47. Chapter 47
Thor bangs his hammer and everyone quiets down. “Patch, Mary, keep us posted if you learn anything new or if something gets sent to you. We’ll reconvene when we have more information. We’re still on semi-lockdown, though Mary, I’d prefer if you had others get anything you need for you for the foreseeable future and you stay on the compound. When you have doctor’s appointments, you’ll have a fleet with you.”
After today I am all for that, so it’s no hardship to nod in agreement.
“Alright then, Wildcat already called in catering for tonight, so we’ll be having a party to celebrate Cowboy patching in. Patch and Mary, if you could stay behind, the rest of you, dismissed.”
My gaze roams the room, and I smile when Colt, I mean, Cowboy comes over when I wave him over. I reach out to hug him, and when he hesitates and looks at Patch, I narrow my eyes at him.
“I’m allowed to decide who the fuck I hug or not. Now come here, Cowboy.”
They both chuckle, but I can tell Patch’s is strained. I don’t know if it’s because I’m touching another man, or if it’s everything that’s happened today.
Tightening my arms around Cowboy, I give a little squeeze. “Thank you so much for getting me to safety earlier and going back to help Patch.”
He pulls back and smiles down at me. “Don’t mention it, Mary. You’re family. It’s what we do.”
Tugging on his cut, my smile widens. “Congratulations. Though don’t be mad if I slip up and call you ‘Colt’ sometimes. It’s gonna take a bit to get used to the new name.”
This time, it’s his grin that widens. “I’m sure you won’t be the only one. Now, if you excuse me, I need to go find my woman.”
Chuckling, I shake my head as I watch him leave and shut the door behind him. Then, I turn my focus back to Thor and notice Phoenix, Reaper, Devil, Brady, and Sam have stayed behind as well.
“Mary, we’d like to be there when you talk to Antonio and Haris tonight, to get a better feel for what we’re gonna be up against and figure out the best way to protect everyone. If that’s okay with you that is?” Sam asks.
“Same here, if that’s okay?” Thor asks as he tilts his head toward the others.
Immediately, I nod my agreement. “Of course. I was going to talk to Patch first about some things, because I don’t know what they mean, but I do have theories.”
“Can we take a look at them?” Reaper asks.
Grabbing my bag, I thumb through the papers until I find the ones that I need and then grab the journal.
“This has a bunch of random towns with numbers next to them. I recognize some of the towns, they’re along the coast of Lake Michigan. You don’t think this could be tied to the trafficking ring, do you?”
I put the sheets of papers down on the table and immediately feel a shift in the air. Shit… Am I right?
“Mary, how were the papers all laid out in the safe?” Sam asks, and my brow dips in confusion as to why he’s asking, but instead of questioning him, I dig the rest of the papers and the ribbons out of the bag before arranging them just like how Patch gave them to me.
“On top of the pile was a copy of πατ?ρα (dads) will and power of attorney. To be honest, I had put that aside to look through in more detail later. Below that, papers, including the two you guys have, the journal, and the envelope with the scan drives were like this in the safe.” Pause as I look over at the table holding everything Ryder and the guys dusted. “I’m not sure where Eileen’s note fits into this though. It fell out of the stack as I was moving things around. The ribbon tied things together,” I tell them as I gesture to the stack of papers and journal.
“Is there a name or anything in all of this?”
“I haven’t been able to go through everything yet—just the journal, those two pages and the letter you guys dusted earlier, but yes, there are a few names I’ve come across.” Undoing the ribbons, I flip to the back of the journal. “Lucia Delgado, and so far, that’s the only time it’s shown up, but I don’t know who that is. However, in the book, there are three names that are mentioned frequently. Well, my grandma, Esmeralda Vasquez, is mentioned a few times in the beginning, but then for the rest of the entries, it’s mostly just about Carmen and Eileen Vasquez.”
