Chapter 9
Matteo
“Come back to Miami,” Felix commanded, sounding aggravated but also fond.
Like I had done something endearing and annoying all at the same time.
I imagined what it would be like to crush his skull with a hammer.
It was a calming thought. It helped me focus.
“We’ll discuss introducing Camilo into the family business.
Ten is old enough to start learning, isn’t it? ”
Over my dead body. “Sí, jefe,” I said. I had said the words so many times over the last three years that they tasted like ashes in my mouth.
“Get rid of them and get on the road. I’ll expect you before midnight.” He hung up, and I looked at Angel, who was cradling a weeping Lili in his arms.
Mierda. What a fucking mess. I lowered the gun and clicked the safety back on. A second later, Omar sat up, and Lili jerked with a yelp like she’d been stung by a bee. “That fucking hurt,” he grumbled.
“I told you it would,” I said. “‘Like getting hit with a baseball bat,’ remember?”
Omar rolled his eyes. “I’ve been hit with a bat before, cabrón.”
I snorted, and that was when Lili processed what was going on.
“This was some kind of plan of yours?” She wrenched away from Angel, who let her go.
“What the hell is wrong with the three of you?” She looked at me and I could tell that she was caught somewhere between rage and betrayal and deep hurt. “When did you even plan this?”
“It had to be convincing, mija,” Angel said.
Omar let out a pained chuckle. “You’re a terrible actress.”
Lili’s lips all but curled away from her teeth as she glared at them. “I think I do just fine when I want to hide something.” She gestured my way. “You didn’t know about that, did you?”
Angel’s apologetic expression dropped into something cold and calculating. “And we will talk about that later.”
I would be afraid for her if she were anyone else, but it didn’t take much to realize that the Castillo brothers adored her. “Cut the macho bullshit,” she said. “Tell me what is going on. Now.”
Angel ground his jaw, stubborn, and I thought about picking up the gun again.
I wasn’t lying when I told Felix that I was tired of the goddamn games.
I had been contemplating my exit plan for a while now, and it looked like the date just got moved up.
“I stopped for gas when you were asleep,” I said, pulling her attention back to me.
“Your brothers had been tailing us for an hour or more; I let them catch up.”
She scoffed. “Did you develop some kind of death wish?”
Maybe I did. I shrugged. “They would have helped you get Camilo back either way, so it didn’t really matter if they put a bullet in my skull.”
I watched the words register with her. “Why would you do that?”
“Because you deserve to know your son.” She deserved so much more than that, but it was the best I could do.
Lili was quiet for a moment, and then she took a breath. “Our son,” she said softly. “We deserve to know our son.” She crossed her arms over her chest, trying to calm herself down again. “So, what’s the plan?”
The drive back to Miami seemed to take days, but I kept busy and damn-near burned through the battery charge on my phone with all the fucking calls I was making.
I hated it when things didn’t go according to plan, and being forced to move up the schedule had put me in a foul mood, but there was no way I was walking through that door without a few surprises of my own.
I pulled into the long driveway of Felix’s canal-side mansion shortly before midnight, as promised.
One of the guards—a cousin of mine named Bruno—escorted me to the back patio.
Felix was seated at the head of a long table laden with food.
On the other end was Camilo, who looked like he was one loud noise away from running for it.
My heart leaped into my throat. He was real.
He was beautiful; he looked just like Lili.
“Camilo,” Felix said, greasy smile on his face.
“I’d like you to meet someone.” He gestured for me to come closer, and the boy looked at me for the first time.
My throat felt like it was going to close. “This is your father, Matteo Rojas.”
Camilo’s eyes—the same shade as mine—went wide. He stood slowly, uncertainty lacing his movements. “It’s nice to meet you, sir,” he said.
I smiled. “It’s nice to meet you too, Camilo.”
The little boy swallowed hard. He was staring at me like he couldn’t get enough of the sight. I couldn’t wait for him to meet Lili, to look at her like that. “Tío Felix said that work kept you away for a long time,” he said. “I’m glad you’re back.”
