“I won’t hurt her,” I promised.
“I mean it, Damari,” he added. “You love her like a man is supposed to, or you leave her alone… no in-between. She doesn’t need confusion or secrets, and she damn sure doesn’t need you second-guessing her because of your loyalty to me. You’re loyal to her now.”
I nodded slowly. “I hear you, sir.”
“No, son. I need you tofeelme.”
Then he clapped my shoulder hard like a rite of passage had just taken place.
“I’m powerful, but I ain’t eternal. And if the day comes where I ain’t good no more, somebody gotta hold it down.”
My face hardened. “Say it plainly.”
“It’s clear that Ajori doesn’t trust easily, but if she gave you her most prized possession, then she obviously trusts you… even if it’s just a little. Which means, whenever I’m gone, I need to know she isn’t left in no fuckin' ruins.”
“You think I’d let anything happen to her?”
“I’d hope you wouldn’t. Still, don’t letfeelingsmake you soft, and don’t let her sweet face distract you from the kind of wolves that’d love to rip her apart just to get to one of us.” Then he smirked. “Now let’s go celebrate.”
I blinked. “Celebrate?”
He took a sip of his drink. “Yeah. Who knows? I might get to see my daughter fall in love before I leave this world.”
That hit me like a sucker punch.
It wasn’t what he said, it was how he said it.
“You talkin’ like you’ll be leaving me soon. You good? You need me to handle something?”
Alejandro looked me over and smiled that unreadable mafia-don smile. “What I got to handle, you can’t solve with a gun, Domino.”
“So talk to me then.”
“Soon.Not today.” His voice turned low and cool. “Today, we celebrate. I need to make a call first. I’ll reach out when I’m ready.”
I nodded, then stepped outside, needing air after that convo.
I found Marcos by the back of the SUV, checking one of the rifles like he was just killing time. As soon as he looked up, I could tell he was already reading my face.
“You good?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Something about Alejandro ain’t sitting right with me.”
Marcos lowered the gun, giving me his undivided attention. “What you mean?”
“The way he was just talkin’ and how he’s been moving lately. He said some shit about hoping to see Ajori fall in love before he die, like he knows something we don’t.”
Marcos frowned. “You think he’s sick?”
“That crossed my mind.”
Marcos shook his head, dismissing that thought as quickly as it came. “Nah. If Alejandro was sick,like that, I’d think he’d tellyoubefore anybody. You like a son to that man.”
I nodded. “That’s what I was thinking too.”
The worry still sat there like lead in my chest.
Before either of us could say more, Ajori appeared in the doorway, wrapped in a soft robe.