Page 37 of Cartel King

“Well, you also know once you’re in, you’re in for life, Elodie.”

“Men. That applies to men. I am not a Made Man. Your grandfather swore the Vizzinis would never have Made Women. I was never supposed to be part of this. You promised me, Tommaso, that I was retired.”

“Your retirement was too early. You’re going to do this, Elle. You’re going to do it with a fucking smile on your face. There’ll be a big old cash deposit waiting for you when you get back.”

I’m fighting a losing battle, and I know it. It fucking sucks, but he can hold my boys over my head. He has been for years, but now all three of them are old enough and trained well enough that he could send them on missions far more dangerous than they went on when they were in high school and college.

I want to think Will is now senior enough Tommaso wouldn’t send him on something like this, but he will if he can punish me by doing that. That’s how fucked-up things are when you’re a family in the Mafia.

“All right, send me the details. I’ll make it work. When do you want me to leave?”

“Day after tomorrow.”

“That soon? I have other obligations.”

The fuck am I going to tell Enrique? How am I going to tell him when he’s not around? If this were a pre-planned trip, I would have said something when he told me he was going to be away. If I make it sound like something’s just come up, he’ll worry and want to know what’s going on.

“Rearrange your schedule.”

Well, I’m used to doing that. But I can’t say something so snarky aloud. I have something else to say instead.

“How many people is it? Because the price went up. Everydonois two mil, and Ignacio is ten mil.”

“That’s ridiculous. No way.”

“Yes way. If you’re asking me to do this, it’s not because I’m disposable and you don’t care what happens to me. You’re sending me because you know it’s something no one else is likely to accomplish. You’re going to pay me accordingly, or I’m going to take a vacation on the beach in Rio.”

“You have an awfully high opinion of yourself. You always have.”

“I do, and I’ve earned that opinion of myself and the reputation I have. That reputation is what you’re banking on.”

“Fine. Pull all of it off, you’ll get exactly what you demand. Don’t accomplish it all, you won’t get a damn thing.”

“Regardless, this is the last time I’m doing shit for you, Tommaso. I’m serious, and if you try to hold my boys ransom like this again, I’ll take you out at the knees. You better hope Rocco is ready to lead because once you’re kneeling in front of me, I’ll put a fucking bullet through your head.”

“Don’t threaten me, Elodie. No one does that and lives.”

“What’re you going to do? Kill me? You’re going to pay me close to twenty-million-dollars because you need me. It sure as shit isn’t for shits and giggles. I won’t threaten your sons like you did mine. I’m not fucked-up like that. I will punish you if you do something to my boys. There’ll be no stopping me. There’s a reason your sister and I have been best friends since I was a teenager.”

“Yeah, you were fucking tiny tyrants together.”

“And you and Frank learned to keep your mouths fucking shut, didn’t you?”

Tori is ten years older than me and started babysitting me when I was five. I wanted to be her. Once I was in high school and had more in common with a woman in her twenties, we became thick as thieves. From the first time she came over to babysit me, I was a mini her, so we always ran roughshod over her brothers. I got started young.

“I thought you’d mellowed with age.”

“These are my terms. Figure out how to live with it, Tommaso.”

I wait for a response, but it’s not the don who snaps at me.

“You’re not worth the bullshit that goes along with dealing with you, Elle.”

“Frank, I’ll stand right here and remember that the next time you get froggy, thinking you’ll force me to carry out a hit. Send me the info.”

I’m usually not rude enough to hang up without everyone saying goodbye, but I want the last word.

I glance toward the window and brace myself. I hate what I have to do. Not just the trip to Rio. I hate the situation this puts me in with Enrique. I’ve been dreading this conversation for the past two days. I head outside with a smile I don’t feel plastered on my face.

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