We went to bed early, then I waited until she fell asleep before slipping down the hallway to my office to call Maks. It got contentious, but we came to a truce. He accepted that I will strike back, but I agreed not to do anything that could affect Laura. I’ve waited a few days, so Maks can wonder when and how.
He’s about to find out.
“Is everything set?”
“Yeah.”
Pablo’s a trained biologist and chemist. We are Colombian, after all. It comes in handy for our family business. He’s not theonly one with a fascination with science. I may be a lawyer, but I also double majored in electrical and mechanical engineering. I’ve always had a fascination with physics. I can remember a hell of a lot more than the rate of gravity is nine-point-eight meters per second and Newton’s three laws of motion.
In this case, if Maks hadn’t bothered me, I wouldn’t have been bothered back. An object at rest remains at rest. If he hadn’t pushed me, I wouldn’t be pushing back. When an object exerts force on another, the second object will react with an equal and opposite force. If he hadn’t fucked up so badly, I wouldn’t have gotten so pissed so fast. The acceleration of an object depends on the mass and force applied. I’m a big fucking guy who’s big fucking pissed.
Right now, the laws of motion and gravity will apply to the fireworks my brothers, cousins, and I are about to watch. I built the explosives, and Alejandro set them with no problems. The Kutsenkos’ security is slipping. My cousin shouldn’t have approached the warehouse with such ease, but he did. Then again, Alejandro is a fucking ghost.
He’s the biggest of us but the most light-footed. He can disappear right before your eyes. He’s been like that since he was a toddler. He’d just slip away, and no one would know where he went. It would terrifyTíaCatalina andTíoMatáis until they realized he usually went one of three places: the kitchen, the swings in their backyard, or his room to read. It’s why he spends so much time going back and forth to Colombia. He’s our best spy.
“In three, two, one.”
The sky illuminates with a burst of red and orange. The noise is a cacophony of shattered glass, rattling metal, and bricks crashing to the ground. I grin like a fucking fool.
“That’ll be inconvenient.”
Even though talking is often my job as the family lawyer, I can be the master of understatement. This warehouse is their equivalent to our bodega. It’s where they handled—blessedly past tense—the shit no one can see. It’s where they disposed of their refuse. Now they’ll have to find somewhere else to hide.
That won’t be easy since we just bought several abandoned warehouses in Queens that we’ll flip. We also knocked down ones that weren’t on city records because they were already so fucking dilapidated most people wouldn’t even look in their direction.
We watch the blaze for a few minutes, no feelings of remorse for the men inside who never saw this coming. When I’m certain nothing will rain down on me at those nine-point-eight meters per second, I stroll over to the blast. I leave a bouquet of sevenFlor de Mayo—May Flower. They’re really Cattleya trianae orchids—the Colombian national flower. There’s one for each of us: Joaquin, Jorge, Pablo, Alejandro,TíoEnrique,TíoLuis, and me. A little calling card, so they know who’s pissed at them today. Besides, I don’t want the fucking Mancinellis or O’Rourkes claiming this win. Those fuckers would. Fucking cheaters.
It’s broad fucking daylight as we drive away in our SUV. It takes somehuevosto pull that off when anyone could have seen us—when men should have seen us.
“How soon do you think you’ll get a call?” Jorge looks at me in the rearview mirror while he drives.
“Five minutes?”
“No. He won’t call. He’ll know about the building and figure out it was you. If he calls, he has to admit that not only did we find their lair, we also got one over on them.” Pablo frowns and shakes his head.
We make it back into Manhattan without any of our phones ringing, and we didn’t get a call fromTíoEnrique whosanctioned this retaliation. Jorge drops me off at my place, and I head up to the penthouse. Maddy was looking at hospital and clinic openings for midwives when I left. I’m not sure what she’ll be up to now.
“Honey, I’m home.”
I call out to her, loving the cliché since she agreed to move in on our way home from her sister’s. She steps out of my office, and I know something is wrong. Did Maks fucking call her? Or did he make Laura call her?
“Chiquita, what’s the matter?”
“My license is suspended.”
“What? Driver’s or nursing?”
“Nursing. I can’t find any history of complaints or reprimands, but the state system shows it as suspended for misconduct.”
I walk over to her, and she steps out of the way, pointing to my computer monitor. I move around the desk and take a seat. Sure as shit. She’s not allowed to practice in the state of New York. I look over at her, unsure how she’s feeling since I could only sense something was off.
Is she scared? Angry? Confused?
“Javi, I’m pretty sure I know who did this.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Drew’s mother.”
