Once alone, Natalia slides her gaze to mine. “Do you honestly mean everything you said?”
I hold out my hand to her, and she takes it as she slides off the table. “Yes.”
I start to retract my hand, but she squeezes it and keeps me from letting go. She pulls me to her and lifts her chin to capture my lips for a deep, pleading kiss. It’s only then that everything over the course of the past week or so since she disappeared finally feels like it’s okay, and I have to fight the urge to melt against her for fear of hurting her.
Reaching up to wrap her good arm around my neck, Natalia breaks the kiss and presses her forehead to mine. “I promise I will make you so happy.”
The melting feeling washes over me again at her use of the words she first used on the first day of this crazy marriage, and I wrap both arms around her waist. “Baby doll. Youdo. You will forever. And I’m going to spend the rest of that same forever making sure you never feel anything but happy ever again.”
TWO DAYS LATER, NATALIA and I are holed up at my preferred suite at the Bellagio—the same one where we woke up married—and she’s peacefully snoozing while I get day drunk on purpose.
For weeks, I have had no clue how to deal with informing my father of this entire situation, but after getting trapped in the middle of a firefight for the second time in my life—in less than ayearfor that matter—and nearly losing the one person I love more than anything else, my give-a-fucks were pretty spent. Then, in my boredom while Natalia’s resting up, I switched on the TV and saw a segment on the national news.
It seems someone finally stumbled on all the bodies back in the warehouse or whatever the fuck that place was, and they reported it to the police. After positively identifying the stiffs, the feds were called in, and it was suddenly a media frenzy.
Apparently, it’s a pretty big deal when the second in command of one of the most notorious drug cartels in North America winds up dead after an apparent violent uprising amongst him and his closest ranking soldiers. So, it’s all over the news, and surely Papá has seen it.
And that seems like the best segue to letting the cat out of the bag, but I was still a little nervous about it—thus, the help of my old buddy, scotch.
Three drinks in, I’ve got enough grease on my wheels to pick up the phone with ease, and I slip into the living room, closing the bedroom door behind me to avoid waking Natalia. Crossing the room, I drop into a large, cushy chair and prop my feet up on the coffee table, then dial Papá’s phone.
“What is it,mijo?” is his greeting, andthat’sgoing to make this easier, too.
“Hey, Papá, I was just wondering.” I casually gesture at the TV with my drink even though he can’t see me. “Have you seen this shit about Xavier that’s all over the friggin’ news?”
“Oh,” he utters in a tone that indicates I suddenly have his captive attention. “I have.”
“Isn’t he the one that sent you that scary-ass letter some months back? You know. The one that said all that shit about how he was coming to get me, and I’ll never see it coming, or some shit?”
“Yes, it was him.” He coughs, and there’s a sound like he’s clicking a mouse.
I swirl my drink. “So, does this mean I’m basically in the clear now?”
“Well,mijo…” He pauses for a few beats. “It is a very large organization. My relatives only make up one half of their leadership. The other half is the Salamanca family, which runs the Juarez operations, and the two groups of leadership have always been jockeying for total control. My uncle, their Don Marco, is very old. He is not in the best of health. His two brothers passed away from similar health complications within the past ten years. Marco’s only hope in maintaining the family’s control of it was Xavier. This is why they needed me to return. They’ve been losing power and control of their half of the leadership for more than fifteen years. Ignacio and Xavier were charged with roping me back in to take control of it all. Now that they are both dead, Marco is the only one left. He can’t do it on his own. It is my belief that all of the soldiers and key men and territory will be swallowed up by the Salamancas, and Marco will simply be left behind. Unless something has changed that I’m not aware of, the Salamancas don’t have any interest in bringing me back in. The purpose of that by my relatives was to maintain their superiority amongst the two sects of leadership. I can’t imagine the Salamancas will be inclined to compromise their control by bringing me back, even if it meant that I came with more money than they’ll ever see in their lifetime.”
I squint, too buzzed to process his long-winded spiel. “So, is that a yes or a no?”
“It means I don’t know until I meet with the federal authorities about this, but it appears that way, yes.” He exhales loudly. “But as long as the cartel my family belonged to exists, there will always be some kind of threat.”
“Huh.” I swirl my glass again, staring at the amber liquid like it’s a Magic 8-Ball, and it suddenly dawns on me that little white lies by omission never hurt anyone. “Well… I mean, that’s good, right?”
“As far as you are concerned, it’s fine. Don’t cause your wife unnecessary stress by discussing it any further with her. Just let her be happily oblivious. It’s not her business anyway.”
Welp.
I guess he agrees with my assessment about little white lies by omission.
“Yep,” I say easily. “I definitely don’t want to worry her.”
“Where are you two anyway? Have you moved into your condo yet?”
“Nah, since we didn’t get a honeymoon, we thought it would be fun to take a little road trip. We’re planning to hit up West Texas in a day or so.”
“West Texas?” he asks with a bewildered tone. “What on earth would you want to do there?”
A smile pulls wide across my face as my heart warms at the next item on our little to-do list. “Oh, there’s just something there that Natalia’s been waiting to see for a really long time.”
TWENTY-FIVE
