Chapter 271

Elena “Girl, why the hell wasn’t you picking up your phone!” Victoria waited for me in the driveway. I rushed out of the car and flew into her arms.

“Did you get the memo? Did you know that Marvin of yours killed your dad’s partner-agent Maddens?”

“H-he what?” I freaked out. Tori’s cruel way of speaking wasn’t that much of a help. I slowly put two and two together as I connected the missing puzzle piece to Marvin’s prison sentence. Did I really go to lunch with the killer of my dad’s best friend?

“I-he-I didn’t know!” I hyperventilated. It was quite a surprise that I was able to drive back home as my thoughts were all over the place. I almost fell into Marvin’s trap, and this entire situation was too good to be a coincidence.

“Okay, the first thing you need to do is calm down.” Tori rubbed her hand over my back. “Close your eyes and breath.”

I did as told and closed my eyes, but all I could see in front of me was Marvin and the eye-catching smirk he carried on his lips. No wonder he was that confident. I was exactly where he wanted me to be. “Tori, what the hell is going on?” I sighed.

“I have no idea, but you’re lucky I didn’t call your dad.” Victoria spoke. “I tried reaching you, but you didn’t answer-so I freaked out, and I was about to call the cops-”

“But you didn’t.”

“But I didn’t,” Tori repeated. “I was looking through some new case files of our new client, and I recognized Marvin’s face.” She explained. “He’s not a good guy, Elena. He framed our client, who’s not that much better than him, for the murder of your dad’s partner, and that’s why he’s able to walk out free-”

“Yes, I know-I know.” I stopped her from talking. The information was all too much, and I didn’t need her to remind me of what kind of idiot I was. “No, you don’t understand. Tori shook her head. “He is the son of Mario Castillo, a cartel boss you don’t want to meet.”

There it was again, that word.

The son of a cartel boss’

It was a word I had heard a few times too many over the past few weeks, and I couldn’t take it anymore. “I didn’t know. I promise you-I didn’t know.” I whispered.

“I know you didn’t because neither did I.” Victoria spoke in disbelief. “I mean, it’s a good thing I could reach you before you went to meet him.”

The breath which left my mouth was enough for Victoria to realize that the situation had turned out to be quite the opposite. “Elena, no,” Victoria cringed.

“Yes.

“No.

“Yes,” I nearly trembled. I paced back and forth while my mind went back to Marvin, who I had left behind without as much as a single word. “I told him I had to go use the restroom, and then I disappeared.”

“God, you’re so stupid!” Victoria called me out. “What were you even thinking? Why would you do that?”

The tone in her voice made me even more anxious. “I left because you told me to run!”

“Yes, from the situation-not from that killer. Who knows what he’ll do to you?” Victoria spoke. I tried to ignore her words and rushed into the house, but Victoria wasn’t done talking and followed me inside.

“Victoria, what are we going to do?” I sulked with a slight pout. The look on Victoria’s face told me that she would not accept this as our problem and that I was on my own.

“First of all, what are you going to do.” She corrected me. “And second of all, how do we know he did not approach you because of your dad-

“Impossible,” I stated. It was something that had already crossed my mind, but some things just didn’t add up. I was the one who approached Marvin, and besides that, dad and Alex’s investigation was top secret.

Maybe I was overreacting?

Maybe I was doing too much?

“You know, Victoria,” I spoke as we made our way to my dad’s office. “We’re probably just overreacting—1 mean, he seemed like a really nice guy.”

“Overreacting?” Victoria raised her hands as she scoffed. “Elena, you’re insane-of course, he’s not a robot, but this is what these people do.”

They smile, they kill, and they move on as nothing has happened.

I grabbed the files with information from my dad’s desk as I took in Victoria’s words. No matter how hot or attractive he might’ve been, Tori had a point.

My face went blank as my mind went back to my dad’s words. The exact words from which I had been running away from.

He kept on rambling about the son of a cartel boss getting released from prison and called him out to be the one who had killed his partner, agent Maddens-and I ignored him. He exposed Marvin on multiple occasions, and I ignored him.

I flipped through the files like a madwoman while Victoria asked way too many questions in my ears.

“What are we doing? What are we looking at?”

I continued flipping until I had finally found what I had been searching for. The page landed on the face of the same man who approached Marvin. The Panther guy whose name I had been mocking and the one who was an essential piece of that family.

The Castillo Cartel.

“H-here, I whispered. Tori leaned over my shoulder so that she could take a better look at the picture. She gasped and tapped her finger on top of Panther’s picture.

