EVERYONE’S WAITING FOR us as we disembark. The private landing strip near the coastal cliff attached to the compound has every single member of our family—and two bodies on their knees, while a third watches with fright.
We have smiles. We have tears.
“Have a good trip, big bro?” Ivan asks, extending a hand out that Thiago takes, giving it a squeeze in that manly way guys do. The woman to his right is smiling; there’s mischief in her eyes, but I’ll interrogate the little sneak later. Instead, I roll my eyes at the two and refocus my attention on the guests.
I’m intrigued by their dynamic. How different this is to other meetings I’ve witnessed.
The men are sweating and whimpering but not harmed, while Mrs. Rojas is begging for freedom.
Not hers and her husband’s. Just hers.
Beside me, I hear Thiago chuckle at what I assume is my expression. The pure disgust written across my features because I have zero tolerance for those trying to hurt our family. That’s a mark left behind by my father’s betrayal—my mother’s near-death at the hands of an addiction he imposed on her still haunts me.
This is something my husband understands. My need to eliminate anything that could cause the ones I love harm.
Because there’s a small part of me that feels responsible for not realizing how far my father would go to attain his goals. It’s why any attack, big or small, is unacceptable. Moreover, what these three attempted to do I consider to be treason.
“We did,” Thiago says before leaning down and kissing my temple, humming a bit at the scent of his favorite perfume on my skin. Then, I’m being pulled against his side with an arm around my waist. “Very refreshing.”
Ivan smirks, and I roll my eyes. “Sounds like I need to visit this wondrous place.”
“It’s more like you need to buy your own.” At my husband’s response, Ivan laughs and his mom claps, doing that silly dance most women do when excited. She’s dying for grandkids, begging me to get knocked up after every Sunday dinner. The amusement drops from his face, and the three cowering on the airstrip flinch. “What have we learned?”
“First, touché. And second, a lot.” Ivan nods to the men with a look of pure repugnance on his face. “As you can see, they’re untouched and clothed. The two assholes have been very cooperative.”
“No fun, then?”
“Andy pissed himself.”
“Always amusing.” Thiago steps away from me but entwines our fingers together. “Give me the breakdown.”
“As you wish.” Ivan gives the woman beside him a kiss on the cheek before walking behind Mr. Andres Cruz, also known as Andy to his family and the government, who has been trying to set up a base here on the island. “He’s lobbying with the current president for amnesty and a complete pardon of all criminal activities with the promise of the use of his men for protection. They’d become private sicarios for the government and he’d be untouchable, but to do so, they need us gone.”
“Okay.” Thiago nods while those around us all glare at the now crying man on his knees. “And Jadiel?”
Ivan tilts his head at the man kneeling beside Cruz. “This asshole was hired by Andres and his diplomat father to befriend you and gain access to our networks. The wife’s role in this operation was to open the door of initial contact via Luna by bumping into her casually and making small talk. That was their first mistake…” One of the compound guards walks over to my brother-in-law and hands over a file. It’s thick, and from what I can tell, it has a mixture of pictures and papers. “Mr. and Mrs. Rojas are guilty of bad decisions and greed, because their plan, after seeing the lavish life you lead, was to double-cross Andy and team up with our Colombian allies. They’d even contemplated kidnapping your wife to do so.”
“The Lucas family?” I ask, ignoring their attempt on my well-being. Their idiocy isn’t worth a second of my concern. “Do they not realize just how close this famila is?”
“No.” Ivan walks over to the wife now and hands over a sheet of paper with something written on it. “They’re much too confident to realize it would’ve been a death sentence on its own. Neither Alejandro nor Javier would’ve agreed to a sit-down. They’d be dead the moment either man stepped a single foot on Colombian or Chicagoan soil.”
“And how did Mr. Cruz take his paid informants’ plan of betrayal?” Thiago’s calculating eyes are on the wife, though. As if he sees something we don’t. “Or is this an eye-for-an-eye type of situation? She plays both sides—riding both dicks—and then claims loyalty to the man left standing?”
I know my husband, and he’s antagonizing Jadiel. But why?
Jadiel’s eyes snap toward my husband then. A cloud of disbelief and then anger sweeps across his expression. “What did you say?”
Ivan pats Mrs. Rojas on the head as one would a dog. “Read it or I’ll play the video. Tell your husband the truth.”
“Mr. De Leon, her part in this can be explained. Even though I know I’ll die here, I’ll vouch for her.” Andres’s words cause my brows to furrow. What the hell is going on? “Going into this, I knew the risk and so did my family. I’m not going to deny any of what we did, but I ask that you hear her out in private. It’s the least I can do for her.”
“Please stop. I’ll disappear...I’ll—”
“Your honesty is appreciated, Cruz, and because of it, we’ll deliver you to your family for a proper burial. However, she will do as she’s told.” Ivan’s words leave no room for either to argue. “Understood?”
“Yes,” they say in unison, both looking toward the floor.
“Tell me what, Belinda? What did you do?”
