Chapter 12

I watched as she stripped and changed in front of Diego. I could have set her free, seeing as she'd realized the error of her ways, and let her go to her room. The one she was given on the first day she stayed here—but I had no intention of letting her go back to the room as it was. I made Lourdes strip the handmade Turkish rug, the queen-sized bed, all clothes, toiletries, and furniture from the room. She would only have wooden floors and a small single bed. Nothing more. She'd have to wear the same thing every day: black leggings and a matching shirt. No television. No access to Wi-Fi. Nothing. She would feel like a prisoner, until the day came when she would be allowed to go out, and she would obey knowing if she rebelled then her fate would be one of two options: death or the dungeon. She would welcome both with open arms.

After her twenty-three days were up, then she could go on with her life, pretending she had never met me, or that I'd done nothing but treat her well. If all went well, her bank account would have money she would never have imagined possible in her wildest dreams. Maybe by then I would be gone, whoever I was seeking would pay my revenge price, and then the circle of the mob life would continue until eventually, we'd all be beyond the grave or behind bars.

"Did you need me today, jefe?" Juan asked as he entered the library. I shook my head as I watched Adrianna on my phone. She was lying down in the same corner, not wanting to eat again, but just sleeping. I knew she had nothing but regret on her mind, regret for crashing her car into me, regret for coming to this house. I stirred the Remy Martin I had poured into my glass as I watched her. I was so fascinated by her I even forgot Juan was in the room.

"I`ll be on my way, and I'll be back on Friday."

I dipped my head. I knew where he was going. He'd brought the girl, the one he met in Sicily, and he planned to show her around town. It was crazy to think someone like Juan believed in love at first sight. The next day, he had told me he wanted her here. I told him to do what he liked, not my business. Apparently, he met her in the gym, and they seemed to hit it off straight away. Jose told me his brother was acting like a little baby, claiming he was in love. I didn't care, I wanted revenge. What Juan did with his time was his business.

"Remember, you have the meeting in ten minutes."

My eyes shot at him. I didn't need a secretary, let alone Juan telling me what I needed to do.

"Chao!" he said as he turned red, embarrassed by his statement. I was going to have a tough meeting with the gang, which was why I needed a stiff drink.

I stood, ready to face the music. Today wasn't going to be pretty. I felt bad about putting Adrianna in the dungeon, but minutes ago Vendova had told me to have Adrianna ready in five days. I needed Adrianna to be prepared for whatever Vendova was going to throw at her. I decided keeping her in the dungeon one day longer would do the trick.

I walked into the conference room at the back of the house. Someone was stealing from me, and I didn't want Juan to get wind of there being an issue among the top five. One thing was for certain; it wasn't Juan. I knew there was a possibility it was Jose, but I couldn't think about what he had to gain from stealing. He wasn't a man who loved the finer things in life. I couldn't imagine him using the money to buy a fancy suit or sports car. He drove a beat-up Renault, pretty much what Adrianna had driven before it was completely written off. No, he wasn't an option, but I wanted him to be present at this meeting, to know there was a problem.

Diego was a prime candidate until I had seen the way he treated Adrianna a few minutes ago. He showed acts of kindness, but he didn't go behind my back and try and set her free. He could have done as much, but he hadn't from the time I told him to go to her this morning. He waited until now to do it, showing me his loyalty. Which left Frank, who was an outsider, who had joined us only three months ago. I didn’t know who Tom Hardy was until Marta described he reminded her of him, with his British accent and bad boy of the London street appearance.

We needed someone new. Someone who others didn't know and most of all wasn't Mexican. It was a strategy we'd tried and tested for years, and unfortunately, one foreigner would always get hit first, which was another reason why we did it. If someone wanted to hit us back, they would pop the outsider first; if they wanted to start a war, they would pop one of the family members.

Or it could leave Marta, the one woman on our team. She was my cousin, so far down the line, I didn't have enough fingers to count how far down the family chain we were related, but she was good at what she did, from seducing politicians, to being a cat burglar. She clearly was an obvious choice, but she was family, and she knew the rule: don't steal from family. Then again, not everyone lived by the rules. Especially with fucking technology and the way the world was going mad. Jose was even showing me a way we could kill people online. Imagine, what the fuck is the fun in that? Pressing a button and having something take away all the glory. I nearly died laughing when he suggested it, he didn't understand the business if he thought killing people online was a way forward. Maybe the next generation, but not in mine.

Jose said it could be simple, by taking every penny out of someone’s account, leaving them penniless; making them think their loved ones have been cheating on them by posting false pictures on social media; and Jose’s personal favorite, social bullying. The final act worked a lot better than the others, so I'd been told by Jose.

Triggers that would result in some, not all committing suicide. Society was weak, and social humiliation had become the trigger to killing someone, instead of physically harming them.

I went to the back of the house. I could usually jog down here, but for some reason, even walking had taken all the energy out of me. I was exhausted and couldn't think what else to do but slow down my heart rate so I didn't burst into flames like I had last night. I went back to the library to grab a bottle, but the Remy Martin was empty, which meant not only was someone stealing money from my account, but they were drinking my expensive shit, too.

