familiar.”
“Fine,” he barks. “You know the old brewery?”
“I think I do.” I hold the phone out so Prince can hear better. “Exactly where is that located?” When Alvarez rattles off the exact location, Prince nods, typing furiously into his phone while I bring my phone back to my ear.
“We’ll be glad to meet you there.”
“You’d damn well better be.”
“Yet I’m afraid I have to make one more request.”
“The fuck you do.” Is he honestly surprised? As if I would leave it there.
“Fine. If your niece matters that little to you, that’s your family situation, not mine. My men are already frustrated with me for not allowing them to play with her. I’ll give them what they want if it doesn’t matter to you either way.”
“What do you want?” he shouts.
“A single person. Frankie Morris. You know who I mean and why I want him.”
