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Chapter Forty-Nine
Maceo
“Tomorrow, I want you to walk the grounds with me. It’s time you see where you’ll be working. I have many men but they are…lacking in the expertise of combat training. You are a master in all areas—gun, knife, hand-to-hand. Your experience with strategizing and executing missions is remarkable. Your skillset is an asset to this empire—our legacy. I detested you becoming a SEAL, but I must say it has become quite valuable.”
My eagerness for bloodshed has my fingers twitching. “You trust me walking beside you?”
Esteban laughs without humor. “Not on my life. You radiate hate like a burn on the skin. No, we’ll be escorted by several of my men. I don’t trust you, but the day will come soon when you can roam beside me without armed guards.”
The wait staff brings in our meals of roasted duck with steamed vegetables. My mouth waters but I keep my hands under the table where I have the scalpel in my grip.
Esteban eats while watching me, his eyes scrutinizing my blank face. “It is better when it is warm,hijo.”
I ignore him. “Do you have news of my wife and kids?”
He sits back in his seat and sips his wine. “Let's make a trade. You promise not to escape tomorrow on our tour, and I’ll provide you with information on your family.”
“Deal.”
The bastard looks pleased as pie with my response. He sits forward. “The need to know how the woman you love, and your children, are doing is a strong pull. I relied on informants to tell me how yourmadrewas doing in the States. It gutted me having to rely on another set of eyes and ears. I hated it. You question everything you’re told. Are they lying? Withholding information? Have they flipped sides?”
He shakes his head. “I will not give you cause to distrust me. What I tell you will be honest to a fault. Josefina gave birth on the chopper. They crossed into Chile for medical attention. My grandsons are strong; no need for the NICU. Josefina…she is fine now, but it was touch and go. My informants cannot access the hospital, but anything can be arranged with enough money.”
My fist tightens around the scalpel, but I keep my expression neutral.
Esteban watches me, studying. “You’re a hard one to read, Maceo. I can assume to know what you must be feeling, but unless you’re speaking, I can’t pick up any signals. Your wife and children have not left Chile. There’s time to bring them back before they return to the States. It will get exponentially more difficult to extract them once they’re back in Colorado.”
Unable to trust my voice, I shake my head.
“Maceo,” he says intently. “By refusing to act now, you may have to wait months, years. Are you willing to wait that long?”
I’m willing to wait forever. Even if I was unaware my men were on their way, my answer would still be no. I may be a selfish bastard, but I would never force Josephine or my children to live in a world of cartels. Their safety comes above everything else.
Esteban looks away and rubs at his chin. “The option is always on the table,hijo. You’re not the only one who is missing her company. I had forgotten what it was like to have a woman around the house. Josefina reminds me so much of yourmadre. Stubborn and vocal, even when she’s scared. It’s both infuriating and thrilling. Everywhere she goes, she carries this light with her. It grabs your attention, demands it. The air lightens, and your chest warms with her presence alone. Gabriella was the same way.”
I struggle to swallow the emotions in my throat. What Esteban said about Josephine hits right on the head. She is a beacon in the darkness.
He sighs, looking at the table. “I have a gift for you, Maceo. I’ve waited a long time to share it.”
Without a word, he stands and motions with his head for me to follow. Four guards train their assault rifles on me. My scalpel isn’t going to do shit unless I have them closer. I stand, concealing the surgical tool underneath the sleeve of my long sleeve Henley.
Dutifully, I walk behind Esteban with the guards up my ass. It would be easy to slit his throat if I wasn’t forced to walk several feet behind him. He’s not close enough yet. I can be patient. I’ve waited thirty-one years for this moment. What’re another few minutes?
We descend to a lower level of the estate, and then another. The corridor we walk through is arched brick, giving you the sensation of walking through a catacomb. The air is cooler down here and smells musty. If fear wasn’t drilled out of me during my Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, I’d be creeped out by these surroundings.
We come to the end of the corridor where it Ts off, turning left. The walls are lined with steel doors along this hallway. Cells. A guard stands from his stool, nodding to Esteban and me.
Esteban motions for the guard to open the cell we’ve stopped at.
Fuck.Am I getting thrown in the locker? There’s not a cell I can’t break out of, but it will slow me down.
When the door opens, a light comes on in the cell. An emaciated man in rags lays in a fetal position on a bed of straw. A bucket, serving as a latrine, sits in one corner of the small cell, and a canister of water stands in the other. There is nothing else in the space.
Esteban sniffs. “I told you I took care of the men who were responsible for yourmadre’sdeath—all but one. This is Nicolas. He led the failed mission.”
Esteban spits on the man. “I saved him knowing one day you’d return. He is yours to do with as you please,mi hijo.” He leaves the cell, retreating to the hall, but he’s still there, listening and waiting for justice to be served.
I can’t seem to look away from Nicolas. I’m standing in front of the only man who can give me the truth about what happened the night my parents died.
