La Princesa (The Sicarios of Navolato) Read online

  Copyright © 2021 by Yolanda Olson

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Contents

  Blurb

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Yolanda Olson

  Blurb

  Being the daughter of a man such as my father can have damning consequences, but even bigger rewards.

  I don’t fear him as others do, however, I do worry sometimes that he’ll find out that I’ve been whispering about things I shouldn’t have.

  It doesn’t matter.

  He’ll love me anyway because that’s just what fathers do.

  Forgive and forget.

  Love and let go.

  Up until recently, I was the shining stars reflected in my father’s eyes.

  I’m trying to keep his secrets and mask my own.

  All families have secrets.

  To the right person, that can mean more than its weight in gold.

  In the hands of the wrong person, it can be deadly.

  My name is Tatiana Cancio.

  And if you thought that the men of this empire can be scary, wait until you cross the women.

  Prologue

  I’ve been watching the garden from my bedroom window, patiently waiting for the opportune moment.

  When I finally see her emerge, I can only hope that she’s left something behind for me.

  My sister walks out of the shack, covered in blood, and satisfaction written all over her face. I feel like I’ve been waiting years for this moment, even though I know it’s only been a few hours.

  Ana Sofia is as cruel as she is beautiful.

  She does things to men that I would never dream of doing, and thankfully, our father doesn’t require it of me, nor of her.

  Sometimes, I wish he’d let me watch her work. She does what her heart tells her to in order to repay our father for his kindness, and in return he looks at her with so much love in his eyes.

  It’s the same way he looks at me, only the stars don’t shine as brightly as they do for my sister.

  I miss being Papa’s little girl more than I’d like to admit. Even though I know there’s not a competition for his affection, I can’t help but wish that she would …

  I look down at my bare feet, telling myself not to think such things. I sigh, then turn my eyes to the yard and go back to watching Ana Sofia. She’s almost out of sight now, and that means I’ll have to wait at least another hour before I can go see what she’s done.

  I’m not the scared little girl I was when he brought her into our home. I’d like to think that I’ve grown into a mature, thoughtful woman who could cut the throat of any man he asked me to.

  It’s not the time to worry about those things right now. I have something else that I want to do and none of them involve proving myself to our father.

  I walk over to my vanity and pick up a thin, black hair-tie, loop my hair back into a ponytail and twist it until I’ve secured in place.

  I catch sight of my reflection in the mirror and smile slightly. I don’t look like the monster I so desperately want to be, and I think that will work to my advantage when the moment presents itself.

  For now, I’m nothing more than a simple young woman, waiting for her sister to wash up and go to bed, so I can sneak out and take what isn’t mine.

  It’s become something of a game with me and Ana Sofia, and somehow, she still manages to find fault in my actions each and every time.

  I begin to pace the white, woolen carpet of my bedroom floor. Patience is not something that I’m lacking in, but I’ve been without the feeling of being loved for far too long and I’m beginning to think she’s doing this on purpose.

  She used to go days between kills, then weeks, and now it’s months.

  It could be because she’s shed more blood than most of Papa’s men put together in just a few, short years, but more than likely it’s her way of trying to stop my compulsion.

  She should know that there are some things that can’t be helped—no matter how good the intentions are—and I don’t fault her for hers.

  Ana Sofia De la Cruz has secrets of her own. Her need to feel loved comes at the end of another woman’s hand.

  I came across this one night when I walked into her room without knocking. I wanted her to return a dress that she had borrowed and instead found her in bed with one of the young maids.

  She was so damn angry.

  For a moment, I stood there in shock, and in the next moment I had a hand firmly wrapped around my throat and she was threatening my life if I told anyone.

  And I never did.

  I had Papa remove the temptation from the home by telling him that I caught the girl stealing from my room.

  I don’t think she’s ever forgiven me for it, and that’s why she plays these games with me now.

  I walk over to my vanity and sit down in the chair, putting my elbows on the table and keeping my eyes on the clock next to my bed.

  In thirty minutes, it won’t even matter. She’ll be fast asleep, and I’ll find my way into her little house of horrors to claim a new prize.

  And when the morning comes, the game will start all over again just like it always does.

  Tick, tock, Ana Sofia.

  Chapter One

  I let out a happy sigh as I stretch out on the pool chair. The weather is beautiful, the sun is shining, and I slept amazingly last night, all things considered.

  Today is going to be a busy day for me so I’ve decided to relax a little before I have to put on my bitch heels and handle some business for Papa.

  Even though he doesn’t allow me to go as far as he does Ana Sofia, I can still be a brutal bitch when I have to be. Unlike her, I use words to get my point across and having the power of the Cancio name behind me almost always gets me what I want.

