Page 75 of Savage Ruin
Grayson and Thiago casually stand talking to each other. Or at least it looks that way, but I hear them giving orders to the others. The jet starts up, hangar doors open, and the security team, including Paulo, take their places around us.
At exactly eight o’clock, a dark sedan pulls up and Ronaldo gets out. He pauses to look at the men around the hangar. Thiago ignores him and raises a finger to the pilot of the plane. SEI’s jet slowly turns and rolls out of the hangar.
Grayson hands Thiago the stack of fake newspapers we created, and he walks outside to meet his father. “Tomorrow’s paper,” he says, shoving the pile into Ronaldo’s hands.
The old man takes his time reading the article, then switches his attention to the rest of the paper. Once he’s done, he pulls today’s paper from the bag at his side and rubs the two between his finger and thumb.
He finally nods in satisfaction. “Very good. The jet will take me wherever I want to go?”
Thiago gives him a short nod. “It will. What made you decide to leave after all this time? I thought you lived and breathed the cartel.”
“It was never my intent to stay forever, but after I got caught stealing when you were a boy, I was trapped. Paulo’s father, Luiz, watched my every move. Or at least most of them,” he informs us with a laugh. “It worked well until Luiz died. Paulo is too interested in changing things. Digitizing the accounting system.”
“Which would be bad for your side business, wouldn’t it?” Thiago taunts him.
His father stills. “If you have something to say, spit it out. I want to get going.”
Thiago shakes his head. “You’ve been stealing from the cartel for years, haven’t you, Ron Silva? To the tune of almost twenty-one million dollars.”
“Plus, a safety deposit box filled with diamonds,” I speculate.
He narrows his eyes. “What do you want?”
“Initially, we were looking for leverage to keep you permanently out of our lives. When we uncovered your secret, we decided it wasn’t up to us to decide your fate,” Thiago informs him.
Mateo grabs me a seat. Sitting down, I open my laptop and access the accounts. I change the first password and hit save.
A second later, Ronaldo’s phone pings with an incoming text. He pulls it out and, in a rage, tries to smash it on the ground before we can get the code.
Thiago rips it from his hand and tosses it to Mateo, who reads it to me.
I enter the security code and the password saves. I repeat the steps for the smaller account. Writing the password down, I hand it to the security guard standing behind me. Mateo passes the phone to Paulo’s right-hand man.
“That’s mine!” Ronaldo shouts, his old face reddened with rage. “How dare you! One call to Paulo and you’ll all be dead. And I’ll start with her first. Then you’ll know how devastated your precious Marcos was when I took his wife from him.”
I gasp.
Thiago lunges for his father, but Grayson and Zane wrap their arms around him and hold him back.
Mateo grabs my laptop and pulls me up behind him.
The security guard behind me steps forward and removes his hat. “No need to call me, Ronaldo. As you can see, I’m right here.” Paulo hands the piece of paper to his right-hand man, who immediately opens his own laptop and enters the passwords. He gives Paulo a thumbs up. The phone dings a couple of times telling me he changed the passwords again. Smart.
“When they told me a member of our organization betrayed us not just once, but repeatedly, I couldn’t believe it. We’ve given you everything—money, prestige, respect. And this is how you repay us? By stealing from us?” Paulo reaches up and lightly taps Ronaldo’s ashen face.
He signals to another man, and his jet fires to life.
“Greed makes man blind and foolish and makes him an easy prey for death.Rumi was a great poet, don’t you think? They would have been good words for you to know before you stole from me. Put him on the plane,” he orders his guards.
Ronaldo is quiet when they take him away.
Raider steps up and clasps Paulo arm to arm. “You owe me one.”
Paulo lifts a shoulder. “One.”
Each of the Santos men steps forward to shake his hand.
Thiago pauses before he steps back. “If we see him again, we won’t hesitate to kill him.” It’s clear he isn’t sure if Paulo will do what needs to be done.
