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“Castillo sent these over.” The foreman snatched the clipboard from a worker’s hand and pointed to where Martin Castillo had signed off on the invoice. “See here, six of these.” He ran his finger along the list. “I believe these are heat ones, and four regular ones.”
“Return them,” I ordered.
“Sir,” he looked nervous, “I’m not sure I can do that. I…” he stumbled, “I have a family.”
We were all working for the Devil, so I felt nothing for this man or his family. It was just the way it had to be.
“Don’t care.” I waved him off, and Alejandro picked up a box and shoved it back in the worker’s hand. He yelled at them to take the boxes back upstairs.
“I need to make a call.” I pulled my phone from my pocket and headed up the stairs to leave the others to work.
“Eric, how is the new room coming together?” Castillo asked with what I assumed was a cigar clenched between his teeth. I rolled my eyes at what he’d called it. The cage wasn’t some guestroom. It was to hold and prepare the girls to be sold. Nothing more.
“Thecageis coming along, but I’ll be sending back some of the supplies.”
“Oh?” I knew he knew.
“You broke my number one rule.”
“I didn’t break it, Eric. They’re for your own protection.”
I pressed my fingers into my head and squeezed my eyes shut to keep from running my mouth.
“When have you ever been concerned for my protection, Castillo?” I didn’t try to curb my tone. “I’m the best at what I do. That’s why you use me.” I went cocky, knowing he could relate. Martin Castillo was as cocky as they came. “We do this my way, or no way at all,” I grated.
There was a long stretch of silence, then he gave a light chuckle, and I knew I’d made my point.
“Just hold on to them for now. You might,” he paused, “change your mind later.”
“I won’t.”
“Enough of this.” His breath huffed over the mic of the phone. “I need you to meet me at the airport.”
I rubbed my head at the timing. I sure as hell didn’t want to leave any of these men inside my house while I wasn’t there.
“What time?”
“Two hours. I want you to park across the street and watch for any guests who might come along.”
“Should I be watching for any guest in particular?”
“Anyone who looks important.” He drew out the last word rather dramatically. I shrugged off his cryptic answer, tired of his voice. “Text me when you’ve arrived.”
“Yeah.” I hung up and went to oversee what was happening downstairs. I needed to hurry things along.
An hour later, I showered, changed, and loaded my guns while Alejandro prepared the Escalade.
I looked over my shoulder and nodded to one of my men to watch over everything. He knew if anything seemed off, he was to report to me immediately. I shook off an uneasy feeling and braced myself to go the short distance in the stifling heat to the cool leather seats in the vehicle.
The drive down the mountain had my mind spinning in all directions. I knew that over the last little while Castillo had changed. We’d always had an understanding on how I ran things, and I liked things to stay the same. It had worked for both of us up to now, so why the changes? The fact that this new cage was such a big deal certainly had my wheels churning. What was up with that?
“Boss?”
“Mm?”
“When does the new guy start?” He paused while I gathered my thoughts. “That youngin’ Filippo?”
“Soon.”
