Her mouth trembled at that revelation. “So this whole time, you… younevercared.”
“No,” I kept it real.
She screamed through her tears. “Motherfucka!I kept quiet because ofyou! I risked my freedom—mylife—foryou! I protectedhimbecause ofyou! I could’ve ruined everything!”
“You risked it anyway,” I shot back. “And you didn’t protect nobody but yourself. You were scared, and scared people talk.”
“I didn’t, though! So that has to mean something!”
“It don’t,” I shut down. “Boss doesn’t punish whathappened; he punishes whatcould’ve.”
Iya thrashed, trying to wiggle free from the cuffs. “I should’ve never trusted you!”
“No, you shouldn’t have. Sorry, you thought I’d protect you or that this dick came with a safety net.”
Iya stared at me, broken. “But Ilovedyou! Can’t you see that?” she whimpered.
Then I said the coldest shit I’ve ever said in my life. “And I loved what yo’ mouth could do. That don’t make it mutual.”
“You’re heartless.”
“No, I’m loyal,” I corrected, moving to position myself behind her. “Just know, this ain’t personal, it’s business.”
“Dominooooooo!”
Iya’s scream tore through the room right before I pulled the trigger. One clean shot to the back of her head sent her to her maker. She slumped forward like a rag doll, still cuffed to the chair. Blood trickled down her back, dark and slow.
I stood over her body, watching the last breath of a traitor slip out. Then I peeled off my bloody shirt, tossed it in the bin, and stepped out.
“Clean this shit up,” I instructed the men at the door. “And burn everything. I don’t want a trace left.”
As I headed to the shower, I reminded myself:
You don’t love where you work, you don’t fuck where you eat, and youneverforget who the King is.
Twenty minutes later, I was dressed in all black, my shoulders dry, and my mind clear. Blood washed down the drain, but guilt never made it to the surface. My path wasn’t for the softhearted; it was for killers like me who slept easy.
When I stepped into Alejandro’s office, he was on the phone. He didn’t ask if the job was done; he just waved me in like he already knew. The call ended shortly.
Before speaking, he clicked a drawer open, pulled out one of his infamous Cuban cigars, lit it up slow, leaned back, then said, “Damari.”
Whenever he used my government name, I knew we weren’t about to just talk business; that conversation would lean toward foundation, legacy, or strategy.
“Yes, sir.”
Alejandro looked at me with no smile, just that unreadable calm he wore when he was about to drop something deep.
“If you never remember anything else I tell you, remember this…”
He took a slow drag, then pointed the cigar like it was a damn sword.
“Loyalty in this business is currency, armor andlife. You can run with the smartest, the richest, and the deadliest, but if they’re not loyal, they’re a fuckin' risk. A traitor can do more damage than a bullet, because they’ll smile in your face while feeding your name to the enemy.”
He tapped the ash off and narrowed his eyes.
“There are no halfway handshakes in this game. You either die for this family or you was never one of us.”
The silence hung thick until he added, cool as ice, “You slept with Iya, didn’t you?”