Raul
We are going to get married, huh? I can’t help but laugh under my breath, shaking my head and taking a sip of my whiskey. God, I can’t believe this woman.
The city behind the window is already dark, its cold air creeping even through the tightly shut windows and air conditioner in my hotel room. I see my reflection in the window, surrounded by the lights of Chicago, and I hum under my breath. This place turned out to be as hostile as I expected it to be. After all, isn’t it considered one of the most dangerous cities in the United States?
My thoughts drift back to Tijuana, and I chuckle. Dangerous, sure, if you take into account how many people must’ve slipped on ice and wet sidewalks here. How do people even live in such an unpleasant city?
I theatrically shiver, even though there’s no one to see it, before turning away from the window. I can’t wait to get out of here and go back to Mexico. Riccardo doesn’t expect us to stay here forever, does he? Unless that girl’s proposal is actually true.
Isabella.
I hum, thinking about her with an involuntary smirk in the corner of my lips. It was fun watching her get all riled up and offended, blush blooming on her caramel skin, her dark brown eyes looking at me with Italian fire burning in their depths.
She is very attractive, I can’t take it away from her. Long curly hair, straight posture, long legs, and that fiery demeanor of hers that makes me want to keep taunting her. And you know, no matter what I said to her face, I kinda like her boldness and protectiveness over her own family. To step into my personal space and call me out for not treating them with all due respect? It takes some guts.
There was only one woman in my life who would do such a thing… I take another sip of my whiskey to revel in the bitter taste running down my throat and lower myself into an armchair in the corner of the room as my thoughts drift back to the past. To the only woman I’ve ever loved. My late wife, Mariana.
Her name triggers something in my mind, and without any intention or control, my memories flash before my eyes all at once.
The first one is a memory of the day I met Mariana at sunrise on Tijuana Beach. I was so young at the time, so eager to rise all the way to the sun. I was working day and night, practicing my skills, building connections, chasing traitors, and searching for friends. I’d gotten shot that night, and as I sat on the beach, drinking away the pain, a girl walked over and offered to help, commenting that a bandage like mine would only make things worse.
Mariana was a nurse, and even though she had a sharp tongue and hot temper, her heart was shaped to care about everyone around her. She
saved my life at least a dozen times before I finally proposed to her. By that time, the De Lugo cartel had already started gaining reputation and status in Tijuana, and I had enough money to organize a wedding ceremony as lavish and beautiful as Mariana deserved. God, to this day, I believe that it was the happiest day of my life.
It wasn’t until two years later that Mariana and I decided that it was a good time for us to have children. I had the money and power, she had the desire to start a family, and all we needed was a lucky moment to conceive.
It was then that the Escarras decided to ruin my life.
While I was gone in Mexico City, Mariana went out to meet her sister-and they shot her guards and kidnapped her in the middle of the day. As soon as I found out about it, I lost my mind with worry and rushed back home where a message from the Escarras was already waiting for me.
They gave me one day to order my men to abandon the most valuable territories I had at the time and hand them over to the Escarra gang. But how could I give up on my life’s work so easily? I was too greedy to agree to their conditions right away, and I…I hesitated. Can you believe that? I hesitated to get the love of my life back.
I close my eyes and put my hand on my chest, feeling a throbbing heartache spreading deeper. My fault. It was all my fault.
Eventually, I did follow their order. More than twenty hours later, I sent a message to my men to retreat from the downtown neighborhoods of Tijuana and I drove to the place that Nicolas had chosen for our meeting.
The time was tight, but I was sure I’d made it. Anger and fear for Mariana were burning me from within, so I wasn’t really thinking about the details.
I did what they wanted. How could they not give her back?
The Escarras did show up in time, and they brought Mariana with them. She seemed to be shaken but relatively unharmed, with a bruise on her lip that I immediately swore to return them tenfold. I told them I’d given up on the territories. Nicolas said they had to check with their men, so they started calling someone, talking, dragging time.
I was cursing them under my breath, but with their guns pointed at Mariana, there was little I could do but wait. Finally, Nicolas confirmed my word with someone, and they released her. Mariana immediately ran to me but as if in slow motion, I saw Gerardo raise his gun and shoot her in the back.
Twenty-four hours had passed.
The memories of this moment are hazed with pain, rage, and terror.
While my men opened fire at them, I ran to Mariana and picked her up, whispering that it would be alright, I’d get her to the hospital, it wasn’t anything serious. But it was. She was bleeding all over my arms and torso and gasping for breath while I carried her to my car.
The bullet pierced the blood vessels around her heart, and halfway to the hospital, Mariana died in my lap with her cold hand tightly holding on to mine.
That day, for the first time in my life, I cried. It felt as if my heart was torn apart, and I was drowning in anguish and despair-until a
sweeping wave of fury brought me relief. I couldn’t do anything to save Mariana, but I could do everything to avenge her death. I swore to myself that each of the filthy half-assed rats that call themselves the Escarras
would pay for it.
For years, this fire was burning so brightly I couldn’t even look at any other woman. All I wanted was to capture Gerardo and choke him with my hands, seize his last breath, and watch his eyes turn dull and lifeless. It’s the driving force behind everything I’ve been doing for the last ten years.
How could I even think about getting married again?
No, after Mariana died, no woman was able to set a single spark in my heart-until today. I hum to myself with a mindless smirk on my lips and finish my whiskey in one last gulp. I have to admit, I’m curious about where this is gonna lead me.
