Chapter 33 – Alejandro
Chapter
Thirty-Three
ALEJANDRO
Isee the call coming through as I drive along the interstate. I frown and press the button to answer, so involved in my mission that I don’t want any distractions.
“Hey, amigo. Where are you?” Jax asks, his voice coming through the speakers of my car.
“Just dealing with something. I’ll be back later.”
“Something I should know about?”
“It’s personal,” I snap. Which, he automatically knows, means it’s about Alana.
I hear his soft chuckle. “Just don’t kill him, amigo! We’ve got enough to deal with without me having to hide another body. Especially one like his. He’s not a nobody.”
“If you know where I am and what I’m doing, Jax, why did you even ask me?”
“I suspected, but I wasn’t sure. I could have dealt with this for you, you know that.”
“Not a chance,” I growl. “Like I said, this is personal.”
“And like I said, don’t kill him.” Jax is one of the few people I will tolerate disagreeing with me.
“I’m just going to talk to him. Scout’s honor.”
He laughs, loud and hard. “Fuck! The Boy Scouts would have been a lot different if you’d been one. But okay. I’ll see you later. After your talk.”
“Later, amigo.”
Not long after, I pull up outside the hotel and turn off the engine.
The valet who understands who he works for greets me.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Montoya,” he says with a slight bow of his head.
“Buenas tardes. Did you get me what I asked you for?” I say as I hand him my keys.
“Of course,” he replies as he slips the plastic card into my hand. “Room five one two.”
“Gracias,” I nod as I place the key card in my pocket. “Give my regards to your mama.”
“I will, Mr. Montoya. She will appreciate that. And thank you.” For what, I wonder? For the job? For the bonus he’ll receive after doing me this favor? For the fact that I know who his mama is?
“Look after that car, Henry,” I instruct. “I only just bought it.” It’s actually Alana’s car. The Bugatti she’s not had much chance to drive since we’ve effectively been on lockdown.
“You betcha,” he nods eagerly as he opens the car door, sniffing the new-car smell appreciatively.
Henry is a good kid who ended up getting into a lot of trouble with some very nasty people a few months ago.
He’s a talented thief, but also stupid enough to steal something he shouldn’t have from people he shouldn’t have.
Fortunately for him, his mama and mine came from the same neighborhood.
So, I helped him out, and recommended him for a job in this hotel.
It’s the second best hotel in LA, and now that Bobby Conroy is no longer welcome in any of mine, he has no choice but to stay here.
I made sure I had him exactly where I wanted him. Within reach.
Whatever Alana says, I won’t rest until I know this situation has been dealt with.
I refuse to have this piece of shit in my city, feeling like he belongs here.
Feeling like it’s okay to spend time with my wife.
To badmouth me behind my back. It’s far from okay, and he’s about to learn that the hard way.
I walk along the hallway until I come to Bobby’s room. Taking the key card from my pocket, I swipe it into the lock and smile when I hear a satisfying click. Henry has not let me down. A few seconds later, I step into the room, closing the door behind me.
Bobby strolls out of the bathroom, and his eyes almost pop out of his head when he sees me standing there.
“What the fuck! How the hell did you get in here?” he snaps, looking both annoyed and scared.
“I think you’ll find there’s nowhere in this city where I can’t go, Bobby. I own LA.”
“You asshole! You think you own everything, including Alana. But this is my fucking hotel room, not yours. I’m calling security if you don’t get out of here right now.”
“Be my guest,” I say, holding my arms open in invitation. He’ll have to go through me to get to the phone, and right now I’d like nothing better than for him to put his hands on me. Then I would be entirely justified in breaking every one of his fingers.
He stares at the phone and then back at me, weighing up his odds.
“What the hell are you doing here anyway?” He straightens, puffing his chest out, misguidedly believing that will intimidate me.
This man is used to being the most important guy in the room.
The big cheese. Now, normal rules don’t apply, and I can see how much it pisses him off.
“I came to tell you, politely, to stay the hell away from my wife.”
He starts to laugh and I frown at him. Does this guy have a death wish, or does he not understand English?
“Politely? Breaking into my room is polite? Anyway, are you really so insecure that you can’t handle a little competition?” he challenges me. “Are you worried that Alana might come to her senses and realize she’d be better off with me?”
I run a hand across my jaw. Take a breath. I remind myself of the promise I made to Alana the night before, and again to Jax a few minutes ago.
I promised them both I wouldn’t kill this asshole, but he’s making that a hard promise to keep. Would putting him in a coma be just as bad?
