“I’mwaiting, Malachi,” his voice boomed from the other side.
I turned the knob and pushed the door open.
Ernesto was seated on a large, brown, throne-like leather chair that had massive, eagle-claw shaped feet and was positioned on one side of an antique coffee table. He was hunched over his lap with a white cloth in one hand and a chrome Desert Eagle with a mirror-like finish in the other. The grip was inlaid with gold and ivory, and spelled out in encrusted diamonds was the word,Familia.He turned the pistol over in his hand, smoothing the cloth across the barrel, his index finger laid right across the trigger guard, and my blood ran cold.
“Señor—”
“Sit, Malachi,” he hissed.
Closing the door behind me, I marched across the study and took a seat on a matching leather loveseat on the other side of the coffee table from him.
We sat in a heady silence for a long span of minutes while he polished and inspected the pistol.
“When exactly did you take my daughter’s maidenhood,niño?” Ernesto finally queried on low breath like an icy blue norther.
Part of mekind ofwanted him to just take that gun and shoot me right then, becausefuck. This situation was the stuff of nightmares. But at the same time, I would’ve done anything for Isla, up to and including lay down my own life, so if that meant being humiliated and intimidated by her father, so be it. She was also correct that such a confrontation was necessary to stay in his good graces because, archaic as it was, Ernesto was the gatekeeper to the life I had planned to live with Isla for as long as I understood the concept of marriage.
I gulped silently. “Two years, ago, sir.”
Ernesto made a disgusted, gurgling noise in the back of his throat and then pulled back the slide on the pistol, peering inside the chamber. He cut his russet eyes up at me through the narrow slits of his eyelids. “I could have you arrested right now. Do you realize that?”
I resisted the urge to gulp again. “Yes, sir.”
He released the slide with a sharp scrape of metal against metal. “I also believe it would be well within my rights to put a bullet right between your eyes. Do you agree with me,niño?”
A bead of sweat trickled down the center of my back. “Yes, sir.”
“Fortunately foryou.” He spread the cloth flat on the coffee table, then laid the pistol on top of it with the barrel pointed right between my thighs, aimed right at my dick. “I value my relationship with your family.” He pointed his sausage-sized index finger at me. “I value my relationship withyou, too, Malachi. I’ve known you since you were born. You have always been a good boy. You have always been a respectful young man, and since becoming…involvedwith Isla, you have behaved with decency and honor.This situationis not decent or honorable,however…” He huffed long and loudly, rubbing his large palm over his mouth. “I know how teenagers can be. I know Isla has loved you since she was a tiny girl. I know you love her, too. Do not mistake me,jovencito.I am not excusing this. I would take a belt to your ass right now if you were my son.”
I gave a single nod. “I understand.”
Ernesto grumbled in his throat again as he sat back against the chair, resting his elbows on its arms and tenting his fingers in front of his chin. “Do you intend to take my daughter as your wife one day?”
I sat up straight and answered without hesitation. “Yes, sir.”
His jowls pulsed as though he clenched and released his teeth. “How certain are you about that, Malachi?”
I leveled my gaze on him. “More certain than I’ve ever been about anything,SeñorReyes. It’s what I’ve always wanted more than anything else in my life.”
He sighed loudly and rubbed his forehead, mumbling. “Ayyy…”
“SeñorReyes,” I added, bracing myself for the potential consequences of speaking out of turn. “I swear on my life that my intention for as long as I’ve known Isla was to ask you for her hand as soon as I come of age. I will give her everything my family has to offer. She’ll be a duchess, but I’ll treat her like a queen. I’ll take care of her for as long as I—”
“Okay,mijo, that’s plenty. You can stop.” Ernesto huffed. “If that is truly your intention, then you need to be aware of what you will marry into.”
Relief caused me to sink backward against the couch. “You have my undivided attention.”
“Good.” He settled deeper into the chair and gripped the arm rests. “There is a part of my extended family that I have dedicated my life to protectingthisfamily from. My grandfather and uncles and many of my cousins are still involved with it. I will spare you many details because you are still aboy, despite your veryadult behaviorwith my teenage daughter.” He gritted his teeth again, and my stomach curdled. “But if your intention truly is to marry her, I need to make you aware of them because your parents may take issue with you tying yourself to her and me.”
I remained silent despite the urge to underscore the fact thatabsolutely nothingwould deter me from wanting to marry Isla.
“They are known asLos Dolorosos,” Ernesto went on. “They are a cartel. Their business is why I have all of this in the first place.” He gestured at the room. “I took my inheritance the moment I came of age, married Fortuna, and left. I moved here because it was the farthest place I could go that would enable me to start the business I knew would multiply that inheritance. By multiplying it by means of a legitimate business, I ensured that no one in my family could ever come near me and my wife and our future children.” He pressed his palm to his barrel chest. “I am a self-made man, Malachi. And I made myself this way because in this world, money is the best protection one can hope for. So, I madea lotof it.” He slowly leaned forward and rested his elbows on his massive knees. “I made so much money that it would make King Solomonblush.And none of my moneynowis tainted by the money I started with back then.But.”
Ernesto pushed himself out of the chair and began pacing in front of the large, unlit fireplace. “Los Dolorososdon’t agree with that. They believe that, since I started with my inheritance, they have claim to everything I have built with it. They believe that when business gets slow for them, they are entitled tomy moneyto get them out of the red. And with initiatives on the part of the US government to combat drug trafficking over the past ten years, they have been in the red a lot. They have come to this house countless times to demand money from me. They have threatened me, but I explained in no uncertain terms that I have my fortune locked up tighter than Fort Knox, and if they did anything to me, they’d never get their hands on it. So they have switched tactics.” He stopped pacing and turned to me, crossing his arms over his chest. “They have told me they will come after something they know I value far more than money, which is my first-born child.”
All the blood drained from my face before righteous indignation caused it to surge through my veins, and I spoke out of turn again, this time with no fucks to give. “Over my own dead body willanyonecome after her.”
Ernesto narrowed his eyes to slits again, staring me down for a second before he gave a low, gruff chuckle. He wagged his finger at me. “That’s a good response,mijo.That makes me want to kill you less right now.”
