Mia walks back toward me with a few rocks in her hand.
“Mermaids,” she says with a little smile. “Stones for Mer-people.”
“Mer-people, baby girl?” I humor her, and she points to the shimmer of sunlight on the lake.
“They live there. In the light.” She laughs, and I realize that’s something Lucia must have told her.
Even though Estelle is right, I don’t have the heart to take someone away from my daughter who’s clearly good for her. And good for me, too.
Returning my gaze to Estelle, who’s already staring at me, I straighten. “Just be nice to Lucia. Okay? You’re right. Mia does need stability. We’re going through a difficult time, and I can’t be what she needs me to be while I have this threat to our lives hanging over my head. What she needs right now is to be happy.”
Estelle’s face softens.
“Mia looks happy, Estelle. That’s what I want. If there are problems, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Until then, this is how it’s going to be.”
She nods, agreeing. “Okay... You know I love you like my own boy.” She taps my head the way she used to when I was a child.
“I do know.”
“Good, because I wouldn’t be true to you if I didn’t tell you these things.”
I lean forward and place a kiss on her forehead.
“Thank you for being true.”
“Always.”
I wish the same could be said for all my men.
I speak to Carlos in an hour, and I hope I don’t lose my shit and kill his ass if he lies to me.
Carlos walksinto my office with a tentative expression on his face.
He’s no fool. He knows if I’ve called him in here by himself, it’s because I’m not happy about something. Since we’ve spoken on several occasions about the El Diablo situation, he’ll probably guess I most likely want to talk about that.
“Hello, Boss, what can I do for you?” He gives me a smile and sits when I motion for him to take the seat in front of me.
I pull out the sheet Cristiano gave me yesterday and hand it to him.
He narrows his eyes instantly then returns his gaze to me.
“I don’t understand this. I thought my team uploaded the correct data. There’s a fuck ton of money missing here.”
“Which is exactly why I needed to speak to you.” I eye him dangerously and he looks uneasy.
He might be older than me and been in the business longer than I have, but that means shit to me in light of everything else.
“Alejandro, I’m not stealing from you. I swear it. I’m not. All I can promise you regarding this is to look into it and see what the fuck happened. I can’t do anything else besides assure you I’m not stealing money or doing any other shit.”
“I really wish I could say I believe you, but I can’t.”
His nostrils flair, and he balls his right hand into a tight fist. “Criança, you and I go way back. Way back.”
Criança—kid. That’s what he used to call me when I was younger because he’s nearly ten years older than I am, and I suppose I’m as close to him as you would be to an older brother. That was why he was one of the first people I chose to be part of my leadership when I took over the empire.
He calls me Criança now when he wants to make a point, and he just did.
I don’t want to be an asshole who casts blame on everyone, but I have to be.