Chapter 304

Marvin “She can absolutely not stay here. I don’t know what the hell Panter is thinking-

I entered the library, searching for my mom. Elena, who was exhausted, had decided to take a nap, which gave me enough time to think about my decision.

“Yes, I know Marvin.” My mom yawned, getting up from her chair. She threw her book onto the side table and walked closer. “So, what are you going to do now?”

It wasn’t my intention to let her stay here, but kicking her out was also not an option. I didn’t want her near the Castillo’s, and especially not in the lion’s den-as if one dinner wasn’t bad enough.

We were not an ordinary family, and anyone directly involved with us had to be prepared to their lives at stake. I took my distance to protect her, and this was not what I wanted.

put I had to get her out of here, and I had to do it quickly.

“Are you done with the preparations for the house?” I asked. “Yes, you can move in next week.” My mom confirmed.

That was good news. That meant Elena could move in with me until we could come up with a perfect solution. “Good, Elena’s moving in with me.”

“Oh wow.” My mom frowned.

“Oh wow, what?”

“Nothing.” She smirked. “I’m sorry, but what is she exactly to you?”

“What?”

She let out a frustrated sigh. “Why do you want to take care of her?”

Why did I want to take care of her? She was the only regular person I could talk to. She needed my help, and she was my friend-so it was only normal for me to take care of her. “Just because.”

“I think you feel guilty because you couldn’t take care of Tiago-so you moved on to Elena instead.”

My mom concluded. “Because you feel obligated to protect someone to make yourself believe that you’re a good person….that’s in your nature, and that’s who you are.

I didn’t utter a word. My mom had a point, and I hated it whenever she was right. I couldn’t take care of my brother when he needed my help, but I could take care of Elena. “Since when did you become a psychologist?”

“Did you see those bruises on her wrist?” I quickly changed the subject. The thought of someone hurting Elena made my blood boil. No man should hurt a woman, and especially not a father. We could say a lot about Mario Castillo, but even he would not lay his hand on Women.

My mom lowered her head. “I did-”

“I should just kill her dad and her brother for being useless-”

“Marvin! “My mom’s loud voice cut me off, waking me up from my darkest thoughts. “We can’t just eliminate people because you feel like it!” She hissed. “You’re better than that.”

“I know, I know.”

“And lower your voice.” My mom whispered. “You know the maids like to gossip about everything.”

She spoke as she made her way to the window. I followed my mom and watched as my dad and Victor stepped out of the car.

“You know, this is how I stalk you and Panther.” My mom shared. “Since I got nothing else to do other than taking care of Tiago, I made it my personal job.”

Well, then she wasn’t very good at it.If she were any good, she would’ve noticed the unfortunate atmosphere after my last encounter with Panther. I was still confused about my best friend being my nephew’s dad and did not know what to do.

The safest thing for both of us was to ignore it, so I did. I hadn’t told my dad, my mom-or even Karina that I was aware. It wouldn’t do any good.

Maybe that was the reason why I wanted to take care of Elena. She deserved it because she was one of the few who would never lie to me.

“Satan and Lilith are home. I better go talk to them.” I sighed, preparing myself to leave. “What did they do to deserve those nicknames?” My mom chuckled. If anyone knew why they deserved those nicknames, it had to be her.

“What didn’t they do?”

After leaving the library, I went straight to my dad’s office and knocked on the door. The door got opened by Victor, who was clearly not that pleased to see, and stepped aside so I could enter. Trust me. I wasn’t that happy to see him either.

My dad looked up from his desk. “Marvin, nice timing.” He greeted me. “We were just discussing what our next move should be.”

A mocking chuckle escaped from Victor’s lips. “This is what happens when you don’t do anything.”

I did everything in my power to ignore the sound of Victor’s voice and sat down.

“Don’t you think the Hernandez’ are too quiet?” My dad mentioned. Unimpressed, I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. You told me Freddie has changed, so perhaps he had a wake-up call after we hurt his son and decided to let it rest?”

Also, I had expected Freddie to at least make a move, but it didn’t look like it.

“Let it rest?” My dad furrowed his brow. “After we’ve framed Danny?”

Victor chuckled. “I told you he’s lacking brain cells.”

“Victor thinks we should go big.” My dad spoke a bit too enthusiastically. “Pull out every string we’ve got, start a war—”

“No.” I shook my head.

Was he crazy?

“No?”

“No,” I repeated. “Why would you start something which isn’t even there in the first place?” 1 pointed out. “Stabbing Danny was already risky enough-and the authorities are just waiting for us to make our move.”

“Victor thinks-

“I don’t care what Victor thinks.” I controlled my anger. The only thing I knew was that Victor felt way too comfortable with making these types of calls. The way he controlled my dad was slowly becoming embarrassing.

“I actually think it’s time for me to get back to work, don’t you?” I turned to look at Victor. He glared at me with gritted teeth. “I think you need more rest.”

“I just told you, I don’t care about what you think.”

The tension in the room was high, and Mario clapped his hands laughing. “You’re right, and maybe I am overthinking this Freddie situation.” My dad agreed.I was glad I could talk some sense into him.

“I’m glad I could stop you from doing something stupid, but that’s not what I’m here for.”

“Then what are you here for?” I could see the worry in my dad’s eyes. “Is it about Tiago?”

Since when did he care for Tiago?

“No, Tiago is fine,” I reassured him. We all knew Tiago wasn’t doing okay, but he was as fine as he could get.

“Do you remember Elena?” I cut to the chase.

“Yes, I remember.” My dad nodded. “I wanted to reward her for getting Tiago to dinner, even if it was just for one evening-”

“She’ll be staying here for a while.”

My dad tilted his head with a confused expression on his face while Victor laughed at my words.

“Unacceptable. She can’t do that.” Victor stated.

Who was he to decide over the Castillo estate? He wasn’t even a Castillo.

“She’s what?” My dad spoke after a slight delay, still in the midst of processing the news. “I hope you don’t mean here, as in this house.”

“I am-”

“No, no, no-I don’t want it.” He shook his head in disapproval. “It’s too risky. I’m with Victor on this one.”

As always.

Victor cleared his throat. “I know you were…locked up for quite some time-but aren’t you aware of the secrets we keep in our house?”

Our house?

“Yes, I am Victor.” I expressed my annoyance. “That’s why it’s only temporarily-before 1 take her back to my place.”

“Your place?” Victor had yet again stuck his nose into my business. “Doesn’t your friend have a house or a family?”

“No, her dad kicked her out.”

“Red flag.” Victor pointed out. He was one to talk. The only red flag in this place was him.

“I don’t remember asking for your permission or your opinion.” I cut him off. “Hey!” My dad shouted.

“Can’t the two of you just get along for once!”

“You know what, do whatever’s necessary, as long as you won’t keep her here for too long.” He ended our discussion.

“That’s what I said. I won’t.”

“And don’t let her distract you from her work.” My dad added.

“Don’t worry, when have I ever let anyone distract me?” I said as I looked straight into Victor’s eyes.

The biggest difference between us was that he felt intimidated by me, while I did not see him as my competition.

“I’m here, and I’m focused.”

“We can tell. Your presence is not something to miss.” Victor folded his arms.

“That’s a good thing because it won’t be long before I am ready to take over the family business.”

And when that happened, he was the first person I was going to get rid of.