My hands shake and Patch intertwines his fingers with mine on my good hand, giving me a squeeze. I turn toward him, with tears in my eyes. “I’m pretty sure I know who killed Grandma and what the reasonings, or at least some of them, were behind it.”
His eyes harden as he looks from me to the journal and then back to me. “Who?”
Gnawing on my lip, I replay everything in my head, but it has to be. I don’t know who else it could be. Plus, Lucia mentioned overhearing a conversation at the lawyer’s office after Grandma’s death.
“I’m almost positive it’s Carmen.”
His eyes blaze with anger, and I feel his muscles shaking under mine. These last few weeks, we’ve all grown closer to Grandpa and some of my aunts and uncles. I’ve even introduced them to the kids—via video, not in person. We aren’t quite ready for in person visits just yet, that and I didn’t want to draw attention to us while this fiasco was going on. Though, we’re careful not to say anything about why Carmen, Diego, Carlos or his wife, Gianna, aren’t included in the video chats, but I think my other aunts and uncles know.
There’s a knock at the door and Thor goes to see who it is. After a moment, Grandpa, Uncle Lorenzo, and παππο?? (grandpa) follow him into the room.
“ Λουλο?δι μου (My flower), are you alright? We saw the crater in the road.” Παππο?? (Grandpa) rushes forward and looks me over. I know he worries a lot about us, especially with just getting me back, but to see the lengths the club went through to protect me was extremely eye opening.
“It’s okay, παππο?? (grandpa), I’m fine. The guys protected me, but unfortunately, a few of them were injured in the process. Patch was one of them. Oh, shit! Your leg!”
Oh, my God! How could I forget he had two grazes on this thigh, and here I’m sitting my heavy ass on his lap. I shift to get up but his hands tighten around him.
“Not a chance, Siren. After this shit, I need to hold you close.”
I scoff and shake my head at him. “You could do that while I sit next to you and not cause you additional pain.”
“Siren, I’m okay. Does it hurt? Yes, it does, but you sitting on my lap isn’t making it worse.”
I still at his words and look into his eyes for any hint that he’s lying to me and that I am, in fact, making his pain worse. Not seeing any hint of a lie, I settle back against his chest.
“Okay, but if your pain increases, you need to tell me. I’ll sit next to you so you can still have me close.” I don’t say it aloud, but I hope he’s okay with having a shadow, because I don’t want him to be away from me either for the foreseeable future.
Turning back to my family, I hug them all and they fuss over me for a few moments until Sam clears his throat.
“How about we back up? Mary, tell us what you found.”
Before we begin, παππο?? (grandpa) steps forward. “I just want to clarify for everyone, even though I don’t think it needs to be said, I’m not here on official duty tonight. I’m here because Mary is my εγγον? , my granddaughter. Whatever is said, will not be repeated. Unless of course, something does come up in what Mary’s found that she would need a lawyer for, and even then, I’ll be selective in a court of law.”
Παππο?? (Grandpa) gives Thor, Grandpa, and Sam meaningful looks, to which they all tilt their head in acknowledgment.
“We are here as family tonight as well. In fact, we left our badges back at my house,” Sam tells everyone. When he turns his gaze back to me, I nod. Taking his signal, I start again.
That I remembered πατ?ρα? (dad) telling me that if something ever happened to him, to look at what was in his floor safe. I show them the will and power of attorney, the package that was delivered today, and then I move onto the papers. However, I leave out the letter the guys dusted for right now. I’m not sure how Grandpa and Uncle Lorenzo are going to take the news.
“I was just telling the guys that I’m not positive what this is, but I have theories as to what it is. I recognize some of those towns along the coast. Stephan had taken me to a few of them before to ‘watch him work’ when it really was his tactic to try and keep me in line. I think it might be tied to the trafficking ring. I heard women crying and screaming in one of the warehouses, but I wasn’t able to help them. That was when Stephan said what those women were going through would be my fate if I ever pushed him too far.”