“Pedro Vidal!” Victoria said. “Him being with Marvin is not really that much of a surprise.”

“P-Panther?” 1 asked, surprised as my eyes scanned his birth name. I did not dare to lower my eyes as I did not want to read through this man’s crimes. From the way my dad spoke about him, I knew one thing, and that was that he was not a good person.

“Elena, he got this nickname because he works fast, and he catches his prey as if it’s nothing.”Those were the exact words that my dad had used to describe him.

“He’s wothing compared to Marvin, as a matter of fact-Marvin is the one who orders him around.”

Victoria read my mind. “He used to do it from a prison cell.”

I gulped in fear, too afraid to flip the next page, which I knew would’ve been Marvin’s. Of course, Marvin was worse than him. This man called, Marvin his boss.

“Do you remember that dude they arrested at your work?” Victoria began. “I never told you because I didn’t think it was necessary-but that’s the guy we’re representing…Danny Hernandez.” She spoke. “That’s the guy who’s been framed for murdering Maddens.”

All this information almost made me gag as it was too much to take in. What the hell was going on in this city?

“So one cartel is framing another cartel? How convenient.” I mumbled sarcastically.

I made the sign of cross and pleaded my hands as I looked at the ceiling and closed my eyes. “God, please forgive me for being such a hypocrite and for getting involved,” I admitted to my sins, unsure of if it would even matter anymore. I had been scolding dad and Alex about their hunt while I had been hunting for the big fish and wasn’t that much different from them.

The guy I had been lusting over had been in prison for committing murder, and it wasn’t just any murder. It was the murder of my dad’s best friend.

I took a deep breath before I flipped the page in one go, revealing Marvin’s face.

Marvin Romero Castillo.

I had missed all the signs while they were right in front of me, and I felt like an idiot. The most stupid thing was probably believing that Marvin could be innocent because he told me so. I was stupid enough to believe him, but to be fair-it was mainly because of his looks.

I made him out to be some local drug dealer while he was ‘the’ dealer.

Thinking about it, what was I even after? What did I think was going to happen? Did I really believe we would marry and that my dad and Alex would accept a criminal?

“I don’t know much about these things, but I know that his dad, Mario Castillo is a monster, and considering Marvin is his son-the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

“Really, Victoria?” I rolled my eyes, annoyed at her unwanted comments. “I wouldn’t have figured that out for myself”

Tm sorry!” Tori apologized. “I’m just trying to help here and speaking of help-I think we should tell your dad about this-

“No.” I shook my head as Victoria had a flustered look on her face. “What do you mean no? You ran away from him, and men like that don’t take rejection very well.”

“Do you think he’ll come and look for me, to like what? Kidnap me?” I raised my eyebrow. Victoria gave me a confident nod, while all I could do was reconsider my options. This could go both ways.

Option one, I could tell my dad and Alex the truth-and put all of our lives in danger because they wouldn’t believe in coincidence and would run to the cops, which would end with all three of us as meat skewers.

Or option two.

I could hide it from dad and Alex and wait until Marvin came back for revenge, which would eventually end with all three of us as meat skewers.

“I don’t want to become a meat skewer,” I fake cried as I thought about the unavoidable scenario.

Tori blinked her eyes in confusion. “What?”

“No, nothing.” 1 huffed. My eyes moved towards the clock. Dad would probably be home soon, and I did not want him to suspect anything.

Luckily for me, I still had a backup plan. If it weren’t for me and my great brains, I would’ve never bought the saw, ax, and planks of woods. I could at least take care of my bedroom until I knew what to make out of the situation.

But wait a second? Why should I feel threatened in my own home?

Why should I be the one to tremble with fear?

As if something snapped inside of me, I came to my senses and thought about the third option, which I hadn’t considered. I would deal with the situation as a normal human being and move on with my life as if nothing happened.

Scared? I didn’t get scared.

I was the daughter of the highly respected DEA Special Agent, Torres, who was currently on probation and lost a bit of his respect-but still. I didn’t bow down to anyone, including sir Marvin Romero or Castillo or whatever name he went by.

“Victoria, I’ve found the perfect solution,” I spoke with a triumphant smirk across my lips. Tori, who was anticipating my solution, turned towards me to give me all of her attention. “Tell me, what is it?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?” She worried as I simply shrugged my shoulders.

“I’ll probably never ever see that man again, so yes-I’ll sit back, look pretty, and do absolutely nothing.” What was the worst that could happen?

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