Page 165 of Damián

“My father is the past, Don Aurelio. I am here to discuss the future. If that’s something you are not interested in, then tell me now so I can stop wasting my time on you.”

Two men next to Aurelio scowl at the way Oliver talks to their boss. They take a step forward, but the balding bastard laughs and waves them off.

“Alright, let’s play your game. But first, a gift…” He raises a hand and snaps his chubby fingers.

Two of his henchmen come in through the door on the left, dragging a man.

Or at least, what is left of one.

Whoever this man is, he has been beaten to an absolute pulp. His face is swollen, his lips are busted, and his hands are bound behind his back with thick black plastic zip-ties.

The henchmen drop him a few feet from us and stand guard next to him.

“And this is?” Oliver asks, his tone completely emotionless.

“A boring family man who didn’t let us use his shipping business to deliver our next cargo. His ‘morals and family values’ cost us millions.”

One of the guards steps forward, hands Oliver a golden revolver, and steps back.

Oliver stares at the golden revolver in his hand as if he’s bored, but I can tell by the way his jaw tenses that he is not okay.

I look around, trying to find a way to understand what is happening, but everything about this setup feels off. The men here look either angry or extremely nervous, even more than usual.

They keep glancing at Aurelio like they’re waiting for him to react, and that’s very out of character for a group that’s used to running meetings like this.

Also, the “family man” isn’t crying. Instead, he looks defiant, almost angry.

His body is too still to be scared. It’s as if he is used to this, or as if he prepared for it. No ordinary family man would ever act this way in this situation.

I scan his body, checking his posture, his clothes, or anything that can tell me who this man really is.

There is blood on the cuff of his shirt. It could be from when he was kidnapped or beaten, but upon closer inspection, whenever he moves, the sleeve lifts enough to show a gash over a tattoo.

If I invert the image of that tattoo, it would be the same crow’s skull with three oleander flowers. That, plus the way the men are looking at him… some with hate, others with anger, and others smiling as if they’re about to get retribution.

This man is one of them.

Or rather, he used to be.

They slashed his cartel tattoo, expelling him from their group.

“As you must know,” Aurelio continues, “in this organization, we give the one who lost the most money the privilege to… well, kill the vermin who is in our way. I believe you have the honor.”

Mierda…

They’re using Ollie to execute a man who betrayed them.

But this makes no sense…

Why would they lie to Oliver about who this guy is?

Why would they say he is a family man with values and morals?

They are lying and asking Ollie to kill one of their own men when the execution should have been handled internally.

Oh fuck… This is not good.

If they’re going this far to force Oliver to kill someone, it can only mean one thing: Rafael knows.