Chapter 286

Marvin “Marvin, wake up.”

“Marvin, can you hear me?”

With pain in my head, I slowly opened my eyes I focused on the sound of my mom’s voice, trying to fight my way to my blurry vision.

The first thing you usually heard in movies were common words such as,where am Iorwho am I, but I was not confused. I was aware of my surroundings, and only one thing went through my mind.

I am alive….I survived.

“Marvin, it’s time to wake up.’

“Mom, don’t force him.”

“Is uncle dead?”

“I’m not dead,” I yawned, stretching out my arms. I was supposed to be dead, but I wasn’t. The first thing I felt was my mom’s soft lips on top of my forehead. “I thought we’d lost you as well.” She cried.

Confused, I turned my head to look at my sister, Karina, and my nephew, Cisco. “What does she mean? Where is Tiago-”

“Tiago is fine.” Karina smiled through her tears. “Come on, mom-I think it’s time for us to step out for a second.”

I looked at the nurse in front of me and shook my head in disapproval. “We don’t need to do any tests. I’m fine!” I told her, ripping several electrodes from my body. “No, sir-you can’t do that!” The middle-aged woman spoke while the remaining nurses followed her.

My mom, Karina, and Cisco got rushed out of the room while I let out an exhausted breath and decided to work along after feeling a burning sensation in my abdomen. I wasn’t fully recovered yet.

The sooner 1 worked along, the sooner I would receive some answers. Where was Tiago, and what had exactly happened?

After some hours had passed, I was finally able to see my family-but the looks on everyone’s faces and the fact that Tiago was not present was not a good sign. Full of curiosity, I looked at my mom, dad, Karina, and Victor.

I didn’t know what Victor was doing here, especially after his heartless comment-but I guess the gesture was nice. “So what’s up with the serious faces, and where are Tiago and Anya?” I chuckled, fearing for the worst.

The pale faces after mentioning Anya’s name were terrifying. “Marvin….I’m so sorry.” My mom spoke. lowering her head. “But Anya…” She continued.

I took a breath. “She didn’t make it….Anya didn’t make it.” I concluded, balling my fist. I hadn’t even noticed how angry I was until Karina placed her hand on my shoulder to calm me down. Mario Castillo carried his usual cold expression on his face, as did Victor.

“Tiago?” I almost whispered, afraid of what was about to come. Santiago was a sensitive person, who had apparently cried the entire night when his dog died, and Anya could not even be compared to that dog. My dad cleared his throat and fixed his tic. “Santiago is a nutcase.”

“Don’t say that!” My mom smacked him. “Marvin, your brother….he’s not doing okay-but we’re here and “Everyone out.”

“What?”

“I said, everyone out!” I repeated myself. “Not you, dad, but everyone else…including Victor.”

My mom nodded and grabbed Victor and Karina by their arms while Victor shot me a disgusted look. “You heard him…let’s go. Karina spoke.

“And Panther, I need to see Panther.”

“Panther, I’ll get you, Panther.” My mom confirmed before leaving the room. After everyone had left, it was just Mario and me, and the tension was to die for. Despite being his favorite son, the man was not known to show any affection unless it came to Victor.

“I almost lost my son.” My dad spoke through gritted teeth, pacing back and forth. I was surprised he cared, considering he wasn’t the best at showing his feelings. “I almost lost my son because he took a bullet for some woman-

Elena…

“The girl, where is she?” I interrupted him. I had been so occupied with processing all the news about Tiago and Anya that I hadn’t even thought about Elena. Was she okay?

“She’s fine.” Panther walked through the door. He rushed over to my side and pushed me back down. “She’s fine, and she’s not your priority right now.”

I took in Panther’s words and nodded my head. He was right. As long as she was doing fine-she was not my priority. “Did you speak with Anya’s parents…is there any news about a funeral?”

“No.” My dad answered coldly. “The funeral is in two days-”

“Then we have to go!”

“No!” He raised his voice. “Tiago and your mom will go, and we will stay out if this.”

“I have covered all of their expenses, and we will take our distance from that family-especially now that the Hernandez is after us—”

“But it wasn’t the Hernandez.” I shook my head.It couldn’t be. My dad sat down on the bed and raised his brow. “What makes you say that? I don’t want to ruin your fantasy, but they had a pretty good reason for attacking us.”

“No, they didn’t,” I spoke. “The boy was a sloppy worker, he was afraid, didn’t know how to hold a gun….he just couldn’t be a Hernandez.” I shared my theory. “I mean, think about it. If it were really the Hernandez, they would’ve killed everyone at that wedding-”

“Marvin, I don’t want to hear it!” My dad spoke. “You’ve been locked up for years. You have no idea about what’s been going on with the Hernandez.” He argued. “We framed Freddie’s son, threw him into prison- don’t be an idiot.”

Don’t be an idiot. For some reason, those words were perfect to describe me, especially after taking a bullet for some woman who had no purpose to me. “We can point fingers and all of that, but we won’t.” My dad spoke. “I have already discussed it with the other groups, and we have all decided to kick out Freddie.”

Hearing he had already discussed it with the other cartels meant there was no going back. All the groups. coming together from all the states to discuss this matter was prove that everyone was on the same page about the Hernandez. “Mario is right,” Panther added. “The Hernandez has changed since you’ve left, and they’re not as powerful anymore.”