Tears threaten to pool at the memories of their screams and cries, but I shake my head, trying to clear them away. Patch’s arm tightens around me and I soak in his strength.
The men scour over the papers, and then Grandpa’s frown deepens. “A few of these towns we have warehouses in. I’ll send some people to scout around and see what I can dig up.”
“Do you remember anything about the warehouses he took you to?”
Gnawing on my lip, I nod at Uncle Lorenzo’s question. “In each of the three locations,” I tell them as I point out the names of the three towns, “the warehouses were practically on the coast. There were other warehouses around the ones we went into, but they looked abandoned. Well, more abandoned than the ones they were using. There was also dried blood splattered around in each of them, or at least in the areas of the warehouse they took me into, anyway. The last one is where I heard the women crying and screaming.”
“How long ago was it that he took you to one of these warehouses, Siren?” Patch asks me, his voice lethal.
“A few months ago, in September. That was when I heard the women at that third location. With everything going on, I’d forgotten about the warehouses.” Once again, the air in the room turns thick with tension. Sam’s and Brady’s eyes are practically ping ponging between Patch, Thor, and Phoenix, which has me looking up as well. Turning toward Thor, he gives me the slightest shake of his head. Something tells me that they know more than what they’re saying, but for some reason, they don’t want Sam or Brady knowing. Or either of my grandpas. Taking my cue from Thor, I continue.
“While Stephan never took me to any of the other locations, I have heard him talking in code plenty of times but I’m not sure if the code I found, which is on the scan drive, is the one he was using during those conversations. I don’t know how many different codes they might have, but I only found a copy of that one.”
“Can you think of anything else, mi precioso capullo de rosa (my precious rosebud), that could help us narrow this down?”
Frowning, I rack my brain for any other clue, but nothing comes up about the locations. “No, he didn’t really say anything else about the other locations, only referring to them by the town names or code. He mainly talked about the product they moved or the jobs Diego had him doing. Or at least I think they were talking about moving products since it was mostly in codes.”
Grandpa’s frown deepens. “I’ll dig into this further on my side to see if I can dig anything up.”
Glancing down at the journal, I bite my lip as I try to think about how to ask this next question, but there’s really no way to dance around the topic.
“Grandpa, who is Lucia Delgado?”
He inhales sharply and his gaze follows mine, going to the journal that’s clutched in my hands.
“Esmeralda’s younger sister. Why do you ask, mi precioso capullo de rosa (my precious rosebud)?”
“Because I think this was hers, but I don’t know how her journal ended up in πατ?ρα (dads) safe.” My knuckles whiten as I clutch the journal. “Did Lucia know that πατ?ρα? (dad) was applying to work at her company? Did you know?”
His shoulders fall slightly and he nods his head. “Yes, mi precioso capullo de rosa (my precious rosebud), I knew and he knew as well. When I heard that your parents wanted to move because of how things were at the company your father previously worked for, I told him I knew of a few places who were looking for a new accountant. Nikos took the information but was adamant that he be treated like the rest of the applicants. He didn’t want any special treatment; however, I knew that wouldn’t happen. Lucia wasn’t, well isn’t, like that. Nikos earned his job fair and square and he earned each promotion after the fact. And I’m willing to bet, I know how we can find out how this ended up in Nikos’ possession.”
Grandpa holds a hand out to me for the journal, and my hand shakes as I hand it to him, but thankfully, no one calls me out on it. He flips to the back and removes a knife from a sheath around his ankle. Carefully, he cuts in a straight line along the edge of the decorative paper lining and lifts it slightly. Uncle Lorenzo reaches over his shoulder, and using the tip of his own blade, starts to slide a piece of paper out which Grandpa takes. Pocketing his knife, he unfolds the paper and reads it aloud.
Antonio,
Should this reach you, I am so sorry that I was unable to bring this to your attention myself. Carmen knows that I know she killed my sister and is blackmailing and threatening me to keep me silent. She’s threatened the lives of my children and grandchildren, and as much as I want to avenge my sister’s death, I cannot risk their lives. I’m sorry. There is proof within these pages and the rest of the documents of her treachery and treason to both of our family’s ways of living in our world.
