Page 6 of Blood Ties
His jaw twitches as he slowly steps away from the package, heading for the door. He leaves the office quietly and doesn't as much as glance back. He knows better than to question my orders more than he already has. This isn't the first package that’s arrived addressed only to me. The last one was delivered at one of my main office locations. The man who opened it for me blew up into a million pieces right outside the building the moment he pulled the cardboard apart. This one is different, and I don't want to tell Hector why or how I know it is safe.
My gaze stays on it for so long, my eyes practically burning a hole through the box. I brush my fingers over the familiar handwriting in black ink before ripping the top open with my forceful hands. Buried between several pieces of brown packaging paper sits a blue pistol, the same one I'd set in Mateo Juventino's hand over two years ago. The exact one which was gifted to me almost twelve years ago. It was only a matter of time before he found me. Even knowing it would happen sooner than later, I still wasn't prepared. No one ever could be when it came to Miguel Juventino.
I'd never thought it was possible to want and fear someone at the same time. Before, he was the one constant thing in my life. Everything around me erupted into chaos and the world got uglier. Our love never changed. It was beautiful and pure, the only thing I could make sense of. It never mattered how much time passed between us, he had always been my favorite place to run to. I was able to let go of everything when I was in his arms. It was dangerous, terrifying, rejuvenating, and until now a force I'd never fought against.
I hold the gun in my hand and it feels different than before. It was recently in contact with his hands. The same ones I've dreamed about touching me for the last twelve years. I'd tried hard to forget them and failed every time. I couldn't allow him the power he once had over me. Instead of using our best memories to help me get through the days I was being tortured and starved in Julia's underground cellar, I used the bad ones to fuel my hate for him—reminding myself why I was there to begin with.
He let them take me. Never once did he come looking for me. He'd accepted a bargain—my life for his and his families. Julia was more than happy to tell me herself, how in the end I was nothing to him. After that day, I shut him out of my heart.Something I will now continue to do. I trace the engraved words with the tip of my finger.Come back to me.
Not this time. Never again.
I toss the gun in the box and bury it in the back of my closet, along with my love for the man who'd promised to never let them keep us apart.
What’s between you and me is ours alone, precious. I'd die before I let them have it.
Such a fucking liar.
He'd made living without me look so easy, continuing to flourish and prosper when I struggled every day, slowly rotting away to nothing. So I've done my best to make him suffer the only way I know how, by messing with the one thing most important to him. I've sabotaged a few of his latest deals, spreading lies about his product and burning down the crops of his newest supplier.
I still do what I need to in order to survive and this time it involves taking down my new competition. Soon I'd be the one on top and he would be the one left in the dark, alone, wallowing away in his own failure. First I have to help defeat the people who are a threat to us both. If Miguel goes down, it will be because of me, not anyone else. I always did like saving the best for last and death is way too good for him.
Chapter 3
Miguel
I couldn't rest knowing he was out there, so I didn't. Working constantly, I drove everyone around me insane with my demands. I sat around and waited for someone who was never going to come. Something deep inside of me begs to go to him and claim him as mine. In my heart he has never been anyone else's. I had sent him a message and only time would tell if he got it. As much as I wanted him to show up on my doorstep with the pistol in his hand, I knew it wouldn't be that simple. Things weren't ever meant to be easy with us. We would see each other again soon either way. I won't give up so easily. The old Marcus wouldn't have wanted me to.
Maybe he hates me for being a coward. I can't blame him. I hate myself every day. Julia's father had played the video all night long, leaving me tied up in the dark room unable to escape the torturous crackles of the fire and distant screams. My heart and soul died when I had thought I lost him. They'd told mehe was dead and made me sleep in a cellar surrounded by walls covered in pictures of his burnt corpse wearing the clothes he left the hotel in.
Trusting their word, I didn't question it the way I should have. Jorge Juventino usually didn't stray from the truth when it came to claiming lives he took. Julia's father got off on letting people know what he was capable of.
Loud noise outside my window has me rushing to the front of the house. A few of my guards are standing by the door on high alert.
¿Qué pasó?
His face tenses. "Let's go back inside and I'll explain."
I tilt my head. "Explain now."
He drags me inside and closes the door. "Something went wrong with one of the deliveries. At least we are hoping it's only one. But if one batch was tainted, it could mean more people showing up at our doorstep soon."
I walk to my office and pull up one of the cameras. Men are shouting outside my gate. One is throwing something at my guards, screaming profanities, and asking to speak with the person in charge.
“Do you know by whom?”
"It's Colunga. His men are here to show you what happens when you fuck up.”
Someone fucked up alright but it wasn't me. Now one of the local dealers is at my doorstep throwing a fit on my property.
"He says we sold him bad product. His name has been tarnished and his customers are threatening to shop elsewhere."
"He is sure these are our drugs?"
Able nods, lifting up one of the packages. "We ran a test on the drugs and traces of fentanyl were found."
My throat goes dry. "Fentanyl? We never use Fentanyl in our drugs. Who put this batch together? Which supplier did this come from?"
"The supplier claims it didn't come from them this way. It means it happened in one of our warehouses during packaging."
