“Look, Jefe.” Lora held up a hand, stepping inside the house. “Those days are over. All right? Don’t start asking for fucked-up favors.”
El Jefe gave her an amused smile. “Cane, tell your girlfriend to wait somewhere out of earshot. I need a second with both of you alone.”
Cane put his attention on me. “Go. It’s fine.” He squeezed my hand before letting it go, and I rounded the corner to get to the second foyer, but stopped at the bottom of the staircase. It was wrong to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help it. El Jefe was talking to them about something that I was sure Cane was never going to tell me. Not out of disrespect, but to protect me.
“Cane says everything is fine with Tempt, but I want to know the truth,” I heard El Jefe say, his voice low and deep.
“The truth about what? Tempt is fine. He got the company back on its feet after a few months. It’s the shit going on in his personal life that’s fucked up,” Lora stated.
“Things like what?” Jefe asked.
“Well for starters, having a fucker like you in his house. If anyone saw you, it could damage his career, and it wouldn’t just be him losing money. You would too.”
“Point taken. Why else?”
Lora was quiet a second. “I don’t know if he’s told you about our Dad being out.”
“I can handle Buck,” Cane stated.
“He beat on you, no?” Jefe asked.
“When we were younger, yes,” Cane answered. “That’s no longer a problem for me.”
“And what about Kelly?” Jefe inquired.
“Kelly needs to fucking rot,” Lora snarled.
“Rot as in what? In a hole? In a cell?”
“Rot as in to leave Q the fuck alone for good.”
“Lora,” Cane warned.
“What?” she yelled. “It’s true! She’ll come back, and you know it, Q. Imagine if she shows ‘good behavior’ and the therapists find it convincing, she could get out even sooner than the pathetic length you were told. It’s bullshit! You saw what she did to Kandy, and that shit wasn’t cool. If you want Kandy to stay around, you need to make sure Kelly never comes back again. You know how to make that happen, but you’re too chickenshit to do it!”
“Yeah, because I can’t, Lora! I have to take precautions now. We’re not in the dark anymore.”
Lora gave a dry laugh. “Precautions are not going to stop that wicked bitch. She’s still sending you letters, making threats. That bitch will never stop!”
“Enough,” El Jefe said calmly, but there was enough bass in his voice for them to stop arguing. “Cane, you have one more day to give me an answer. All I need is a yes or no. It’s that simple.”
Cane groaned. “It’s too fucking risky.”
“Who gives a fuck?” Lora screeched. “It’s not like you’re the one doing it, and when has this guy ever left evidence behind?”
“By saying yes, I’m basically pulling the trigger, Lora.”
She huffed. “You know what? Who cares? Fuck this conversation. Do whatever you wanna do, but don’t come to me when she fucks up everything in your life all over again.” I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Before she could get to where I was, I hurried upstairs and into Cane’s bedroom, clicking the door shut as softly as possible.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. El Jefe was giving Cane a choice about Kelly? Was he really thinking about killing her? God, the thought of it made me sick to my stomach. Cane wouldn’t do that. He couldn’t. It wasn’t like him.
How was I even going to bring this up in a conversation without him knowing that I was listening? Of course I hated Kelly, but murder was unspeakable and irreversible.
After hearing their heated debate, I told myself I wouldn’t bring it up in a conversation with him. Cane’s decisions were his own, and even though he’d told me repeatedly that he would do anything for me, the idea he would order something like that terrified me.
I just hoped he didn’t do something he would regret.
Chapter Twenty-Four
KANDY
Cane spoke nothing of the conversation with Jefe and Lora that night, and it didn’t help that he had to be at work the next morning and had a full schedule. He’d assured me that El Jefe wouldn’t be back to the house again—at least not for a while—but still, it didn’t stop my mind from racing.
I knew it was bothering him too. He walked around like he was on edge—like there was this gigantic weight on his shoulders and he wasn’t sure how to get rid of it. And could I blame him? El Jefe had pretty much given him an ultimatum. I didn’t know what he was asking, exactly, but it had to be serious.
I tried taking my mind off of it by applying to attend the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A few weeks back, Cane said he knew people there and could probably get me in. If I did get in, I would start in the fall, and he was going to pay for my tuition.