I hear voices of men in the house, and I catch a glimpse of them talking with Eric in the larger living room. They’re younger than Alejandro and have that mafia look. The look that says not to mess with them
I keep walking and head to the kitchen. Alejandro is with Mia, feeding her breakfast. It’s earlier than her normal time to eat, but she’s eating away.
Joy bubbles in me when I see her, and her little face brightens right up. She stops eating and practically leaps off Alejandro’s lap so she can run to me.
“Lucia,” she says, running her fingers through the ends of my ponytail when I lift her.
“Hi, baby girl.” I decide to borrow Alejandro’s pet name, and she claps.
“Lucia loves baby girl.”
“Yes, I do.”
She wraps her arms around my neck and holds me.
I hope she doesn’t sense my days here are numbered. Kids can be like that sometimes because they’re emotional.
Delia walks into the kitchen, and Alejandro stands.
“Delia, could you take Mia to her room and get her to finish this?” he asks.
“Of course.”
Mia grumbles when I hand her to Delia. To save my heart from breaking any more than it has, I look away and focus on the man before me, who’s already snapped into business mode.
“What are we doing?”
“I’m able to locate Thiago now, but what I need is to get him and everyone else in one place so we can take them all down. I need you to call him and tell him you’ve come up with a plan to get the baby to him.”
“Okay, I can do that. What kind of plan are we going to come up with?” He wouldn’t use Mia in something so dangerous.
“Tell him I’m taking Mia out to her play group and you’re going with us. Make him believe you thought of a way to get the baby away from me without me knowing. I need this to happen at sundown so we have the cover of darkness on our side.”
“I could say around six, then. That would give us time.”
“Six is perfect. We don’t actually need to go through the motions of going to the play group. I have things set up, so he won’t be able to watch us. And I don’t need you to meet him. All I need is a location, then we’ll do the rest.”
“Really?” I narrow my eyes. “Alejandro, I don’t know if that’s going to work with him.”
“If we can avoid it, that’s what I want. I don’t want to put you in danger.” He reaches into his pocket and hands my old phone back to me. “Call him now.”
I wish I didn’t have to. I wish I never had to speak to that fucking bastard ever again. But this should be one of the last times, and it counts toward his destruction.
I dial the number. He answers on the first ring.
“Wow, she’s getting better. I must have given you quite the scare,” Thiago says. “What have you got for me?”
“A plan. I thought of something to get the baby to you.”
“I’m listening.” There’s a smile in his voice.
“We’re going out later. I can get her away unnoticed while Alejandro is working.”
“What about his guards?”
“They won’t be a problem. They’ll be coming inside, too. I’ll slip out the back toilet when no one is looking and use the excuse of changing the baby.”
Once more, I pray and hope he falls for it.