Page 2 of Cartel Cobra

Puta de madre. Motherfucker. I’ve heard of him.

“As in mytío’shenchman?”

He’s still deliciously handsome. However, anyone connected toTíoHumberto is immediately suspect and not someone I want anywhere near me.

“I work for yourtío.”

“You struck up the conversation with me, and now you’re evasive. I’m bored.”

I make to step around him, but he shifts to block me. Knowing what I do now, I should be afraid. More fool am I for not being scared. He isn’t intimidating me, and for a moment he appeared to regret being connected to thatpedazo de mierda. Piece of shit.

“Don’t walk away.”

His tone is softer, but there’s a command to it. If he were anyone else, it would be a major turn on. But I can’t afford anyone to see me talking to him, and I don’t believe he wouldn’t tell mytíoevery single thing I say. I don’t believe he wouldn’t tell mytíohow many times I breathed in this conversation. My guard will go ape shit if he discovers me talking to mytío’shenchman. I know what I’ve heard is a fraction of what this man’s done as an enforcer.

“Then say something interesting because right now I want nothing to do with any man who works for mytío. You’re untrustworthy, so there’s little you can say that I want to hear.”

“I think there’s plenty you’d want to hear,chiquita.”

The way he says that last word. Little girl.

I force myself not to breathe heavier. I refuse to soften how my gaze hardened the moment I recognized his name. I want to ignore how my pussy aches and how much my body wants to know what he feels like pressed against mine. I shouldn’t be attracted to him, but I am, and I hate myself a little for it.

“I doubt that,viejo.”

He leans to whisper in my ear, and I struggle not to shiver.

“I’m not that much older than you, but I’m definitely more of a man than the little prick you sat with earlier.”

He straightens, and I lift my chin as defiantly as I can muster. I try to look down my nose at him even though he’ssomuch taller than me. Like a foot, easily.

“Move.”

He grins at my attempt to command him. He steps aside and winks. The fucker winks! I turn away from him and walk back to my table as though I didn’t just have one of the most disturbing conversations of my life. I sink into my seat and try to remember that other people can see me now. Men have threatened and held me at gunpoint and knifepoint before. I’ve defended myself with violence more than once. That was still one of the most nerve-wracking experiences I’ve ever had.

“Hey.”

I smile at my sister as she greets me and slips into her seat.

“Were you waiting long? Matáis didn’t want to say goodbye.”

Catalina waggles her eyebrows at me, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes. She and her fiancé are nauseatingly sweet.

“You’ll see him in like an hour when he comes over for dinner.”

She shrugs unrepentantly and grins. They’ve been together for three years, and they still can’t get enough of each other. They met through our brothers, Enrique and Luis, when she was home for the summer between junior and senior year of college. Turns out they were both in Boston for university, which made dating convenient. Catalina was at MIT while Matáis went to Harvard. They’ve been inseparable ever since.

“You’ll see Domingo for dinner, too.”

We stare at each other, and we both know only one of us is excited to see her fiancé.Papáknows there isn’t a chance in hell Catalina would give up Matáis to marry someone he chose.Matáis would annihilate any man foolish enough to look the wrong way in my sister’s direction.

So that leaves me. I’m the one making the political match for my family’s sake. Matáis’s family is already allied with mine, but Domingo’s won’t be until the ink is dry on the marriage certificate. My ring felt tighter than ever because he was pushing me to set a wedding date today. We’ve been engaged for a year, and college gave me an excuse for delaying. But I graduated last month and have moved back to Bogotá.Papá’sbreathing down my neck too. He won’t drag me down the aisle, but he’s giving me some hard shoves. I’m doing everything I can to dig my heels in and go nowhere.

“Did you have another argument with Domingo?”

“No, but only because we’re in public. That’s why I met him here. I knew he wouldn’t cause a scene.”

Our family runs Colombia. Not like runs the government as elected officials but runs the government because we have more money than the Vatican. Our father controls every import and export the country has. Nothing comes in or out of a port in this country without him agreeing. Domingo’s family were rivals with mine beforepapáinherited his position fifteen years ago. They’ve tried to assert themselves a few times, and both sides have lost good men because of it.Papá’strying to create peace, and the only way Domingo’s father would agree was for Domingo to marry me.

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