“Clever girl.”
“I didn’t need to be that clever to figure that out. You can’t see inside the house. You would never have known I was going to meet him until we met.” That makes me wonder how he knew when we met.
I don’t think it’s to do with the people I spoke to, like Marcello or the receptionist. But perhaps more about watching Alejandro through the surveillance at Equibras.
“You are keeping tabs on him for something outside of the information you need from me. Why?”
“Because we’re gathering our own information.”
“Are you going to kill him?” I hate the quiver in my voice, but there’s not a Goddamn thing I can do about it.
Red laughs. The sound enrages me. “My dear girl, I told you not to fall for him, and you disobeyed. Bad girl.”
“Fucking answer the question.” I can’t help the anger in my voice either because he’s right.
I don’t know at what point I fell for Alejandro. Maybe it was at hello. I don’t know. What I do know is that I did.
“This is a kill-or-be-killed world, sweetheart. At this moment, El Diablo would like your dearest Alejandro alive. Right now, he’s more useful that way. That way, we get what we want. Properly this time. That little prick last night got what he deserved for disobeying orders.” He’s talking about the guard. “It’s just his bad luck Alejandro killed him.”
“What do you want from Alejandro?” Alejandro said something about a company.
“Everything, and to get that, we just have to be patient to get it all. There were oversights in the past, but we’re all clued up now.”
“Is this about a company?” I take the risk to ask, knowing I’m walking on shells.
“How did you know about the company? He talked to you about that?” He sounds doubtful.
“After last night, I asked questions. So, is it true? This is about a company?”
He laughs. “Wow, not just a pretty face, indeed. Yes, it’s about a company, just not the one he thinks. Your cartel king unknowingly bought himself some time with various transactions, but like I said, we want everything. Why take one thing when you just have to wait for certain things to fall into place and you can get everything? You’re going to make that easier for us.”
Jesus.
“You bastard.”
“Oh, please. You knew what I was. You couldn’t have thought we were good people.”
“Of course not, but you told me no harm would come to Alejandro.”
He laughs again. “Well, at least you know we don’t want your boyfriend dead yet.”
“Yet?”
“That’s enough questions, sweetheart. That’s enough. You have your father to worry your pretty little head about. I’d be more concerned about him than anything else. Don’t call me again unless it’s to tell me something useful. I’ll check in next week. You better have something more useful to tell me than the nothingness of the last couple of weeks. My patience is wearing thin.”
He hangs up before I can get another word out. I don’t know what more I would have said anyway.
Alejandro is in danger. That means Mia is in danger, too.
How do I warn him without compromising Dad? I don’t know enough. I don’t even know where Dad is.
I’m stuck, and I don’t know what to do.
If I say anything, I’m screwed either way.
Everything I think of doing is the wrong thing, even the right thing—which is to confess.