Chapter 324

Elena “Tiago?” I lowered my voice as I was headed for the gates.

“Ti-”

I could barely finish my sentence as a hand had already covered my mouth. “Not so loud!” Tiago whispered in my ear as he pulled me to the back.

Seconds later, he finally removed his hand from my lips. I created a distance between us and looked at his face. “T-Tiago.” I smiled awkwardly, still unsure about why he would force me out of my house in the middle of the night.

If anything, he seemed even worse than he did before. I shamelessly observed the bags and dark circles around his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. What did he even want from me?

“S-so, I’m leaving tomorrow,” Tiago spoke after a silence. I blinked my eyes a few times, unsure of what to do. “Yes, I know.”

“So why did you want to see me?” I asked, “Do you want me to get Ma-”

“No!”

I flinched at Tiago’s cold tone. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you…not again.” He took a breath.

That’s right. This wasn’t the first time.

I carefully moved my hand to Tiago’s check and looked into his eyes, showing him he could trust me. “It’s okay. I’m here to help.” I nodded desperately.

“I know, and I trust you-that’s why I came to you,” Tiago said.

“Do you want to tell me something?”

Tiago’s eyes turned big as he shook his head. “Is Marvin inside?” He asked in a hurry.

“Yes.”

“Is he alone?”

“No. He’s with Lucas and Panther-”

Tiago stepped back, lowering his head. “He can’t be here. He can’t be here!” He paced back and forth. He slammed his fist against his forehead and released a frustrated sigh. “This was a bad idea.

What am I doing?” He muttered. “He’s going to hurt me.”

“Tiago, who can’t be here?” I pushed for answers. “Is it about Marvin?”

“No.”

“Lucas?”

“No.”

“

Tiago stopped in his steps and shot me an angry look. “It’s Victor, isn’t it?” I asked. “Why can’t you just give me a name and tell me what this is about?”

I waited for an answer. “I-I remember you telling me something about you doing something Marvin can never know?”

“Is someone in the house threatening you?”

Tiago gulped, meaning I was finally getting somewhere. “All I did was follow instructions. I never meant to kill him.” He broke down. Kill him?

“Tiago, kill who?”

“That agent.” He blurted. My mind went blank as my thoughts went to Maddens, and it all started to make sense. Marvin claimed he went to prison for something he didn’t do. Was he protecting Tiago?

“What are you talking about?” I asked, stunned.

Tiago looked embarrassed. “That thing Marvin went to prison for. I didn’t mean to do it. It’s all my fault- but I swear, I had no choice!”

So, it was Tiago? Tiago killed Stevie Maddens. How was I supposed to feel about all of this?

“Because Victor made you do it?” I concluded. Even though he pulled the trigger, I wanted to believe Tiago wasn’t entirely at fault, and I knew that man couldn’t be trusted from the start. He just had this vibe, which I didn’t like. He was stuck up and rude.

“No, not Victor,” Tiago spoke to my surprise.

“We’re talking about Panther.”

Panther?

I felt my legs go numb as I could not process his words. This wasn’t true. Tiago wasn’t in his right state of mind and blamed everyone he could think of.

How could Panther be the bad guy? He was the one who accepted me with open arms. He wasn’t that smart. but his kind personality had always made up for it.

Tiago cleared his throat. “He told me that Marvin would take the fall for me, and I could take over the family business.” He said. “The only thing he wanted was for me to hand it over to Cisco once he turned eighteen.”

“Tiago…”

“He wanted to help Karina and his son-Cisco is Panther’s in case you didn’t know, and I just wanted to matter for once,” Tiago stated. It was no secret Marvin was not only favored by Linda but Mario as well. Even then, I could still not understand how one could sabotage his brother.

Tiago scoffed. “That fucking agent was a corrupt, manipulating ass anyway-but I never meant to kill him!” He spoke. “I just shot him where Panther told me to.”

Maddens was corrupt? Who would’ve known the same man who once had a mental breakdown over stolen candy could be corrupt?

Would my dad have known? Was that the reason why Maddens’ death hit him even harder?

What did it even matter? It wasn’t even important at the moment.

Panther wanted to get rid of Marvin, and by the looks of it-for a very long time.

“I didn’t expect for my dad to pull every string to get Marvin out of prison or for him to frame the Hernandez for my mistake.” Tiago continued. “I never meant for Anya to get hurt…not her.”

My thoughts went to poor Anya, who didn’t have anything to do with this. I didn’t have anything to do with this either, so I was still confused as to why he would even share this with me.

“Who knows this?”

“No one.” Tiago shook his head. “Marvin can’t know…not yet.”

“W-why?” I asked, confused. “Then why did you tell me?”

“That’s simple.” Tiago sighed. “Because your dad is a DEA agent.”

I stepped back in complete shock and felt an uncomfortable lump in my throat. How?

“H-how d-do you know?” I stuttered.

“Panther told me,” Tiago spoke. At that moment, it crossed my mind that Panther was aware of everything. Thinking about it, he was very quick to bring me to Marvin after dad kicked me out of the house.

“After finding out about your dad, he planned on keeping you close to Marvin just in case.” Tiago read my mind.

“Just in case?”