The lie was hard to swallow. I cut my eyes to Felix, who was smiling at me as if he had done the cleverest thing.
“He’s glad to be back too, mijo,” he cooed at my son, and I regretted handing my gun over to Bruno.
“But your papa has made some mistakes recently, and you know what happens when you make a mistake, right?”
Fear overtook the boy’s face. What the fuck had been done to my son? “There are consequences,” he said. His voice had gone very soft, nearly inaudible.
“That’s right.” Felix stood, waving his hand at someone inside. “So, we’ll handle those consequences, and then the three of us can sit and talk.”
I knew what was going to happen. Felix had a very exacting way of doling out consequences, and while I hadn’t been afraid of the man in years, my heart sped up in my chest. “Let him go inside,” I said.
“I think he needs to stay,” Felix said. “Today is a learning day.”
“He doesn’t need to learn this, jefe.”
Felix clicked his tongue against his teeth.
“But he does,” he insisted. “It’s a lesson that all boys in this family must learn eventually.
” Bruno came out of the house; he was wearing a set of brass knuckles on one hand.
“I want three teeth,” Felix told my cousin.
“One for each of the Castillos.” He looked at me, and the smile dropped from his face.
“The next time I tell you to bring someone to me, you bring them to me. Understand? Or the next time, I take his teeth.” He nodded toward Camilo.
Bruno stepped forward and put a hand on my shoulder. “Do you want to stand for this?”
“Just get it over with, huh?”
Bruno had just pulled back his arm, ready to strike, when the night was suddenly filled with sirens and lights. The backyard was swarmed by men in vests and helmets carrying guns. One of the men, bearing a RICO patch across the front of his vest, screamed for everyone to get down on the ground.
We dropped, even as I heard Felix protesting and demanding to know what was going on.
As I lay on my stomach, hands on the back of my head, I looked at Camilo, who was shaking.
“Hey,” I said softly, getting his attention.
“It’s going to be okay. Just keep looking at me, mijo.
When we get out of here, I’ll take you to meet your mother. ”
“My mother? Tío Felix told me that she was dead.”
I shook my head as best I could. “She’s not. She’s waiting to meet you.”
One of the FBI agents came and tapped me on the back. “You can get up.” He pulled me to my feet. “Thanks for all your help. The amount of drugs we found in Suarez’s storage units along with all the data you gave us will keep him behind bars for the next few decades.”
I hummed in acknowledgment. “I’m glad moving the timeline up worked out.
” Trying to take down a politician was never easy: the RICO investigation had been ongoing for months.
They kept asking for more and more evidence before they would approach the state attorney to sign on to anything.
I knew it was all a CYA. Getting them to move up the timeline had taken some convincing.
I didn’t know how many higher-ups they had to get on board for them to make it happen tonight, but I’d be forever thankful for still having all my teeth.
Felix keyed in on what was going on and immediately wanted to make a deal, spouting some bullshit about how he’d intentionally gone undercover in order to put a stop to the cartel activity and all the evidence he had of criminal wrongdoing.
Yeah, right. One of the state troopers helping with the raid actually laughed as he handcuffed Felix.
As soon as the bracelets clicked in place, he’d lawyered up.
Good. At least I wouldn’t have to hear his voice anymore tonight.
Drug charges weren’t exactly murder charges, but I’d done a damn good job compiling evidence that linked Felix to local drug trafficking coming in and out of Miami-Dade, including bribes to local law enforcement to look the other way, which was why none of them were currently present.
The icing on the cake had been all the drugs that I knew would be in the storage unit complex owned by Felix.
I suspected some of them were destined for the Irish in Chicago and I couldn’t wait for them to find out it was all gone.
The bastardo wanted to control everything, and it’d come back to bite him in the ass.
“The Castillos are armor-plated, yeah? You can make sure of that?” I’d been warned that making this demand could lose me any immunity, but it was worth it if it kept Lili and our son safe.
The agent nodded. “I can.” He looked at the boy and swore. “You didn’t tell me that I’d need Social Services.”
“You don’t,” I said. “He’s my son.”