Chapter 4

Marvin

—

Hi again, Lena.

I wasn’t done talking to you, so it’s a bit rude of you to cut off our conversation, don’t you think?

I would’ve never guessed you were a 21-year-old, but I like your energy.

Thanks for the heart, although you missed the big letters, displaying this is NOT a dating site, I feel flattered.

Now that I know your age, I want to know more about you. What are your hobbies? What are your goals?

Waiting for your reply,

Marvin

(Ps. please stop with the emojis.)

—

“Is there anything wrong with my reply?” I asked my lawyer, Steven Laine. We had a meeting about the upcoming court date, and I felt the need to show him that I had finally replied to someone on the message board. The only issue was that this girl was a bit rude and left me hanging. “It has been two days already, but she has not responded.”

Laine let out a sigh and looked at me as if he asked me whether I was serious. “What?” I asked, oblivious. “Did I say something wrong?”

It was always something. After all these weeks, I finally responded to someone on the message board, only for that random girl to ghost me. She wasn’t really that interesting anyway.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit passive-aggressive?” Laine commented. I shrugged my shoulders and turned around the laptop so I could read the message one more time. “No?” I frowned. “What about this is aggressive?”

“You really don’t know?” Laine tilted his head while I was still trying to find out what the hell he was talking about. “Mr. Castillo,” Laine sighed. “The point of this program is to show the court that you’re capable of interacting with others...like a normal human being.”

“Right?” I spoke, surprised. “It’s so selfish that I do know how to behave and am stuck in here, while some girl doesn’t even dare to reply to my message and gets to stroll around free.”

“Hmm.” Laine hummed. “How about you find another pen pal?”

“I don’t want another one,” I spoke like a little kid throwing a tantrum. I wanted Elena Torres. I was interested in what kind of person she was and wanted to know more about her.

“I see.” Laine smiled awkwardly. He must’ve thought my behavior was a bit obsessive or perhaps even stalker-ish, but I had no bad intentions. I just wanted to get to know my pen pal a bit better, so the least she could do was respond.

“So, how is my path towards freedom going?” I grinned as I changed the subject. “Let’s talk about that.”

“Well,” Laine spoke and placed his map on the table. “Everything is still going according to plan. There’s still not enough evidence...”

“But?”

“Marvin, we need to talk.” Laine barely whispered. I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my chair while I waited for the bad news. He called me by my first name, which couldn’t mean any good. “I am still getting out, right?” I asked.

Laine remained silent, which only added to my nerves, so I leaned forward and looked him in the eye. “Laine,” I spoke in a threatening tone. “I have told everyone, from the goddam guards to the stone in the damn yard, that I’ll be getting out soon, so I will be getting out. Right?”

“Yes, you will, Mr. Castillo!” Laine tried his hardest to reassure me, but it was already too late. I could sense the issue from here.

“Good,” I spoke.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“The DEA is determined to bring down the Castillo’s, so even if they do decide to let you go, you’ll never truly have your freedom.” Laine suddenly shared. “If you truly want to be free, I suggest you let the Hernandez take the fall.”

“What?”

“Do what you always do and tell the court that you had nothing to do with the transport or the murder of officer Maddens,” Laine spoke. “Play it safe and put all the blame on the Hernandez.”

“So you’re asking me to ruin my reputation and walk out like a rat?”

“No.” Laine shook his head. “I’m asking you to come to your senses and to blame the people who were actually responsible.”

Laine had quite some nerve to ask something like that from me. We were not on good terms with the Hernandez cartel, and it was mainly because both sides expected each other to have something to do with the leak. The last thing I wanted was to enlarge our four-year beef.

“I can’t do that.”

“Mr. Castillo.” Laine began. “Who do you think ratted you all out in the first place?” He asked. “The leak did not come from our side, so it had to be from the Hernandez.”

“California is not big enough for the both of you, and someone has to go—the Hernandez had already decided that it was not going to be them.”