I opened the doors with both hands and everyone was talking like they always did whenever we got together. I was still grieving, missing the old man. Coming to terms with him not being around didn’t allow me to plan the usual social events. A dinner. A barbecue. A party. Nah, wouldn't be done for a long time.

Frank stood as I arrived; he was a former defender working for a DA.

I needed some parts of my business to be legit, so I had a law firm for my legal dealings, but whenever they hired a new person to deal with a particular case, I would get Frank to look over it. He was good at reviewing the finer details. A case went wrong for him, and instead of moving to the defender side of things, which most prosecutors did in this case, he asked me for a job. He heard I was looking and wanted to work for me. I was dubious at first, but he charmed me. I hadn't met a lawyer who wasn't able to charm someone.

He sat down, embarrassed about getting up and as usual, Marta laughed as he sat down.

"Primo, como estás?" (Cousin, how are you?) Marta smiled at me, as she walked over to give me kisses on the cheek. I smiled back, but I wasn't in the mood, so I got down to business before anyone else started asking about my trip.

"Fine. Look, I called you here today for a reason."

Jose said, "Yeah, someone's been stealing. Juan told me. It isn't me."

As if I had accused him of stealing straightaway. I turned around and closed the door before the conversation got heated. No one came to this part of the house whenever there was a meeting, Lourdes made sure of it by making sure no staff was in the house. Adrianna was here, but there was no way she was going to hear anything we were going to discuss.

"Joder! Did you call us here ‘cause you think we been stealing from you, primo?" Marta asked, she stood, most likely ready to storm out. She was only five foot two, slim, and in shape. Her blonde hair was tied up and she had on a short black number which left nothing to the imagination. One thing for sure, she may have been short in height, but her personality was so damn strong that she more than made up for it, being the smallest in the room.

"I need to find out who has done it."

I lied; I did think one of them had done it. They were the closest to me, and there was no fucking way Lourdes or Juan would even dream about it, which only left the four of them.

"Fine, I did it," Frank said and then he tilted his head to the side, then he ran his hand through his dark hair and then his blue eyes looked at me as if to challenge me to do something about it.

"Okay," I lifted my arms. They got me.

“I admit, I did think one of you did it. You're the closest to me and no one else has access."

Diego choked out, "You are kidding, I keep telling you, you're too old school. No one needs to be near you to steal from you. All this shit can be done online. Look if you call me here again for this type of shit, then I'm out. I've got shit to do.”

“You’re not fucking going anywhere,” I demanded for him to sit back down.

"Jose, tell him, you're the computer genius,” Diego asked as he turned his head to Jose.

Jose agreed. “Yeah, Diego's right. If someone's stealing, then it could be a hacker. It doesn't have to do with us being close to you or anything."

Diego stood, ready to leave. Seeing as Jose had confirmed what he'd already suspected in the space of five seconds, I felt like a fool.

"Fuck, don't you fucking move. I called you guys here to find out who's stealing from me. It started two weeks ago, but with Pa gone, I didn't notice. I was going over the businesses today, and this was when I saw it, as clear as day."

Frank agreed, "If it was so fucking clear, then why didn't you notice the one obvious thing."

He'd completely lost me. I shook my head, encouraging him to clarify his statement.

"It most likely happened the day Pa died, which means someone is out to get you. Most likely bring the whole family down. Isn't this how it works?" Frank asked Diego, most likely because Frank was a little older than him and they seemed to be always on the same wavelength, making me feel like the old man. Marta and Frank had a thing once. Frank still felt the same; it was obvious by the way he looked at Marta, but he was wasting his time, Marta was the love them and leave them type. I'd seen her break too many hearts, and the moment she hooked up with Frank, I knew it was a matter of time before she would do the same thing to him.

Diego shrugged. “I guess so. But you must admit, Primo, the fact it started the same time as Pa does seem weird."

Shit, this meant I had to find out what happened to Pa sooner rather than later. Not only did they take him away from me, but they wanted to show me they could mess with me. No, they fucking couldn't, and I had to somehow show the same team I accused of stealing from me, that I needed their help.

"When you figure it out, then let us know," Marta said as she stood ready to leave.

"Wait, we need to work together. We need—"

Diego interrupted, “You need to get some sleep. You're getting fucking paranoid…"

Marta said, "Like thinking we would steal from you. It fucking hurts. Look, get some sleep like D said and then we'll talk tomorrow or the day after when you feel better."

Diego wasn't talking about accusing them of stealing as the issue; he was talking about Adrianna, and he avoided eye contact as he followed suit and left the room. I should have popped him then and there since he was out of line.

Frank cleared his throat, stood, and did the same. This left Jose and me in the room. Neither of us spoke as everyone left and the door was closed.

"What do you need me to do?" Jose asked, breaking the ice, as it was clear he was uncomfortable with the way things went down.

"Nada," I said as I got up and left the room, I had nothing to say to Jose. I looked at my phone to make sure Diego hadn't set Adrianna free and she was still in the dungeon. I shook my head as I saw her in the same position and realized Diego was right. I was getting paranoid; I'd accused my team of being disloyal to me. I was acting like an old fool. This was the type of thing which made a loyal team unfaithful. I needed to get some rest as Diego said; otherwise, I would have no gang, and I would be alone.

I needed to get my rest and try and be more sensitive to others. Something I'd never done before, but I had to start doing it now.