“Sí, señora.” Rafael, the leader, steps forward.
“Córtalo en pedazos. Deja una rama en cada barrio. Entrégale la cabeza a Rurik. Deja su pene y sus huevos con su esposa.” Cut him up. Drop a limb in each neighborhood. Deliver his head to Rurik. Leave his cock and balls with his wife.
“Sí, señora.”
A laugh comes through our earpieces. I’d forgotten Matáis listened to all of this.
“Caty, we have a shipment going out to St. Petersburg in two days. Send his heart and entrails to Moscow.”
It’ll be a detour for their men, but it’ll be worth it to warn away the Podolskaya. Catalina and I walk away from Yuri andhead to Luciana and Elle. We’re about to ask them what they learned from Mikhail, who’s bleeding out from a slashed throat, when Matáis patches through a call from Margherita. We can all hear it through our earpieces.
“I got into the hospital without a problem, but it wasn’t so easy to get into the pharmacy. It took forever to rewire the alarm to make it look like it was still on even though Marco turned it off. I got what I needed and with my badge turned around, I made it to Igor. No problem injecting the narcotics. It’ll definitely look like a delayed overdose.”
Igor’s Yuri’s son. Apparently, he’s a good enforcer but dumb as shit. Their Elite Group would never let him become thepakhan. Our men tracked him down and roughed him up. They dropped him off outside the ER. We didn’t have what we needed on hand, so Margherita used her NYC hospital badge to disguise herself. She shot Yuri’s son up with enough narcotics to prompt an investigation. It’ll tie up the Volkovs for weeks with at least the DEA. If Yuri’s death turns out to be a blessing in disguise for them, the investigation won’t be.
“Buen trabajo, hermana mía.” Good job, my sister.
“Learn anything from this one?” I point to Mikhail.
“Not much. He’s definitely an agent—ATF—but too new to understand everything he heard and saw.” Elle shoots the dead man an annoyed expression.
“New to the case?”
“New to law enforcement. He could only relay events and conversations. He didn’t understand half the subtext. Dumbass was going to get himself killed one way or another.”
“Did he admit he was an agent?”
“Not in so many words, but Luciana did a good job getting him to confess.”
“Oh?” I shift my focus away from Elle.
“I stabbed him in hismicro penea few times. He didn’t like that.” Micro dick.
“Are you done?” Matáis’s voice once again comes through the earpieces.
“Sí, mi amor.Es hora de volver a casa con nuestro hijo.” Yes, my love. Time to go home to our son.
The four of us walk through the main gate as the Cartel men take care of what’s left of the man who fucked up royally and the idiot agent.
“Mamá!”
“Mamá!Vita!”
I wince at the irate bellows from the other side of the barely open front door. There’s a chorus of five voices calling for their mother and one calling me. Alejandro and his cousins rush into Enrique and Elle’s house. Five enraged faces that are all far too similar glower at their mothers. Alejandro’s gaze darts between Catalina and me. He’s unsure who to rip into first.
It’s Pablo who leads. “Mamá, I can’t believe you. You could’ve gotten yourself arrested, sneaking into that hospital.”
“So?”
Pablo throws his hands up in exasperation.
“Mamá?” Alejandro sounds as exasperated as Pablo looks.
“You thought I’d ignore this?”
“I’d hoped.”
Alejandro sighs as he regards his mother. She, Luciana, and Margherita wear unrepentant expressions, and Elle merely looks smug as she smiles. Before anyone can say more, Florencia, Madeline, and Anneliese come downstairs. It cuts the conversation short as husbands greet their wives. All butJoaquin lift their women off their feet and practically devour their wife or fiancée. Luis and Enrique greeted their wives just inside the door, so they’d already had their reunions.