“Do you think it’s gonna work out?” Ruben asks me as we walk down to the restaurant the next morning. From the corner of my eye, I can see him turn to look at me with a frown. “Do you trust the Italians?”
“Trust is too big of a word for it,” I say with a calm voice, looking in front of me with a slight smile in the corner of my lips. “I think the
Messinas can be good allies in this game against the Escarras. The Russians have good potential too.”
“But Gerardo has stood up against them.” Ruben grimaces with disappointment, and I can understand him. It feels as if we had done more damage to the Escarras in the two years that preceded their escape from Tijuana than both of these families have managed to do in the last ten years.
“Yes, but Gerardo still managed to escape us,” I remind him with a pointed glance, lingering before the entrance to the hotel restaurant. “The Messinas may need us more than we need them-but without their help, it would take us years to drag him from under the ground of Chicago.”
Ruben holds my gaze for a moment before lowering it to the ground. “Yes, senor.”
With that, I turn away from him and enter the restaurant, looking around. This time, it’s open to other hotel guests, and even though I don’t
appreciate strangers’ company, it makes the place look more lively. There’s slow music playing from the speakers, a low murmur of conversations reaches me from every corner, and a waiter immediately comes up to me, offering to take me to a table.
Riccardo shows up just in time for me to finish my breakfast, and I give him a polite smile and gesture at the seat on the other side of the table. In the best Italian tradition, he orders an espresso, and as soon as the waiter walks away, Riccardo turns to me with a calm smile and an unreadable look in his eyes.
“I hope you had a good night. I wouldn’t want our guests to feel uncomfortable here.”
God, isn’t he tired of playing a good host?
“It wasn’t bad.” I shrug, thumbing the edge of my coffee cup, and look up at him with an empty smile. “But I prefer the sheets in my own bedroom more.”
Riccardo chuckles and tilts his head as if to agree. “Well, hopefully, you’ll be able to go back home sooner rather than later.”
“Only with Gerardo’s blood on my hands,” I add, and for a moment our gazes meet with a silent understanding. We both want him gone as soon as possible. “Do you have a plan, Don Messina?”
He quirks an eyebrow but says nothing about my little jest, leaning forward instead. “That’s what I’m here for.”
As it turns out, the Messinas have already prepared a plan that would get rid of all of the Escarras once and for all. According to it, the
Italians and Russians plan to keep an eye on the Escarras without being too obvious about it, marking down the locations of their new bases and, most importantly, Gerardo’s whereabouts.
In the meantime, I’m supposed to settle in Chicago for the time being and transport most of my men from Tijuana. That’s what they want me here for, after all-to strengthen their forces so that when the time comes to attack, we can do it from all sides at once. Riccardo’s idea is to take over all of the Escarras’ bases at once, not leaving them a single way to retreat and regroup.
“We should kill them all at once-otherwise, they’ll rise again like a fucking worm,” Riccardo finishes with disgust in his tone, and I can’t help but chuckle. Good to know we’re on the same page in regard to the Escarras’ place in society.
“Have you come up with this idea on your own?” I ask after a moment of thought, and Riccardo chuckles and shakes his head.
“Me? No, it’s all thanks to my brothers. We’ve been working on it together.”
Brothers, huh? I hum, looking away. It looks like they all are attached to their family. I wonder what it’s like to be surrounded by people you can rely on. I’m the only child in my family, my parents died years ago,
and my marriage…you know the story. The only person I can trust is Ruben, but even with him, I can’t always be genuine.
“Well, that’s impressive,” I say a moment later, turning to Riccardo with a mindless smile on my lips. “I don’t see any issues with your plan- you know how to arrange things here better than me, after all. So what now? Are we gonna sign a deal?”
I look around the empty table, but no pen or paper shows up from thin air. How does he expect us to do it?
“There may be an issue with this part,” Riccardo murmurs and leans on the table, looking me in the eyes. “You see, Senor De Lugo, I can’t trust a piece of paper to save my life if you or your men decide to betray us.”
Just the idea makes something inside of me rise in protest, a wave of anger running under my skin. If he’s gonna doubt our loyalty, what is this whole damn thing for? I frown, clenching my jaw, and Riccardo seems to understand my reaction because he leans back and raises his hands.
“I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“You did,” I growl, and Riccardo’s eyes turn cold for a moment before he pushes his irritation back inside.
“I don’t know you, Raul. I don’t know what your men are capable of,” he starts again, holding my gaze with a piercing look. “If you can trust a man blindly, that’s on you. But no matter how much I hate Gerardo, I can’t risk my own life and the lives of my family for the sake of killing him and his people.”
I look away for a moment, gathering myself. It does make sense. If Mariana was still alive, I wouldn’t want any strangers near her.
“What do you want, then?” I turn to him, quirking an eyebrow. “How do you expect me to prove my intentions?”
“The tradition is that we have to exchange something-or someone.” Riccardo looks to the side for a moment with what looks like hesitation before looking into my eyes. “Usually, we arrange a marriage between both sides.”
A marriage? I can’t help but laugh, leaning back in my chair and remembering Isabella’s face yesterday. So that’s what that was about, huh? She does expect me to marry her! Ah, isn’t it sweet?
“You want me to marry your sister?” I specify after sobering up, and Riccardo, as confused as he is, nods.
I can’t help but grin wider, imagining the self-confident and hot- tempered Isabella completely in my power. Something in my chest warms up in response, and I chuckle and nod. Oh, this is gonna be fun.
“You know what? Let’s do it.”