My mother watches me before she nods. She looks at her right hand and the sapphire ring she often wears. It was a gift from my father.
“Yourpapátold me from the start he would never marry me. I knew he wouldn’t, but he was so handsome and charming.”
Sounds a lot like Pablo.
“He was already engaged to Luciana Diaz when we got together. I knew he was going to marry her. Or, at least, he was supposed to until Esteban Cardenas barged into their lives. Esteban discovered yourpapáwas working for Humberto. Yourpapágot himself into some gambling debts with Humberto, and to pay them off, Humberto made a deal with yourabuelo. It was the only way to save yourpapá’slife. He had to spy on Josue, Enrique’s father, and report back to Humberto.”
“I know this part,Mamá. Humberto decided after thirty years to resurrect that debt. Paying it off is how I wound up working for him.Abuelosold me off just like he didPapá.”
“No,niña. Yourabueloprotected you just like he did yourpapá. Humberto would’ve killed both of you if yourabuelodidn’t intervene.”
This is as far into the story as we ever get.Mamánever explains why Humberto still holds a grudge thirty-something years later. She never explains why I must make up for the sinsof a father I never met. The man died before I was born. What I know is what I’ve pieced together over the years. He played a role in Pablo’sabuelo’sdeath, and their family never forgave him. I don’t know how he was involved, but he was.
It was Pablo’stíowho assassinated my father—murdered him in cold blood, according to my family. Esteban wanted retribution for my father convincing Luciana Diaz, Pablo’stíaand Enrique and Luis’s youngest sister, to marry him. I guess Esteban wanted her, then took her despite her being engaged to my father. He forced her to marry him—at least, so the story seems to go. I’ve always questioned that. Esteban killed my father to remove a rival.
“Mamá, I deserve to know what those debts were. It had to be more than gambling.Abuelowould’ve paid those off if it were just about money.”
“Why’re you dredging up old, painful memories?”
“They’re your memories. I have none of my own, so I need you to explain why I have to work for Humberto. I agreed because you guilted me into it afterAbuelothreatened to disown me and give my cousins my inheritance. He said I’m only in his will out of his own generosity since I’m illegitimate.”
That was an unpleasant conversation.
“Then you shouldn’t rock the boat.”
I’m getting nowhere with this. Round and round we go. Where we’ll stop this bullshit, nobody knows.
“Fine.”
I give up—for now. Something about the way Pablo looks at me tells me he knows far more than I do about my life. That irks me to no end. I hate being at a disadvantage in general. Something about him particularly pisses me off. It’s not just his arrogance—which he has in spades. It’s like he sees through me, and yet, I can tell nothing about him. I’ve been around cartelmen my entire life thanks to myabuelo, so I recognize I won’t know what Pablo is thinking unless he wants me to.
But besides superiority, I can’t tell if the man feels anything. He certainly thinks he’s superior to both Humberto and me. I don’t think it was anger toward Humberto earlier. I don’t think it was even impatience. His swift reaction was a flex. A reminder that Humberto is at the bottom of the Diaz hierarchy. That a man half Humberto’s age ranks higher than him. That Pablo will inherit, making the succession skip Humberto by yet another generation.
“Florencia.”Mamáreaches for my hand as I stand from the sofa.
“I’m going to go. I have laundry to do when I get home. I got ink on my lab coat I need to get off before work tomorrow. I also have an early meeting with Humberto. I want to go to bed early.”
All of that is true, but I’d originally planned to have dinner with my mother. Now, I’m exhausted and just want my own space.
“Your grandfather shouldn’t have said what he did. He didn’t mean it.”
“He most definitely meant to manipulate me.”
“True. But he won’t disinherit you. He loves you just as much as your cousins. There are more moving parts than even I know.”
“Then he explained at least some of this to you. You know it’s more than a thirty-odd-year-old set of gambling debts. Is it even aboutPapá, or did something else happen?”
She hesitates, and that’s its own answer. It doesn’t matter if she says anything. There’s little she can say now to make it better.
“Mija, I heard Pablo is in town. Be careful. The man has no soul.”
Chapter Three
Pablo
I barely slept last night. After meeting Humberto and Florencia, which already had me thinking, I watched the surveillance video from Humberto’s place. My cousin Joaquin is our intel gatherer. He sent me five hours of recordings from while I flew down here. Turns out, Humberto met with a potential rival from Medellín. That pisses me off. It’s the family that’s trying to oust my deadtío’sbrother. The Cardenas family has dominated the poppy industry in Colombia for four generations. They started out as flower sellers and moved on to something far more lucrative.
That meeting’s problematic.
