Chapter 309

Lucas “I’m here to see Mario Castillo.”

The security guarding the gate stuck his head in my jeep and looked me up and down as if someone like me was not allowed to enter this gated community.

Annoyed, I waited until he pulled back his head and showed him my badge. I didn’t want to pull the detective card, but I was running out of options. “It’s important, so if you don’t mind.”

The guy scoffed and brought his lips to the walkie-talkie. “Some detective… Lucas Nunes….is here for Mario Castillo.”

He stared into my eyes with a cold expression while I did the same. Let him laugh. Days from now, we would be seeing which one of us would have the last laugh.

“Let him through!” The guard finally spoke. The gates had finally opened, permitting me to drive through the gated community. Just by the looks of the mansions, I could tell that all of these residents weren’t ordinary rich people. No, they were important people with status- who were most likely just as corrupt as the Castillo’s.

This could’ve been my mom’s life, but she had to settle for less-and maybe it was a good thing she did.

I entered the Castillo estate and noticed a man waving his hand, guiding me to park my car. I wasn’t nervous but somewhat confused that I was actually about to do this. I had been so vocal about not wanting anything to do with Mario Castillo, but here I was-and it was all to take him down. It was all so I could watch his downfall.

I stepped out of my jeep and shot the man a polite smile, which he hadn’t returned. These people were clearly not that fond of officers.

I followed the man without saying another word and ignored every evidence of the Castillo’s wealthy lifestyle until we stopped in the hallway. “I’m sorry, I’m afraid we’ll have to take your phone, sir Lucas.”

“But I’m a detective?”

The man rolled his eyes. “Okay, detective Lucas, I’m afraid we’ll have to take your phone.”

Take my phone? I couldn’t help but wonder whether Elena was asked to do the same. It couldn’t be because Alex, who was still tracking her phone, nearly had a heart attack after finding out his sister was in Amsterdam.

I was not even going to start on George. The poor man had already concluded that Marvin pushed Elena into prostitution and wouldn’t even hear me out when I told him that the Castillo’s weren’t like that. To be fair, that was the only good thing about that family.

Reluctantly, I handed over my phone and forced myself to get over it. It was only for a while, and after the truth would come out, things would be different.

“Thank you, sir-please follow me.” The man spoke, leading the way. The only thing I could notice was the nosy maids who all stared at me with big eyes. Was my mother also like that? Did she wear the same uniform? Would these women know her?

The man leading me straight to the office was enough evidence that I was not wanted here. Mario Castillo was probably shaking in his chair while I wasn’t here to interrogate him. At least, not yet.

“Is this the result of these idiots not cleaning after their shit?” I heard Mario Castillo’s dark voice at the other side of the door. The man beside me coughed.

“Mario, calm down.” A female voice spoke. That had to be Linda Castillo.

The man beside me held his fist to the door, unable to knock. Mario Castillo had a temper and probably a long history of abusing his workers.

“No, no-how can I calm down?” Mario shouted.

“How can all of you expect me to calm down-when a fucking pig has entered this house?”

And that pig was his son.

“Tell me, was it that girl?” Mario whispered. The girl? Was he talking about Elena?

“The girl has nothing to do with this-

“Sir, you have a visitor!” The man finally knocked on the door. I’m certain he did it because he didn’t want me to hear how Mario would threaten Elena, but that was fine. I would get him another time.

“Let him in!” Mario called out in a friendly tone. This man was unbelievable.

I entered the office and looked at three faces. Mario, Linda, and of course, Victor, who stuck to his side like honey because he didn’t have anything better to do. Mario and Linda carried a smile on their faces, while Victor made it all too obvious that he didn’t want me here.

“Hello, what can I do for you?” Mario grinned. I smiled awkwardly as I took a minute to look him in the eye. So this was him. This was the man who had ruined my mom. This was the monster who didn’t care about me.

“Sit down.” Mario pointed to the chair in front of him. “Can I maybe offer you something to drink?”

“I-”

“Linda, give the man something to drink!”

“I’m good, sir, thank you.” I shook my head. This man was only being polite because he thought I was an officer.

Mario frowned. “Then how can I help you?”

My eyes moved to Linda and Victor, who were also waiting for my answer. I was a lot of things, but making women cry was not my specialty. I’m sure Linda was aware that her husband was a dirtbag, but I wasn’t sure whether she knew about the affair or my existence.

“I don’t want to cause any trouble, so I think it might be better if we discuss th “You’re the cop from the hospital, aren’t you?” Victor cut me off. He looked at probably here to ask us more questions.”

