Chapter 27 Selene
Chapter twenty-seven
Selene
My legs bob up and down anxiously as the reality of the situation continues to gnaw at my mind. I need to get Luca out of whatever shit he’s in.
I’m meeting him at Guadalajara in about two hours. I need to keep a clear head for this mission, but considering I still don’t know if I’m really pregnant or not, it’s a bit difficult to do.
Pushing the thoughts to the back of my mind, I bring my strategy to the forefront. I’m usually not one for strategies. I just do things as they come, but this one is too important for me to mess up.
Given that I’ve escaped the mansion before, security is now tighter. I confirmed yesterday that all the windows are properly sealed. Even the guards behind the mansion have doubled. They wouldn’t even budge.
But there’s still a way. It’s the only way I’ve concluded would be best for this mission.
I shoot up from the bed, popping my knuckles as I pace the length of the room. Cortez already said to go with his guards the next time I need information on my father’s pipeline. I guess it’s time to do just that. It’s time to use the trust I may be earning for something better.
I’ll use the guards to escape the mansion and ditch them halfway. Then I’ll need supplies for Luca.
My stomach curls at the thought. But I shake my head. It’s for the best. When Luca tells me what’s going on, I’ll relay the information to Cortez, hoping it’ll be useful in ending the undercutting.
No matter what happens though, it will be Luca first.
Flattening the stray hair atop my head, I brace myself and set out. As expected, I’m met with the usual guards who tense immediately when they see me.
“At ease, men,” I joke, and they don’t budge. Of course they don’t, but that’s not what bothers me. It’s the frown on their lips that throws me off balance.
I wrangle my fingers together, suddenly feeling nervous. These are the men who’d possibly escort me to the lie I’m about to tell Cortez. How do I intend to get rid of them?
Why are they frowning so much today? Do they know what I’m planning or are they just not in good moods?
“Ma’am.”
I shake my head and blink innocently when a voice filters through my ear.
“Cortez uhhh…asked to see me. Again, you can escort me there,” I say with an unassuming raise of my brow.
It takes time, but they nod and follow closely. The wheels spin in my head as we walk to Cortez’s office. If Cortez says he’s coming with me, I won’t be able to outsmart him.
We reach his door, and I push it open, inhaling sharply. I just hope for the life of me and Luca that he doesn’t come with.
I put on my usual attitude of defiance as I walk towards him. He can’t spot anything off.
When I reach him, he’s scribbling something down on a piece of paper and doesn’t even spare me a glance until I knock on the center of his desk.
He drops the pen, releases a deep breath as if I’ve distorted his train of creativity, and looks at me. His stare is piercing.
“What?” he grunts. Then the lies start to flow from deep within my belly.
“I got a lead,” I breathe. “Local restaurant. Outskirts of the city. I need your men.”
My heart pulses in my throat as he arches a brow at me. Then silence takes the space between us. He steeples his fingers, watching me without speaking a word as if trying to assess me.
“Name?”
I understand what he means. “El Macho.”
It’s a blatant lie. El Macho is just something I made up. I hope he doesn’t doubt it.
“What do you have on it?”
I adjust my feet. “It’s not much, but I know it was one of Dad’s cover-up businesses.”
He types away on his laptop, then glances at me. “It’s not coming up.”
“Dad’s pipelines were very discreet. It’s not far-fetched that he deliberately avoided this being on the map, or anywhere online for that matter.” I lie through my teeth.
“You don’t have to go. I’ll send the men.”
“No,” I say quickly. “I have to be there so that—”
“It’s dangerous,” he replies. My men will go and bring El Macho to you.”
I open my mouth to argue when his phone rings.
He listens for a split second, then his eyes widen.
“Shit!” he rises sharply, grabbing a gun from his desk drawer. He strides towards the door. Suddenly, he stops and turns sharply.
“My men will handle it.”
In a blink, he’s gone, but I hear his harsh echo barking out orders to his men in Italian. The door is still open, and I quickly go to lock it before springing into action.
Hurriedly, I make my way to his desk, praying to God that I find a weapon and some cash there. When I tug the first drawer open, it’s empty.
“Come on,” I whisper, sweat beading around my neck as I open the other one. It comes out empty.
