Chapter 301

Lucas “I made it to detective, mom.”

“Mom, I’m going to get him this time-I promise.”

Defeated, I looked at the grave in front of me and brushed my hand over the stone.

Carmela Nunes.

Today marked the tenth year of her death, and even at the age of twenty-four, the wounds had still remained. I was not over her wrongful death, and justice had to be served.

I was going to makehim pay, even if I had to do it with my last breath.

For most of my childhood, I grew up with a single mother who worked her ass off just so we could get food on our plates. My sorry excuse of a father who was loaded could not give two shits about me.

My mom worked as his maid, and after he got her pregnant-he kicked her out without as much as a single dime.

He killed her.

His abandonment was the cause of my mom’s drug abuse and the cause of her eventual overdose.

My mom was the main reason why I had fought my way through to become a detective. I was going to put an end tohim, and I was going to do it for her.

I kissed the top of my finger and brushed the stone one last time before I took my exit with the map full of evidence in my hands. I got into my car and drove to the house of the man who was going to make a difference.George Torres.

After following Elena Torres, and The Castillo’s, I had gathered more than enough power to end this for once and for all. Two innocent women had already died because of that family, and I wasn’t going to danger another one.

Elena’s naive personality reminded me of my mom, and if I wouldn’t step in-she would probably end up the same. After the questioning, I had concluded that she was so far up their asses that she had somehow managed to give me zero information She was willing to lie for him.

It all started at the hospital, and I could not understand how someone like Elena got involved with the Castillo’s Pen pal?What kind of excuse was that? She was the daughter of a DEA What was she up to?

According to several rumors at the station, George Torres had been leading his very own.

investigation and was after the Castillo’s as well.

I knew George Torres was a man who preferred working alone, and I knew he was after the Castillo’s to get Stevie Maddens the justice he deserved. My dream was to beat the Castillo’s with the best, and in order to do that, I had to find a way to work with him.

Telling George that his daughter has been hanging around the Castillo’s and giving him some new information would hopefully give him the push he needed to let me in on his plan.

Would I probably stir some trouble? Yes.Did I care? No. As long as I could get to him, anything was possible.

I took a deep breath as I stepped out of the car and walked to the Torres’ doorsteps. This was it.

Before I could knock on the door, it had already been opened by none other than George Torres. He had a surprised look on his face and eyed me up and down. “Hi sir, my name is detective Lucas Nunes-”

“Is Elena okay?”

I smiled and showed him my badge. “Sir, I-”

“Is she dead?”

“No!” I shook my head. George took a relieved breath and stuck out his hand. “Oh…how can I help you?”

So far, so good.

“There’s something I want to discuss with you…about the Castillo’s?”

The expression on George’s face had immediately changed. It was clear that we shared the same hatred for that family. The rumor had just become a reality.He was after the Castillo’s “Please, come in.” He stepped aside. I entered the dark hallway and watched as George closed the door behind me. “You’re the one who interviewed my Elena, weren’t you?” He interrogated me. “I think we’ve met in the past.”

He remembered me.

“We did, sir!” I smiled at the acknowledgment as I followed him to the living room. “So what do you have on the Castillo’s, and why do you think I care?” George asked. “I have to admit, after that stunt, my daughter pulled-I’m a bit embarrassed to meet you like this.”

“Don’t be, sir.”

Just looking at George Torres made me feel sorry for the mess he was in. George cleared his throat. “She’s at work right now, but she’s not in any trouble, right?”

Rather than giving him a proper answer, I threw my map onto the table. “Sir-”

“George.”

“George.” I gulped, unsure of how I was going to hand him the news. Everyone knew Torres had a temper, meaning this could go both ways. “I don’t know if you’re aware, but I have reasons to believe that your daughter might be in some kind of romantic relationship with Marvin Castillo.”

“W-what?” George looked into my eyes. His face paled, and if I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought he was close to fainting. “I’m sorry, but you’re mistaken.” He chuckled. “Elena broke off all contact with that man.”

I lifted the map from the table, causing all the pictures to fall out, and put them in the correct order.