Even though he’s married into your family and that he didn’t realize who you all were until after the divorce, I know Nikos Catarino is a man that I can trust implicitly. Therefore, I am trusting him with the safekeeping of this journal because I fear my time may be coming to an end and one of the reasons why I’m giving this journal to Nikos is that I don’t want Carmen’s secrets to die with me. I just pray my actions don’t put a target on his head or his sweet daughter’s head.
Carmen thought she could take my sister’s company, among other things, when she married you. The company Es built from the ground up. I refuse to let Carmen ruin my sister’s memory and make it a cover for their laundering and other underhanded things I’m almost positive Carmen, Diego, and Eileen are involved in. And yes, Eileen is very much alive, however, I don’t think that they know that I know she’s alive. They thought her cover was good enough to allow her to slip through the cracks, but I only hired her to keep her close. I’ve kept her under surveillance, and her actions are being recorded. She’s tried multiple times to create shell accounts, but each one is shut down immediately. They are hellbent on destroying everything of Es’ and I will not let them.
As a result of all of this, I’ve altered my will. Should anything happen to me or my children, Nikos’ daughter, Mary, inherits everything since my grandchildren are all still underage and none of them have Es’ drive or desire. From the stories I’ve heard from Nikos, she’s the next one I’d trust to keep Es’ dreams alive. I had considered listing Luiza as my beneficiary, but Carmen would have had an easier time of getting her hands on Es’ company if I had done that. Also, I know Luiza is much happier in her current role within the company than she would be if she were to inherit the company as a whole.
The other reason why I’m giving this journal to Nikos, along with some other information, is that Carmen, Diego, and Eileen are up to something. Something that has to do with Mary, but I don’t know what. I was able to copy some of their documents, but they are careful not to discuss their plans very much in the offices here. They don’t realize how much security I have throughout the company, and the few conversations my cameras have recorded are on the scan drive that’s with the information. I don’t know if Carmen, Diego, and Eileen are going after Mary because I changed my will and they somehow found out about it, or if there is another reason. I’m sorry that I don’t know more about their intentions. I also seriously hope that my actions haven’t painted a target on Nikos or Mary. Please protect them if I have.
Sincerely,
Lucia Delgado
I blink as I stare up at Grandpa in shock. I know a few of the things I read in her journal were definitely about me, but are they really after me because they thought I knew Carmen killed Esmeralda nine years ago and that I’m supposedly a beneficiary in Lucia’s will? Or are they after me for a different reason? Then there’s that other letter and the voicemail. What do I have that Eileen wants?
I shake my head and pick up the other papers. Maybe there’s a clue in them.
Scanning the documents, a pit forms in my stomach and tears sting my eyes, but I desperately try not to let them fall. While Grandpa had told me she had wished she’d gotten an abortion as soon as she found out about me, I never thought she would have gone to these extremes.
“How could she?” I whisper. “I mean, she’s my mom. How can someone hate their child so much? So, when I started to take after πατ?ρα? (dad) more and couldn’t keep the weight off, she started looking into ways to get rid of me in a way that’d give her the most profit?”
Patch takes the papers out of my shaking hands and I clutch my hands together in my lap, trying to minimize the shaking. A few moments later, he curses and looks up at the others.
“They are copies of some want ads. We should have Smoke look into it. It lists what the fuckers are looking for in a person and there’s handwritten notes by each one. Money reduced if they’d do certain things. If the buyer continued doing what she wanted, they’d also get a hefty yearly bonus. She also highlighted and circled some of what the ads listed they were wanting or wanting to do to the person they bought. It looks like Eileen’s handwriting.”
Grandpa holds his hand out for the papers and the others read it over his shoulder.
“It is,” I whisper as my mind replays what she’d written.
