Chapter 314

“I’m going to tell Elena the truth…all of it,” I told Panther. Even though I would never say it out loud, his opinion mattered to me the most. Yes, he was stupid-but he could be wise when he needed to be.

I said I would take my distance from Elena, but that was impossible-especially after living in a house with her. Denying my feelings was not an option anymore, but neither was lying to her. The only thing holding me back from making a move was the lie.She deserved to know the truth.

After seeing the breakfast she prepared for me, I could only feel guilty. I rejected her, but she didn’t care. She still went above and beyond to show me how much she cared. All I wanted was to do the same.

I didn’t even want to leave her, but Mario Castillo, who thought it would be great to start me off with small errands, had sent me on a task to pay a random visit at some of our smaller drug labs.

“Sorry?” Panther tightened his hands around the wheel. He kept his eyes on the road, but even then, it was not difficult to miss the tensed expression on his face.

“You told me to be honest with my feelings…..so I’m going to tell her everything.” I repeated.

Panther laughed as if I was crazy. “I hope you’re talking about your romantic feelings and not anything -else!”

“No, I’m not just talking about that,” I spoke in a serious tone. “I’m going to tell her everything…

about the Castillo’s.”

“Boss…Marvin…” Panther did not know how to approach me. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

Why was this even bothering him?Yes, I asked for his advice-but only so he could agree with me.

“Why does it seem to bother you that much?”

“It’s n-nothing!” Panther shook his head. “It’s your call. You can do whatever you want. I’m just telling you to be careful.” He said. “You can tell Elena you want her without telling her the full truth.”

Haven’t I told her enough lies?

“Anyway.” I dropped the subject. “I don’t want you to think I dragged you away from Cisco-”

“I know, don’t worry about it.” Panther spoke. Since my own dad was bad enough to be satan, I wanted nothing more for my nephew than for him to have a great relationship with his dad.

“Good,” I spoke. “Not living in one house anymore shouldn’t be an excuse to be a bad father just so you know.”

“I know, don’t worry.” Panther said. “And I’m sorry for being nosy, but did you hear anything back about the DNA results?”

Who cared about my new brother?

He was so irrelevant to me that I had forgotten all about his existence.I had more serious shit to worry about.

“No, but if my mother says he’s my brother-then he’s my brother.” I confirmed. People called my mom many things, but Linda Castillo was not someone who didn’t do her research. “She wouldn’t lie about something like that.”

I felt terrible for leaving her behind to deal with her own crap, but Lucas’ existence was the final straw. needed to escape from all this madness.

“What do you think of Lucas?” I asked. While I had yet to meet him, other than the encounter in my dad’s office-Panther had already met him at the hospital.

“From what I remember, he’s rude, cold…even worse than you.”

“Thanks, I’m glad to hear that.”

Some time had passed, and we had arrived at the first stop-the clubhouse, which served as one of our cocaine lockups. The uncomfortable and abandoned location brought back a lot of memories.

I could not forget when my dad forced me out of bed and told me it was time to prepare myself to take over the business. At that time, I was an ambitious fifteen-year-old, thinking he would take me to the liquor factory.

That was the day I learned what the Castillo’s truly stood for and the day I lost a small part of my life.

A few men were already waiting at the door. My dad had requested them as backup, but I was not stupid and knew this was one of his ways to keep an eye on me. He had sent his most loyal men because he felt the need to control me.

“Is no one guarding this place?” I asked almost immediately. “Who’s in charge here?”

“Victor’s running this place.” One of the men spoke. So much for wanting to stick his nose into the family business, but he did not know how to run one.

“Sure, why not.”

I took the lead and entered the lab while Panther and the other guys followed behind. “Marvin!” A voice greeted me. “It’s good to have you back.”

Benny. S He was one of the loyal men who worked alongside the Castillo’s for a long time. I had known him my entire life, and he had not changed a thing. Neither did my opinion about him He was an ass.

“It’s good to see you, sir.” I patted his shoulder, preventing him from pulling me into a hug. I did not want this man to ruin my good suit.

“Am I in any trouble?” Ben asked. “I couldn’t help but notice…the guys-”

“No, just doing random check-ups,” I informed him. The sound of his voice sounded worse than nails on a chalkboard, and I did not want to hear him.

“In that case, don’t let me stop you.” Benny stepped aside. “My girls know how to behave!”

I’ll be the judge over that.

“Lead the way.”

We followed Ben to a space where a group of women was packaging the cocaine. Benny skipped towards the group of women, smacking one of them on their asses in the process.

“Write down, inappropriate touching, and harassment.” I rolled my eyes at Panther. Not a lot had changed, and Ben was still a pig.

“Do your thing,” I spoke, beckoning the men behind me. After noticing the point of our visit, all of the girls lined up.

Some were confident and fishing for attention-while others were a bit more insecure, trying their hardest to cover their bras and panties.

I stood back as the men inspected the work tables and kept my eyes on the ladies. I stared at the shivering brunette at the end who had not raised her head. It was not because of the cold. It was because of fear.

“All clear, boss!” One of the men called out before focusing his attention on the girls. He went down the line as he took his time to inspect every single one of them.

Before he could reach the last girl, I had finally found out the reason for her fear. A small plastic zip-

lock was threatening to fall from her bra, and unfortunately, the Castillo’s were not too friendly with thieves.

I didn’t want to save the day, but I didn’t want to have any blood on my hands either. Not today.

“That’s enough. We’re good to go!” I ordered, right before the zip lock fell to the cold floor.

“Well, what do we have here?” The man picked up the bag from the floor and waved it in front of the girl’s face, “I think we’ve found ourselves a thief, boss.”

“Impossible…” Ben whispered, fearing for his life.Mario’s rules were simple. Anyone who betrayed the Castillo’s and the ones responsible had to face the consequences.

Another man pulled out his gun and pushed it to the girl’s head as several women yelled out in fear.

“No, please-I’m sorry!” The girl screamed. “I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry!”

I turned away to ignore her soft voice and glared at Ben, who raised his hands in defense. “Boss, I didn’t know anything-I swear!”

“Boss-where do you want us to take care of her?” The same man who held the girl at gunpoint asked.

“Oh, I’ll personally take care of her.” One of the men commented, making all the others laugh.I should just kill him instead. That was all which was going through my head as I thought about the small amount of respect these animals had for women.

As a Castillo, I knew I wasn’t any better, but I was willing to try.For Elena.

“Calm down.” Panther patted my back. I looked down at my balled fist and took a small breath before looking at the girl. “Look at boss!” The man smacked her with the gun.

“I didn’t mean to!” The girl finally raised her head and stared into my eyes. She looked young, at least too young to work here. The man chuckled. “You should’ve thought of that before stealing from the Castillo’s.”

“Boss?”

I couldn’t let her walk freely, but at the same time, I couldn’t hurt her. That wasn’t the kind of man I wanted to be.Not anymore.

No, Marvin-Ltold myself. There was no other way, and she had to face the consequences for her actions. I had to show everyone that I was good enough to take over the family business. That was the only way.

Elena would understand…

“Bring the girl here.” I pulled out my gun. “I’ll take care of her….and let Ben go.”

“Thanks, boss!” Ben breathed. If he wasn’t a family friend, I would’ve gotten rid of him when I had the chance to.

I pushed the gun against the back of the girl’s neck as I shut down all of my emotions. I was forced to get rid of her, and unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about it.

“The inspection is done,” I told Panther. “I’ll…take care of the girl.”

Turning off my emotions was not as easy as I expected it to be, because there was only one thought going through my mind.

Was someone like me allowed to desire someone like Elena?