“Why are you so mean to me?” I can hear her tears, but I know they’re fake. I don’t know if she’s ever shed a real tear in the entire time I’ve known her. “I just need a little more money.”
My face suddenly feels hot. “Have you forgotten that you cheated on me multiple times? Besides, we divorced decades ago. I owe you nothing.”
“Fine,” she spits back and ends the call.
Sliding my phone back into my pocket, I glare at Rory.
“My bad,” he apologizes with a wince.
“Gentlemen, sorry for the wait. Your patience is appreciated.” Gabriel Castillo, thepalabrero, or leader, of the New York MS-13 cell, walks in with his arms stretched out and stops a good ten feet away from where we stand in the middle of the room.
He’s wearing a three-piece suit, a huge step up from the tank top and saggy jeans we last saw him in, but there’s no hiding the tattoos that cover his body and tell his story, especially the black teardrops that are permanently etched below his left eye.
Behind Gabriel are the two men he never goes anywhere without. Diego Rivera and Mateo Alvarez. They each wear nice black suits, concealing guns under the jackets. It isn’t obvious that they’re carrying, but I know their weapons are there.
After all, we’re the ones who supplied them.
Rory scoffs at Gabriel’s lackluster apology. “No, you’re not.”
Diego remains stoic, but Mateo narrows his eyes at the insult, showing exactly where to hit him if I wanted to make it hurt.
Gabriel brushes it off, though. “It was unavoidable. We had some business that couldn’t wait.”
I lift a brow. “And you decided that we could? I’d like to think that we have a better working relationship than that, especially since we’re the ones who keep your facilities secure. However, if this is how you choose to do business, perhaps we should consider taking our services elsewhere. We could easily move our operations south and set up exclusive deals with the Irish instead.” My threat is subtle, but there’s enough bite behind it to let him know that I’m serious.
Diego’s hands tighten as they clasp together in front of him.
Found his nerve.
Gabriel shakes his head with a false sympathetic smile. “I wouldn’t go around making threats like that if I were you.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, but I keep my face clear of emotion and my mouth shut.
Men like Gabriel Castillo don’t make those kinds of statements without a reason or proof to back them up.
“Nothing to say to that?” Gabriel mocks.
Rory and Luke wisely also remain emotionless and say nothing. In these situations, I’m the one who deals with the snakes.
“Say what you came here to say and get it over with.” My demand comes out smooth as if this whole meeting is beneath me.
Another thing I’ve learned is that if I act like the most powerful man in the room, then weaker men will bend to me. The men in this room are anything but weak, but still, my tactics have never steered me wrong.
“Two of my storage units were emptied last night,” Gabriel finally admits.
Rory visibly rolls his eyes, not trying to hide his annoyance whatsoever.
Mateo tenses again. “What’s the matter,cabrón? Do you think we’re lying?”
Rory makes a disinterested face. “Lying? No. Stupid? Well…”
Mateo tries to take a step forward, but Diego grabs him by the arm.
“You have to remember to set the alarm systembeforeyou leave,” Rory explains as if they’re ignorant kids who have never done this before, but we all know it’s the opposite.
Gabriel’s jaw clenches. “The issue is that our security system was disabled, cameras and all.”
“That’s not possible,” I oppose.
