Cartel B!tch: Almanza Crime Family Duet Read online

  “Word has it, your primo here sold her out.” He looked to Antonio and back to me. “Sold you out.”

  Michele tugged on her husband. “Don’t push him, Jackson.”

  “Listen to the little woman,” Antonio chimed in.

  About that time, another man came in from upstairs. He strolled in like there wasn’t a gun pointed at his brother’s head.

  “Michele, Sonnie needs you upstairs,” he said, looking to Rowdy and raising his hands at the scene like he’s unarmed. I knew better.

  Michele didn’t reply. Rowdy looked down at her. “Go upstairs, let us men have a talk.” She hesitated. “Trust me.” I heard Rowdy whisper. There were more people here. I needed to sort out the situation and quickly.

  “Who else is here?” I asked keeping my gun pointed at Rowdy while my gaze went Collector for an answer.

  “Me and my woman,” Collector answered. “I’m Dover Ragnes, Jackson and I go back. We heard Michele was here. He wanted to see his wife. We’re not stayin’ long.” The man was casual, too casual which meant he was confident. I may have respected it but it didn’t mean I had to like it.

  “I know who you are,” I told him watching Rowdy with Michele.

  I listened as he whispered, “No matter what you hear, you don’t come back down. I promise you I’ll be fine and back with you soon.”

  “Let the men talk business,” I piped in to her so she would leave. Michele had always followed orders from what I knew and now would be no different.

  “I love you,” she mouthed the words to her husband, but sound doesn’t come out.

  “Back atcha.” He told her and it was almost cute, sweet. Almost.

  Only when she gets to the stairs and starts up does Rowdy turn back to us. My gun stayed on him.

  “Look boys,” Collector said moving closer to Rowdy. “We’re all gentlemen here. Let’s put the gun away and discuss business.”

  I studied Rowdy, never dropping the gun. “Had a lot of men attempt to recreate your work on the car. None have ever done it to your caliber.”

  “Not much for negotiatin’ with a gun pointed at me.”

  I laughed deep from my belly. “I’m not much for negotiatin’ period. In fact, I wouldn’t miss a blink to splatter your brains all over this place. However, I didn’t make it from the slums to motherfuckin’ symphony tickets by trusting a single fucker.”

  “Not lookin’ for your trust,” Collector spoke up, moving in front of Rowdy. “Lookin’ to have a conversation that makes shit mutually beneficial.”

  I knew he was giving Rowdy access to his weapons. I wasn’t dumb, but I also was truly fucked. Our associates wouldn’t be arriving for an hour or more. Antonio and I came alone because I needed to get a few things straight with my cousin about business before he pushed me too far. He had been skimming some books and I planned to address the issue. I couldn’t let him get away with it.

  Antonio grunted beside me. “Way I see shit, you two fuckers are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Javi, we don’t need some country boy riggin’ a ride for us. We can find someone else to do the work.” Antonio always talked shit without thinking. In the past, Jackson “Rowdy” Presley had rigged a car for us and to this day no one had replicated the design. It was flawless.

  If we could align ourselves in the right way, the Devil’s Due MC could be of use to us. This could become a mutually beneficial relationship to both of our businesses. They had their own code and it was one I respected. The Devil’s Due didn’t kill without cause.

  “I’m not some country fuck. I’m Michele’s husband, and I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

  “Your wife tastes so sweet, like mangos and peaches,” Antonio taunted the man.

  In a swift movement, Rowdy grabbed him by the throat again. He moved backward until he had Antonio pressed against the wall. I allowed the fight. Antonio took shit too far by bringing up the man’s wife. Yanking out his knife, Antonio stabbed Rowdy in the side.

  “Be smart, Javi,” Collector muttered keeping himself at Rowdy’s back. “You shoot Rowdy, I shoot you and your boy. Savin’ his ass worth your own?”

  I wanted to laugh. No life was worth losing my own.

  Antonio twisted the blade inside Rowdy. The battle they were fighting, Antonio brought on himself. The oxygen he was losing was earned. Rowdy didn’t shoot him, no he was a man I could respect as he wanted to drain the life from my cousin by his own hands.