“Then why haven’t they moved against us?” I asked. All of this didn’t make any sense. If Freddie Hernandez wanted to move against us, he would’ve done it a long time ago.

Freddie Hernandez was the head of the Hernandez cartel and once a good acquaintance of my dad’s, but after the failed transport, they had become silent enemies. Would Freddie really go that far?

“They haven’t moved against us because you’re in here,” Laine spoke. “Santiago is not a threat to them. They seem him as weak, inexperienced, easy to take out...but you!”

“You are the person they truly fear,” Laine concluded. “Your father is old. You were never meant to get out. They had hoped for the Castillo’s to extinguish—but now that you’ll be released...”

“They were planning on attacking us either way.” I finished Laine’s sentence. He made a valid point. Dad was not getting any younger, and the moment I’d step out, it would mean dad had a true heir. Someone powerful who would not bow down to anyone.

“That’s why you want me to take the deal,” I whispered in disbelief. “It won’t matter anyway,” Laine reassured me. “No one will know you as a rat. It won’t even come out it was you.”

“It won’t come out?” I chuckled. “The DEA going after the Hernandez right after I get released doesn’t sound suspicious to you?”

Laine shrugged his shoulders. “No matter how it sounds, it sounds better than having both the DEA and the Hernandez after your ass.”

I was about to choke myself for the sentence which was about to leave my mouth, but Laine was right. We could only handle that much at a time, and I would not sacrifice myself to get stuck here for much longer. “I’ll do it, but only if we can bump the six weeks to six days.”

“Six days!” Laine almost choked on his own spit. “You want to get released next week?”

“Damn right I do.” I shrugged. “If I’ll be doing the DEA a favor and tell them the Hernandez’ business, I want to be out by next week.”

“If I have the opportunity to be part of Santiago’s big day, then I’ll do it—no matter what.”

Laine let out a chuckle. “So that’s what this is about?” He finally read the room. “You don’t want to miss Santiago’s wedding?”

“Correct, and I’ll even move like a rat if that means I get to be there.”

“So we have an agreement?”

Laine stuck out his hand and looked me in my eyes while he waited for me to accept. Once I would shake his hand, there would be no turning back. “Does my family knows about this?” I asked beforehand. Laine gave me a nod. “Sir Mario Castillo knows about this and stands behind this decision.”

“Does he,” I smirked. It was fascinating to me how much he despised Tiago that he was even willing to go this far to get the DEA off our backs.

“Then we have a deal,” I spoke as I finally accepted Laine’s hand. Laine’s squeezed my hand and looked me in the eye. “There’s one more thing.” He sighed. “From now on, the person who murdered officer Maddens is Danny Hernandez.”

I looked up with a shocked look on my face and pulled back my hand. It would’ve been nice of both Laine and my dad to mention that beforehand. “No,” I shook my head. “You’re telling me to lie to the DEA and to tell them Freddie’s son did it?”

“It’s not a lie!” Laine hissed. “He and his brothers are probably the ones who got the order to call the DEA about the transport!”

“It’s what’s necessary to protect both you and your brother.”

“And it can’t be anyone else?” I muttered. This would only make the situation with the Hernandez even worse. “Of course it can’t,” Laine spoke. “They won’t settle for small fish. We need to give them something big...do it for Santiago.”

I closed my eyes and thought of Santiago. If I would not take this deal and walk free as a murderer, they would not stop following me. The truth would come out, and they would end up with Tiago. I did not want that to happen. “Fine, for Santiago.”

“Good, then I’ll relay the message.” Laine smiled. “And now, if you’ll excuse me,” He spoke as he got up from his seat.

“I have quite some work to do to change your six weeks into...six days.”

I opened my arms and let out a breath. “Then you better start working.”

If everything went according to plan, it meant that I could finally get back my freedom even sooner than expected.

It meant I could go to Santiago’s wedding and who knew?

Perhaps I could pay Elena Torres a visit and ask her why she hadn’t replied to my email.