Page 15 of Cartel Cobra

They pull up to the gate of a country club I belong to. Motherfucker. Now this car will stick out. There’s no way I can enter with this vehicle. I look around and find street parking a block away. It’ll raise some eyebrows, but I have no other choice than to walk up to the gate. I can’t wait around for one of my guys to bring my car or chauffeur me inside. A taxi isnotsomething I can do, even if they’re so much more convenient than having to find street parking.

“Hola, Senor Cardenas.”

“Hola, Armando.”

I know the guy since he’s on my family’s payroll. He’s an informant, so he won’t think twice about me showing up in a less than conventional style. He’ll understand something’s going on, but he won’t ask what.

I wander into the clubhouse and look around. It takes less than a heartbeat for me to spy Lucy in the restaurant with Luis.

Fuck.

I can’t just wander over and join them. Sitting alone without my laptop is too conspicuous. I should’ve brought the damn thing with me since that’s my usual cover.

“Esteban!”

I swing my gaze to two guys I know, and I force myself not to cringe at how loud the guy was. Lucy immediately looks in my direction, the surprise obvious on her face before she catchesherself. Luis is more discreet as our gazes meet. I know he’ll watch me from the corner of his eye.

The only upside to Pedro Gonzalez recognizing me is that he and his cousin are sitting at the table next to Luis and Lucy, and the only seat available is close to Lucy. There’s a party of five that must have taken the fourth seat, so I have no choice as I weave my way through the tables.

Both men stand to shake my hand before I sit. The staff must have shifted this table to accommodate the larger party next to us because I nearly bump into Lucy as I pull my chair out. I barely take a breath before Pedro launches into a story about some house party he went to in Monte Carlo last week. I couldn’t give a shit, but I nod as he speaks. I won’t get a word in edgewise, so I don’t bother trying. Instead, I strain to hear Luis speaking.

“Ana, you need to set the date. The sooner you’re married, the sooner you’ll get out of Bogotá for a few weeks.”

“You still haven’t told me why I need to travel. More specifically, you haven’t told me why my travel needs to be on my honeymoon.”

“You’ll be safer once you’re an Aguilar.”

“I will never not be a Diaz. You know that. I’ll be Luciana Aguilar Diaz.”

“Adding Domingo’s family name will shelter you as much as having him at your side will.”

I watch them from the corner of my eye as I force my hands not to curl into fists.

“I’d be safer in New York with you and Kiko.”

“Then convince Domingo to spend more time at his place up there.”

“Convince him? He’s not exactly giving into my wishes these days.”

What the fuck does that mean?

“He would if you’d set the damn date.” Luis’s voice remains calm in case anyone can overhear him, but I sense his impatience with his little sister.

“If you think adding him to the family is such a benefit, you marry him. Oh, wait. That’s right. You love your wife and are blissfully married.”

“I didn’t love her when we married. I didn’t even know her, but I gave her a chance.”

“Maybe I could be blissful if I didn’t know him. Blissfully ignorant. But I do, and I will never love him. Luis, I can live with that. I don’t have to love or be loved in my marriage, though I’d prefer it. There’s just something that’s making me drag my feet. I don’t know what it is, but something keeps telling me this is a huge mistake. That voice is even louder than ever.”

Lucy shifts in her seat, and it brings her closer to me. Does she know I can hear them? Is it a signal? Wishful thinking.

“What did Domingo do?” Now there’s an edge to Luis’s voice.

“Nothing. It’s just a feeling I have. It’s not like I’m baiting him, but the more impatient he’s growing, the more I’m seeing hints of a man I don’t know that I can live with.”

“Are you afraid?”

I want to know the answer to that question. It’ll determine whether Domingo dies tonight.

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