He shakes his head and laughs, taking my temporary silence for weakness. “Or are you worried that once she starts working with me, spending time with me again, she’ll realize there’s still a spark there between us? That we have unfinished business?”
I have to give it to him, he is one cocky cabrón!
The vein in my neck throbs with the effort of not strangling him or throwing him off the hotel balcony. I don’t intend to kill him, but I’m not sure how strong my resolve is, especially if he keeps baiting me like this.
“Just stay away from her,” I warn him. “Stay away from me and from my wife.”
“Hmm. Maybe you should be telling her to stay away from me,” he replies. “If you’re that worried? Not sure you can hold onto her? I’ve seen the way you behave around her. You try and control her, to own her. That’s not what she needs.”
My anger is boiling and bubbling beneath the surface.
This is the man who told Alana he could take her away from me.
That I wasn’t good enough for her. Maybe I feel that occasionally, but this asshole has no right to comment on our marriage.
He has no right to even breathe the same air as Alana.
Maybe, if he carries on like this, he won’t have the right to breathe any air at all…
“You look mad. You don’t like being challenged, do you?
At least not by anyone who isn’t a weak little woman.
What are you going to do? Kill me? There must be a dozen witnesses that saw you walk in here to threaten me today.
There’s CCTV all over this hotel. My father is a district judge.
I’m not some lowlife scum you can just make disappear. ”
He clearly knows nothing about Alana, and I take comfort in that. If he did, there is no way on earth he’d refer to her as a “weak little woman.” Not my fierce queen.
I flex my neck and the sound of my muscles cracking reverberates around the room. I step toward him and am pleased to see him flinch, but to give him credit, he stands his ground.
Maybe Bobby has some balls after all.
Which will make it all the sweeter crushing them.
I stand in front of him, so close I can hear his breathing coming fast and shallow. His brain wants him to stand up to me, but his body is in fight-or-flight mode as it senses, quite accurately, that there is a predator in the room.
“Funny you should mention your father, Bobby. I looked you up, in exactly the same way you looked me up. Your father, it turns out, is a district judge with a particular taste for high class hookers. I also know all about your married lady friend from the Upper East Side. And, in case you were thinking I haven’t been thorough, I even learned about that little misdemeanor you think you got away with in college. ”
I watch in satisfaction as his face turns a strange shade of grey.
“I d-don’t know what you’re talking about,” he stammers, all the fight going out of him. I’m kind of disappointed.
I smile. “Oh yes, you do, Bobby. You see, I know you think I’m a thug.
A stone-cold killer. And I’m not going to lie, you’d be right.
But I am also a very resourceful man. There are very few skeletons that manage to stay buried when I’m looking for them.
Although killing is always an option, I generally find there are much cleaner and easier ways to control my enemies.
You, in case you were wondering, are one of my enemies. ”
His nostrils flare as he stares at me, trying to control his anger and his fear. It’s gone beyond the physical now. He could recover from broken bones, but he could never recover from the damage to his reputation that all my illicit information could do.
“That being said,” I add as I take a step closer to him, “I never hesitate if I do need to kill. So I warn you, Bobby, if you ever go anywhere near my wife again without my express permission, you will understand the depths of my viciousness like no-one ever has before. You think that witnesses and security cameras can keep you safe from me, cabrón? For every rumor you have ever heard about me, I can guarantee the truth is far more terrifying. I have done things that you couldn’t even imagine in your wildest dreams. I know many wonderful ways to inflict the maximum pain on a man’s body while still keeping him alive.
I could take you from this room right now and make sure that no trace of you was ever found.
And I would get away with it too. I’m that good. ”
He blinks, his pupils dilated in terror, his breathing becoming even more labored.
“And to answer your earlier questions, no, I have no doubts about my wife. She is not a liar or a cheat. Am I a possessive demon when it comes to her? Yes, I fucking am, because she is mine, and I would never be stupid enough to let her go. Like you were. But just to be clear, I have no worries at all that she will realize it’s you she wants.
She didn’t want to fuck you when you dated, and she doesn’t want to fuck you now.
You’re goddamn lucky she’s such a good influence on me, because I should cut out your tongue for the things you said to her.
I will not be so merciful a second time. Do you understand me, Bobby?”
“Yes.” His lip quiver as he speaks, and the word comes out almost against his will.
I look down at his suit pants, noting the large, wet stain on his crotch. I smile. He deserves every second of this humiliation. “Good! I’m glad we understand each other.”