“You stupid bitch!” he roars.
My head has stopped spinning enough for me to see his hand fly up to his face and pull it away, enraged to find blood there.
I stupidly smile, knowing it will only make him angrier. I’m beyond caring. I know that even if I tell him what he wants to know, he’ll kill both me and Lucinda. What use are we to him after that?
“You could have made this so much easier. Now I have to make it hard for you,” he growls, before kicking me hard in the stomach.
I gasp but the air is too busy leaving my lungs now that my stomach feels like it’s been completely displaced. I curl in on myself in recovery and to protect me from the second kick that comes, which lands against the side of my head.
That’s when the world goes black for me once again.
Chapter Fifty-One Enrique
After leaving my parents’ house, I used the information I had to make the quickest phone call. Walter Hanson was an easier search since I didn’t even know the first name of Leira’s father.
Ten o’clock p.m. on a weekend, California time. It was no wonder I got a message service for the lawyer’s work phone number. Still, I left a message: This is the man who has been with Leira Montoya this past week. I need to get an urgent message to her father. I think she might be in danger.
After that, using what Leira had told me about her father, I finally found a name, but the only number was to his shipping company. I left the same message there.
That, along with my phone number, should be enough for a call back as soon as he listens to it. Even if Leira is safe with him, despite my fears, her father should at least be curious enough to pick up the phone, if only to read me the riot act.
In the meantime, I’m meeting with my crew to finalize this plan. We’re in the private room of a bar in a fairly large metropolitan city, a place where it’s easy enough to get lost in the sea of tourists, especially this time of year. I’ve gone a more roundabout way than usual, if only to avoid any tails who might still be following me. No need to compromise my crew.
As usual, we meet over beers and food, paying with cash only. It’s typically a combination strategy session and reunion. This time, being as it’s been less than a month since the last one, the reunion is a bit pointless. We’ve hardly had a chance to forget each other.
I look around at Ulrich, Deigo, Francis, and Tiago. “This will be the last one. We’re skipping ahead to the final target.”
They all give me solemn looks as they absorb that. It’s the one they’ve been expecting for a while, one final heist.
“We need to do this before the end of the week.”
This has them sitting up straighter and giving me incredulous looks.
“You’re kidding,” Ulrich says with a crooked smile.
“I’ve been planning this since we first began. I have it all mapped out. All we need to do is execute it.”
“Why the rush?” Diego asks.
I’ve never lied to them, and I’m not about to now.
“I’ve been compromised.”
This gets the expected reaction of outrage, concern, and accusation.
“So, you’re saying we could be under surveillance right now?” Tiago argues.
“I was careful. Besides, if they wanted us arrested or dead, we would be.”
“Who is they?” Ulrich asks, posing the important question to cut through the bullshit.
“Constantin. It was the earrings. They had a tracker on them.”
Once again, the outrage comes.
“But really, who the hell does that?” Francis points out.
“Someone who is fucking greedy. There’s more,” I say, taking a breath before continuing. “Richard Coleman most likely knows about me.”
I reveal to them the same information I learned from my parents.
“You are putting us all at risk, and what for?” Ulrich asks, still in that easy tone of voice he always works with. “What aren’t you telling us?”
“There is a woman I care about who may be in danger,” I say without hesitation, looking each of them dead in the eye with the challenge.
A few of them balk, but they are smart enough to keep it to themselves.
“There is also the lion’s share of the money that will come out of this one,” I continue, keeping them focused on the bottom line. “The information we get alone will be enough to set you all up should you wish to continue on…without me.”
“You’re the tech guy,” Francis points out. “You know how to do all that behind the scenes shit.”
“So ask yourselves, do you really want to spend the rest of your lives being thieves? Right now, you are worth more than even the wealthiest people in the world. I can get you through this one, but after that…you should think about what you really want in life. I’ve found mine.”
“Love does not inspire confidence,” Ulrich points out.
“But it does inspire determination on my end,” I say, giving him an even look. “It’s also going to make this easier.”
“How?” Tiago asks, his brow wrinkled in confusion.
“Because, if the situation is what I think it is, Richard Coleman is going to invite me to walk through the front door.”
* * *
The first call comes from Pablo Montoya himself.
“Who the fuck are you, and where the fuck is my daughter?”
Although I knew in my heart that Leira wasn’t safely at home with her father, it still seizes with fear that she’s most definitely in the hands of Richard Coleman.
“My name is Enrique Marín,” I say, then listen closely for any indication that the
