“Calling me doesn’t do that. What do you want, Yuri?”
I can be patronizing too. Any false respect I used before is gone now.
“Tell Alejandro and his family to stay out of Boston, and we’ll leave you both alone.”
“You believe I, as a woman, can convince the Cartel’s ruling family to do anything.”
“I think your golden cunt could convince Alejandro of anything. You have him pussy whipped.”
I want to sink through the floor.
Mortified.
That’s what I am.
Mortified.
It’s not like I believe anyone in his family doesn’t know Alejandro and I have sex. They’ve surely figured out we have tons of it. We’re not unlike any of the other couples who can’t keep their hands off each other, but I don’t need that rubbed in his parents’ faces.
“If you’re going to insult me, then this conversation ends.”
“My apologies.”
Coglione.Fucker.
“I’ll pass the message along. Goodbye.”
“Uh-uh-uh. We’re not done. He won’t survive putting a foot in Boston. He won’t come alone, so that means his cousins will die too.”
“Why risk annihilation?”
Yuri cackles again. It’s like nails on a chalkboard. He’s aware we’ve learned of the Volkovs’ involvement, so he anticipates retaliation. The last we heard, it was Dimitri—Yuri’s nephew—behind this because of the shit he fucked up for Anton. Yuri comes as an even greater surprise.
“My family’s going nowhere. Pissed off as the Kutsenkos are, they need us. If you kill us, then you’ll not only piss off the New York bratva, you’ll wind up with a far worse family in charge here.”
“You believe that gives you carte blanche to murder any Diaz man.”
“It does. It’s not in your in-laws favor to seek retribution.”
The man’s truly senile.
“You risk more than you can gain, Yuri. Why is Alejandro worth so much to you? It can’t just be you thought you were doing Sergei a favor.”
“I have my reasons.”
“Who’d he reject?”
“My niece.”
That stuns me.
I expected him not to name anyone, but if he did, it would be some guy Alejandro wouldn’t do business with. I look at Catalina and Matáis, who appear as bewildered as I am.
“Why would Alejandro be involved with your niece?”
“Grad school sweethearts. He refuses to step up as a father to his son. I’m tired of waiting.”
Can my heart stop while my mind runs a mile a minute?
