Page 133 of Cartel King

I squeeze my eyes shut tighter. I’d shake my head if it weren’t against Enrique’s chest. But I continue working out the situation aloud.

“It won’t end there. Instead, it’ll just escalate. Paolo has plenty of people who owe him favors right now, so he’ll call in one or two from someone specific—Chucho—to get what Pyotr took in what Paolo will claim is an unprovoked attack. Without Pyotr or Paolo knowing the role they play in this tragedy, it will be an unprovoked attack.”

I’ll stick with the metaphor as though I’m telling a fictitious story rather than telling Enrique what I suspect’s happening.

Tommaso probably extorted the Kutsenkos for fucking up the deal with Ignacio. If that’s why Tommaso received the money, the bratva must not know for sure that the BostonCosa Nostraordered the hit. Tommaso’s probably sending the money to Salvatore for something or other. Who knows what right now? He breathed in the same hemisphere as Salvatore for all I know.

Salvatore’s going to call in favors from Jesus Espinoza—Chucho’s a nickname for Jesus—to go after the bratva once he realizes it’s the bratva who stole what was originally theirs. I doubt Jesus told Salvatore he figured out who I am, and that a woman was his target when he asked for men to do the job.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Salvatore isn’t punishing Jesus for sucking him intoCuliacán, Cartel, and BostonCosa Nostrabusiness. He’ll probably tell Jesus his restitution is dealing with the bratva about what Salvatore will consider stolen money. Salvatore will probably use Jesus to settle some old score with Enrique.

The Kutsenkos will invariably discover what Tommaso did with the money, and it’ll piss them off that even a penny went to the New York Mafia. Salvatore won’t let them live that down: Tommaso duped the bratva.

“When Chuchodoes those favors to hurt Pyotr, Chucho’ll think he and Paolo are even. But one favor will lead to another. The second favor will be to settle an older score of some sort with an enemy from south of the border. However, Chucho’s doomed to fail from the start. This enemy south of the border is also Chucho’s nemesis. This enemy’s learning about this as I speak. This enemy—Kiko—is likely to deal with Chucho because Kiko’s involvement is even more personal than anything Chucho did to Pyotr or Paolo.”

I’m certain Enrique knows I mean him. I couldn’t be clearer since Kiko is a nickname for Enrique.

“When Chucho disappears, Paolo honestly can say it wasn’t him. The tricky part is Chucho has connections to a fourth player who has ties to one of Chucho’s kids. Patrick’ll get sucked into this because Patrick and his family’ll be honor-bound to defend Chucho who just went poof and disappeared.”

All Four Families will wind up involved. When Jesus disappears because Enrique finally gets fed up with him and all the shit he’s caused, along with Jesus’s decades-old debt, it’ll draw in the O’Rourkes because of their ties to Jesus. If only Cormac O’Rourke weren’t tied up with the Espinozas, but love makes strange bedfellows.

Salvatore will cry foul since the Mancinellis have familial ties to Jesus, too. Pushing Jesus into Enrique’s hands allows Salvatore to be rid of a pain in his ass without betraying his nephew Luca who brought Jesus into the mix a few years ago.

“If all goes to Paolo’s plan, Paolo will have three enraged syndicates blaming each other for Chucho’s involvement. It’ll deflect everything from Paolo. He’s counting on Kiko being too busy to punish Paolo for his role in what happened to two women Kiko loves.”

Tommaso is so far in over his head he’ll look like the toddler trying to play with the big kids. He’d be smart to just fade into the background.

It’s all so fucking complicated though, and I have to run through all the players to be sure I’ve forgotten no one.

The Kutsenkos—Maksim, aka Pyotr—hate the Mancinellis—Salvatore, aka Paolo.

The Kutsenkos pissed off Enrique by causing problems with his deal with Ignacio. Tommaso’s pissed at the Kutsenkos because he got fucked over, too. Maksim’s now paying Tommaso, so he won’t tell anyone—Enrique primarily—that they fucked things up. But Enrique already knows the Kutsenkos are involved. My guess is primarily Pasha who’s married to Ignacio’s niece.

The Kutsenkos will go after the Mancinellis because they need that hush money back somehow, and Salvatore’s as good a target as anyone.

Salvatore will want revenge against Maksim for that, and since Jesus complicated things by going after me and not telling Salvatore the truth, Salvatore’ll send Jesus after Maksim.

Except Enrique has the oldest grudge against Jesus. He’ll want first dibs because of the past and what Jesus just did to Catalina and me. If Enrique goes after Jesus, Salvatore will have to protect Jesus because Jesus is now related by marriage to Salvatore’s nephew Luca.

The O’Rourkes will come to Jesus’s defense because of Cormac’s connections to one of Jesus’s kids.

Salvatore will try to fade into the background and let the Diazes, Kutsenkos, and O’Rourkes war with each other.

“You deduced all of that from looking at a couple bank accounts?”

“And nearly five decades of life among syndicates. If I were in Paolo’s place, that’s what I would do.”

“And if you were in Kiko’s?”

“I’d make sure Chucho understands he needs to pay off his old debt to Kiko before he worries about anything else. If he does that, then they’re even. Chucho might live if he’s still useful to Kiko. Kiko might also remind Pyotr that if he hadn’t tried to fuck with Kiko first by going through Tommaso, he wouldn’t have to deal with Paolo or Chucho at all. If Chucho does this—makes restitution to Kiko and stays out of things with Pyotr and Paolo—then Patrick never gets involved because Chucho’s no longer in danger of dying.”

If Enrique gets Jesus to man up finally on their old bargain, thenJesus can slink back to Chihuahua and be out of everyone’s way. Enrique can remind the Kutsenkos they’re the real reason all of this happened, and Ignacio would still be alive if they hadn’t tried to fuck Enrique over.

If the Kutsenkos leave Tommaso alone, then they have one less thing to deal with Salvatore over. Salvatore gets iced out since Jesus won’t be his bitch. The O’Rourkes have no reason to interfere, and Enrique’s settled things with no one blaming him.

“Little one, I think you’re brilliant. I think Kiko would be wise to follow that advice. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,papí. Thank you for listening to my convoluted story rather than pressing me to pick.”

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