The third and fourth, too. Shit. Biting my lips, I look around the office. There’s got to be a secret drawer or something. My eyes are bouncing off every corner when something hits me.
I lower myself and feel under the desk when my hand hits something. My fingers pulse as I tug it down.
“Jackpot.” I bite my lips, taking the two guns I see before proceeding to take three heavy stashes of cash and a burner phone. Just as I lock the drawer in place, the sound of footsteps strikes my ears.
Shit. My breath shakes as I raise my shirt and hide the items in the waistband of my pants.
I wait for the door to open, but the footsteps run westward, and then more footsteps run eastward. More men are barking orders distantly as I walk towards the door and slide out.
Guards troop out from corners of the mansion, strapping on vests and loading guns. Whatever phone call Cortez received must have warranted an emergency.
I slip past the corridor and past the guard at my door, back turned and too deep in whatever he’s yelling into the receiver.
Maria had said Aliyah’s room is just beside hers. Hurriedly, I descend the staircase and cut the corner to Maria’s room, knocking on the door beside it.
It takes time, but Aliyah finally opens the door. Her eyes widen when she sees me.
“Ma’am,” she bows fearfully.
“I’m uhh…Cortez sent me to tell you something. Can I come in?”
Whether she believes me or not, I can’t tell, but she allows me in. I step in, taking in the space. Bed, wardrobe, mop bucket.
“So I suggested a change to the staff’s uniform…and I need to see it again to, you know, stir up ideas.” The words feel stupid, but I know she won’t refuse. She’s too scared to.
“Oh…” I can see her mind turning. Still, she walks towards her closet, and I follow closely behind her.
When she finds the uniform, I yank it from her and push her inside. She yells, but it’s a bit muffled by the doors I now lock.
“I’m sorry, but I have to do this.”
Slipping on the cleaner’s ensemble takes no time. I’m curvier than her, but it fits. A dress flared from the waist down, a scarf, a supply basket that I find…and of course, the stolen items that are already on me.
Guilt strikes me as I hear her banging on the doors, but I slip out of the mansion and into the compound. The scarf itches, but I don’t dare take it off. It covers both sides of my face.
Men are still running about, so I pretend to be in a hurry. Guards rarely stop people who seem busy.
“I need to get supplies for Miss Vasquez.” I swallow when I get to the gate, mimicking Aliyah’s voice as closely as I can. The guard doesn’t spare me a glance and opens the gate.
Once I’m out of sight of the mansion, I run, my heart racing wildly until I find a taxi. Not wasting another second, I enter and tell the driver the address of the place.
That was nerve-wracking!
I bring out the burner phone and input Luca’s number that I memorized. The other phone most likely has a tracker, and I’m not ready to be found…at least not yet.
As the car moves, I fist the phone tightly and input Cortez’s number, which I’d also memorized.
I may need it later…just in case Cortez doesn’t believe my story. Because I think I’ve just crossed the line.
***
The taxi drops me off, and I walk towards the chain-link fence, taking in the old shipyard. Rusted hulls and skeletal cranes appear in my vision, lined with several rusted containers.
The yard is not large, but not exactly small either.
Cold wind bites my skin as I begin to climb up the fence and carefully jump down on the other side.
I take tentative steps towards the crates, gravel crunching beneath my boots.
As I hold my breath at the thought that anybody could be hiding here, a familiar silhouette curves out of the corner of a crate.
The air stills, and the world seems to pause as he strides hurriedly towards me. Tears sting my eyes when he reaches me. The man standing in front of me is not the Luca I used to know. With stubble, sunken cheeks, bruises across his face, and a thinner frame, he looks like a shadow of himself.
“Luca,” I whisper, my head quaking, “I thought you were dead.”
He pulls me into a chaste hug. “I almost was. After I got shot in the stomach, they found me half dead on the street where I’d managed to run to.
They to-took me in. I didn’t reach out to you because I didn’t want to put you in danger.
Th-hen I-I started leaving hints for you, hoping one day you’d see them. ”
I nod, pulling back to look him in the eye. “Who are ‘they’?”
He glances around like someone will pop out of the dark. “This group…syndicate. They’re always watching…”
My brows push together. “Are you being followed?”
He shakes his head vigorously. “N-No. I made sure not to bring harm your way. I haven’t told them about this place yet.”
