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Lili’s already stormy expression soured all the more. “We aren’t bad people.”
“You’re notgoodeither,” I argued, “and that’s not an indictment on you or your family because I know there are things that I’ve come to realize about myself that I don’t like, but…I want my child to have a normal upbringing. I want them to go to school and make friends and not worry that their parents are going to be murdered by a rival cartel.”
“Angel would burn the world down looking for you,” Lili said after a long pause, “and that’s only if you don’t get killed by the Rojas first.”
“Help me get out of Miami,” I said, repeating the same plea from the day we met. “I’ll leave the state entirely; no one will see me again.”
Lili shook her head. “You’d be dead before you got out of the county.” She took my hand back in hers. “Don’t do this. Please, please don’t do this.”
I shook her off. “It’s fine if you won’t help me,” I said and took a sip of my sweet tea. The sugar nearly made me gag. “But you can’t tell anyone.”
“I can’t promise that, Emma.”
The waiter appeared at the table, cutting us both off. “Can I get you anything —?”
I pulled out my credit card. “Close us out?” I looked at Lili. “We’re ready.” The waiter took my card and scurried away.
“Emma —”
I held up a hand. “I’m going to say this, and I don’t want you to think I’m doing it out of ill will, okay? But if you say anything to Angel about this, I won’t hesitate to tell Angel about your son.”
Real fear flashed across her face. “Emma, you can’t tell him. If they knew —”
“Then, don’t say a word,” I said. It was mutually assured destruction to threaten her like this, and our friendship would likely never be the same…but I couldn’t risk her running to her older brother. Angel wasn’t likely to hurt me if he knew that I was pregnant, but what I was planning was a betrayal, and there would be no way for him to look the other way.
As we left the restaurant, David leading for once, Lili touched my arm. “Think this through,” she begged. “Don’t do anything hasty.”
I wasn’t being hasty, and I had thought it through, but I didn’t need to tell her that. “I will,” I said instead. From the look on her face, she knew that I was lying.
CHAPTER25
Angel
“Miguel,” I said by way of greeting. “How’s the facility coming along?”
The man made a humming sound, and it crackled over the phone. “We’ve broken ground,” he said. “We should be operational within the next two months.”
Two months, I mused. “Emma and I might travel down for the opening,” I said. “She’s never traveled outside of the US.”
“Wonderful!” Miguel said. “I would love to host you and your charming wife; she will fall in love with the countryside.”
“So tell me about —”
My door burst open, and David came through followed by Lili, who was begging him tostop and think about what you’re doing. “Jefe, I need to speak with you,” David said, despite my trying to wave them out.
“Miguel,perdón, but an emergency just walked into my office.” We scheduled our next call, and I hung up. “You better have a good reason for interrupting me,” I said, eyes on David. The man had been on Emma’s detail for a while now, and while she never had anything good or bad to say about him, he came across as flighty to me.I might need to rotate him out more, I thought, watching the man stumble over his words. “Spit it out, David. I have other calls to make.”
“Doña Emma is pregnant,” he said, “and she’s planning on leaving.”
I heard the man’s words, but they didn’t make any sense. “What did you just say?” I looked at my sister, whose eyes were large and wet with tears. “Liliana? What is he talking about?”
“Angel —”
“I heard them talking at lunch,” David said, cutting his eyes at Lili. “I’m sorry,jefe, but I didn’t —”
“Get. Out.” David didn’t hesitate to flee. Maybe he was smarter than I gave him credit for. “Tell me what she said, Lili. Now.”
Lili hadn’t been afraid of me since she was thirteen years old and learned to shoot. Now, she seemed absolutely terrified. “Emma is pregnant,” she said. “She found out the day Tío Andre attacked her.”
