“Roberto,” a middle-aged woman with long, curly dark hair stood behind a large marble island that separated the living room from the kitchen.
She had a wide smile, high cheekbones, and dark-brown eyes that glinted like onyx in the pure white lights above her. She had on a black blouse and light blue jeans that were tight enough to accentuate the bubble of her butt, and a diamond ring on her left hand that could sink a ship.
“You must be Mrs. Fuentes,” I said with a warm grin on my face. “I’m here to see your husband about some business.”
“Oh, yes,” the woman said with a nod as she pointed with a knife toward the sliding glass door that led to the balcony. “Have you eaten yet?”
“No, ma’am,” I responded, though I wasn’t sure how welcome I would be at my employer’s dinner table.
“Well, then once you’re done with Osvaldo, you’ll join us for some arroz con pollo,” she told me. “And my daughters have made flan for one of their classes. They made an extra to share with us. We’re the taste testers.”
“I would be honored,” I replied, though I was fairly certain that the matriarch hadn’t been asking.
“Good,” the woman replied as she began to chop bell peppers with the large knife in her hand. “And you can call me Juliana.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said.
She lifted an eyebrow at me, and her smile became a little tighter, the way my mother had looked at me when I had said something wrong, and I gave her an apologetic look.
“I mean, yes, Juliana,” I corrected. “You can call me Rob.”
“Rob?” she asked with a little giggle. “A lawyer named Rob. No wonder my son likes you so much.”
“Have you talked to him in the last few days?” I questioned while I stepped toward the matriarch, my meeting with Osvaldo forgotten as I thought about their son, and the solitary confinement that he’d been put in.
“I talked to him yesterday morning,” she replied. “He’s eager to come home.”
There was an unspoken question in the look she gave me, but I only smiled and nodded my head since I was sure that her husband would want to be the one to tell her the good news.
“I should go talk to the boss,” I told her. “Do you need any help with dinner when I’m done?”
“No, no,” the beautiful Cuban woman said as she waved me away with her knife. Her spirit seemed lifted, and she hummed to herself as she went back to chopping.
I peered through the sliding glass door before I pulled it open and saw that my employer was leaning against the balcony railing as he stared out into the city. The lights of Miami had already begun to turn on as dusk fell across the bustling metropolis. The last rays of sunshine faded on the horizon, and the deep blue-black of night had already begun to usher in as the bright mango of sunset darkened to burnt umber.
“Mr. Fuentes,” I said as I stepped out and then shut the door behind me. “I understand you wanted to speak with me?”
The wind picked up to push me back a step before I gained my footing. The high rise condo had a constant breeze that brought the tangy scent of briny ocean to the heavens, and I took in a deep breath of the relaxing air as I walked forward.
“Jipato,” the scarred cartel man said as he glanced in my direction.
He had hung his suit jacket over the back of the chair next to him, and he held a glass tumbler filled with amber liquid in his beefy hands. His formidable scowl melted into a smile that flashed his three golden teeth, and the tension that had gripped me relaxed.
“Is there anything that I can do for you?” I asked as I stood next to him, the balcony railing to my right, and the city far below.
“I wanted to hear how things went with the judge,” my employer said before he took a long swig of his drink. “Alvaro said it went well. But I want to hear all of the details from you.”
“Yes, sir,” I said as I wiped my hands on my suit pants. “Well, the judge accepted your terms. He’ll give your men leniency when they come through his court, and we’ll keep what we found out of the hands of the DA.”
“Good,” the large man nodded. “I’m glad he was smart about it. It would’ve been a hassle if he’d decided to do something stupid.”
“Of course,” I agreed.
My stomach did a flip at the implication that he would’ve hurt or killed the judge, and I wondered if Alvaro really would kill a woman and child.
“Did he give you too hard a time?” the scarred man next to me asked.
“Not with Alvaro there,” I said with a small smile. “Though he did request fifty-thousand dollars donated to his campaign rather than forty-thousand.”
The beefy man’s laughter burst from his chest so loud that it was like a gunshot, and my heart skipped a beat as I stared at the intimidating man while he chuckled to himself.
“He’s an opportunistic little bastard,” Osvaldo said as he shook his head. “But that’s good for us. It means he’ll be easier to work with. You always want to know what drives a man.”
“Yes, sir,” I said with a nod as my pulse slowed to a normal rhythm. “The judge is driven by greed.”
“Men like that are good for business,” my employer told me. “Now, what about my son and his little friend?”
“They will be released in
