Page 77 of Cartel King

She lifts her hand, her index finger pointing up as she circles it.

“That I would betray the three of you by giving away Vizzini secrets and endanger you. And you think I would betray Enrique by giving his secrets to you? That’s how little honor you believe I have?”

All three boys grimace.

Questioning anybody’s honor and loyalty is an invitation to a duel.

“I know this isn’t easy for anyone, like I said. But I’m happy with Enrique.”

“You barely know him.”

Hunt snaps. His miniscule patience is gone. He throws his hands up in the air, fully exasperated at his mother. Constantine’s head nudges his arm, and the dog looks toward the camera as though he wishes to get between Hunt and us.

“Maybe we will get to know each other better and realize we’re not as compatible as we thought. Then we go our separate ways.”

“You really think he’s just going to let you walk away?” Will leans forward as he glowers at me.

“And you really believe I would harm your mother?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time your family targeted women.”

“And every time someone in my family thought to take it upon themselves, I punished them.”

“Obviously, you didn’t do an outstanding job if it happened more than once.”

He’s not entirely wrong, but many of the times my nephews acted questionably with the other syndicates’ wives, it’s been us or them. And as much as they didn’t want to target women, they still put our family first. But I don’t need to explain myself or them to anyone.

“You saw me yesterday morning with your mom. You heard what I said about protecting her. However any of you feel about me and about this relationship, it’s your mother’s decision what happens. I won’t walk away. It’ll either be her leaving me, or us staying together for good. I won’t end it. That means I need all three of you to forgive your mom for the slight you think she’s giving you because I need to know you’ll never hesitate to protect your mother.”

“Eres un verdadero pedazo de mierda si crees que no protegeríamos a nuestra madre solo porque está con un gilipollas como tú.” You’re a real piece of shit if you think we wouldn’t protect our mom just because she’s with an asshole like you.

“Steven!”

She probably didn’t need to understand all of that to recognize words she wouldn’t want them to say about me or in front of her, considering how Will caught himself before he swore in front of her. That was not just him. I believe that’s a rule they all have from the flash of guilt on Steve’s face before he goes back to glaring at me again.

“Steve, I don’t think you’d begrudge your mother your protection. But I need to know that no matter what happens, she’s the first person on your mind. That none of us assumes someone else is there for her unless we see it with our own eyes.

“She’s more likely to protect you than you are to protect her.”

Steve’s hunch isn’t wrong about that. But I never want Ellie in that position. I pray it never comes to that. However, I’d be a fool not to know it very well could.

“Boys, you know how unhappy I was for so long. You knew what it was like for me. It’s the opposite of what it was, and I have the chance to be happy. I was fully prepared to give that up and let it pass me by because it terrified me that someone would disappoint me again. But hopefully I have many years ahead of me. And even though I told myself I wanted to be and would be fine on my own, that’s not really what I ever wanted. I told myself that to justify not having another failed relationship, to avoid that kind of hurt ever again. But I want to be with someone who makes me happy. Somebody who understands me. Somebody who can accept my past and not resent me for the things I can’t tell him. There’s so much of that, and there are not too many men who would be okay with that. Their suspicion would be an assumption I’m unfaithful to them or that I don’t care about them the way they care about me. I don’t have to make excuses with Enrique. And that means I have a chance again that I haven’t had since I was twenty years old.”

She pauses to look at me again, and I hate she’s in the middle of this. But as she looks at me, even though she’s speaking to her sons, I feel like I’m the only person in the world to her.

“It’s a chance I never believed was possible. I know Enrique isn’t who you want me to be with, but are you going to begrudge me finding somebody who cares about me and will take care of me the way I’d always hoped someone would?”

“Couldn’t you find somebody else—anybody else? Even a Mancinelli?”

I grit my teeth at Will’s suggestion. That is not a family I ever want to picture Ellie with. Not that I want to picture her with anybody but me.

Ellie snorts.

“And who in that family would I wind up with who isn’t an infant? There’s not an unmarried man over the age of twenty-five. You know I would never cheat, and they never would consider it either. I know this isn’t what you want from me. And I understand that. I already admitted I also understand the position this will put you in. But I’m asking you again to at least give us a chance to see whether we have something that will last. I’m asking you to give me the opportunity to have something I never thought I would.”

Steve goes back to being the peacemaker again. “Mom, none of us want to see you unhappy. Just the opposite. You deserve the chance to find someone who will treat you the way you always should’ve been treated. But none of us’ll think that this is a good idea. That anything good can come of this. No one would call Enrique naive, but that’s what this seems like. If he’s not naive enough to think this could work out, then there must be something else at the heart of it. You can’t blame us for being skeptical.”

“I don’t blame you for being skeptical at all. But you will not insult him. You will not cause problems where there don’t need to be any. We’ll have enough problems from Tommaso without you guys adding to it.”

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