  “Move over, bitch.”

  I grin as I turn my head and see Ana Sofia walking toward me with a towel in her hand.

  We may not be the best of friends, but I know she would die for me, and I for her. Thankfully, we haven’t come across a scenario that would require the life of one for the other yet.

  “Digame,” she says as she pulls another of the pool chairs close to mine and removes the towel from around her waist. I lower my sunglasses just enough to look at her over the brim and take in her tattoos.

  She has so many but her favorite—and mine—is the homage she has to Papa high on her arm where everyone can see it.

  Ana Sofia literally wears her heart for him on her sleeve and I’m pretty sure he almost cried when she showed him. Though whether it was out of appreciation or frustration that she marked her body yet again, was something I couldn’t figure out.

  “Tell you what?” I ask her lazily after I stifle a yawn with my hand.

  “Anything,” Ana Sofia responds with a shrug as she lies down and gets comfortable. “Maybe start with where you’re going today?”

  I give her a smug smile as I turn my face away and let my sunglasses fall back into place. “Papa doesn’t want anyone to know. Not even you.�
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  She chuckles as she crosses her hands behind her neck. I wish I was as uneasily bothered by most things as my sister, but where I envy her that, I know she envies my patience. That’s something she’s never been able to grasp which is why she usually makes a mess of her projects.

  “It’s nice outside today,” she states, changing the subject.

  I nod as I cross my legs and turn my face back up toward the sun. Papa likes to tease us about lying around in the mornings, but he knows it’s the only time we really get to relax and spend together.

  Normally, we’re both too busy doing things for him, or ourselves, to be able to have conversations. Even though it usually turns into mindless bickering.

  “Tati?” she begins curiously.

  “Yes?”

  “Where are you going?”

  I sit up and grab my towel, slipping my feet into my chanclas, and walk away from the pool. I can’t be in a bad mood today when I’m going to be trying to make Papa’s deal and sitting through one of her less violent interrogations is going to piss me off.

  “Llorona!” she shouts after me and I grit my teeth.

  Not everything one needs is prodded by a sharp object as she’s fond of doing. Sometimes all it takes is a silver tongue and I’m blessed to be very much like my mother in that aspect.

  Wherever the fuck she is.

  I quickly walk across the garden, through the back patio, and into the house, almost bumping into our longest serving maid, who looks almost as startled as I do.

  “Don’t forget to take out the trash by the pool,” I tell her as soon as I regain my composure and keep walking.

  Anabella lets out a nervous laugh.

  She knows exactly what I mean, and it bothers her that Ana Sofia and I don’t really get along as much as she would like us to. No matter how much my sister tries, I always feel like everything she does is to outshine me in the eyes of our father instead of standing equally side by side.

  Maybe we will again one day.

  However, today, I can’t worry about mending that bridge. I have to do our father’s work and I have to succeed because even though I’m of his blood, failure is still not an option in his eyes.

  “You get angry too fast, Tati.”

  I roll my eyes at my reflection in the vanity before I glare at Ana Sofia who’s standing in my doorway.

  “Did you forget how to knock?” I ask her evenly.

  “This must be something big,” she continues as if she didn’t hear me. I watch as she leans against the doorframe and begins to tap her chin. “Can I have a hint?”

  “I already told you, no,” I say as I primp my hair. I like to get dolled up when I threaten people; it makes me feel as pretty as my sister is deadly.

  “Okay, are you leaving Navolato for this?” she presses.

  “Ask Papa what I have to do today,” I reply sharply. “I’m sure he’d love to fill you in on something that’s none of your business.”

  I know that I’m taking a gamble right now, because Ana Sofia has been known to call my bluff more than once, but I doubt she’ll do it this time. No one steps on the toes of El Señor around here; not even his daughters.

  “Why do you hate me so much, Tati?” she asks softly.

  I sigh as I sit down in the chair in front of my vanity and reach for my favorite ring. Slipping it onto my middle finger, I glance at her reflection again.

  “I don’t hate you,” I tell her truthfully, “I just worry about you. You’re getting too far caught up in the dark side of Papa’s business and I’ve watched so many people I care for lose their lives by trying to be the best. I don’t want that for you. That’s all.”

  She purses her lips for a moment before glancing over her shoulder out into the hallway, then steps into my room and pulls the door closed behind her.

  “Tell me where you’re going,” she insists as she sits on my bed and leans back on the palms of her hands. “I’m not going to follow you—it’ll save me some time if I have to do any wet work after.”

  I chuckle.

  La Carnicera wants to know where I’m going so she can sharpen her claws in the event I don’t come back.