“We are a normal everyday family.” Mario laughed. “I don’t have anything to hide, whatever you have to say-you can say it in front of them!”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.” Mario shrugged. You can’t say I didn’t try.

“ate—”

“Did you know a woman by the name of Carmela Nunes?” I jumped right into the subject. I watched as the look on Mario’s face had softened, and a smile had appeared on his lips. Linda, on the other hand-seemed tensed.

“Yes, of course, I do.” Mario sighed. “Do you know her?”

“She was my mother.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. “Was?” Mario asked. This was the part where I had to tell him the unfortunate news.

“She passed away…many years ago.”

I was surprised by the genuinely hurt expression in Mario’s eyes. He seemed broken, so broken that Linda, who was not affected by the news, was forced to place her hand on his shoulder.

Mario looked up to meet my eyes. “I am so sorry.” His voice cracked. “What happened to her?”

“Drug overdose,” I spoke dryly. Although I had never gotten over it, I was done grieving. “She always mentioned you a lot, and for some reason, I’ve always been interested in this family…. this house,” I explained. “This is where she spent most of her time.”

“So, why are you here?” Victor asked rudely. It was not that hard to put two and two together, and by the looks of it, he had finally realized where this was going.

“Wait…how old are you?” Mario questioned, holding up his hand to keep Victor from talking.

“Twenty-four.”

I knew there were just a few months between me and his daughter, Karina. This man kicked out my mom while she was pregnant, so whatever game he planned on playing-it was not going to work.

“I can give you a long speech, but I’m sure neither one of us got time for that-so I’m just going to say it.” I chuckled. “I think I might be your son.”

“Not might…I’m certain I’m your son.

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Victor and Linda’s faces slowly turned pale, while Mario stared at me with big eyes. What would his reaction be? Would he show me his monstrous ways, or would he play the loving father?

“I need a minute,” Linda slurred her words, holding the desk for support. Mario focused his attention on his wife and grabbed her hand.”Linda-”

“Don’t!” Linda pulled away. “Don’t touch me!”

I didn’t want this to happen, but in my defense-I told her to leave the room. Linda placed her hand against her forehead while Mario got up from his chair. “Linda—“

“No!” She shouted, taking a step back. Linda shot me an angry look and pushed past me as she exited the room. I didn’t know whether her reaction to my existence was sincere, but she was a bit more overwhelmed than Mario.

Would Mario have kicked out my mother because he didn’t want Linda to know about the baby?

Linda was not happy after hearing my mom’s name, so she must’ve known something was going on between them.

“I’m sorry. It was not my intention to come up here and ruin your marriage.” I apologized.

“No, of course not.” Mario took a breath. “Are you sure you’re my son?”

“Positive, and I’ll do a DNA test if I have to.”

Victor laughed. “Of course you have to.” He stated. “You can’t just come in here and make these accusations-”

“Victor, please!” Mario shut him up. The man in front of me did not look like a cartel boss or a monster. The man in front of me looked like a fragile man who didn’t know what to do.He was a good actor.

“You look like your mother,” Mario commented.

“That’s funny. She always told me I looked like you.

Victor growled. “She was lying. Your mother is a liar!”

“Victor!” Mario closed his eyes in annoyance.

“Your mother was someone very precious to me.”

I bet she was precious enough for him to fire her and kick her out of the mansion.

“I can’t believe she’s no longer with us.” Mario gulped. It was beyond me how this man wanted to sulk his way through this conversation while it was all his fault. He and his children grew up in this beautiful mansion, while my mom and I had to worry about whatever we were going to eat the next day.

I couldn’t wait until the day I could finally get rid of this man.

“Victor, is Marvin on his way back to the mansion?” Mario asked. Victor sighed, annoyed.

“Yes, Marvin and his whole entourage.”

That had to be Elena and Pedro Vidal.

Victor’s eyes shot daggers at me. If looks could kill, I would’ve been dead by now. “So you’re a cop?”

“Detective.” I corrected him. I knew he was just doing this to get under my skin, but I couldn’t care less. A few weeks from now, he would be leaving in the back of a police car.Problem solved.

“You made something of yourself. I’m proud to hear that!” Mario praised me.He was a liar Just a few minutes ago, he referred to me as a pig. These people didn’t even like us.

“Thank you.”

Victor shook his head. “We don’t know if he’s your son. We don’t know for certain!”

“I told you, we can do a DNA test.” I tried to keep my calm. Pretending to be nice was a difficult thing, and it was not something I had gone through with George.

“Is that really okay with you?” Mario double-checked. I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ve got nothing to lose here.”

Mario Castillo was my father, and even if he wasn’t-I would still take him down for what he had done to my mother.

Mario smiled. “Neither do I.”