  Rowdy released Antonio and I wasn’t sure why. Either way, I would allow him a pass for it. Rowdy took the blade from his side wincing in pain.

  “That pussy’s mine,” Antonio said, and I wanted to kill him myself. While I was a cocky fuck, this was pushing too far.

  With the blade in Rowdy’s hand, he lifted and slammed it into Antonio’s neck. Antonio’s eyes grew wide, his lips moved up and down muttering incoherently.

  Rowdy, twisted the blade, as he looked Antonio in the eye hitting his juggler. “Michele’s my wife. Till death do us part, motherfucker. You’ve never known sweet like hers and the hint of spice that lingers on your tongue after she’s lost all control for you. That pussy is mine. See you in hell, motherfucker.”

  I fired. I couldn’t not shoot him. While I knew it wouldn’t kill him, it was a shot to the side. I couldn’t stand by while he killed my man in front of me. I would let him live, but I wouldn’t be known for letting him get off Scott-free. A shot goes off, pain sears my hand.

  “That’s the only warnin’ I’m gonna give you,” Collector informs me, cold as ice.

  My blood dripped to the floor. “You kill my family in front of me and expect me to stand down?” I said through gritted teeth.

  “I think you are a man who understands the situation,” Collector told me calmly, holding his gun steady. There was no doubt he would kill me. “Your cousin fucked you, Javi. I got the docs to show he’s been skimmin’ money off Michele’s operation for years. Don’t wanna have to kill ya, but I’m not gonna lose any sleep puttin’ a bullet in you.”

  “I’m not the kind of man to let this slide, Ragnes.”

  The stench of death fills the area while Collector and I continued our standoff.

  Another biker rushed in from the stairway. “Where’s Michele?” Rowdy asked as the man goes to him obviously to provide medical attention as he quickly assessed the wounds to his brother.

  “See? Outnumbered today, Javi.” Collector explained what I already knew.

  “Then fuckin’ shoot me!” I taunt him. I was ready to die. I had shit to lose so end me and move on.

  “I was told from a mutual friend you are a man who understands when a debt is paid in full. The debt Paul Forbes owed to you is paid. The debt Rowdy owed you is no more. Michele Presley does not exist to you. She’s as cold as the metal grave marker for Michele Forbes.”

  “And if I say no?” Honestly, I considered the debts long ago paid, but I wouldn’t ever admit to it easily.

  “You die, your mother dies, and your organization is handed over to the Dominguez family on a silver fuckin’ platter.”

  At the mention of Dominguez, I froze. How could they have information I didn’t have? I knew the word was Maricio was untouchable except by me which kept his ass alive. I just didn’t know why these bikers would know him. “Fine,” I conceded raising my hands in surrender.

  If they knew where Maricio was then I could find him and Mari. For the first time in years I had a sliver of hope to close out a chapter of my past. And that hope lied with a bunch of Nomad bikers who had a knack for their own version of vigilante justice.

  “You should know a few things, Almanza. Our connections will clean up this mess. We have a man on your mother while she’s living out her retirement. You make one wrong move toward Rowdy, me, or any of our club, and I’ll start with your mother and kill every person close to you while I single-handedly move your entire organization into the hands of Maricio Dominguez and his associates.”

  “You kill mi primo, you shoot me, and now you want
me to walk away?” I challenged not truly giving a shit about anything but getting to Maricio and killing him personally.

  A shot goes off from behind Collector, landing in my thigh. I dropped to the ground, grabbing my leg as the fire scorched through me.

  “Look fucker, enough chitchat. You either get to live to see another day or you die. You wanna die, I’ll give you that. You wanna live, which I’m sure your mother, dear Estella, would appreciate, then live. We leave here, we go on and you go on like our paths never crossed.” Trapper explained coming into my view.

  I spat on Trapper’s boot. Mitchell “Trapper” Gates was a twisted son-of-a-bitch. Everyone knew it.

