It was six in the morning when I woke up. I had had a rough night. The name Diego Ramírez came back, a memory I hadn't thought could be this sickening. I'm a powerful man who has killed for different reasons, but I had never harmed a woman.
The thought of eliminating Alice in that way was unsettling. I got off the bed to prepare for the day.
About an hour later, Doña Esperanza, Carlitos, Serena, and I stood in the open field of my estate, waiting for Seb's private helicopter. When I had asked Lucy to come, she declined, saying that she needed to start her assignment on babysitting Alice. As for Alice's handkerchief, I had decided to keep it.
I mentally drafted a sketchy plan as to how I could keep Alice closer than before. If she were to be a spy, Lucy's closeness to her would reveal that.
Just then, I saw Seb's helicopter in the sky, preparing to land not far from us. After it landed and the pilot killed the engine, Sebastian came running towards the kids, and I allowed them to run into his arms. Slowly, Doña Esperanza and I walked towards Seb.
"Hey, you," Seb said, giving me a playful punch while he carried Serena in one arm.
"It's nice of you to drop by," I told him.
"Oh, scoot over," Doña Esperanza pushed me aside and engulfed Seb in a bear hug, even while he carried Serena.
"I missed you too, Doña, and your screaming and yelling," he said to her, and she hugged him tighter.
Eventually, we all walked back to the car and drove to the house. Carlitos and Serena kept Sebastian busy in his room as they talked one to a hundred about everything they could think of. Doña Esperanza was preparing a king-sized feast for breakfast.
I was left with the option to wait in my study until Seb was ready to talk. I opened the door of my study and was a bit surprised to see Lucy sitting on the sofa. She was nursing a drink even though she was just seventeen.
"Aren't you supposed to be somewhere?" I asked as I slowly moved towards her to take the drink from her.
"You're too young for this," I stated.
"Yeah, okay, but I'm not too young to torture and torment grown men until they wet themselves a couple of times," she replied.
"You begged for that role, Lucy," I said flatly.
"If I begged for that drink, would you let me have it?" she asked.
"No. Why are you drinking here and you're not by Alice's side?" I asked her.
"Alice is a grown woman, and she can take care of herself for a few minutes," she sulked.
"She might be an adult, but she's a potential spy," I told her, wondering for a moment if she had forgotten why I had assigned her to do so.
"What's wrong with you anyway? Does it have to do with Seb's arrival? Tell me plainly, what's between you two?" I asked her. She looked at me through glassy eyes.
"I don't want to talk about it," she said. Lucy had always acted tough; I'd forgotten she was a lonely teenager under all the chatter.
"Hey, I won't ask about anything you don't want to talk about," I said and sat down at my desk. "But if you want to share, I'm here," I assured her, and she smiled sadly at me.
I stayed with her in silence for thirty minutes, going through some paperwork on deals and proposals.
"I'm going to see what's going on down there. I might be back later. Will you need anything?" I asked.
"No thanks. I'm biding my time. I'll go see Alice very soon," she said. After a beat, she added, "Thanks, Big Gun."
"Don't mention it, kiddo," I said and walked out of the study.
I headed towards one of the guestrooms that had been cleaned out for Sebastian. I walked in on him playing a game with Carlitos and Serena. Carlitos was normally a quiet and reserved little boy, but around his uncle, he could very well be on an adventure.
"Okay, that's enough. Give Uncle Seb some breathing space. Go meet Mami Buela," I instructed the kids. Giggling, Carlitos walked out first, and I kissed him on the top of his head.
"Uncle, how long are you going to stay?" Serena asked.
"We'll see about that, princess. But all the while I'll be here, I'm your man," Seb answered, tickling her a bit and making her giggle.
"Come on, muñeca," I gently hinted.
My muñeca kissed her uncle on the cheek and walked out. I kissed her as she passed.
"Let's go for a run," Seb suggested.
"What about Doña? She's cooking a king-sized meal, and you just want to go for a run?" I asked while I rested on the door frame.
"She'll survive. Go get changed, and we're going for a run," Seb insisted.
With a smile, I headed back to my room to do as he said.
"How's Brenda?" he asked immediately after we started jogging.
"Still with him. She's unrepentant too. She visited a few days ago, claiming it was to see the kids. That didn't go well," I answered.
"Damn. After two years? That's messed up," he commented.
Even though the estate was fully secured, I had about five armed men jogging with us.
"How's our old man?" I asked. My dad and I had fallen out for years. To him, I was the black sheep of the family. I had to move out of his house at twenty, while Seb had played the perfect son and inherited most of Dad's business and his house.
Anna, our kid sister, was in an arranged marriage to the son of one of Dad's high school friends.
"He's good. Currently in Asia with Mom," I acknowledged the news with a grunt. I let a minute pass before I asked the one question.
"Will you tell me what's going on with you and Lucy? The girl has been deliberately avoiding you like the plague," I pointed out.
"Well, I guess the head can't choose who the heart falls for," he replied, and my thoughts went back to Alice, the potential spy.
"We've had this thing going on between us for about two years. But I told her I was way too old for her; that didn't go down well with her. I've not touched her, though, but we've gotten close. She's a sweet child," he said.
"She's a sweet child because she chose to be that way with you. You're forgetting who Lucy is; she generally kills the men that hurt her one way or another. It won't be wise, bro, to go down that route if you plan on living," I subtly warned.
"And that's the craziest part, little bro. If she were to make the move to kill me, I wouldn't lift a finger," he said, and I regarded his statement for a while.
Sebastian was a big guy in terms of size and height. Comparing dear little Lucy to him would be like comparing a feather to a horse or even a car. We finished our run in silence, each of us lost in our thoughts.
As we approached the house, I turned to ask him, "Seb, after breakfast, will you be down to watch a show? I've found the idiot who killed Meteo, and Lucy will further be extracting vital information from him. We didn't get much last night."
"Sure," he answered.
During breakfast, Lucy wasn't present. I assumed she was with Alice. I was worried she might not be in the mood to carry out her duty on our prisoner. But then she called me moments after breakfast to come meet her in the torture room.
I took Seb along without giving Lucy a heads-up. So when we stepped into the room, the look on her face as she saw Sebastian was comical and priceless. I tried to ignore the fact that she was staring daggers into my head.
"What could you get out of him?" I asked her.
"So far, he repeated what he said last night about being assigned the job by the clika in his area. Then he was paid part of the money agreed upon upfront and was taken to the warehouse where you, Sir Meteo, and the guys were meant to meet with the other party," Lucy explained as she cleaned and replaced the tools back into the bag she used.
Then she brought out new tools to be used.
"Hold on, I have to give him this so he doesn't die on us," she said as she filled a syringe with a liquid substance.
The guy in question was stripped naked, except for the little boxer briefs Lucy allowed him to keep, and he was covered in cuts and bruises. His breathing was heavy. Last night, he had been proving stubborn. Lucy had done a thorough job once again.
"He said he thought Meteo was the target, but he was about to give me the big boss's name, so I called you," she continued.
I stood up from my chair and walked to him.
"Spill it," I commanded. When he didn't talk, Lucy slapped him across the face and yelled threats at him in Spanish. Eventually, he gave me a name, and it all fell into place.