I never asked, but I have my suspicions that he became the man who could get things, who made it his business to know who had what, and for what price.
I’d lay down my life for my brother, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t maintain plausible deniability. It wasn’t just about us, after all. If something happened to Dad, someone would have to step up and take care of Mom and the babies, and I knew it would be me.
He’s giving me the option not to know now, but I’m too stunned by his plan to speak for a few moments.
“There’s no one else I trust to help me with this, hermano. This garage is perfect.”
“Who’s the buyer? How do you know they won’t come kill you and just fucking take them?”
“Because it’s a shitty way to do business if you kill the man who can make you money. There is a Chinese wall between both sides, and I’m on top of it. Neither side is anyone you need to worry about.”
“You’re talking about bringing fucking guns into LA and handing them out to criminals. Why the fuck shouldn’t I be worried? Have you seen the news lately?”
He shakes his head, ready with the answer. “They aren’t staying here more than a week. Just long enough for me to do each deal and send them on their way to Mexico, where the fucking cartel bastards can kill each other if they want. Listen, I don’t want guns in the hands of those bangers any more than you do, but we’re talking about a huge stack of cash just to deliver the goods when I get the go-ahead. I’m good at this. Trust me.”
“Man, one of these days your confidence is going to bite you on the ass. If you’re sure, I’m in, but I want your word it’s not going to impact my business, and I want you to consider contributing to Elle’s college fund too.”
He raises his beer in a toast. “Hell yeah, brother. I’ll give her whatever she asks for. God knows one of us needs a chance to rise above this place.”
I don’t smile when I clink my bottle against his. Elle deserves every opportunity we can give her, but I can’t help thinking she wouldn’t want us to dig ourselves into such a dark hole to do it.
11
Leo
“I don’t trust him.” Manny’s at the wheel of the car, jaw clenched, eyes laser focused on the high beams illuminating the freeway in front of us. “Nothing about this job Gustavo dragged us into feels legit. He fucking stonewalled me from talking to Papá.”
“You didn’t have to agree to it. I’m the one who owes him for what I did to his face. I’ll own that.”
Manny snorts. “Knowing that asshole, he had it coming.”
“Nah, man, you weren’t there,” Benny pipes up from the back seat. “Leo straight up went off on Gustavo’s ass. He went for the fucking jugular.” The twins both laugh.
My brother shoots a sideways look my way. “Was it over her?”
The knot in my belly twists tighter. “It was an idiotic mistake we’re paying for now. I just hope he’s not going to make you guys witness my execution.”
I take a deep breath, dread seeping into me. It’s the first time in more than a week I’ve managed to shake off the itch left from my last visit with Mad Dog and the bomb he dropped on me after the photo shoot.
For the first few days, I grappled with a combination of straight-up betrayal and confusion, but once I came through it, I was left with nothing but disappointment that the asshole hadn’t told me the truth earlier. We were friends. I’ve managed to stay friends with Celeste despite my feelings for her. I could’ve been a better friend to Maddox after hearing his confession, and I’ve been beating myself up over it ever since.
“Any idea what the job is?” I ask. Gustavo doesn’t always tell us all the details. Our job is to show up packing and back him up; everything else is on a need-to-know basis.
“Nada.” Manny glances in the rearview at the twins, whose identical solemn expressions look back from the shadows. “Shouldn’t have brought them without knowing more either. Toni’s going to fucking kick my ass if shit goes down and she finds out her brothers were part of it.”
“Fuck that, hermano,” Baz says, leaning forward and smacking Manny’s shoulder. “We go where you go. She’d kick our asses if anything happened to you on our watch.”
Knowing Toni, Baz is right. She adores her younger brothers, but they can hold their own despite how young they are.
The pair nod in unison.
“Sending us to Compton isn’t improving the trust factor,” I say. “We’re dangerously close to stepping outside the bounds of Papá’s influence.”
Manny shakes his head. “This is where he said to meet.” He takes the freeway exit and turns down a narrow, darkened service road that borders the LA River. About a quarter mile down, he cuts into another lane that leads into the riverbed itself. Pale concrete rises up around us, and we pass abandoned shopping carts and other detritus as we drive along the shallow trickle that passes for a river in this drought-afflicted city.
An overpass looms ahead, and a pair of headlights flash beneath it. Manny cuts his high beams. It’s a clear night, and there’s enough light to see without them, but I still get a chill as we speed toward the meeting spot in the dark, as if