  “Tsk, tsk. You wanna spit, spit. Although, I prefer when bitches swallow. I get it; you are a man with pride, yada, yada. Today, I woke up and said I wanted to die. Shit didn’t happen. You woke up and thought you would make some money pushin’ some dope. Disappointments happen.” Trapper kept at me. “We just wanna get our boy, climb on our bikes, and not look back. You gonna let us do that, or do you get my wish today and you die?”

  “Fuckin’ put the bullet in me, asshole.” I tempted him knowing it was a gamble.

  Trapper squats down to get eye-to-eye with me. “Okay, but you should know, you die, there is no one left to protect dear Estella from your enemies.” Trapper sighed dramatically. “Senior citizens aren’t really my thing, but I hear Dominguez likes wrinkled pussy. And I know the man you pay to take care of Estella’s lawn, well, you should know he came to America after the beautiful Mari Belle Dominguez broke up with him.”

  Fucking Paco!

  He wanted to leave Juarez he said. Any job would do just he couldn’t stay there. So I set him up him at my mother’s house as her grounds keeper. He betrayed me. All this time, he knew where they were and didn’t tell me. For that he would die.

  I didn’t give a shit what the hell these bikers wanted. I just needed them to get on with their shit so I could call in Paco and squeeze the life out of him. He knew where they were and I would soon myself. Yes, Antonio’s life and two bullets in my body were worth the information the Devil’s Due MC just brought to my doorstep.

  “Just like you he’s tasted her sweet essence and fell hard and fast for the Mexican beauty who stole your heart, and her brother Maricio stole your eye. Well, the man you have doin’ your mom’s lawn, his loyalty ain’t to you, buddy. He’d do anything to get Mari Belle back, including risk his own life working for you in a shit position just to report to Maricio about your mother and any activity at her house.” Trapper pulled out his phone. The documents all detailed my family, our activities, as well as my long time rival with Maricio Dominguez.

  “Mari Belle is a beautiful woman. Those hips,” Trapper whistled making me want to punch him. “The little dimples in her plump ass, those are the best. You wanna see the videos? She is a kinky kitten. She gives it so freely now after making you wait and work so long for her pussy.”

  She was in America. I noticed it in the documents. They found her. Now I needed them gone. I had more important shit to handle than some bikers who just wanted Michele. “Get the fuck out!”

  Trapper stood and holstered his weapon content with what he had done to me.

  “Need your word,” Collector tells him.

  Honest as fuck, if they would have asked for my entire organization, every dollar in my bank, they could have had it. They wanted a truce without retribution even with a bullet in my leg and one in my hand, I’d give it. I had bigger fish to fry and a vengeance over a decade old waiting to be delivered. “On my word, you and your crew are safe. This is your one pass. Get the fuck out! My people clean up. None of you were here, nothing touches you and we never cross paths again, or then it’s every man for himself.”

  Just as they get ready to walk out, Collector stopped standing over me, “You keep your word, we’ll honor ours. You’re safe, your mother’s safe, and your business goes on as usual, without Michele. You cross us, I’ll let Trapper play games with your mother’s body before he finally puts her out of her misery and you will receive pieces of her in the mail. You fuck us, and I will tear apart your entire operation, giving every single dime you have and have the potential to earn in the future to Dominguez.”

  Through gritted teeth, I agreed. “You have my word.”

  They got their pass not by my blood spilled. They got their pass today on the information they shared in that file. I had one blink to get it and I took that opportunity like every other opportunity in my entire life.

  I took that shit and I ran with it. Maricio Dominguez was on my radar. Mari Belle Dominguez was alive and Paco knew where. I was reset in my resolve to find them both and to end them. The devil himself be damned.

  Part Two

  Present Day

  Some pain could cut a soul so deep it would forever remain wounded and bleeding.

  Mari Belle Dominguez

  Power wasn’t a balm to any wound if anything it was a reminder not everything could be controlled—especially one’s heart.

  Javier Almanza

  Chapter Fourteen

  Javi

  As I left Aurelio to deal with cleaning up my mess with Paco and Milano, I was filled with dread. I wouldn’t let him see it. No, Maricio lost my sympathy years before. The boy deep inside me, the boy who trusted Maricio Dominguez with his life wished with everything he hadn’t grown into the spiteful, venomous man he did. He gave up on the friendship we had and our family. He turned into a man who could not be respected.

