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Chapter Seventeen
Esteban
Esteban’s wide hand runs over the rich green foliage of the coca shrubs on his farm. He examines the thin opaque leaves, nodding with approval. The cash crop can soon be harvested to begin the conversion process of turning the leaves into cocaine.
Another day, another dollar—billions, to be more precise.
Pleased, Esteban wipes the dirt from his hands and walks back toward the estate, keeping a watchful eye on the hired hands working the fields. None of the workers dare glance his way, too afraid to be caught peeking at him.
Good.They should fear him. Esteban covets his privacy more than anything. Anyone who dares to look at him but more than a sweeping glance typically ends up dead. Workers are easy to replace and easily disposable. The less they know about him, the safer his production is.
The tyrant climbs the steep stone steps to the estate terrace, turning to gaze over his kingdom. He loves it here, but it is nothing like the home he once shared with Gabriella. It was necessary to leave, but it sliced him apart to walk away from all the memories he and she shared there.
With a deep sigh, Esteban lowers his large frame into the patio chair. He snaps his fingers impatiently, and a butler comes running with his breakfast. As he sips his strong Colombian coffee, Esteban scrolls through his cell, checking emails and stocks. Work never stops for a drug lord, not ever. But he doesn’t mind. It’s a healthy distraction from grieving over his sweet flower. There isn’t a minute in the day that she doesn’t cross his mind. Nor the child she bore.
Thinking of the boy, Esteban sets his phone on the table and gazes absently out over the garden, down at the fields. Farming and processing drugs was never an issue for Esteban, nor was dealing with business. But in this industry, being a businessman and agriculturist isn’t enough. You need to lead and be followed.
It’s an innate characteristic which you either have or don’t. Maceo is a born leader, much like Esteban.
Over the years, Esteban has had his fair share of those close to him try to sabotage or overthrow him. No one has ever succeeded, of course, but that didn’t mean that he was immune to having it happen again. He’s fifty-seven—still healthy and vigorous, but the day would come when age would play a factor. Maybe not today, over even in the next decade or two, but time has a way of sneaking up on you.
Esteban wants a successor. Who better than Maceo? Maceo’s military experience is precisely what Esteban needs to earn the respect of his men and continue his work in peace, without the constant worry of his demise. Maceo is already a good businessman—learning the cocaine trade would be easy for him. Farming and production could be taught under the right tutelage. With his leadership skills, he would be unstoppable.
For years, Esteban’s attempts to connect with Maceo failed epically, once with him nearly being killed by Maceo’s bullet. Had it been anyone else, Esteban would have sought revenge. But with Maceo…he saw potential. The boy has a killer streak that nearly rivals his own. You need to be brutal in the cartel world if you wish to survive your competition. It was another mark in Maceo’s favor.
Esteban had been ready to go in guns blazing and fucking take the boy by force until Josefina showed up on the radar. At first, he was skeptical when reports came in about Maceo’s involvement with a woman. Maceo never had anything beyond one-night stands, a release, and nothing more. But here his informant was saying the boy was with her daily, nightly, and living together.
He didn’t believe it when he read through the report. Maceo had no weaknesses. It’s why Esteban never had any leverage over him. If Maceo had one, Esteban would have capitalized on it by now. After years of being so careful, Esteban found it hard to believe Maceo would suddenly slip up. It had to be a trap, something to ensnare Esteban into falsely thinking he’d found a way in.
Esteban went to see for himself. He watched from the road in his black Lamborghini as she managed her crew around Maceo’s new headquarters. As soon as he saw her working, he knew instantly she was the real deal. She was a leader, an excellent businesswoman, hard-working, stubborn, and a beauty—a perfect match for the unruly boy.
When Josefina approached his car to inquire who he was, she had no idea she just made contact with the devil himself. Her brazenness put her right in harm’s way. It would have been easy to reach through the open window and grab her, but the risk was too great to do on a whim. This needed to be planned perfectly.
The Ibiza mission had been a bust before it even got a foot on the ground. A new one was needed.
The ticket to acquiring Maceo was through Josefina. Observation of past abductions told him his best chance of snatching her was outside of her home and job. The problem was Maceo never left her unattended. Separating her from her protection detail would be his greatest challenge, but not impossible.
Esteban senses someone approaching. His eyes discreetly glance to the side to see who dares come near him. When he sees it’s his American informant, a man assigned to watching Maceo’s every move, he turns fully in his chair toward him. “Yes?”
“I have updates on Mercy Ravens.”
Esteban gestures to the informant to have a seat. The wait-staff rush forward, delivering coffee and pastries.
“Dime,” he says, waving the man to continue.
“Maceo and half his men are in Colombia.”
What’s new? The boy is frequently in Colombia searching for him. But he’ll never find him—no one ever has. He has body doubles all over South America to throw others off his trail. Anytime anyone gets close, he disappears like smoke—there one second and gone the next. As it is, Maceo’s far off the mark in where he’s looking. There isn’t even a stir of worry swirling inside of Esteban.
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“His wife—she’s been going to the hospital weekly?”
Esteban raises an eyebrow. This is an odd development. “Does he know?”
“Yes, he’s been there with her. She has continued to go in his absences. Never alone, of course.”
Never alone.Esteban frowns.
