Chapter 295

Marvin “Wasn’t the beating enough for you?”

I could hardly believe we were doing this again, but I pressed my arm against Victor’s neck, trapping him between the wall. It was a shame we had to do this in my dad’s office.

Scolding Victor couldn’t wait, so I wasted no time and was ready to get my answers. I had been doing everything to keep Elena away from all this madness, only for him to open the door right in front of me.

Sending her flowers and a ring to cover up my alibi for the text confirmation about Danny Hernandez was already bad enough, but he had made it a whole lot worse, “I invited your little thing to the mansion, so what?” Victor played the victim as always. It didn’t matter. Mario wouldn’t agree to this-he would never. The mansion was the heart of the organization, and he wouldn’t be that stupid to allow this.

“Hey, what’s all the fucking commotion about?” My dad burst through the door. “It’s almost midnight!”

Panther pulled me away from Victor. “It’s nothing, sir.”

Mario released a low growl and pushed us aside so he could sit behind his desk. Believe it or not, I felt terrible for dragging him out of bed in his pajamas, but I didn’t have that much choice.Elena could not visit under any circumstances.

“Come on, tell me.” My dad spoke, exhausted. “What is it now?”

Victor and I looked at each other. “Do you remember the woman who was a witness at the shooting?” Victor smirked. “Yes, I do-is something wrong?” My dad asked. “Is she causing trouble?”

I shook my head. “No, she isn’t-”

“Since Marvin doesn’t want to send Tiago to a mental facility, I came up with a good idea to invite the girl. She was one of the last people to see Anya, so maybe she can get through Tiago.”

My dad laughed at Victor’s weird conclusion while I joined him.As expected, he wouldn’t let it pass.

Mario scrunched his nose.

“Is the girl a nurse?”

“No.”

“A psychologist?”

“No.”

“A therapist?

“No”

“God?”

“No, she isn’t.”

Mario chuckled. “Then why did you woke me up from my sleep for this nonsense?”

Exactly.

“I know it sounds crazy, but listen to me.” Victor wouldn’t take no for an answer. I couldn’t remember the last time someone forced my dad to listen, but it seemed to be a habit of Victor’s.

“She’s a close friend of Tiago, and she’s clean. Panther did a background check, remember?” Victor brought him into the conversation. We all turned to look at Panther, who seemed pressured. “I-I did.”

Panther confirmed. “But I have to agree with Marvin on this one. We shouldn’t let anyone enter the heart of the business.”

I shot Panther a grateful smile. He wasn’t the one to involve himself in family matters, but at least he had my back Elena could not come here. I didn’t know if she would really be capable of saving Tiago, and I did not care. I deserved hell for my thoughts, but I would rather throw my brother into that facility if that meant Elena wouldn’t step foot in this place.

My dad nodded his head in agreement. “The girl is not coming here, and that’s fin-”

“She said she was Marvin’s wife, and he took a bullet for her.” Victor refreshed his memories. “I’ve kept quiet about it, but she’s been visiting Marvin in the hospital for the past weeks, and he visited her tonight.”

Not that excuse. “This one is here to stay. Don’t you want to meet your future daughter-in-law?

Marvin is not just anyone, he’s your….heir.

“She’s a friend, stop it.” I denied his theory. My dad tapped his finger against his chin and switched his gaze to Victor. “I don’t know. The two of you seemed pretty serious.” Victor spoke. “And don’t think 1 haven’t seen the diamond ring around her finger.”

I want to kill him. I should just do it. It’d be better for everyone.

“What ring?” Mario frowned. “Are you two engaged?”

“No.”

It’s all so the police won’t find out about what we’ve been up to, and I did it for you-asshole.

“I’m barely out of prison. Why would I get married?” I forced a smile on my face. I couldn’t help but worry as Mario remained silent. He was supposed to agree with me, so what was he doing?

Mario sighed. “Invite the girl. I’ll allow her to talk to Tiago, and she can stay for dinner as well.”

“Dad, you can’t do that.”

“Yes, I can.” He spoke. “I don’t care about your personal life, but I need to meet her for the sake of the family For the sake of the family?For fucks sake, if this was how things were going to be like-I might as well dated her from the start. I was trying to protect her, while Victor was clearly trying to ruin my life.

“I understand I’ll send her the invite.”