I gulp, the breeze slapping a little harder on my skin. So he has been the one unveiling the location of Dad’s pipelines.
“What did they do to you?” I reach out to tug a strand of hair out of his face and he flinches.
“It’s com-complicated,” he sounds pained…scared. My heart tugs, and tears burn my eyes at the fear in his voice.
“Please talk to me,” I beg.
I watch with a broken heart as he chews on his fingers before shoving them into his hair. He was never like this. They’ve messed with him.
“Look, there’s this group. All masked men and code names. I don’t know them…or even their names but…”
Something rustles behind us and my heart jumps to my throat as I whip my head around. It’s just debris.
“…the brand name is Reform. Their agenda is…I don’t know, but it’s something twisted. Bigger than your fiancé or his mafia.”
Of course, he knows. He has heard of my engagement to New York’s biggest mafia don. I don’t have time to decipher what he thinks about it when my eyes narrow at him. “What does that even mean?”
“I do-don’t kn-know. But I don’t believe in it.” He looks at me, eyes growing distant. Then his head twitches…spazzing along with his shoulder.
“My God. Luca?” I try to touch him again, and he flinches.
He yanks at his hair, lips quivering. “When they saw that I-I’d ra-rather d-die than give them information on Dad’s pipeline, they began drugging me…heavily. But I managed to kill one of them and he went mad.”
Tears stream down my cheeks as I stare at my brother. “I’m so sorry, Luca.”
He ignores me. “I made him mad, Selene.”
I wipe my cheeks. “Who?”
“The one that always threatens to kill you if I misbehave.”
Fuck.
“Is that why you called me here?”
He stares at me, and suddenly bursts into tears. “N-no. I-I want out but I can’t. Your fi-fiancé”—his head starts to twitch again—“is the only one th-that can help. T-Tell him he’s not the king—he’s the knight in the way of checkmate.”
I can’t help the sob that slips past my throat as he starts to mutter stuff to himself, eyes searching the ground.
Yanking the items I stole out of my waistband, I take a desperate step towards him.
“I brought guns…and cash, Luca. You can escape now.”
He looks at me like I’ve grown two heads. “No. They’ll find you…”
“Cortez will protect me. You have to save yourself!” I cry desperately.
“N-No. I’m not taking chances.”
“At least give me a name. Cortez could track them faster.”
“I said they’ll kill you!” he yells.
“They won’t know,” I shake my head.
“Go home now!”
He screams at me, then rushes back to where he came from.
I want to run after him, but I know it’s of no use. Sobbing, I hit stop on the record button on the burner phone. I have to send it to Cortez quickly, but the ‘no signal’ at the top of the screen hits me like a knife to the chest.
Instantly, I turn and run out of the shipyard. My lungs burn by the time I reach the road.
Chills attack my spine as I constantly look over my shoulders, waiting on the lonely road for a taxi. What if something has happened to Luca? Jesus. They’ll kill him.
If they have no need for him again, they’ll kill him.
Finally, a taxi stops in front of me and I jump in, giving him the address of the mansion. I hold my head in my hands, tapping my feet impatiently on the floor of the car.
Questions swirl like a tornado in my head, then nausea hits me like a punch in the gut. I wrench and feel the driver’s stare on my head.
“Are you okay, ma’am?”
Lifting my head, I answer. “Just a fever. Stop by a pharmacy please.”
The ride is a turmoil as I bring out the phone again and try to send the recording. I click a button and almost smash my head into the window when it doesn’t respond. Damn, it’s dead.
Another wave of nausea hits me strongly. Dizziness washes over me and I clutch my phone.
We finally arrive at a pharmacy and I spring up.
“I’ll be right back,” I say and lurch out, dashing into the pharmacy and heading straight towards the pregnancy items section. My heart thunders in my fingers as I grab three pregnancy tests, discreetly remove cash from under my shirt, pay and walk speedily to the bathroom.
Opening the three packets, I pee on all three of them. My mind is everywhere. Luca. Cortez.
When I take in the items, the world stops. Two pink lines stare back at me from all three tests.
Holy shit!
My breath seizes. Seeing the evidence in reality collapses the insides of my chest, but I still stand. Not now. Not here.
Luca needs me.
Throwing away the evidence, I open the door and barely register a blurry image when something is pressed against my nose and the world goes dark.