AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Boss? You still there?”
“Um...yeah. Thanks, T. Mateo is going to be very happy to finally know where his mother is.”
Mateo stops licking at my cock and he peers up at me from beneath the table. I nod before he can ask the question he already knows the answer to. I roll my chair back and Mateo wipes his mouth with the back of his hand before climbing out from underneath my desk. I zip up my pants and hand him the phone, showing him exactly where his mother is.
“Looks like I’ll be paying a visit to the Golden Resort. I guess she hasn’t had any issues taking care of herself these last couple of weeks. She did always call herself a survivor. The only thing she probably ever told the truth about.” He smooths out his tie with his flat palm. I stand from my chair, tucking a curl behind his hair. “Or we can have someone else pay her a visit instead and you won’t have to get your hands dirty.”
He shakes his head. “No, I need to do this myself. I need to see her one last time.”
I nod, understanding completely. His mother may have taken my father from me, but she took a lot more from Mateo. She is responsible for his distrust in everyone, his sleepless nights from nightmares and the scars that cover his body. I take him in my arms, pressing a kiss to his temple. These are things I no longer fight. I need them as much as he does.
“How about we send her an invite and see if she accepts it?”
He eyes me curiously with lifted brows. “She will probably only say yes to a public place. I think I know the perfect one.”
I smile. “Good. It’s settled then. I’ll message one of my guys to deliver the letter.”
Mateo writes his mother a short message on a piece of paper asking her to meet him at a coffee house named The Friendly Bean. We know the owners very well. We can make sure he and his mother were the only legit customers there.
“Make sure others will be occupying the tables. We can’t let Julia suspect anything,” I say to Trey, handing him the note after he walks into the office.
“What makes you think she will even show?”
“Because as cold-hearted as the bitch is, a part of me still thinks somewhere deep down she still holds love for her son. Besides, if she thinks she has a chance at weaseling her way back at the top, she’ll take it.”
He nods, slipping the note in his pocket and walks out of my office. Mateo stands on the balls of his feet, rocking back and forth while stuffing his hands in his pockets of the same suit he wore to Santiago’s funeral. As his husband and with Santiago’s mother missing, Mateo got everything. His father didn’t have any other children or next of kin. They had alienated themselves from the family they hadn't killed.
After what took place at the wedding, everyone knew what Mateo was capable of and they decided they’d much rather have him running things than Santiago. He wouldn’t be doing it alone. No, I didn’t like being the bad guy, but sometimes you had to be in order to keep even worse ones from sitting at the top. Mateo was more made for this world than he realized. No one had ever given him the real chance he needed to shine.
He straightens where he stands. “I guess I better get down to the massage parlor and see how the new guys are holding up.” Mateo had to fire most of the people working at the places Santiago owned. Some didn’t go willingly and some even held onto the hope Santiago would be back. There was a rumor floating around that he wasn’t actually dead but was hiding somewhere. I can promise them that the man they all knew is most certainly dead. I smile at Mateo, and I slip something in his pocket for old time’s sake when I give him a hug. “I’ll see you later then, princesa.”
I kiss him one last time, tasting myself on his lips. The kiss is long and tender. He leans into me, wrapping his small fingers around my belt loops. “Yes, later.”
A message comes in from my brother, confirming what I knew all along.
Carlos: Turns out it wasn’t Santiago who sent that hit out on Mateo and his father. It was only made to look that way.
Me: It was Julia.
Carlos: How did you know?
Me: I had a gut feeling.
Carlos: You and your gut feelings. Are you sure it’s not from all those tostadas you’re always eating for lunch?
I laugh and slide my phone back in my pocket. I knew it was Julia because I recognized the cold, chilling eyes of a killer. I see them every time I look in the mirror.
Epilogue
Mateo
Six months later
My mother never responded that first time. It took six months for me to hear back from her. I knew where she was this whole time. Every restaurant she ate in, every hotel she stayed at, every man she went to bed with and every business deal she had with someone. As long as she was alive she would never stop going after my father. Any threat to my father was a threat to me. I needed her to come to me on her own. She needed to think she was still sitting in the winner's seat. I slide into my car; the seats are warm from the hot sun coming through the window. It’s the middle of summer and I hate how the humidity always leaves my clothes sticking to my body. My phone vibrates and it’s a message from my mother.
Mother: I’m here. I can’t wait to see you, mijo.
Me: I just pulled in.