  Her way of telling me that she loves me without having to say it is by letting me know that she’ll personally avenge me if the need arises.

  And if that doesn’t prove loyalty, nothing else will.

  Chapter Two

  “Be safe, Tati,” Ana Sofia whispers as she hugs me. Her and Papa are on the front steps sending me off, and in a weird way, I don’t want her to let go.

  I feel like it’ll be the last time we get to hug each other because these outings can swiftly go wrong over the slightest things.

  As she finally breaks the embrace, she holds onto my hands for a moment longer. I raise an eyebrow, as does Papa, who sighs and leans over to whisper something in her ear.

  She looks up at him and nods as she lets my hands go, and he wraps an arm around her shoulders.

  “Come back as soon as you’re able to, hija. I mean it,” Papa instructs me before he lays a gentle kiss against my cheek.

  “I will. I won’t let you down,” I promise him as I walk over to the car that Javier has pulled up in. Once he gets out, he holds the car door for me, then closes it behind me.

  I nod at him in thanks, then begin to adjust the mirrors and seat until I’m comfortable.

  I lean over to wave at my father and sister before I take a deep breath and press down on the gas pedal, heading toward a mission that could help our father’s empire—or bring it to its knees.

  I sing along to the song on the radio as my hair whips in the wind. The fact that I spent so much time getting ready for this meeting is second right now to enjoying a good song and trying to stay in a good mood.

  Altata is about thirty minutes southwest from Navolato and ever since it’s been declared neutral ground between the bosses, it’s where most meetings take place.

  Granted, none of the men who run the empires are ever there. It’s much too high of a risk in case there’s a raid by the Federales or those fucking American Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

  Papa had such a hard time deciding who in his organization he wanted to attend these get togethers, only relenting when I kept insisting that I could do it.

  Besides, I’ve never been to America and if I get taken into custody, it would be almost like tourism for me.

  I would see the inside of their jails for as long as I could stand it, then I’d either escape and make my way back home or Papa would wage war on their territory to get me back.

  Either way, it has never once occurred to me to be bothered if I were to be taken into custody.

  I cut over three lanes toward my exit, laughing when the angry drivers around me honk their frustrations at almost getting into a massive highway pile up.

  I let it go.

  Little things like this shouldn’t matter to someone like me because I hold way too much power in the palm of my hand, and I don’t like to abuse it.

  Honestly, before Ana Sofia came into our lives, I was a bully to the neighborhood kids because I knew they could never do anything to me.

  If they complained to their parents and they tried to ask Papa to control me, their houses would mysteriously burn down.

  I never knew until my later years that those fires weren’t a mystery at all, but instead a well-placed warning to let me have my way, within reason of course.

  Papa has always been strict when it comes to his daughters, but never physically. We’ve never been spanked, we just had privileges taken away, so as the houses burned down around us, I would lose things like my television, favorite toys, or anything else he thought I would miss to help me behave.

  And that’s why I’m the young woman I am today.

  I follow the rules our father set forth for me; to be fair yet stern, to make sure that my point can be made without violence, and if all else fails, that’s when Ana Sofia is sent in to finish any “negotiations” that I h
aven’t been able to.

  As I begin to travel down the main road in Altata, I roll my window back up. The cars that Papa has for us are all reinforced to withstand impact from bullets.

  The glass is shatterproof, the body reinforced with fine, light weight armor, it would take a fifty caliber Barrett to blow out the tires.

  Which is why his level of worry is far less than any of the other bosses fighting to expand their empires into other territories. Papa is a wealthy man, monetarily as well as in foresight, but he doesn’t spend either on frivolous things as the other bosses tend to do.

  I clear my throat as I pull the car into my designated parking space. As odd as it may seem to anyone on the outside looking in, we have places we’re supposed to leave our cars so that we can be accounted for as having attended these meetings.

  Not to mention it makes it easier to figure out who is missing and who had a hand in it when more than one spot is empty.

  Even with the potential dangers constantly hanging low over my head, I always find myself unafraid.

  No one, not even the other bosses would ever dare to cross the Cancio Cartel, because if they did, not even God would be able to help them.

  Chapter Three

  I remove my sunglasses as I walk through the front doors of the building. What looks like a regular office complex on the outside, is nothing more than empty rooms, all except for one, and the aura of death that we each bring to the table.

  Flicking my hair over my shoulder, I make my way down the long corridor, my heels echoing throughout, until I see a man posted outside of the main room.

  I approach him with my head held high and an extra sway to my step. I’m the only woman allowed to attend these—the others are considered much too fragile—and in Sofi’s case, much too dangerous.