  Day of reckoning, we all had ours coming, today would be Maricio’s.

  The drive home had me conflicted as to whether I ended Maricio first or went to Mari Belle. She betrayed me too. We were supposed to have this life together and yet, she stood behind him, hid with him. That was what I had learned. While in the beginning he held her captive, in the end, she stayed by choice. Loyalty meant everything in my world and she had none.

  At least not to the right person.

  In the information I had gathered about the last few years, she was no longer chained to a bed. While Mari Belle didn’t have a license and never drove a car, there were reports of her shopping. That certainly was not the behavior of a women who spent years chained to a bed.

  Before I made the arrangements to have her brought to me, I sent a man down there to watch, observe, report, and even send pictures. Mari lived a life in the suburbs where she said hello to her neighbors, she spent evenings in the backyard gardening, and she never missed the local grocery store meat truckload sale on Wednesday. There was not a doubt in my mind she was worried about her brother. There were pictures of them shopping together. So whatever had gone down, she had forgiven him to take her place at his side.

  The reality of it stung. She didn’t worry for me when she chose to stay with him. I wouldn’t believe it even if she said it.

  For years, they lived in El Paso, Texas just a short distance from Juarez. I had learned it all now. In fact, the Devil’s Due MC had sent me copies of everything they had after I reached out with my request. They didn’t even ask for a marker in exchange.

  Trapper said, “We believe in justice. We believe in righting the wrongs of the past. Wrongs that don’t see a courthouse or a corrupt judicial system. While you are a man of immense power, wealth, and an illegal enterprise, you have been wronged by Maricio Dominguez. You took care of Michele in your way, acceptable to your world. She wasn’t harmed like many other women were. Rowdy asked that you be given this. Michele said things could have been worse for her and you didn’t allow it. So Rowdy offers this as a token of gratitude. We’re even. You don’t cross us, Almanza and we won’t cross you.”

  That was it. They gave me everything my own people weren’t able to give me for years. All because I used Michele Forbes for my business needs, but I didn’t abuse her.

  It was my code, but in my world rarely did men have one so I guess it again won me the prize.

  Mari Belle, she was a woman who in any other circumst
ances would have been harmed in this lifestyle. I did what I could to protect her from an early age and she didn’t even know it.

  If I hadn’t agreed to marry her, Miguel Silvia would have sold her. Maricio and I wouldn’t have been able to stop it. Even with Silvia gone, she was a target. If Maricio hadn’t taken her hopping from place to place dealing drugs to get by, she would have ended up on the streets. If I hadn’t put the word out with the marker that Maricio was to die by my hands alone, he would’ve been killed, leaving Mari to struggle on her own. She wasn’t effected by the shake up he caused. Not in a way that I felt hurt her enough.

  She should have found a way out. If not an escape, a way to reach out to me. I was a man who stayed visible to the people in my world. Paco knew this entire time. She didn’t reach out for his help. She didn’t do anything and I couldn’t understand it. The information in the sheets of paper didn’t explain why she stayed. It had to be loyalty. It plagued me not understanding the reasons why. I could only chalk it up to displaced loyalty. No other explanation made sense.

  She lived a life in the comfort and quiet of the suburbs like drugs and murders didn’t support her financially. Maricio maintained the two of them by taking jobs and pushing drugs. He just never did it close to home so I could track him, track them. I even tried to hire him for a job once only for him not to show up at the last moment. He was good, but I was better. They both fucked me over and they would feel my wrath.

  Should I allow the vixen to watch her big brother, her protector, her hero die? Let her see the power I truly held. The thought crossed my mind.

  With each passing mile, my need to destroy grew. Following my gut, I went to the basement, where Maricio stood shackled to a wall in the far bedroom of the space.

  I entered and took in the scene before me.

  He was a mess. Too many years of drugs had taken a toll on his body. It was pathetic.

  He was pathetic.

  Maricio lifted his head. His eyes searched for mine behind my glasses.