“Precisely, but here we are.” She said the words that signaled the end of his life, and Lou got his gun out. “The only reason my man lived was because of your boss, Jimmy. That phone call you made for so little money is something you can’t take back, but you will pay for it.”

“Let me, Uncle Lou,” Dino said, holding his hand out. “I gotta do it sometime, and I’d rather it be with you.”

“Are you sure?” she asked. Dino idolized Lou, but she also knew Dino’s dad and his objections to the path his son had taken. “Once you pull that trigger, there’s no going back.”

“My loyalties are to you, Cain. You never have to doubt me and what I’ll do for you.” Dino took the gun and didn’t flinch as he pulled the trigger. They all ignored the man’s final pleas, which were nothing more than white noise.

“Lou, make him the crew boss of the guys you put him with, and give him the bump in pay that goes with it.” She embraced Dino and kissed his cheeks. “And you know my loyalties are with you, Dino. Never doubt the lengths I’ll go to keep you and your family safe, because now you’re my family as well.”

“Thanks, boss, and we’ll be back here with whoever this Lizard is.”

“Good. Put this guy on ice. We’ll deliver him as soon as Lizard tells us who the money fairy is.”

Chapter Sixteen

Hector opened his eyes when the plane touched down in Cozumel. The place survived on tourists, but Carlos Luis lived with his bride a few miles from all the resorts. The house that sat on the private beach was one of Rodolfo Luis’s favorite getaways. Carlos had taken over all of his late father’s estates, and no one was left to challenge him. Hector admired him for that, and for the way he’d taken revenge for the cowardly way Gracelia had killed her own brother.

“You okay?” Tracy asked. She reached over and rested her hand on his thigh.

“I was thinking about the very dead Rodolfo Luis,” he said as they taxied to the stairs they were rolling to the edge of the tarmac. “He had a son outside of marriage.”

“Plenty of people do that, baby.” Tracy stared at him as if she suddenly didn’t know him. “You’ve never told me the whole story about Marisol, but she doesn’t belong to your wife. She’s no less yours because you weren’t married to her mother.”