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Of course, due to the distance between the hacienda and the villages, she could only visit the nearest one without drawing attention—and only at night when the locals wouldn’t curse her out for invading their space.
But what had arisen as a theory had soon been confirmed.
It wasn’t Sergio’s godly power that irrigated the fields. It was modern technology.
Small viaducts had been built under the land with the pretext of supplying the entire area with clean water. That much was true. But among the clean water ducts, there were also some special ones, situated at strategic points in the field, that would leak and hydrate the earth. This all happened at night, when no one was working in the fields.
That meant that even without rain, Sergio could keep the fields irrigated and his people happy.
Yet as much as that seemed to be a perfect solution to farming issues, it wasn’t without its drawbacks.
Water. Sergio needed alotof water for his magic to take place. And that wasn’t without its costs.
Despite the hacienda seemingly being low-cost, it was actually the opposite. In a way, one could say that Sergio wasbuyinghis worship, since the investments needed to keep up the ruse far outweighed any practical advantages.
But Noelle supposed that for a narcissist such as he, there was no need for practicality.
Yet that confirmed to her why he was involved in all sorts of projects to generate revenue.
Like any narcissist, he wanted money and wealth. But in his case, he alsoneededit.
The drug factories. The forced labor. The slavery he dealt in. They were all avenues that brought him money. And Noelle was still not sure she’d found them all.
With the drug factories, it was quite easy to see their use, and why Sergio would need cartel ties to push forward his business—he might make the drugs, but he needed someone to sell it for him.
The forced labor and the slavery had been trickier to investigate.
At first sight, it seemed that the forced labor was used strictly for the construction of the temples—that it was all for the community. However, Noelle had recently found out that it wasn’t necessarily the case, nor were they only imprisoned enemies who paid with their blood and sweat. No, some were kidnapped victims—important individuals for whom Sergio would demand a ransom—while others were trafficking victims. The latter had been a shock for Noelle, but it had soon become clear that Sergio’s business was multifaceted, and the traffic in human flesh was one of the most economically successful avenues.
He sold and bought men, women, children—for all reasons human beings might get trafficked. Men were used for organ trafficking and illegal fights on the dark web, women for the sex trade and children… Children were used for all three and more.
Most of them were traded—bought and sold again—and Sergio had personal agents who worked on these transactions. But every now and then local people were trafficked, too—particularly young girls. It was all for the benefit of society, as Sergio always put it, and no one dared question his authority.
In the past, those girls would have been given directly to Sergio, as had been the case of Lucero. But since he’d had a bit of a mishap in that regard, he’d changed gears. He’d simply chosen some women for a regular harem and declared that they would all be his—another reason for people to hate Noelle, because it seemed as though she neglected her own husband. But the girls that were yearly offered as tribute to Sergio were no longer needed, they were given other purposes—they were sold.
Noelle had been absolutely shocked to find that—and she’d only managed to get some information by exploring Sergio’s computers when he’d been away from the hacienda.
The more she learned about the hell she was in, the more she realized that anything could happen to her.
If Sergio woke up one morning and decided he didn’t care what Cisco could do to him, or if he thought he could successfully fight against Noelle’s family, he could easily sell her off—make her disappear, never to be found again.
It was something she didn’t want to take any chances with, and that meant pushing on with her plans despite the anxiety that built within her with every passing day.
You can do this, she told herself as she stared at Lucero’s disapproving face.
While her friend meant well, she was still half trapped within the constrictions of the hacienda and the only life she’d ever known.
Lucero had only rebelled twice in her life. Once when her own autonomy had been at stake, and the second time when the man she’d fallen for had been in danger. Both times, it had been out of necessity and life-threatening circumstances.
Yet she didn’t understand that every second for Noelle was life-threatening. Just because Sergio left her alone for now, that wouldn’t be forever.
“Don’t look at me like that, Lulu,” Noelle called affectionately. “This is the best of a moment we’re ever going to get since Sergio isn’t coming back for a few more days. And then who knows when he’ll leave again since the Spring Festival is approaching.”
“I know. I just don’t like the risks involved,” Lucero sighed.
The Spring Festival was an occasion of celebration for the entire hacienda and a moment in which Sergio would show his godly powers in an annual ceremony.
Not only was this the perfect time to put her plan in motion, but Noelle needed everything to be donebythe Spring Festival. Everything hinged on that event since everyone would be present—all the villagers under Sergio.