Mario, who had a satisfied expression on his face, stepped behind his desk. “Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I was in the middle of a dream-you can let yourself out.” He waved his hand and exited the office, with Victor following after him.

1 bumped my head against the desk and turned to look at Panther. “Thanks a lot,” I said. I was in pain, and it wasn’t because I had ditched my wheelchair.

“Marvin, I tried.” Panther shrugged, looking offended.Well, try harder next time.

“I know. I was sincere.” I slammed my arm over his shoulder. “I’m used to getting what I want, and lately. things.haven’t been working out for me.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning I might be cursed.”

That night I went to sleep with an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach, and once again—it wasn’t because of my injuries. I had barely closed an eye because all I could think of was all the shit I had put Elena through.

Of course, I didn’t blame her for Anya’s death. That was insane. I lost my focus, and that was on me. The worst thing was that she couldn’t read the room and was clearly flirting with me-while I tried to remain as friendly as possible.

Despite my feelings, I didn’t want her near this twisted family and did what I had to do. If I were to take over Mario one day, I would not want her at my side.Not her.

She had not sent me my usual good morning text, which was not surprising considering the bottles she had cleared last night. I got to know a new, unexpected side of her, but it didn’t bother me. I liked everything about her, including her energetic personality.

After a while, I made my way to the dining room. I was the only one there, and I didn’t mind. Any break from Victor and my dad felt like a true blessing. Due to my injuries, I hadn’t really been involved with the family business-but knowing my dad, it would only be a matter of time. I would enjoy my freedom while it lasted “Good morning, sir!” One of the maids greeted me. She pushed a plate in front of me and ruffled her hand through my hair. At times I had to remind myself that these people hadn’t seen me for years and were giving me the Tiago’ treatment. “Good morning. Can you please turn on the news?”

“Sure!”

I almost drooled at the fried eggs in front of me and dug in. My appetite got ruined at the small picture of Danny Hernandez, which had appeared on the side of the screen. “Turn it up for me, please.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The authorities say they can’t neither confirm nor deny the alleged rumors about the son of influential businessman and CEO of Forst Industries, Freddie Hernandez, having life-threatening injuries after getting stabbed—”

“The next time you claim dad doesn’t care about you, you should think about how many people he has paid off to keep quiet.” My sister’s voice startled me. She placed her hand on my shoulder as I lifted my head to look at her.

“Good morning to you as well, Karina.” I smiled sarcastically. Whether Mario protected my good name or not, for something which I hadn’t done in the first place-it did not change a thing. He was still the main villain of this household.

“Wow.” Karina gasped. “We don’t have anything to do with this, right?” She pointed to the screen and waited for my answer. “Please don’t tell me we’ve got anything to do with this.”

She annoyed me with her endless questions, but I had not expected anything else from her. At least she was sober this morning.

“I can neither confirm nor deny.” I played it off in the same tone as the news anchor. Karina giggled and hit my shoulder. “Idiot.”

When we were younger, we spent a lot of time together, but things had changed after high school.

Even though my dad was determined to give her a good life, she ended up hanging with the wrong crowd and had Cisco. We thought Cisco would’ve been enough for her to change, but we were wrong about it.Karina did whatever Karina felt like doing.

“I heard you all went out for drinks without me!” Karina attacked me.I would rather roll myself down the stairs, before handing my sister a glass of alcohol. I ignored her and looked at the two maids who seemed to be arguing about something.

“Marvin?” Karina called my name. I held up my hand to keep her quiet. “Hey, what are they talking about?”

Karina scoffed. “Oh, same old-Tiago is refusing to eat, and mom is out.”

Tiago is refusing to eat?Not on my watch. I was trying my hardest to keep him out of that facility but wasn’t making it easy for me.

I lifted myself from the chair and rushed to the maids. “Marvin, where are you going?” Karina called after me, while the maids stopped arguing. One of the maids hid her body in front of the food trolley and stared at me with a troubled expression in her eyes.

“Tiago is not the boss around here, and the next time you better not leave that room before he empties his plate. I do not want to see a single crumb, do you hear me?”

I felt bad for scolding them, but I couldn’t let my little brother starve to death.

The maids nodded their heads and stepped aside. “Give it,” I growled, taking over the food trolley.Tiago was going to eat today.