“Haven’t seen him since yesterday morning,” the other voice calls over the radio. “Why?”
“Silvana sent him on an errand yesterday, and he never came back.”
“Silvana’s thugs are her own problem,” Tim says. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
The radio goes silent.
I stare at Luke. “What thehellis going on out here?”
15.25 HOURS EARLIER
GENESIS
A long, slim afternoon shadow falls over me, and I look up to find Silvana heading my way with a folding metal chair under one arm. In her free hand, she carries a half-empty bottle ofaguardienteand a plastic shot glass.
She unfolds the chair next to my stump and takes a seat. “Okay,princesa.” She pours a shot, then sets the bottle on the ground between her feet. “You and I are going to have a nice, civilized chat.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“¿Por qué?”She offers me the shot, and when I shake my head, she drinks it herself, then follows it with a swig of water. “Only yourpapican call youprincesa?”
I hold her gaze. Like any predator, if she sees weakness, she will pounce. “How do you know my dad?”
“We gowayback. Professionally and personally.” Her raised brows imply things I don’t even want to think about.
“You’re lying.” My dad recognized her on the phone, but that doesn’t mean they were everinvolved.
Silvana turns sideways in her chair to face me, one arm stretched out over the metal back. “He takes his coffee with cardamom andcanela, like hismamialways made it. He sleeps in satin boxers. And he’s a very generous man, when he’s happy.” She leans forward, eyeing me in the flicker of the nearest fire pit, and cruelty shines in her dark eyes. She’s tuned in to my pain like a dog on the scent of prey. “I know how to make him very, very happy.”
A sour lump rises in my throat. I’m going to be sick.
Silvana pours another shot and holds it out to me. “Change your mind?”
I take the glass, and she laughs when I throw it back in a single gulp. “What do you want?”
“I want you to convince yourpapithat resuming our business relationship will be beneficial for everyone involved. Particularly foryou.”
“Resuming?”I want to call her a liar again, but she wouldn’t be so confident in her verbal arsenal if she were shooting blanks.
Yet I know better than anyone that the truth can be twisted. Their business dealings could have been perfectly innocent.
“Until nine months ago, your father shipped our product all over the world.”
“Your product?” I stare at Silvana, waiting for the punch line.
“Snow.” She frowns. “You know—dust. Blow.Cocaína.”
I roll my eyes. “I know what it is. I just don’t believe you.”
I have no illusion that my father is a saint. In international shipping, as in any business, palms have to be greased and sometimes votes have to be bought. But there are lines he would never cross. “My dad wouldneverwork with you or with Gael Moreno.” I stand and grab my bag.
“Oh,niña. Do youtrulybelieve your father built a multi-billiondollar shipping company in under two decades because he’s a brilliant businessman? Or because he poured his heart and soul into the company? What he poured into Genesis Shipping isdrug money. We gave him the means to expand early in his career. To invest in advancements. To buy out competitors. We did that because he knows who to pay off in customs and how to take the product off our narco subs and load it onto his ships in the middle of the gulf, without being seen. I laughed when you were born, and he renamed his dirty empire!” Her smile is a bitter parody of joy, mocking my pain. “Genesis Shipping is a tribute to his only child. The one thing in the world that he loves more than the company itself.”
Numb, I shake my head. “Bullshit. My father worked for everything he has. Hedeservesall of it.” Everything he’s given me.
“Yes, he worksveryhard,niña.” Silvana’s laughter bruises me all the way into my soul. “Until nine months ago, your father was the most successful drug trafficker in the world.”
MADDIE
