“Dangerous or wise?” I stopped in front of Diego and crossed my arms. “If it works, why tempt fate?”
“What do you think happens when a wild animal slows down to rest or to tend to his wounds, or if he gets sentimental about his prey—the way Costa has about Cristiano? Nothing good.” He put out the smoke on the ledge, picked up his hat, and leaned his elbows on his knees. “If you’re not moving forward, you’re going backward,” he said. “Adaptation is the key to survival.”
I could see Diego’s point. We’d done case studies in business school about insolvent companies—those that’d changed too fast, or in the wrong ways. Those that had been left behind.
“Why does adapting have to mean taking on more risk?” I asked.
“Working with the Maldonados isn’t any more dangerous than what we normally do—it just sounds that way because they’re . . .” He scratched his temple. “Let’s just say they’re less forgiving than most.”
“What does that mean?”
“Can you come here, please?” He reached for me. “We don’t get much time together as it is. Why waste it on talking about stuff we can’t control?”
It was all I had wanted in the last year—to have Diego’s hands on me again. To be ignorant of the dark side of this business. This was exactly why I tried to stay out of these things. Now, I knew too much and had too many questions to overlook what was happening.
Not only that, but I couldn’t ignore how invested Diego was in the future of a cartel he was planning to leave behind soon.
I stayed where I was. “What does ‘less forgiving’ mean, Diego?”
He looked down at the hat as he turned it over in his hands. “They don’t do business the way your dad and his friends did. If they don’t like something, they get rid of it. They kill unnecessarily and without regard for the rules.”
“There are no rules,” I pointed out.
“Not true. As you know, up until the past decade or so, there was a code. There were agreements—like the one my family broke. But older cartel leaders are being replaced with ones who think they’re above the law of the land. With the Maldonados, there’s no justice—only the word of those in charge.”
Justice. In a strange way, it did exist in this world. I thought back to what Cristiano had said to me about justice and loyalty before he’d forced me down the tunnel. My father or his men would’ve killed him without trial based on the damning evidence they’d had. I could almost see Cristiano’s reasoning. If the Maldonados murdered who they wanted when they wanted, then that bred more distrust, disloyalty, and violence within their own cartel and amongst others.
“And you made a deal with them?” I asked, spinning the diamond on my ring finger. “What happens if you don’t deliver?”
“I will, Talia. I’ve done my homework. I’m talking over fifty percent more profit for maybe nine or ten percent more risk. How can I refuse those odds?”
“Because if there are no rules, how do you know when you’ve broken one? Or what they’re capable of?” I paused. “What are they capable of?”
“Things you’ve asked me not to tell you before.”
This was the kind of information I could never forget once I knew. And yet, if it involved Diego’s life, remaining in the dark didn’t feel like an option. I stilled my fidgeting hands. “I’m asking now. You’re caught up in this. So is my father. I want to know what happens if something goes wrong.”
“You’re overreacting, Tali. I’ve got everything under—”
He stopped when he picked up on my glare. “Life or death is overreacting?” I asked tersely.
Sighing, he looked away from me. “What happens if something goes wrong with the Maldonados? Death if they’re merciful. If not, it’s because they can do worse. Enslave a man to do their bidding, hold his family hostage, torture him by killing off his brothers, sell his women and kids.”
My heart rate kicked up a notch. It wasn’t as if I had no clue of the reach these criminals around me had. But it scared me that although Diego was most likely smarter than the people he did business with, he’d never be as ruthless. “You have to cancel the deal.”
He whipped his gaze to me, brows drawn. “I can’t do that, Tali. What’s done is done, and we need their business anyway. If this goes well, then an ongoing arrangement with the Maldonados would set all of us up for life.”
“What kind of life is it if you’re looking over your shoulder every day? If you’re never allowed to make mistakes?” I ran my hands over my face. “No amount of money is worth that.”
“You can’t even comprehend the kind of money I’m talking about.”
“I don’t care,” I said, throwing up my arms in exasperation. “This is exactly the life I don’t want—one I’m trying to help you escape. Why are you even worrying about an ongoing deal if you’re trying to get out?”