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“I will,” I promised. And I meant it. I would do whatever it took to be with Omar, come Hell, high water, or both of our cartels.
CHAPTER34
Omar
Sitting at the kitchen island, my phone rang for the dozenth time. It was Lili: I knew that I should answer it, she’d been calling for over an hour, but I didn’t have it in me right now. Honestly,nothingsounded appealing right now. “Jefe, if you’re going to ignore your sister, at least eat something.” I snorted and shook my head, and Helena made a noise like a growl. “If you don’t eat something soon, I’m going to tell the boys to run a tube down your throat. I can put all of your meals through the blender.”
I gave Helena a look that saidtry itand pushed the plate of tres leches cake that she’d set in front of me away. “I’m not hungry,” I grunted for the thousandth time. She’d been making me food for hours, trying to get me to eat, but nothing was going to fill the gaping void that had opened up in my gut.
She pushed the plate of cake toward me again. “It’s your favorite,” she said. When I didn’t react, she pouted. “It’ll hurt my feelings if you don’t take a bite.”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Did you honestly think that would work?” But even as I said it, I dug my fork into the soft, white cake and scooped up a bite. It was delicious, just like she said.Damn her. I glowered at her as I ate the whole piece in about four bites. I huffed. “I guess I was hungrier than I thought.”
Helena hummed. “I’m not surprised,jefe. You’ve suffered a lot since you left, and I’m sure you didn’t eat anything.”
She wasn’twrong, but I didn’t want to admit that. “It’s not that big of a deal.” I had told Helena about putting Lyse on a train while she reassessed the first aid that Lili had given me at the house. She hadn’t been thrilled with me, but she could see the logic in letting her go. She might have whacked me in the arm about a dozen times, but she called me “sweet” too.
I had never been scolded and praised at the same time. It was a strange position to be in.
Helena cut me another slice of cake. I gave her a look, and she flapped her hand dismissively. “You can have as much as you’d like,jefe. I can always make more.”
BOOM!
The house practically shook, and I jumped from the stool, all thoughts of tres leches cake slipping from my mind completely. I moved the blinds. “Carajo,” I swore. The dry dock was on fire, and it was already spreading across the roof. Efrain and Pascal would have heard. They’d already be running to put out the fire.
Fuck me, the weapons are still in there!
It was a trap. I touched my back and swore again: I didn’t have a weapon. There was a gun safe in the office, but I couldn’t leave Helena without any protection. “Go help them,” I told her.
She stared at me, incredulous. “You want me to…help with the fire?”
“Yes. The Syndicate’s guns are out there, and if they can be saved, they need to be. Go now. I’ll be along as soon as I can.”
Helena’s eyes narrowed. “You want me outside,” she said. “Why? What’s going on?”
Don’t throttle her; she’s just trying to understand. “Helena, go,por favor,” I said. “The guns are important to Angel.” When she still wasn’t convinced, I added, “It will be safer for you.” .”
“To be out by a fire?”
The front door exploded inward. Helena’s bodyjerked, and she fixed me with wide, terrified eyes. “Go,” I said, pointing toward the back exit. “Get to Efrain and Pascal. They’ll keep you safe.”
“Jefe—”
I shook my head. “I can handle it here. I’ll be with you soon.”
Finally, Helena nodded, and she started moving toward the back exit of the house. I turned toward the intruder. There was no time to go for a weapon now, not without the intruder following me, and if we were going to fight, I didn’t want to be stuck in a small space like the office. I wanted room to move.
Luckily, I knew the layout of this house better than anyone. It was easy to use the other hallway to get around to the front of the house, and I did so now, listening for sounds of the intruder. I came around through the side hallway and saw the damage to the front door.Angel’s going to shit himself when he hears how much I’m going to have to replace, I thought.What a pain in my ass.
I followed after the intruder, silent, like a predator stalking its prey. I found him in the living room, staring at the photos on the wall as if our family portraits were something perverse. “You’re looking a little worse for wear, Jesus.”
He barely moved, barely acknowledged that he heard me; his eyes didn’t leave the wall of portraits. “My nose needs surgery,” he said, “and you crushed my eye socket.”
I whistled softly. “Must hurt.”
He shrugged. “It’s not the worst thing that has ever happened to me.” He finally looked my way. “Losing most of my family at that farce of an engagement party was much worse.”
“I would apologize, but I don’t really care,” I said. “Your family put my brother into a coma and nearly stressed my sister-in-law into a miscarriage. The lot of you could fall off the face of the planet, and the world would be all the better for it.”
