Chapter 16
The most beautiful part is, I wasn't even looking when I found you. - autumn
P lague
“You might’ve been my best friend growing up, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to quit being with her because she’s your sister. Trust me, I fought myself for too long to stay away from her, that it’s the last thing I plan to do now.”
His brow wrinkles. It’s about the only way I can tell he doesn’t like what I have to say since his face is still all jacked up. At least he can open his other eye some now.
“You’ve been resting and healing for a week now, you’ve barely spoken a word to her and it’s bullshit,” I continue. I wouldn’t let anyone else be disrespectful to her, so he’s lost his goddamn mind if he thinks I’ll put up with it from him. “I don’t like it. She’s too fuckin’ sweet to rock the boat, worried about upsetting you after all you’ve been through, but in my opinion, the only way you’ll get used to me and her is if we’re upfront and open about it.”
“You saved my ass, Ash, but my sister is too good for you.”
“You think I don’t know that? I’ve believed those words for years because I was the one repeating them to myself the entire time. I don’t need you or anyone else, for that matter, to tell me I’m unworthy. I’ve lived that title my entire life and I don’t expect it to change where she’s concerned, but you know what? She’ll never think of me as not being worthy of her, because I’ll do everything in my power to be better for her.”
“Dad won’t let this happen; you know it,” he mumbles. His mouth is still fucked up, but it’s way better than it was when I first got to him at the nightclub. It’s amazing what the body can do in a week’s time. Baker’s daughter and Whiskey’s doctor lady friend fixed him up pretty damn good for not being in an emergency room, because every single one of us knows it’s where he actually needed to be that night. I’m sure the antibiotics we had on hand and were able to score more of have played a big part in him getting better, but those two women are worth their weight in gold.
“Funny you should bring him up. I had a long talk with him the night Lacey showed up and told me you were missing. I was floored that he knew who took you and he left the country to save himself. He wrote you off, Seth. Told me if you were still alive, I could have what I needed if I believed I could get you back home. He signed the house over to me, put the cars in my name, and wired over more money than I’ve ever had into my bank account. I told him he could keep it all, that Lacey had bartered herself for my help and I’d taken everything she offered.”
He gasps.
I don’t give a fuck. So I continue. “You know what he said to me?”
He shakes his head, fist clenching. Only one because his other wrist is broken. I was right when I first laid eyes on his hand, and how it was bent funny. He’s pissed, keeping his words to himself at the moment, and I have to admit, it’s probably the smartest thing for him to do right now. I won’t hurt him, he’s already too fucked up, but I’ll send him out on his ass if he’s ugly to my woman.
“He told me that if there was anyone he could trust to keep his daughter safe and to love her completely, it was me. He said that your mom would be relieved to hear I’d taken Lacey as mine and how she could finally stop worrying about her so badly. That being said, I gotta ask. What the fuck have you been doing the past couple of years that your family didn’t think you’d protect Lacey more than anyone else, and what the fuck did you do to get mixed up with the cartel? Your father was worried you’d turned to drugs, but it’s just not adding up to me.”
He huffs, but I cut him off. “No. I don’t give a fuck if you’re hurt. I saved your ass. I got you the help you desperately needed, then you come here and treat the woman I love like shit? Not on my watch, friend . I suggest you reevaluate your shit and start talking. And while we’re on the topic, make sure you apologize to your sister. If it weren’t for her, you’d still be property of Carlos Montoya in his fucking nightclub zoo or whatever the fuck he helps run around the world. Hell, you’d most likely be dead at this point. I bet they only kept you alive because they thought they’d get something out of your parents, Lacey, and then me. However, the only thing I was willing to offer was bullets and a deep hole to lay their cold, dead bodies in.”
“You’ve changed so much,” he whispers, adjusting back to close his eyes for a beat. I know he’s in pain. I can see it written all over him, but it gives him no right to treat Lacey with anything but love and gratitude.
“I grew up. I adapted and overcame.”
“How’s your mom?”
“I’m not talking about her, don’t try to change the subject.”
“You know I donated to her treatment? She wouldn’t take help from you, she told me. Said she didn’t want you to worry that she needed anything, so she always told you no, but she didn’t with me.”
“You helped her?” I ask, attempting to not get choked up. Why didn’t she tell me she needed anything? I want to help her, shit, with anything! Let me help in some possible way other than her push me away and ignore me so she can die with a clearer conscious. She thinks keeping me away and in the dark will help when she passes. She doesn’t realize she’s been breaking my heart ever since she decided to close me out and tell me to stop trying to be there for her.
He barely nods, but I see it. “I take care of the hospice and anything else she needs, including her morphine and other meds. She didn’t want to leave you with any medical bills, so I told her I would make sure it didn’t happen. I figure it’s one less thing she has to worry about. I’ve always hoped it’d help her get better in some way, not having the added pressure on her about it.”
Tears crest, but I push those motherfuckers back down. Clearing my throat, I give a jerky nod. I can’t talk about this right now. My mother is literally knocking on death’s door and refuses to see me. It’s killing me inside and having Lacey around has somehow eased some of the blackness that’s been descending on me for as long as I can remember. The shit going down with Seth has been one big distraction I needed before I completely spiraled out of control. “I’ll pay you back,” I manage to choke out.
