Page 118 of Cartel Devil

“Why are you?”

“Why’d you put a hit on me?”

I hear his muffled voice telling someone to get out.

“Who said I did?”

“I went back to Boston, and someone’s tried to kill me twice. You even had someone attempt it down here. You’re the only one I’ve had a problem with.”

I had a rebellious phase my freshman year of college. It wasn’t long after Steve and I broke up. It lasted exactly three weeks. Out of those three weeks, I spent nineteen days of them dating Ewan. The most wasted nineteen days of my life. I knew he had a girl he’d been seeing during high school, but they were supposedly on a break. I definitely didn’t want anything serious after ending a nearly five-year relationship.

I’d felt like I’d been a good girl for long enough. I’d always done what my parents asked and what everyone expected. I didn’t resent anything about the time I spent with Steve, but I’d done my best to always be a good girlfriend. I wanted to live on the wild side for a bit. Dating an O’Malley was about as wild as I could get, short of streaking in Fenway Park while the Red Sox played the Yankees.

“That was years ago, Tricia.”

“And you hold grudges for decades.”

Things ended spectacularly—bad.

I didn’t give a shit that he was trying to fuck me after he went back to fucking his ex-girlfriend. They were still on a break, but they fucked like rabbits whether they were together or not. It was when he tried to pass me off to his best friend, Colt—who eventually got engaged to Sean’s wife, Nicolina, before she dumped his ass with epic glory.

“Like you don’t. It was one night, Tricia.”

That little hand-off wasn’t as sly as either of them thought. They pushed their luck thinking that if I was willing to risk being with one mobster, I’d be fine being with another. Not only did they try to pull that off, it also meant ditching Nicolina in a skeezy-ass dive bar in Southie. While that area isn’t as bad as it once was, that bar was dangerous inside, let alone being left alone to go outside of it.

Nicolina was there with three girlfriends who were from mob families, so she wouldn’t have been alone. But being the daughter of the Boston mob’s skipper and the granddaughter of the Montreal mob’s skipper—such stupid titles—wouldn’t have saved her. Any guy looking to assault her wouldn’t have listened to her family tree.

I lost my shit, dragged Nicolina and her friends out of the bar while calling Tristano to pick us up. He about lost his ever-loving mind when he heard where we were. There was no way he was coming alone, so Rocco, Dante, and Edmondo were there too. Poor Dante and Edmondo. Nicolina, her three friends, and I took up the second and third rows. Tristano drove, Rocco was in the front passenger seat, so my other two cousins wound up riding home in the trunk of the SUV.

It was doomed to fail from the start because besides the shitty way he treated his sister, his dad would’ve insisted we break up since he headed the mob back then. Tristano and my cousins visited him after he spread rumors that I was a dealer. People started approaching me at parties and bars. It went on all summer until Tristano and the others took care of it.

“I’m not the one who ordered a hit, Ewan—though I should’ve back then. Tristano was willing.”

“Believe it or not, I’ve been too busy to think about you, darling.”

I want to reach through the phone and slap him.

“Yeah, burrowing your nose up the O’Rourkes’ asses, hoping you’ll come out smelling like roses. I’ve heard about how things are going with them.”

“You don’t think I put a hit on you. You’re hoping to ferret out information by getting me riled up. Who’s it going to? Your mangey dad or that piece-of-shit boyfriend.”

“The only thing I want to know is why you put a hit on me. You’re avoiding the question, so the excuses are covering something.”

“Tricia, I don’t murder pregnant women. I do a lot of shady shit, but that’s beyond unforgivable. I’m not dying like Donovan did.”

Donovan targeted Laura Kutsenko. He would’ve died anyway, but Maksim went berserk because she was pregnant with twins.

“Then which of your little minions is trying to prove his balls dropped?”

“None of them. My sister already hates me. I don’t need her giving Sean the green light to off me.”

He has a point.

“What’d she already do to you?”

There’s a long hesitation before he responds. During the silence, Joaquin returns. He raises his eyebrows, wondering who I’m talking to. When I don’t mouth a name, he pauses before approaching the bed. I put the call on speaker, and it only takes one word before he knows who it is. He stares at me in disbelief.

“She and Sean came up here last weekend. Nikki grilled me, and Sean sat back, cracking his knuckles. Neither of them believed me when I said I knew nothing. If there’d been anything to tell, Nikki would’ve picked you over me. She would’ve called you or gone to see you with any info. Nikki went to a friend’s place while Sean…finished the conversation.”