Chapter Four
Esteban
Esteban sits in his study, his nose in a spreadsheet, double-checking his accountant’s work. You can never be too careful when dealing with a multibillion-dollar enterprise. People are powered by greed, and Esteban doesn’t trust anyone to not skim from his profits. It’s happened before, and it will happen again, but when it does, he’ll catch it, and the person who wronged him will pay the price with their life.
A knock on the heavy mahogany door to his office interrupts his calculations. Esteban bites back an irritated snarl.“Adelante.”
A member of his tech team enters his domain, clutching a tablet to his chest. There’s nothing memorable about the pawn, but then again, very few people hold Esteban’s attention. But if tech personnel is coming to him, it’s to deliver news on the one person who does consume his thoughts.
Esteban sits back in his leather chair and tosses his reading glasses on his desk. “Yes?”
The man steps forward with the tablet and hands it to the drug lord. “This is the flight itinerary for Maceo and his wife. They’re returning to the States.”
Esteban’s head snaps up, glowering at the tech. “What do you mean he’s returning? He wasn’t supposed to leave until three days from now. Why has he changed plans?”
The intel member swallows loudly. “It just came to our attention. As soon as he purchased the tickets, I came to inform you. We don’t know why he’s decided to return early.”
Disgusted, Esteban tosses the tablet on his desk. Once again, Maceo caught him off guard. It had taken serious digging from his intel team to uncover the location of where the boy was taking his bride. The trip expense had not come directly from Maceo’s accounts, but when they noticed money had been deposited to a bank in Switzerland, it gave his team a place to start digging. Transactions from the Swiss bank showing the purchase of round-trip tickets from Colorado to Spain along with a villa rental confirmed their location.
It takes time to orchestrate an international abduction, but Esteban had been certain the boy’s honeymoon would be an ideal situation to reach the couple. The round-trip tickets and a rental paid in full for two weeks gave him a timeframe to work with. But it’s all gone to pot. Maceo is leaving a day too soon. Rushing an operation is not an option, not after what happened to Maceo’s mother. Gabriella was murdered because of a sloppy team’s haste. He would make sure the boy would not have a similar fate.
Esteban turns in his chair to face out the windows. His composure is already a limited commodity, and he feels it slipping. Without raising his voice, he orders the tech personnel to leave. “Get out.”
The soft click of his study door alerts Esteban he’s alone.
Alone. Always alone.
It wasn’t always this way. There was a time he had a woman he loved more than breathing. She fulfilled his fantasies and warmed his cold heart. They shared a home, a life. She pulled him out from his dark thoughts and danced with him in the sun.
Gabriella was his life, and since losing her, he’s retreated to the shadows where he belonged. Death is not meant for the light. He’s not meant to hold goodness in his arms and hope for more.
Esteban had been foolish to think no one could reach her. He failed at hiding her away, and he failed at retrieving her.
Furious, Esteban stands, walks to the bar cart, and pours three fingers of Pisco. He downs the brandy in one go, relishing the burn down his throat. He had learned that Maceo’s poison was whiskey. Out of curiosity, he purchased several bottles to see if he, too, would like it. The spirit was strong and raw, no smoothness at all—a lot like Maceo, a lot like himself.
He eyes the photograph of Gabriella hung on the wall, a photo he loved because it reminded him of a happier time, a peaceful chapter in his treacherous life. Her son shares her smile. No doubt it was a physical feature that snagged Josefina’s attention as it had his.
Frustration finally wins out, and Esteban throws the brandy glass against the wall, shards of glass exploding around the immaculate study.
Esteban stands in the middle of the wreckage, his shoulders heaving.
It isn’t fair. It isn’t fair to have everything you ever wanted, only to have it stripped away when you finally felt at peace. How some people got to live with it every day, and he had it but a moment.
Maceo is a second chance at happiness. His life would never have the fullness it once did when he had Gabriella, but he would have a sliver, a part of her she left behind. Maceo had a wife—a family was sure to follow.
He may bePortador de la Muerte, Carrier of Death, but even he wanted a life worth living.