Chapter Four

"Boss-" One of my men barges into my office, disrupting my meeting. I give him a cold glare, temped to shoot the mother fucker in the leg

"I'm sorry boss" he apologizes, looking at his feet.

"Return in an hour" I say to him and turn back to my meeting with Rico and Dominguez. 

"Where is Marley?" I ask. She should be here already. I know I upset her last time, but she's supposed to be over it by now. She can't be missing meetings like this. She's still a part of the team. 

"I gave her a call, but she said if you want her in the meeting, you should call her yourself." Rico tells me, a small smile playing on his lips. Dominguez barks a laughter. "What did you do this time?"

"Nothing of consequence" I reply curtly. Marley is a stubborn hot head. She reminds me of myself, and I should be proud of her. She's strong and likes to stand her ground, but she has to understand why I shield her from some things. These waters are testy and not very friendly, especially to women. So if leaving her out of the more dangerous business makes her want to sit out of others, it's fine by me. I'd honestly rather have her spending my money and living life like a normal girl. 

"We need a plan B. Gonzalez is not a man to trust." I say, forcing the two idiots to focus. 

"We also need to know all of his territories" Dominguez adds.

"I already did all the digging, got including his finance and business records" Rico says, handing me a folder. That is exactly one of the reasons l love Rico. He's always one step ahead. I examine the files. "He's increased his profit and expanded his territories, entering into parts of Italy, just in a year."

"He's a fucking gold mine." Dominguez says, awe in his voice. While shuffling through the files, I stumble on Valentina's file and can't help but wonder what she looks like. I'm hoping for the easy way out; marrying her. I can't afford to go head to head with Gonzalez. My chances of winning are slim to none. 

"We need to set another meeting with Gonzalez. It's been almost two weeks since the last one." Rico says, stealing the words right out my mouth. 

"I suggest we wait a little more, he said he would call." Dominguez says, and we give him a look like he's out of his mind. 

"Time is not something we have the luxury of. Incase you have forgotten, Gonzalez is becoming weak - even though it is just a rumour, but still. We're not the only ones after his throne. If the mountain won't come to Muhammad, Muhammad must go to the mountain."

"Reyes and his men attacked our nest in Puebla. Half of it is destroyed, and they made away with 7 million worth of drugs. We tried to salvage the situation, and recovered 2 million. We lost 14 men." Rico says casually.

"When was this? Why wasn't everything recovered?" I ask, trying to keep my cool. I gave Rico and Dominguez the authority to make decisions and take action when I'm indisposed, but not telling me when something like this happens is just asking for death. However, I keep calm. He must have reasons. 

"It was the same day you had the meeting with Gonzalez. It happened while the meeting was going on, and I couldn't distract you. With most of our men there down, I thought it wiser to let them go. I've been trying to break through their fire wall, no success yet." He chooses his words carefully. He should have told me sooner. Reyes. The only man dumb enough to cross me. He's strong quite all right, but I will take him down, soon. We've been planning and soon, our plans will come to fruition. He won't know what hit him. There's a rap on the door and I ask whoever it is to come in. It's the same man from before. Stan. I recognize the scar on his left cheek. 

"Sorry to interrupt again boss, but you left no instructions what to do with Delgado and his lot. His daughter is making a fuss." I give him a puzzled look. 

"The little brat?"

"No, he has an older daughter, Vetta. She's 22. Quite feisty." Alright then, I'll be there in a minute.

I turn to Rico. "You didn't mention anything about an older daughter" I say.

"I did, you weren't listening."

___________________________

I'm heading to the basement on the west wing where I'm told the Delgado family is, with Dominguez by my side. The closer we get, the louder the noise is. Kicking, screaming and hurling of curses.

"Let us go you dumb fucks!" 

Dominguez opens the door, letting me in first, and I'm greeted by the sight of a blindfolded disoriented woman dressed in pink Hello Kitty pajamas, tugging at her bonds, trying to get free. She stops when she hears the door open. Delgado is sitting solemnly in the same condition, next to his other daughter Olive, so I assume the bundle of trouble is Vetta. 

"You should stop struggling with those bonds. You'd only end up hurting yourself." I say, taking a seat and getting comfortable. At the sound of my voice, Delgado's head snaps up and he tenses.

"Who the fuck are you?" I smirk. She is feisty, true and true. With a smart mouth. 

"Listen to the man Vetta, don't make a fuss." Delgado tells her and she calms down a bit.

"You know, you remind me of your mother." At the mention of her mother, she tenses, and I notice her fists clench.

"Leave her name out of your filthy mouth." She spits.

"Strong and resilient. But you see, she knew when to be calm. She was a very good observer." I continue, unfazed by her insult. She grits her teeth and I smirk. I like her already. "Delgado." I call and he scampers to his feet.

"Y-yes boss?" He answers, his voice trembling. 

"Boss?" Vetta repeats and struggles to her feet. Her standing gives me a better view of what she looks like. She's small for someone who causes so much trouble. Tiny even, like a doll. Her full height barely reaches my chest. She looks so fragile, like she would crush under the lightest pressure. I"m overwhelmed with the urge to see her face. "Remove their blindfolds." I order, and Dominguez does, starting with the littlest one. She looks calm, but her deathly grip on a small teddy bear gives her fear away. Delgado looks solemn. Like a sheep about to be slaughtered. But her. She stands straighter, defiance in her eyes, but her whole body trembles. Men in her position would be on their knees begging for mercy. She has guts. Foolish bravery. Her dark hair with pink highlights is long and wavy, curling down her shoulders. With full lips and eyes that hold so much depth, she is beautiful. Her fear excites me. Her courage intrigues me. For some reason, I don't want to hurt her. Hurting her father would be indirectly hurting her. But I cannot let him go. Under normal circumstances, the price is death, seeing as Delgado can't possibly raise six hundred thousand dollars, even if I gave him three years. But I can't show mercy either. 

"How much do you owe me Delgado?"

"Six hundred thousand dollars" He replies, his voice just above a whisper.

"I can't hear you."

"Six hundred thousand dollars." He says louder.

"And how do you plan on paying back?" There's so much tension in the room, all eyes focused on me, knowing that it is at this point I usually pull the trigger. I look at Vetta and she's beginning to crack. Angry tears threaten to spill. 

"I'll pay you the money." She speaks up.

"And how do you plan to do that darling Vetta?" I'm not entirely surprised. It's obvious, her love for her father. She could have left him a long time ago. Took her sister and gone. But she didn't. Jealousy pinches my insides. No one ever stuck up for me like that.

"I work two jobs at-"

"And how much do you earn?" I cut her off

"Seventy thousand."

"Per month?"

"Per year." 

I laugh softly. "8 years. It'll take you 8 years to make how much you owe." Her head hangs in defeat. 

"I'll do anything." She says softly. I consider her plea. 

"I have a proposal for you." I offer, getting her attention. "But I need to trust you first. You lot have a bad habit of trying to run away. I'll let you go today. All of you. Come back next week, and I'll tell you what I have in mind." I see her already calculating her next move in her head. "But if you so much as try to leave this city, I will not hesitate to put bullets in your skulls. Starting with your precious little Olive." I say and her eyes grow wide like saucers. 

"You would never!"

"It's a promise. I never break promises." Delgado doesn't utter a word, resigned to his fate, and I wonder when he became such a weakling. He can't even defend his daughters. He reminds me of my father. The thought leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. 

"Free them Dominguez." I say and turn and take my leave.

There's something about that Vetta girl. I can see it in her eyes. I don't know what it is, but I'll sure have fun getting to know.