“You have a beautiful place,” Judice said. She held Colin’s hand and followed them to the sunroom that Emma loved in the summer.

“Thank you, I grew up a couple of miles from here.”

They talked about pleasantries for another half hour before the rest of the family arrived, and they pitched in to help Carmen with dinner. Colin went out with her to stand at the pit, and she stopped him from telling her about his meetings. When they got into it, she wanted Remi, Katlin, Muriel, and Finley to listen in.

Linda and her brothers appeared a little overwhelmed when they sat to eat, but they rallied, and Linda seemed to find Judice easy to talk to. They sat together and appeared to share a long conversation while Colin made the rest of them laugh. The kids left for the movie Emma promised them, and Emma took Dallas and the others next door to Muriel and Kristen’s cabin for an after-dinner bottle of wine.

Once it was quiet, Cain got to business. “How did your sit-down with Cesar Kalina go?” She didn’t want Colin to waste time getting to what she wanted to know.

“He’s hot for Hector’s territory and promised me the moon if I worked for him and pointed out where Hector’s vulnerable.” Colin sat next to her in the office upstairs.

“You think he hit Hector’s production line?” There was no way they could afford getting in the middle of that.

“I think Kalina is an opportunistic little prick. He acted like a tough guy, but I’m shocked he’s still alive. He’s about five feet tall and sounds like he’s about twelve. No, whoever did that to Hector had more cojones than this little guy.”

Colin laughed but she didn’t join him. This game was way too dangerous to play because the cartels had an unlimited number of soldiers who lived to kill whoever the top guy aimed them at. One wrong move and you ended up getting tossed in the street without your head as an example to anyone who dared make the same mistake.

“He’ll either end up dead or with more than he has now because of his drive to win.” Colin shrugged. “It’s a toss-up.”

“Colin, you can’t go around putting your finger in every pie. Eventually someone’s going to get pissed, and no one will be able to keep you alive,” Katlin said.

Katlin saved Cain from having to tell him the same thing, and she was tired of acting like a scolding parent when it came to Colin. “It sounds like you like this guy, but not that long ago you needed help with Salvatore. It wasn’t Kalina or anyone but us and Carlos Luis who got rid of that for you. If you want respect, you’ve got to give it.”