“You’re a distraction to Marvin,” Tiago explained. “He’s only hiding your identity because he doesn’t feel the need to reveal it at the moment.” He told me. “You’re like a wildcard to him.”

“Revealing my identity would be enough to make Marvin lose his mind,” I whispered. There was only one thing I couldn’t wrap my head around. Tiago was not only out of the picture but would also be going away soon-so what were Panther’s plans?”

“Exactly.”

All I was to Panther was some stupid game, and unfortunately, he would win either way. This was a win- win situation for him.

“Why are you telling me all of this?”

Tiago wrapped his hand around my wrist. “Because Anya would’ve wanted me to.” He spoke with pleading eyes. “She never agreed to this.”

“She knew?”

“Yes,” Tiago said. “She found some things. Things which could put Panther away for a long time.”

He shared. “I want to come clean to Marvin, but he wouldn’t believe me. Not without proof anyway If there was one thing I couldn’t get in between, it had to be Marvin’s bond with Panther. The two were close enough for me to understand that I couldn’t bring him down.

I could either do two things. I could let it go and hope for the best-or I could risk everything and protect Marvin by going against Panther. My identity would most likely get exposed either way, so I ran out of options.

“Where did Anya keep this proof?” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was all for Marvin’s sake.

“She told me she kept it on a stick,” Tiago spoke, surprised as if he hadn’t expected my help. “I-I have no idea where it is, though.” By the looks of it, he seemed surprised that I was willing to help.

Tiago just admitted to killing someone in cold blood, Stevie Maddens, on top of that-but it didn’t scare me. Just like Marvin didn’t scare me.

There was only one villain, and that person turned out to be Panther.

“Maybe we can tell Marvin?” I suggested, already knowing the answer. He wouldn’t even listen to me.

“No, you can’t!” Tiago opposed. “He wouldn’t believe you over Pedro.”

“Why do you really want my help?” I wondered. He could’ve gone to Mario, Linda, or just anyone-

but he had decided to step to me.

“Because I want to protect my brother, and so do you, Tiago admitted. “I’ve done a lot of bad stuff in the past, and I know I will eventually have to beg for his forgiveness…but I can’t watch Panther destroy this family much longer.”

In a way, I pitied him. Yes, he wasn’t a saint, and he plotted against Marvin-but he also knew he was wrong. I could tell he cared for Marvin, and I knew he wanted the best for Cisco.

I followed my instinct and pulled Tiago into a tight hug. “I will take care of this….I promise.” I caressed my fingers through his hair. How was I going to do it? I had no idea, but I did know that I had to look for a USB stick. I had to dig deeper into Anya’s life.

“Anya..she uh-” Tiago whispered carefully. I rolled my eyes. “You need to speak up-I can’t hear you!”

“She always had this key around her neck,” Tiago spoke. He didn’t like talking about Anya, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of guilt. If it was because he knew all of this could’ve been prevented if he hadn’t been jealous of his brother.

“I thought I would find the key in our room, but I couldn’t-and I don’t have a lot of time left-

“I’ll take care of it.” I cut him off. “You need to go and get better-I’ll take care of it.”

Tiago’s mind wasn’t working at the moment, which was why I was willing to figure it out on my own.

I would get to the bottom of this and protect Marvin till the end.

Even if he would end up hating me.

“I think you should go before someone comes looking for me.”

Tiago gave me a slight nod and looked around. “You’re probably right.” He reached for my hand and squeezed it. “Thank you, Elena.” He said. “I mean it. thank you.”

I watched as Tiago turned his heel and walked away, leaving me all alone. I had to look for a stick or a key, and I didn’t even know how to start.

Think, Elena I closed my eyes, thinking about the last few months. I was using the same technique as dad and Alex. In the past, I used to laugh at them because they looked ridiculous. Who would’ve thought I would use it one day?

The key.

My eyes shot open as I reminded myself of Anya’s key. It was the one I gave to Marvin, the one he kept for himself because he believed it wouldn’t do any good to Tiago.

Anya told me to give the key to Marvin. What if she wanted him to find out by himself and used her last breath to help him get to the truth?

I needed to get to that key. That key could possibly be the end to all this misery.

Determined to get to the key, I moved my legs and nearly ran to the mansion until I bumped against a stone-hard chest.

“There is my little sister.”

I felt chills throughout my body and carefully raised my head, only to meet eyes with Panther. Those kind eyes of his suddenly didn’t look as kind anymore.

The man standing in front of me was a fake who knew how to play his cards right. He had often pretended to be stupid-but now I knew better than that.

He was a monster.

I had to keep it together. I had to appear as normal as possible.

“H-hey, are you all sobered up?” I planted a fake smile on my lips. I could feel my lips trembling, but for some reason, I couldn’t stop it. He scared me.

“Something like that.” Panther chuckled, observing me. “What’s wrong-”

“Nothing.” I shrugged nonchalantly. If anything, there was something wrong with him.

“I was just about to head back inside. Are you coming?” I locked my arm with his. I had to stay on his good side, at least for now.

Panther looked from our intertwined arms to my eyes with a smug smile on his lips. Truthfully, I had no idea someone could ever disgust me like that.

That’s right. Smile while you still can because once I’m finished with you-the only smile you’ll crack will be behind bars.