“Wow, Cane. I didn’t realize it was that deep.”
“Yeah.” I ran my slick palms over my pants. “The thing is, I thought after I doubled Jefe’s money, he would leave me alone. But no, he kept coming back with more, demanding me to flip it. Without saying it, he saw something in me—a drive that was hard to find in other men. He knew that I could reach the wealthy Americans, and he wanted to keep their money. During it all, we got a little closer. He trusted me a lot more than he had in the beginning because I had proven my loyalty to him. I built Tempt, got the wine going, and it only got better from there. After two years, I did stop selling drugs completely, and I made a deal with Jefe to let Lora out, but of course she ended up with Aaron a couple months later. We were friends, and he’d been selling Jefe’s product in South Carolina for a while. He decided to move to Atlanta, where he spotted Lora at the club.” I shook my head. “Lora had the chance to get out, but never did…and I honestly don’t think she really wanted to. She liked the thrill. The secrets. She liked capitalizing off of it, even though it was dangerous. I blame myself for ever getting her involved, and sometimes I hate myself for selling the very drugs that my mother couldn’t stay away from.”
Kandy sighed and tightened her grip around my hand. “You did what you had to do, Cane.”
I looked into her glossy eyes. “Yeah, but at what cost? Just to live the good life? My choices didn’t repair my family, like I thought it would. If anything, it ripped us apart.”
Her lips twisted for a moment. “But you’re all here, on the other side of it. That’s all that matters. Sometimes you have to unravel before coming together again.” She rested her head on my arm.
We were quiet a moment.
“I bet this makes you want to run back home, huh?”
“He knows where I live…” she muttered.
“He does. Going home would be pointless. Not only that, but if he notices you’re gone, he’ll think you talked, and he’s always hasty to get shit done. It sounds wrong, but you’re safer here, honestly.”
She pressed her lips, looking up at me. “Your life is so…complicated,” she said, exasperated. “I know you had to do what you did to get to where you are now, but it’s scary as hell having all of these random things happen.”
I dropped my head. “I know. I apologize.”
“I’m just glad you’re not into that anymore. And I’m glad you wanted to change. Everyone deserves redemption.”
I smiled.
“If you think I’m safer here, I’ll stick around, I guess. I don’t want him showing up at my house and threatening my parents the way he just threatened me. God only knows what my dad would do.” She waved a dismissive hand, like the mere thought of that annoyed her. “Knowing that the El Jefe is in your back pocket is in-fucking-sane but I’ll never say a word. And it’s not like he’ll be in your hair every day. Right?”
“Not every day, but having him around period is dangerous.”
“I know…” She looked so worried. Seriously, I didn’t deserve her. As badly as I wanted her in my life, I knew she didn’t belong here. She didn’t grow up the way I did. She didn’t know how to handle situations like that—especially ones that involved notorious kingpins.
“He shouldn’t have done that to you,” I murmured. “I’m sorry, Kandy.”
She held me tight. “It’s not your fault, Cane. Let’s just get through this and hope he never comes around again.”
I clasped her chin between my fingers and lowered my head, dropping a kiss on her lips. “You don’t have to go through any of this with me, babe. You know that right? If you wanted to walk away from all of it, I wouldn’t stop you. You deserve better than all of this shit.”
“I know I don’t have to,” she insisted.
“So why bother?”
She stared up at me. “Cane, I love you, okay? I fucking love you. When I came back, I knew there would be more to this than what happened with Kelly, but I prepared myself for it. Am I shaken up about what just happened? Yes. But…this is your life. This is your world. I wanted to be in it, and now I’m here. I’m not running away this time. We’ll get through this, just like we’ve gotten through everything else.”
She was truly something else. “You’re crazy. You know that?”
“Only for you, obviously.” She rolled her eyes, but I saw the smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
I wrapped her up in my arms. “This will all blow over soon. I promise.”
Although I had hope that it would, I suspected the drama was just getting started. Buck was free, without cops on his back. Jefe was lurking around in my new city, and I had no idea how long he was going to be around. And Kelly…fucking Kelly. If I didn’t do something about her, she’d return too. Not now, but eventually.
I had no idea what Kandy was thinking, and hell, it was selfish of me to keep her around with all of this chaos in my life…but she had accepted me for who I was. The real me, not the man she thought she knew years ago. Not the man who put on a facade for her and her family.
Me, Quinton Cane.
My only hope was that she’d be able to handle me once the storm was over.
Chapter Twenty-Three
KANDY
El Jefe returned one more time after his first arrival. When he showed up again, he didn’t have a gun pointed at my head, but he did have a man and woman with him, who were both strapped at the waist with guns and knives and other things I didn’t want to know about.
The woman had strong, lean arms, wavy black hair, and she looked easy to piss off. To be honest, she was just as intimidating as her boss.
The man seemed much more relaxed. He had dark hair, pale skin, and golden-brown eyes. He kept smirking at me as I sat on the love seat in Cane’s office. Cane was in front of his desk, on his laptop, typing something up and murmuring with El Jefe. The people he’d brought along, showed up with so many brief cases. The brief cases filled up every single room, from the den to the kitchen, and even our bedroom. I had no doubt there was money inside each and every one of them.
Cane had introduced the woman as Patanza and the man as Clark.
“I’m sorry. I have to know something. You’re young as shit,” Clark said, looking me over and laughing. “And you’re boning this man, right over here? Is it just a sexy thing going on or is it serious?”
“Clark, shut the fuck up,” Patanza muttered with a thick accent.
“Hey, I’m just asking.” He held his hands in the air. “It’s just weird as fuck. She’s way too fucking young. He might as well be her babysitter.”
I glanced at Cane, who looked me in the eyes and simply shook his head with a long blink. “Ignore him,” Cane mouthed.