The worst was that she actually wanted the buyer to physically, sexually, and mentally abuse me as much as possible throughout the time period that I was in my buyer’s possession. How can a mother wish for that to happen to her child?
I’m brought out of my thoughts by Grandpa’s voice. Looking up, both his and Uncle Lorenzo’s faces redden in anger and the deadly look they share sends a shiver down my spine, but surprisingly, it’s not fear I feel. No, I want in on whatever they are planning for Eileen.
“Lucia said Eileen is still alive. Was there anything else in here that collaborates with Lucia’s note?” Grandpa asks me.
Swallowing thickly, I nod.
“Show us,” he demands.
I pull out the envelope from the stack of papers and hand it to him. “They dusted it for prints and it’s hers. It’s also dated January of this year, but I have no idea how it got into πατ?ρα (dads) safe. Earlier, I got a voicemail as well. While she did distort her voice, I know it’s her from the things she said.”
Once they are done reading, Patch takes my phone and plays the voicemail for them.
“I’ll contact Lucia and get the alias that Eileen is using. I’ll pass it along to all of you when I have it. I swear to you, mi precioso capullo de rosa (my precious rosebud), I will find her and revenge will be yours.”
“Thank you.”
For another ten minutes or so, they all go through the rest of the documents and I listen, hoping that there’s more information that will help untangle the threads and show who all is behind what’s going on.
“I think that’s all that we can do tonight. Sam, Brady, Antonio, Lorenzo, and Haris, be discreet when you warn the others. Have them be aware of their surroundings, don’t travel alone, if at all possible, text their whereabouts to another person, things like that. We don’t want this fucker getting a window and him abducting anyone.”
As they all say goodbye, I hug Grandpa tight as I gnaw on my lip.
“Grandpa?” I ask as he pulls away and he nods as he looks down at me.
“Can I… I mean, you know how much I like to speak Greek with my family and use Greek when talking to them or about them. I like doing that because I feel even more connected to my roots when I do that and also as a sign of respect to them.” My cheeks heat and I lick my dry lips. “What I’m trying to say, or ask I mean, is if it’s alright that I call you Abuelo (Grandpa)? And Tío (Uncle) Lorenzo? Would the others be okay if I spoke Spanish with them, too? I want to recognize and give respect to both sides of my family and our heritage. Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten almost all the Spanish I learned in high school, but I downloaded an app after I got out of the hospital and have been relearning it. I know you said I could earlier, at the hospital, but at the time, I was dealing with a lot of things left over from Stephan’s abuse. I’m better now, but still, I wanted to ask and to make sure it was still okay with everything that’s happened.”
The beaming smiles both of them give me warm my heart and I feel some of the anxiety I’ve been holding onto bleed out of me.
“It would be an honor if you called me Abuelo (Grandpa) and spoke Spanish with me, mi precioso capullo de rosa (my precious rosebud).”
“Same, mi sobrina (my niece), and I’m sure the rest of our family would absolutely love it as well.”
They both hug me tight and say that they’ll be in touch.
Παππο?? (Grandpa) beams down at me, a proud look on his face.
As everyone heads to the door, Patch lifts me in his arms and I freeze.
“If you so much as pop a stitch with this stunt, Luke Morgan, you are going to be in so much trouble, mister,” I hiss at him but then my breath catches in my throat at the heated look in his eyes.
“I’m not going to pop a stitch, Siren. Not by just doing this. Now, let’s head out to the party because I’m not sure how long I’ll last before I need to get my hands on your gorgeous olive skin again.”
My face heats and I quickly glance around, making sure none of my family heard him, and I release a shaky breath when I see them across the room. Biting my lip, I feel my legs clench in anticipation and his nostrils flare.
“I can’t wait. I need you, too.”
He sets me down on a chair at a table and slips behind me slightly. I chuckle when I notice him adjusting himself.
God, I really hope he means what I think he means. After almost losing him today, I really need him.