“Fuck you. It’s my gift to give her and I’ve already given it.”
“I love Lacey,” I declare, not knowing what else to say.
“So stop,” he grumbles, but I feel like he’s finally beginning to take me seriously about my feelings.
“At this point, I don’t think I ever can, no matter how hard I try. I’ve claimed her here. My brothers already voted and she’s my ol’ lady now. I want to marry her someday. I want her to have my babies someday. But mostly, I just want to love her with every beat my heart has left and watch her grow old at my side.”
“Damn it, Ash. Why of all people did you have to fall for my little sister?”
“Why not?”
“She’s the best woman I know,” he states as adamantly as he can with his injuries.
“I know. Trust me, I know. I haven’t been able to get her off of my mind for years. I think I’ve always loved her in a sense, but it just changed one day. She’s it for me, man. My forever.”
He grows quiet again, solemn. I switch the subject. “I’ve given you time in your head to sort through shit, but I need to know what went down. Why did those fuckers think you stole from them?”
“Because I did. Only, they thought I redirected their money into my personal account. In reality, I sent it to a foundation.”
“What the fuck, why? Were you trying to die? Drugs or money, you don’t touch them when they belong to the motherfucking cartel. El Pecado is already known for being viscous.”
He slowly shakes his head, true fury filling his gaze for the first time since I found him. “When I was looking into their assets, I started noticing irregularities. I followed the trail where the money led.”
“Okay…and?”
“I don’t know if you’re aware of everything me and Dad do at the firm. We essentially dive into people’s financials and put their money wherever we see fit to turn a large profit. It’s a hefty risk for a potentially obscene reward. It’s how Dad has built everything he has.”
I nod, trying to figure in how him being kidnapped fits to him making people money. Shouldn’t it be the opposite with the clients buying you shit for making them rich?
“It wasn’t until I started to do my job that I realized they’re the cartel. Then, it was like a personal addiction. I couldn’t stop myself from digging, deep diving into everything I could find of theirs. I just had to know where their money was coming from, after alI, I was investing it and moving it where it needed to be so my ass was essentially on the line. Anyway, I started finding stuff. None of it added up, connections to other countries, an abundance of unexplainable assets, it was just one big pile of red flags that they have buried into the nightclubs.”
I nod. Not surprised. I mean, it’s the cartel, of course, shit doesn’t add up. We sling enough dope out of the club, ours isn’t exactly adding up perfectly, either.
“When I started researching some of the corporations and digging through the shadow accounts, I realized it was the cartel investing their money made from drugs, the sex trade, the slave trade, the black market…all of it – everything into one big cesspool of proof, I’d uncovered. I spoke to Dad about it and told him I was dropping the account. He shocked me by saying I couldn’t, that they’d kill me if they had any idea I knew what they had their hands into. I respect my father, I always have, but this was different.”
I nod, agreeing and submerged in all these new details coming to light. Why didn’t he tell me this on the phone? He said he was worried Seth was possibly into drugs, but it sounds like he was really covering his ass on what his son had uncovered.
“I didn’t listen and took a meeting with them. I showed up at the nightclub like we’d planned. They invited me several times before and when I heard they’d be in Dallas, I figured it was the perfect time for me to finally drop in. I showed up, met with them and made up a bunch of untrue ‘facts’ about their accounts, basically telling them the market wouldn’t meet their needs, that we were already losing a big chunk of their money.”
He takes a breath, sips some water, then admits, “I told them I would make sure they saw a return on the number they were missing from their accounts, and if not, I would deposit it in good faith. It was a lie. I’d put that money into a fundraiser with all the evidence of where it came from up for safekeeping. I was trying to buy more time so I could get myself, Lacey, and my parents out of the country and into hiding while I brought the authorities in. I knew it was much bigger than me and I’d end up dead if I moved too quickly.”
“They knew you were lying.” I state, starting to piece it all together and the threats to Lacey.
He nods. “They don’t know I was planning to give the evidence to the authorities.”
“And the money? You didn’t try offering it up if they let you go?”
His eyes flick away as he carefully shakes his head. He’s still pretty fucked up and the pain pills will only get him so far. “No. I wanted that money set aside so if the authorities found anyone from these dealings, they’d have something.”
“You were going to give the cartel money to the victims? The cops wouldn’t have allowed it.”
“It’s the victim’s money, no one else! And the police wouldn’t have known.”
“How? You said you put it into a fund, the cops dig around.”
“I did, but it’s in an offshore account, so no one in the States would know about it or monitor the money.”
My brows are basically in my hairline at this point as I process the depths he went to and just how smart my childhood best friend ended up being. Well, smart and dumb all at the same time. “You never should’ve met with them in person.”
“I thought it’d make me look not guilty if I showed up to discuss their accounts like there was nothing wrong.”
“Nope, just made you look dumb.”
He glares, but with his two black eyes, one still not open all the way, it doesn’t hold the same effect. He just looks like he was stung by a couple bees and lost the fight. Poor dude.