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“And yet, look at you. You’re successful. You’ve got the woman.” He shrugs. “And, best of all, you’re still alive.”

“I want out.”

“Impossible.”

“Is it? Perhaps I underestimated your power.”

Pointing a finger at me, he chuckles. “Manipulation will get you nowhere with me, my friend.

“The son you chose, right? And you’re the devil.”

“Diablo. Demonio. Lucifer. What’s in a name, you know?” With a shrug, he takes another sip of his tequila and shakes his head. “So smooth, this liquor. It’s almost a shame it turns into piss.”

“The Goatman. Is that you, as well?”

“The Goatman is merely an idea perpetuated by those who need to believe in something. He’s like a scapegoat for their shit lives. They sacrifice for him, believing that success will be theirs. Blah blah blah. Faith is a very powerful thing. Even when it’s not entirely based in fact.”

“What is your connection to Jude?”

Brows winged up, he sighs. “She came to me years ago. Asked me to get rid of her husband. He was a bit too powerful for her alone. Kinky woman, Jude. Into that daddy shit during sex.”

“And what about Verónica? You gave her away to them. Why?”

“Her father couldn’t pay the price for his success. He was given a choice between himself and his daughter. What the hell was I going to do with a girl like that?”

“He was your employer.”

A crooked smile stretches his lips. “Do you know what makes men powerful?” He doesn’t give me the chance to respond before he says, “Fear. Men who run cartels are only in power because so many fear them. You strip away their terrifying masks and all you find is flesh and blood, like any other man. Pathetic, really.”

“Except you.”

“I do not love; therefore, I have nothing to fear. Verónica’s father knows this better than anyone. He is my brother, after all. And not even he would be spared from my wrath.”

“Why me?”

“I will tell you this. Had I ever been capable of such a thing as love, well …” He lifts his glass as if to toast. “You were always favored in my eyes.”

“Why?”

“Do you remember the day in the woods? When you found your father with the gun in his mouth?”

My skin turns ice cold at the question. The only two in the woods at the time, as far as I was aware, was my father and me.

“Tell me, what thought crossed your mind, when you watched him contemplate his own suicide?”

Frowning, I admitted, “I questioned the existence of God.”

His eye flinches at that, lips stretching to a smile. “So bold. And how about when your father left you.”

“I cursed Him.”

“Yes. And when you watched those men rape your mother, you rejected Him altogether, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

With a wink, he points at me. “That’s precisely why I chose you.”

“You couldn’t have known that. Or what happened in the woods with my father. What is this? Some divine knowledge?”