“Marvin, it’s time for you to step up!” Mario spoke, irritated. “I don’t know what the hell you’ve been doing since you’ve stepped out of prison-but it’s time for you to show everyone that you’re a Castillo.”

“Meaning?

“Meaning you can’t let the Hernandez get away with this, and I would love to take care of this-but I can’t always stand behind you, and people are talking. They are starting to see you as weak.” He explained. It was no surprise the other groups had their doubts.I was slacking, and it was all because of a woman.

Mario scratched his head. “They’re even saying that Victor should—”

“No!”

I used all of my power and sat up straight. “No. If they want me to take revenge on the Hernandez, I’ll do it!”

Whether my instincts about the Hernandez were right or wrong, leaving the family business in Victor’s hands would’ve been a disaster for humanity. I would rather sell my soul to the devil before leaving the business in his hands. The argument of the Hernandez not being the same anymore made sense, considering I had been locked up for years. As always, I was just overanalyzing things while the Hernandez was right in our reach. “That’s my son.”

“We’ll take revenge, and we’ll do it for the sake of our family.” My dad spoke, relieved. “We should collect some men so that we can start our attack—“

“Or we should play it safe and hurt Danny since we can’t get to Freddie.” I suggested. The last thing anyone needed at the moment was a war, not with the DEA breathing in our necks. “Panther, you remember Stanfield-right?”

“Yes, I do.”

I needed someone who could get near one of the Castillo men in prison, and that was my former guard and friend, Daniel Stanfield. Was it risky?Yes. Would he be willing to help merYes.

I protected him many times and stood behind him in prison-so doing me a favor was the least he could do. “Bring him to me. We can’t get to Freddie, so Danny will do.”

Panther gave me a nod. “I will.”

Mario chuckled. “It seems like my job here is done. Keep me updated, and I’ll relay your plan to the groups.

He turned his back to make his way out, but before he could, he stopped in his steps. “Panther.”

“Yes, sir?”

+5 Bonus “Did you find out more about the girl claiming to be Marvin’s wife? She might become an issue in the future.”

“Elena?” I spoke, looking at Panther. He moved his gaze to the floor. Why would Elena even say something like that?

“I did, sir, but I couldn’t find anything suspicious.” Panther answered. “She’s clean…and so are her friends and family.”

As expected.

“Clearly, because there’s nothing suspicious about her,” I spoke angrily. Doing background checks on citizens and invading their privacy wasn’t something I agreed with.

“You took a bullet for her while she shouldn’t have been in that room, so excuse me.” My dad stated. I was lost at his words. “Did you want me to let her die and let Laine fix our shit like he always does—is that it?” I asked, referring to our unfortunate lawyer who could not catch a break.

“Hmm.” My dad kept quiet and left the room without saying another word while I made a gun with my hand and pretended to shoot him. “We used to do that when we were children,” Panther laughed, lifting the mood.

Despite the smile on his face, he was the most serious I had ever seen him. I wanted to ask him so much about Anya and Tiago, but even someone like him deserved a break. “The world would be a better place if that magical gun was real.”

“I can’t say I don’t agree.” Panther chuckled, turning his head to look at me. “I’m glad you’re okay.

Marvin.”

“Okay?” I mumbled. I was anything but okay, not after hearing that I had just lost my sister-in-law, the only person who kept my brother from not losing it. “I’m sorry about Anya.” Panther spoke. “I don’t want you to blame yourself or to think that this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t left prison…”

The truth was that I wasn’t blaming myself until Panther mentioned it. This wouldn’t have happened if I had been in prison. “How’s Tiago?” I wondered. “Is he really…crazy?”

Panther ignored my question. “I need you to focus on yourself for now.” He spoke. “I’ll bring you, Stanfield.”

I could tell by the look on his face that he didn’t want to discuss this matter, which worried me even more as I could not brush away the thought of Tiago. Anya was his everything, so what was his purpose if she wasn’t there with him?

“Good.” I forced a smile on my face. “And about Elena.” Panther began with a frustrated sigh.

I wasn’t supposed to care, but I did. I was supposed to focus on the Hernandez, but it was a difficult thing to do.

“What’s with Elena?”

“N-nothing.” Panther sighed. “She followed you all the way to the hospital, sat here for hours while you were getting surgery.

“She did?” I spoke, surprised. After embarrassing me in front of a full restaurant, I had not expected her to follow me to the hospital. It was the least she could do, but still.

“So that’s where the wife thing came from.”

“Yes.” Panther confirmed. “I took care of her, brought her home-but after hearing you took a bullet for her, your dad asked me to look into her, and I had no choice-”

“Of course he did.”

That was Mario Castillo, always thinking someone was an undercover agent, out to get us. “But you didn’t find anything, so it’s all good. Right?”

A nervous laugh had escaped from between Panther’s lips. “She told me to call you when you’re awake, and she wants to see you.

“Shit, you might as well shoot me again.” I pretended not to care. I was supposed to care about Tiago, Anya, and the Hernandez, but despite everything, the thought of seeing Elena warmth my heart. “At least give me two days, I don’t want to see her right now.”

“Don’t lie.” Panther spoke. “She means a lot to you, and I can’t tell. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have protected her.

Flustered, I looked away from Panther’s eyes. I wasn’t even going to deny his accusation because there was no point. He knew me better than I knew myself. “Panther, in the meantime I need you to reassure her that I’m doing fine. I don’t want her to worry.”

“I understand.” Panther said. “And as long as she’s under your protection….she’ll also be under mine protection.”