Chapter 22
22
M y sleep was plagued with nightmares of Marisol drowning while Rico held her head under the violent waves of the Pacific.
When I finally woke up, I checked my phone again and still no word from her. Anxiety crept into my chest tightening the muscles with unanswered questions. Did she get home and decide to blow me off? Did Rico blackmail her into giving me up? Or had something happened to her making it impossible to respond?
None of those scenarios were good so I went behind the bar and retrieved a beer then settled at my table and observed the lunch crowd, but that didn’t fuckin’ help either.
Blood slid into the other chair with a shit-eating grin on his smug face. “At least I don’t have to ask what kept you up so late last night. Those paper-thin walls separating our rooms aren’t very soundproof. Gotta say she sure did seem into it, but picturing you pluggin’ some bitch really isn’t my idea of a good time.”
“Are you done?”
“Funny, I kept thinking the same thing about you last night.”
“Fuck you, twice. ”
“That too.” Blood laughed around his words and I seriously considered knocking the big fool on his ass.
“At least you can stop denying you got the hots for her.”
“It’s way more.”
“Way more than what? You found out she was Rico’s daughter, you had some hot hate sex and sent her on her way. Kicked her ass to the curb. Never to be seen again. If you ask me, that’s your usual. A quick fuck, in and out.”
“Only one problem, it wasn’t just a quick fuck.”
Blood dragged his hand through his hair. “Please don’t say that.”
I swigged from the beer bottle trying to come up with something Blood would understand when my cell buzzed. I flipped it up hoping it was Marisol. Only it wasn’t.
“Yeah?”
“I think you and I have played this cat and mouse game long enough.”
“Meaning?” I was gonna make Rico work for whatever bullshit he had in mind.
“Since it looks like you’re sticking around, I think it’s time for us to come to a working agreement like gentlemen.”
“Except neither one of us is a gentleman.”
“I’m willing to admit it wasn’t the Royal Bastards who murdered my wife, if you’ll admit to stealing my cache of guns.”
“Just taking what was rightfully mine after all the other fuck ups with the shipments into the States.”
“I guess we could argue that point forever, but it’s not my intention. I want to call a truce, and like I said, come to an amicable agreement.”
“And where are we doin’ all this agreeing?”
“I have a beautiful villa overlooking the Baja Coast where we could sit down and talk over our differences. ”
“Right. And after we talk over these differences I end up in the bottom of the Pacific with a bullet in my brain.”
“You can bring as many of your people as you like. There will be no violence, you have my word.”
“Like I might trust your fuckin’ word.”
“I’m sorry you feel this way.”
“Fuck off.” I swiped at the call and slammed my phone face down on the table.
Blood curled his lip. “Do I even wanna know who that was?”
“Sandoval. He wants a meeting at his villa on the coast. Acts like he’s inviting me over for a friendly luncheon.”
“What the fuck could that be about?”
“Says he wants to come to some amicable agreement. Fuckin’ guy talks like an encyclopedia.”
“Fuck him. He wants to meet up tell him to come here.”
I knock a smoke out of the pack on the table and my fuckin’ phone buzzes again. “Guess somebody can’t take no for an answer.” I flip the phone over and show the screen to Blood.
“Shit,” Blood hisses. “What the fuck does Jameson want?”
I swipe at the call. “Yeah?” Fuckin’ day has gone from bad to worse.
“You just have a conversation with Sandoval?”
Like the fucker didn’t know.
“Yeah.”
“Why the hell did you turn down his offer?”
“Cause it sounded like a goddamn setup where after I’m there for five minutes he’ll blow my brains out on his marble floor.”
“I negotiated this meeting with him. I want you and Blood to work it out with him. I’m tired of all this bullshit. The main reason you’re down there is to make inroads and smooth shit over.”
“A little heads-up might’ve been nice.”
“You’re getting that now, so call him back and make it happen. Convince him we didn’t put the hit on his wife and get regular shipments started. Don’t fuck it up.”
I fisted the dead phone, then slammed it on the table. “Jameson wants the meeting.”
“Fuck.”
“Also wants me to call Sandoval back. Says I’m to smooth shit over.”
