Page 49 of Cartel Devil

I peer into Tre’s nervous gaze. Her brow’s furrowed, and I suspect she’s on the verge of tears because I withdrew.

“Chiquita, it’s a surprise for both of us. But I’m okay with it. I told you, I’ll support whatever you want.”

“I shouldn’t make this decision alone. You’re this baby’s parent too.”

“I am. But we’re not married. Even if we were, I’d never force you to do something this life-altering and potentially dangerous if you don’t want to.”

“But—”

She looks away from me, and it takes me a moment to understand what’s going through her head. I think she needs permission—not from me but maybe the universe—to want this since I suspect she was raised the way I was.

Under no circumstances do you get—someone—pregnant without being married.

This world is too dangerous to bring a child into it without proper forethought and planning. I can’t believe I’ll be the first one to have a child. I always figured it would be Jorge, if anyone. He seems the best suited to be a papá.

I figured Javier hates people too much to ever find someone who’d want his misanthropic ass. Then he found Madeline, and there was a lot of past trauma for them to work through. She’s a midwife and dedicated to other people’s babies right now.

Pablo’s our top enforcer, and while he was once the sweetest of all of us, he’s now so jaded and closed off that no one thought he’d marry either. He and Florencia are eyeballs-deep in getting her residency, then citizenship taken care of.

Alejandro’s—well, he’s just so damn pretty—he hates being called that—that I never imagined he’d settle down. Toria has an interesting career that doesn’t make growing a family feasible until she retires.

And Tío Enrique is old. Not in a decrepit kind of way. He can still thrash my ass in a boxing ring and outrun my mile by nearly a minute. But he’s in his late fifties and has Pablo as his heir. Tía Elle has three adult sons, so she doesn’t want to start over.

That leaves Jorge. He’s not what anyone would consider cuddly—except with his wife. I definitely never pictured him with spit up on his shirt and wearing one of those baby carrier things.

You should learn what they’re called since you’ll be wearing one in eight months.

There’s something about him that makes it easier to picture him as a dad before any of the rest of us. But he’s always been the most—I don’t know—settled of us.

“Joaco?”

Merde!

“Sorry, chica. I was thinking about the guys in my family. I didn’t think I’d be the first to be a papá, but they’re all going to make amazing tíos. Even my cousins will be more like tíos segundo than primos segundo.”

“Segundo? Second, right? It’s the same in Italian.”

“Yes. It’s like uncle once removed or cousin once removed. Do you speak fluent Italian?”

“Yes. I’m proficient in Sicilian too. Not everyone in my family speaks both. I learned Sicilian for when I went on vacation with Sera. Her mother’s family prefer it to Italian when they’re home.”

Serafina’s going to murder me. If she doesn’t send Mancinelli men after me, she’ll find some of her mother’s Sicilian Cosa Nostra family or her father’s Venetian Mala del Brenta men to tear me apart. I’m sure she’d pay for a first-class ticket for them.

Tre nudges me. “She won’t kill you. Maybe me, but not you.”

“Why on Earth would she take issue with you?”

“Because I’m supposed to know better than to get involved with someone in a cartel—especially the Cartel.”

Just like her family are the Italians—the Mafia in Boston, and the Mancinellis are the Italians—the Mafia in NYC, my family are the Colombians—the Cartel along all the Eastern Seaboard. Sure, there are some Mexicans trying to sit at the grown-ups’ table, but we make sure they understand they’re still in booster seats. Any other Latin American groups are barely more than street gangs we rarely think twice about. They all exist at our largesse.

“Is that going to influence your decision? I know you’re worried about your family, but what about the Mancinellis?”

She hesitates for a heartbeat before she shakes her head. The average person never would’ve noticed, but I’ve been trained to interrogate. I notice any tell.

“Take your time, little one. Nothing needs to be decided today.”

“But it does soon. If I can’t go through with this, then I need to decide quickly. I won’t let this progress. It’ll be hard enough as it is.”