did. We were cartel. And my papa was the biggest cartel boss in the country. This engagement . . . he wouldn’t tolerate being a humiliation.
Diego slipped the ring on my left hand, then crushed his lips to mine. The table broke out in applause, and my papa rose to his feet and came toward us. He shook hands with Diego. “Finally,” he said to his right-hand man. “The son I always wanted will be joining the family under God.”
He turned to me and wrapped his arms around me. “Adelita,” he whispered. “I am so happy for you.” He patted my back, telling me without words that I had not disappointed him. It was both a compliment and a warning.
Charley put her arms around my neck, appearing the ecstatic best friend she was expected to be. But her mouth came to my ear so no one could hear her ask, “Are you okay, Lita?”
“Please . . . not now,” I begged in a whisper, and forced a wide smile at her as I pulled back from the embrace. “I am very happy, thank you, Charley.” She played her role to perfection . . . but I saw the sympathy she had for me in her stormy eyes. Like me, she was the daughter of a crime boss. She and I had lived parallel lives although we lived in different countries. We were both pieces in the same game.
It’s why I treasured her as a friend. But right now, I couldn’t be near her. I had to keep my emotions in check. Charley’s worry for me would make me crumble.
I was pulled into hug after hug by my father’s guests. On the outside I was smiling, showing the guests my new diamond ring with pride. But on the inside . . . on the inside my blood and heart and soul were crying.
Diego slipped his hand into mine as my father moved away to be congratulated by his guests. “A quick wedding,” my father said loudly, and eradicated any trace of strength I had left inside me. The mood sobered when he added, “Given recent events concerning our business, it is best to have this wedding soon to avoid any complications.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The war. The war with the motorcycle club from America—the Hades Hangmen. The Quintana cartel dealt in drugs, mainly cocaine. We had taken a poor rural village and turned it into an empire. But, as a woman, I was kept at arm’s length from the inner workings of my father’s operation. Much to my annoyance.
It was why he loved Diego so much. Diego’s papa had been my father’s closest friend. When he was shot dead by Faron Valdez, a rival cartel when Diego was only a young boy, my father had taken Diego on as his own. Unlike Diego, I never attended inner-circle meetings. Relegated to a pretty showpiece to parade in front of the villagers and workers.
I knew we were at war. I could go nowhere without constant monitoring and protection. I was an easy target. I didn’t know this motorcycle club, but from what Carmen, my maid, had told me when she had managed to get snippets from the other staff, they were as bad an enemy as we could get. This wasn’t the first time we’d been at war since I’d been old enough to comprehend what that meant. But each time it was hard. Because people died. And I feared that, one day, it could be my father . . . or even me. So I wanted to know everything I could about the Hades Hangmen—their hierarchy, their structure, their weaknesses, in case one day there was no one left to protect me from them.
I wanted to be able to protect myself.
The dinner moved from a meeting of casual acquaintances to an engagement celebration. I couldn’t have said what the food was or what the dessert tasted like. I was numb, smiling and answering questions when asked, but certainly not present in spirit. My body was on autopilot as my mind tried to work out a way to contact Tanner. To tell him everything had gone wrong. To see if . . . I gasped for air, feeling a pang of pain in my chest so great it ached . . . to see if he still loved me. If he still wanted me as much as I wanted him.