Alejandro
The soundof my cell phone ringing on the nightstand woke me from my sleep. I rolled to answer it and frowned when I saw it was only 5am. I knew that someone calling me at this time would be for something important, but it didn’t stop me cursing under my breath. I got so little time with Alana these days, I resented any intrusion into it.
Picking up my cell, I saw Anton DeLuca’s name flashing on the screen. He and his team were still looking for Lucia’s ex-boyfriend, Blake Fielding. He had been on the missing list since he’d assaulted Alana almost four weeks earlier, and I was completely stumped as to how some punk from Chicago could evade some of my best soldiers. I could have got Jax onto the case, but we were both tied up dealing with the Ortegas.
‘You’d better have something for me,’ I hissed as I pressed the phone to my ear. Alana turned in her sleep and draped an arm over my stomach.
‘Who is it?’ she mumbled.
‘Just work, princess,’ I said softly as I covered the mouthpiece. ‘Go back to sleep.’
‘We’ve found him, Boss,’ Anton said.
‘About fucking time,’ I replied as I slipped out of bed and pulled on my sweatpants. I walked out of the bedroom and closed the door behind me, waiting until I was out of Alana’s earshot until I spoke again. ‘Now, bring the motherfucker here to me so I can deal with him.’
‘That’s going to pretty difficult, Boss. He’s already dead. He’s just been chiseled out of a cement block and is on his way to the morgue as we speak.’
‘What?’ I snapped as I walked down the stairs and headed to my office.
‘That’s the reason we haven’t been able to find him. He was part of the foundations of a new apartment building in Chicago.’
I stepped into my office and sat at my desk. ‘What the fuck? How long has he been there? And how the fuck did you find him then?’
‘The cement was poured two days after Blake was in L.A, so he must have come straight back to Chicago. He’d obviously upset someone else too, because he was supposed to be down there forever. It would have been the fucking perfect crime. Except that there was a problem with the way the foundation was laying, so they dug part of it out to reset it and found a little more than they bargained for. We’ve had feelers out all over Chicago looking for this prick, so as soon as they identified it was him, someone let us know.’
‘And it’s definitely him?’
‘Yep.’
‘Fuck! Any idea who wanted him dead?’
‘Other than you, Boss. No. It seems he didn’t have many friends, but he didn’t have any real enemies either. Not that we’ve been made aware of, at least none that would have gone to these lengths.’
‘Who are the construction company?’
‘Lambert and Hall. They’re a local Chicago firm. Completely legit. We’ve spoken to the foreman and we’re meeting the CEO later. But, there seems to be no connection to Fielding and the company.’
‘But someone must have had access to that site when the concrete was being poured?’
‘I know. It doesn’t make any sense, Boss.’
‘No,’ I frowned as I held the phone to my ear with one hand and fired up my laptop with other. ‘At least that Cabrón is dead, anyway.’
‘Yeah,’ Anton agreed.
‘Now get yourselves back to L.A as soon as possible. We have plenty of trouble to deal with here that I could use yours and your teams help with.’
‘Will do, Boss. We’ll be back as soon as we can.’
‘Good. And nice work, Anton.’
‘Thanks, Boss.’
Two hours later, I was frowning at my laptop screen when Alana walked into my office carrying a tray. The smell of coffee and freshly baked croissants filled the room and my stomach growled in appreciation.
She was dressed in one of my t-shirts, and from the outline of her hard nipples through the fabric, not much else.
‘Buenos Dias, princesa,’ I smiled at her. Despite spending the last two hours on the phone and computer, giving myself a headache and trying to juggle business and deal with the Ortega family, being around her always made me feel lighter. I knew that I’d been neglecting her these past few weeks. I’d spent far more time working than at home and I missed spending time with her.