“I’m sorry, but what exactly makes it weird?” I asked, folding my arms and ignoring Cane’s directions. This Clark guy was super arrogant, and he didn’t know shit about what Cane and I had. I couldn’t stand his judgmental attitude. From the moment he'd walked through the door, I could tell he was a cocky jackass, with all his smirking and arm-folding.
“Well, you look like you’ve barely reached twenty, and that fucker over there has gray hair coming in. Shouldn’t you be in college or something right now?”
“Clark,” El Jefe warned, and Clark looked back with an inclined brow. “Shut the hell up."
“For fuck’s sake. You fucking Hispanics are always so serious.”
I fought a smile while the woman rolled her eyes.
El Jefe put his eyes back on the computer screen again. He was sitting on the edge of Cane’s desk, watching everything Cane did carefully. The man was truly intimidating. He sat with his head high and looked down, like everything beneath him was worthless. Even with the hair on his jawline, I could tell it was a strong jaw.
My eyes dropped to his finger, and I noticed a wedding band there. He’s married? Wow…what kind of crazy woman would marry a man like him—a man who wasn’t afraid to point a gun at a nineteen-year-old girl?
“Did you think
about what I said?” El Jefe murmured to Cane.
“Yeah, I’ve thought about it.”
“And?”
“And I need more time to think about it.”
El Jefe scoffed. “Don’t be a pussy about it. You either want it done or you don’t. It’s that simple.”
“Shit, I apologize for not being a natural born killer like you.”
El Jefe looked amused, but I was curious what kind of conversation Cane had with him to bring up the word “killer.”
“Natural born?” El Jefe repeated. “Nah, the world made me this way.”
Cane muttered something under his breath, and with a few more taps of his keys, he said, “I’m done. I got in touch with my accountant, and she has created one account in Canada, one in Russia, and one in Japan. I’ll give you the account and routing numbers when I have them, and take the money to her so she can have it all deposited safely.”
“Good.” El Jefe stood, and Cane pushed out of his chair. He was about to speak again, but then a car door slammed shut outside.
Patanza grimaced, rushing toward Cane. “Who the fuck is that?” she demanded.
Cane frowned, walking toward the window. He pushed one of the blinds up to take a look out, then let out a sigh of relief. “It’s my sister, Lora.”
“Tranquilo, Patanza,” El Jefe commanded, but her shoulders didn’t relax. He said something else to her in Spanish, and with every word, she became less tense.
“I need to let her know you’re here,” Cane said, and walked my way, grabbing my hand and leading the way downstairs. Of course they followed, moving like trained assassins. God, looking at them made me shiver, and not in the good way.
Cane met up to the door, but Clark was already standing there with a gun in his hand.
“Put that shit away,” Cane hissed. “It’s my sister.”
“Put it up,” Jefe ordered behind us, and Clark groaned, tucking it in the holder on his waist. “I swear to God, if I don’t get any action soon, I’m going to flip. It’s been boring as fuck ever since the shootout.”
“Shootout?” Cane questioned.
“Long story,” Patanza muttered.
Cane released my hand to open the door. Lora walked toward the house, dragging a suitcase on wheels by the handles. “So glad to see the house isn’t burnt down!” she yelled. “I tell you, Q, I don’t think El Jefe is ever going to show! I’m pretty sure we can relax now since that motherfucker—” Lora’s sentence was cut short as Cane opened the door a little wider, just enough for her to see El Jefe standing in the middle of the foyer. “OhmyGodholyshit!” she gasped loudly, stopping right on the porch.
El Jefe raised a brow, looking Lora over. “I see you still have that filthy mouth of yours.”
Lora stared at him behind her round, yellow sunglasses, and it was the first time in my life I had ever seen her so speechless. “Jefe,” she breathed. “I guess I spoke too soon.”
“I suppose you did.”
“Where’s Mama?” Cane asked.
“At one of her meetings, and I’m kinda glad I took her.” Lora looked from El Jefe to Clark, and then to Patanza, who was giving her a death glare.
“Who is she to get the right to disrespect you?” Patanza snarled at her.
“Calm down, Patanza. We’re leaving,” El Jefe announced. “Cane had to take care of a few things for me.”
“It’s done now,” Cane announced. “But next time you show up, make an announcement first. I don’t like surprises.”
El Jefe gave a small smile. “What is life without a few surprises? Before I go, I need to speak with you and Lora. Patanza, Clark, wait out in the truck.”
Patanza nodded and turned to walk away, but not without glaring back once at all of us. Clark followed her, smiling once at us before disappearing around the corner. They were complete opposites. I wondered how a guy like Clark even worked for El Jefe.
“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 w
ith 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.
Even though I was psyched to be going back to school, and glad that I could still live with him instead of on campus, the entire situation about Kelly bothered me, so a few days after hearing El Jefe’s ultimatum—when Cane had to spend a weekend in Texas—I did something I knew he would never approve of: I packed a bag and drove to Atlanta.
I had no idea what I was doing, or why the urge to go was so intense, but after doing extensive research and looking into the case, I was at Douglas & Howard Mental Health Facility.
“Good Lord, what am I doing?” I muttered to myself, staring ahead at the building. It was a large building, well-kept, made of red brick. All of the hedges were trimmed, and a few patients walked around in yellow uniforms. “This is so fucking stupid,” I said, but it didn’t stop me from shutting my car off and getting out. I placed a flat hand over my brow line to block the sun beaming down on me.
Kelly was in that building…
I don’t know what possessed me to come all this way, but I was there. Right fucking there, and it was too late to go back now.
“Fuck it,” I breathed, and I marched ahead, straight to the entrance. I swung the door open and met up to the front desk, requesting Kelly Hugo. I signed a few forms, and was told I’d have to wait thirty minutes until the next visitation hour started…so I did.
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