Tempted by the Sinner

“What’s so weird?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I mean, we’re talking about starting a drug war, right? Starting a drug war between two Mexican cartels like it’s no big deal. Like it’s something you do all the time.”

“It is,” he said. “In a way.”

“Come on, this is big, even for you.”

He just shrugged. “If I’m honest with you, Mona, I don’t think it’ll come to that.”

I sat up straight. “What do you mean?”

“The Gulf cartel has a better foothold up north,” I said. “They have more guns, more guys, more money. The Jalisco are strong down south, but here, they’re just upstarts. I think the Jalisco are going to give in and beg us to take their contracts again before this goes any further.”

I shook my head in surprise and began to roll the ends of my hair in my fingers. “I don’t know how you can think that,” I said. “I mean, these aren’t those kinds of guys, right?”

“They’re not afraid of a little violence, if that’s what you mean.”

“So why would you think the Jalisco would just… back off?”

“Because we’re going to formalize the alliance with the Russians tonight,” he said. “After that, we’ll have the whole might of the city behind us. The Jalisco, they can bitch and moan, but they’ll have nothing. And when the Gulf come rolling into town, they’ll realize their time is up.”

“You’re playing a dangerous game,” I said. “You’re betting lives that you’re right.”

“I know,” he said and walked over to me. He sat down on the couch, his knee against mine, and put his arm around me. “Fucked up, isn’t it? But I know I’m not wrong.”

I burrowed into his shoulder and let him hold me. I felt my heart beat faster, my body felt light and weightless. Nothing seemed real around me.

And yet there was Vince, his body strong and firm.

“Come on,” he said, hugging me tight then releasing me. “We’ve got one more meeting today.”

“Really?” I asked.

He nodded. “We need to talk with Steven and Dante about this shit,” he said. “If we’re going to start a war, we’ll need muscle.”

“You just said there won’t be a war.”

He smacked his fist into the palm of his other hand. “Better to be prepared,” he said. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

I groaned and pushed myself up off the couch. “Beats sitting around all day, I guess.”

“Damn right. And if you’re good, I’ll take care of you when we get home.”

I rolled my eyes, but my heart picked up again. “I bet you will,” I said. “Let me get changed first, okay?”

“Make it quick.”

I hurried upstairs, put on fresh clothes, washed my face, and met him down by the door. We got into his borrowed black SUV and drove down to the bakery. There were more cars than usual parked around it, and we had to take a spot a couple blocks away.

We walked in the heat and he put an arm around my shoulder. I should have shrugged him off, but instead I leaned in closer.

I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t know if I cared.

The bakery was packed. Each table had a few guys sitting at it, some of them in suits, some of them wearing casual clothes, and all of them looked angry. I spotted Steven sitting with Dante at a table near the front, both of them with dour looks on their faces. The place was a murmur of quiet conversations that stopped as soon as Vince stepped in through the door.

“Well, look at this,” he said. “You brought every single asshole in the city.”

Dante stood. “Seems as though we don’t have much choice,” he said, and his face remained blank and flat.

Vince crossed his arms and stared at his friend. The quiet was heavy, oppressive, like a weighted blanket on my chest. I inched closer to Vince and stared around at the faces.

Some of them were young, too young to be in the mafia. Some of them looked too old, too fat, too thin. A man with graying hair and a pissed-off expression stood behind the counter, a white apron wrapped around his middle.

I wondered where these people came from, how they found each other, how they found themselves in the mafia. These were the soldiers, the real muscle, the real killers in this city. I realized that I had just stepped into a den of monsters with only Vince to protect me.

“I didn’t know you were afraid of a little action,” Vince said.

Dante grunted. “Don’t misunderstand me, Vincent,” he said. “I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty. But this wasn’t a fight we were interested in.”

“What about you, Steven?” Vince asked, nodding at the Capo.

Steven shifted in his chair and leaned one arm over the back. “I saw what they did,” he said. “I was out on that street with you.”