Page 113 of Mob Knight

“Don’t threaten me, Jocelyn.”

“No threat. Just a promise.”

My phone beeps in my ear. I look at it and see it’s an incoming call from a number I don’t know. I don’t care. It’s the perfect excuse. It beeps again.

“Martha, do what you want. I have another call. Bye.”

I don’t wait for her to respond, instead hanging up and switching to the new call.

“Hello.”

“Hola, señorita Espinoza.”

“Who is this?”

I know that voice, but I’ll pretend I don’t. I won’t give Pablo Diaz the satisfaction of controlling the conversation from the start. We’ll speak English.

“Es Pablo Díaz.”

At least, I will.

“What do you want, Mr. Diaz?”

“I heard what happened today.”

I remain silent. It was an observation, not a question. I have nothing I want to offer either, though I have plenty of questions. I won’t give that away.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes.”

“Are you with Cormac?”

“Why’d you call?”

“Avoiding the question doesn’t mean you didn’t answer. Since he hasn’t snatched the phone from you, he must not be in the same room.”

Astute.

“I called because you’ve done a lot of good for our neighborhoods. You can’t pick your family, and there’s no accounting for taste. But the people in our neighborhoods respect you and like you. I don’t want anything to happen to you because it would upset the children.”

Our neighborhoods.

We aren’t neighbors. He means the Colombian Cartel.

I pray Cormac didn’t leave without saying goodbye.

Me

Pablo’s on the phone with me. He called.

“Your concern is noted.”

“Ms. Espinoza, you avoid me like the plague. I don’t think it’s because my uncle knows your father breaks promises. Why do you hide from me? Do you assume the worst because of my uncle’s and your father’s strained relationship?”

Strained?

I catch myself before snorting. Enrique swore he’d kill my father if he laid eyes on him again. The last time they were together, Enrique beat my father so badly, he nearly killed him. In return, when my father got back to Mexico, he arranged a car accident that nearly killed Enrique’s other nephew, Alejandro. He also found two of Enrique’s labs in Colombia. Around the same time, there were mysterious fires at both.

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