“This is the timeline I made,” I told George. “The first picture was taken a few weeks after I questioned your daughter.”

It was the picture of Marvin’s right hand at the bar she worked at, and surprisingly enough, she had left with him not long after. “He came to pick up your daughter, and as you can see -he took her to the hospital-to visit Marvin.”

George pulled the picture from my hands. “So you’re telling me you’ve been following my daughter?”

I ignored George and continued with the following pictures. “She has been seeing him for weeks, and a few days after his discharge-he came to visit her at the bar.” I continued. “He was with Pedro Vidal, also known as Panther, and Victor.”

“Stop.”

I knew this was not easy to hear, but it was the only way. “Not long after, your daughter drove to the Castillo estate, probably to officially meet his family-so the two might be involved-”

“Stop.”

“George, please!” I pleaded. “As you know, Danny Hernandez was stabbed. Don’t ask me how, but I managed to get ahold of the phone of the inmate responsible. Right before, he sent a sketchy message about flowers being delivered….and the one with those flowers was your daughter, who Marvin has been using as his alibi-”

“I said!” George slammed his fist onto the table.

“Stop!” He repeated. He pushed me aside to take a look at the other pictures. “You did all of this?”

He whispered.

“This one is from yesterday.” I tapped my finger on the last picture. “There seemed to be some type of altercation, and Marvin threatened to push Pedro Vidal off a cliff.”

George brushed his hands through his hair.

“And I don’t know, but I don’t think someone with a temper like that should be around your daughter-

“She lied to me…again.” George balled his fist. After all the information, the only thing that surprised him was his daughter lying to him. So it wasn’t the first time.She was known to be a liar.

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“Don’t be. I’ll take care of it.” George spoke. The tone in his voice was enough to send chills through my body as I worried for his daughter. Wait, why should I worry?She brought this upon herself. She was the unfortunate push I needed to help George Torres with his investigation.

“What are you going to do?”

George sighed. “Something I should’ve done a long time ago.

He looked at me as his eyes told me it was time to leave, but I had other plans. “I could’ve run around the station and make a fool out of you, your son, and your daughter-but I didn’t,” 1 spoke. “I came to you first because I respect you.”

”

“You did a good job, kid-but I’ll take it from here.” He patted my shoulder. “I’ll put in a good word for you when I get back.”

That’s if they take you back.

“No, I want you to make it up to me right now,” I demanded, as George shot daggers with his eyes.

“I know you’ve been investigating Mario Castillo, and I want in.”

“You want in?”

“I want to be the one to look him in the eyes when he finally pays for his evil deeds,” I spoke, determined. “For Stevie Maddens, and so many more.”

Such as my mom.

George laughed in disbelief. “You should focus on your work, kid.”

“I have been…for years.” I pushed my badge into his face. “And as you can see, it turned out pretty well.”

I was sick and tired of everyone excluding me, while I had worked just as hard to get where I am today. I didn’t come all the way over here just for him to reject me. He was going to accept me, even if that meant telling him the truth about my dad.

“Listen, kid, give me one reason why I should let you help me.”

“You don’t have a job at the moment, so you have to work from the outside.” I managed to grab George’s attention. “I know you don’t want your son to risk his position, so I can help you from the inside.”

“I’m listening.”

“I can get behind all the corrupt officials, manipulated evidence, cases-everything.” I proposed. “I can help you take down Mario.”

George eyed me suspiciously. “I have a reason to take him down, two actually. What’s yours?”

As expected, a pro like him knew that there was way more behind it. “Do people like us need a reason?”

“Judging from the look in your eyes, you seem to have a lot of personal hatred towards Mario-so yes,” George stated. “If you want to work with me, I need you to be honest-”

“Mario Castillo is my father.”

I waited patiently for George’s outburst, but it never came. All he gave me was a nod because that was all he needed to know-my reason.

This was the reason why I admired the man.

“Can you help me pack some suitcases?” George suddenly changed the subject. I looked at him with big eyes. “W-why, where are you going?”

His eyes flashed with anger. “Oh, I’m not going anywhere-but my daughter is.”

“Where is she going?”

“She’s getting the hell out of my house.”