I hit Sandoval’s number and after a few short sentences we set it up for an hour from now. I slammed my phone on the table and turned to Blood. “Talk about sticking your head in the lion’s mouth.”
“There’s no way you’re goin’ out there alone.”
“Oh, don’t worry, your ass is coming along with Bolt and Ricky.”
My phone pinged and I swiped at the message.
Marisol: This has gone on long enough. I’m confronting my father for the truth.
I reread the message twice, then tapped at the keyboard.
Smoke: Don’t do anything. I’m setting up a meeting with Rico today. Leave the villa, now.”
I gripped the phone tighter and waited for a response.
Blood leaned in. “What’s the matter? Jameson text you again?”
“Marisol. She’s talking about confronting Rico.”
I checked my messages again. No response.
“Fuck! Why can’t women do as they’re told?”
Blood smirked. “I think that’s what they call a rhetorical question, brother.”
“Get Ricky and Bolt. We’re leaving now.”
A cting on impulse, I stormed into the house without a plan. When I entered my father’s office he had the phone to his ear, but I didn’t let it deter me.
“I need to talk to you,” I demanded placing my hands on my hips.
He put his hand up in a gesture that meant not now, but I didn’t back down.
“Right, now.”
His brow furrowed and his face clouded. He turned his back on me facing the large picture window overlooking the pool from above and lowered his voice.
When he finished the call he turned back to me with a scowl. “I don’t appreciate you barging into my office without knocking.”
“And I don’t appreciate you keeping the truth from me.”
“I don’t like your attitude, Marisol.”
“And I don’t like being lied to. Everything you’ve told me since I’ve come home isn’t true.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket but I ignored it. Nothing would deter me from finding out the truth.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but now is not the time.” He flipped up his wrist. “Shouldn’t you be going to The Tropics?”
“I’m not going anywhere until I get some answers.”
He pushed against his desk to rise and I stormed further into the room. “How could you use me like this? Set me up for your own selfish needs.”
“Obviously something has you upset, but I cannot do this now.”
“You made me believe you needed me to distract Smoke. You said the Royal Bastards were the enemy when all along it was you.”
“You’re not making any sense. ”
“Fine, then let me be clearer. You told me it was the Royal Bastards who killed my mother.”
“It was them.”
“More like men you hired to dress like them.”
“Is that outlaw filling your head with lies? Trying to persuade you he’s innocent?”
“The only one filling my head with lies is you, but not anymore.”
“You’re getting too attached to him and letting him sway you. Don’t fall for his tricks.”
“Tricks? Interesting you should use that word since you’ve been tricking me all along. Summoning me to come home, then making me believe I was avenging my mother’s death when all along you were using me and setting me up.”
“I can see you’re upset?—”
“Upset that my father had my mother murdered in cold blood.” The words fell out of my mouth on a gasp. The realization stole the breath from my lungs. I leaned on the edge of the desk to regain my balance.
“You’ve always lived in a dream world, Marisol, and I blame myself for giving you too much privilege and your mother for making you weak.”
“My mother was a wonderful mother, and I will never forgive you for taking her away from me . . . and us.” I flung my arm toward the pool beyond his windows. “You’ve completely ruined Manny.”
Rico shook his head. “Manny’s weak. He’s always been weak. You on the other hand . . .”
“He feels defeated. He told me you wanted him to do your dirty work and when he refused you sent for me.”
“Instead of acting like a man he spends his days getting high and drunk like a weakling.”
“You will never understand true feelings. ”
He slammed his palm on his desk. “Don’t push me, Marisol.”
“You think you can move people around and play with them at will.”
“I’m warning you, don’t?—”
“You have no human emotions because you’re dead inside.”
“Living in a shack in Juarez with a father who beat me daily and a mother who whored out her body took care of any emotions.” My father pushed out of his chair, his eyes like cold, black stones. “Days without food, with no end in sight. I vowed I would never be hungry again and I would do anything to succeed.”
“Many of our people grew up in poverty but they didn’t resort to violence and murder.”
“And many of them are still living in squalor. I educated myself and learned how to speak English and act and sound intelligent. I clawed my way out to survive.”
