“Tell her… an old friend called,” he says, then hangs up.What?
My brows pinch. That shit is weird as hell.Old friend?I suck my teeth and immediately start dialing Nickoi’s number, my fingers moving faster than my thoughts.
NICKOI
“You’re going back to Mexico,” I say, tone sharp and final.
She gasps, her brows pulling together. “No quiero irme,” she says softly.
(I don’t want to leave.)
She’s pleading now, eyes wide, lashes fluttering, trying to make herself small. Sweet.
“Talia,” I say, stepping closer, “That wasn’t a question. You don’t have a choice. What I say is law. Understand?”
She lets out a shaky breath and steps toward me, like she’s about to try something. Her lips part as she leans in, slow and careful, reaching for a kiss.
I stop her with one hand, firm on her shoulder. “Don’t,” I say, voice low.
She falls back into the seat, frustrated, jaw clenched. “How can you send me away like this? After what I saw you do to my papá?”
I reach into my jacket, pull out a small black tracker, and toss it onto the table beside her.
She looks at it like it’s about to explode. “What the hell is that?”
“A tracker,” I say. “You’ll wear it.”
Tired a tell yuh seh yuh smart enuh.
Her mouth drops open. “You’re gonna spy on me?”
I laugh once, cold and sharp. “I don’t care enough to watch your personal life. But my people will. Every step, every word, every move, you’ll be monitored.”
She shifts in her seat, and I can see it, the panic, the confusion, the fight rising in her chest.
“And if you even think about running to the police, or opening your pretty little mouth to the wrong person?” I lean in, letting the threat settle in her bones. “I’ll know. Immediately.”
She’s quiet, but her hands are shaking. I nod at the tracker. “That remind you of your father doh?”
Her eyes flick up to mine, wide, wet, furious. “Good,” I say. “Because if you forget how this works even for a second, you’ll end up just like him.”
“I don’t want this, Nickoi,” she says, barely above a whisper.
I stare at her, face unreadable. “A you cause all a dis,” I say coldly. “Every piece of it. So don’t act like you innocent now.”
She exhales, tired. “I won’t tell anyone. I swear.”
I almost laugh. She really expect me to buy that? “As mi seh, we’re monitoring you,” I tell her, stepping closer, voice like a warning wrapped in ice. “You basically get weh. But hear mi good, if you ever try anything, if yuh think yuh slick, if you open your mouth to di wrong person…”
I lean in, voice dropping. “Mi a come fi yuh. And mi nah have no mercy.”
She nods fast, eyes wide. She fraid. Mi like that. Then— “Can I date… other guys?” she asks, hesitant.
I raise a brow, amused. “Date who yuh want. Fall in love, get married, have kids. Mi nuh care.”
Jah know, my subconscious laughs.
Her face changes. Softer now. Sadder. “You really hate me that much?”