“At what cost?” I couldn’t listen to him justify his actions.
“I watched how the powerful men lived their lives copying their actions and making them my own. I had my first kill at fourteen and I was proud I’d impressed my boss. Life has no meaning when you’re desperate.”
I stared at my father and realized he’d never understand or even comprehend my words. The man I idolized as a child was a fraud. A persona he’d learned to pass himself off in society. A true sociopath who was able to assimilate and blend in while his mind calculated unthinkable acts. There was no reasoning with such a person because they were beyond reproach.
“So, yes, if you are so set on knowing the truth, then I’ll tell you. Your mother like your brother was flawed. I should’ve known better than to marry such a beautiful woman, but sometimes the flesh is weak.”
“So, you admit what you did?”
“When she finally realized what my life was about she begged me to get out, but of course, that could never happen. She tried to leave me once, but I made her realize her mistake.”
“Manny told me how you had her captured and beaten. Then lied to us again saying she was on a spa retreat, when really she was recuperating from abuse you ordered.”
“You have to understand, I couldn’t let her leave. She knew too much.”
My mouth opened and closed but no words came out. There was no explanation for my father’s eerily calm rationale.
“When she realized I wouldn’t give her a divorce or let her leave she disrespected me in another way. Taking lovers, apparently, many lovers and when I found out about her latest betrayal in my own home I had to deal with it.”
My father’s words floated over me as I desperately tried to understand, but it was impossible. I suspected my mother chose to ignore the obvious but hearing it so bluntly explained left me unnerved and fragile.
“By murdering her?”
“By alleviating a dangerous enemy. If your mother could betray me that way, then she would be capable of disloyalty in other areas of my life.”
His truths left me weak and empty inside. Unable to grasp this horrific act, then terrified by the realization I came from this ruthless man.
“You can justify your actions all you want, but it doesn’t excuse them.”
“The Royal Bastards started to move in on my territory in Tijuana, and I had to stop them, so I set them up for the murder, placing me in a position of power and pitting the rest of the cartel against them by shutting down their deliveries.”
My mind flew to Smoke. My father’s admission changed everything. Revenge and retribution no longer existed for me since everything my father told me from the beginning was a lie .
“It was easy to get others on my side after I told them of the murder. Like the men who robbed the club. I hoped these impositions would run Smoke off, but they want to fight back. Which I can’t allow and have already curtailed.”
Smoke or his club weren’t responsible for my mother’s death and my father was a crazed man set on retaliation.
“Because of Smoke’s incompetence he and his VP ended up in Tijuana. Sending you in as a diversion to keep his mind elsewhere seemed like a good idea at the time—but now I see you have the same weaknesses as you mother and brother.”
“Then it works out fine because I have no intention of being involved in this sham any longer.”
“Since you’ve let your weaknesses surface, I’ll have to take matters into my own hands. I’ve decided to handle Smoke my own way.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
“It means I’ll deal with him the way I’d deal with anyone who disrupts my business.”
Suddenly, I was afraid of the man who stood before me. A man who readily confessed and bragged about murderous acts. A man I realized I never knew. I had to get out of here. I had to warn Smoke.
I backed toward the door as my heart thumped hard against my ribs and the overwhelming instinct to run engulfed me. I had to escape. I pulled out my phone and swiped at the screen.
My father’s hand slipped under his desk and two seconds later two of his bodyguards appeared blocking the office door.
I spun around, my eyes wide. “You’re going to hold me prisoner—or maybe have your men kill me too.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.” He rounded his desk. “We’ve come too far for me to let your silly emotions get in the way of the master plan.”
He nodded to his men. “Keep her here until I give you further orders.” Then he moved past me and out the door like I didn’t exist.
Juan and Carlos shadowed my father daily. They rarely spoke to me, but I wasn’t going to let them intimidate me.
“This is ridiculous.” I tried to move around them. “I’m not staying here.”
Juan plucked the phone out of my hand. “You won’t be needing this.”
I lunged for it and he placed his huge hand on my shoulder. “Please don’t make us hurt you, Miss Marisol.”
I stared into the stone faces of my father’s goons and I knew they would follow his orders without a second thought.