Chapter 326

I rested my hand on my mom’s stone and smiled. “I’m almost there, mom,” I spoke in a whisper.

“Please hold on for just a bit longer.”

It was time for my weekly meeting with George Torres, and I knew he wouldn’t be too happy considering I had yet to give him useful information.

I discovered his so-called presentation was nothing more than a fairytale. He liked doing things fast, while I wasn’t fond of sloppy work. I was used to doing things spotless.

Spending time with Marvin had shown me that he wasn’t that difficult to get close to after all.

Despite his cold image, he was a warm person who liked making his presence known.

Whether he was sincere or because he was fearful of me hitting on Elena? I had yet to find out.

Then agam, Pedro, or Panther as he liked to call himself, didn’t seem like a criminal who decapitated his enemies’ heads, but I had seen the pictures, so I knew the truth.

“Hey, kid!” George made his presence known. He patted my shoulder and joined me at my mother’s grave. “Hey.”

“So, how are you holding up?”

“I’m good, sir. How about you?”

“Besides missing my only daughter…fine, I think. He sighed. “Although I’m pretty sure she’s not doing well in that household.”

This was typically George. He didn’t want to come off as too pushy, so instead, he used reverse psychology.

I chuckled. “Don’t you worry about Elena,” I told him. “She’s doing perfectly fine.”

“My daughter is still young, so she can’t decide for herself,” George stated. “He’s taking advantage of her”

Somehow George still believed his daughter was a victim in all of this while that wasn’t the case.

Elena was hopelessly in love with Marvin and would’ve followed him anywhere. No one forced her to do anything.

“Do you have something on Marvin?”

“No, not yet.”

“How long will it take?”

“Well damn, I don’t know George.” I snarled. “I’m not psychic!”

I respected the man, but he had to understand that I was putting my life on the line here, especially after he decided to include his immature, unstable daughter.

“Time is ticking, Lucas,” George spoke, irritated. “We need to get Marvin before he gets away with his crime and my daughter.”

See, that was the difference between George and me. He was after Marvin Castillo, while I was after Mario -the true villain. He manipulated my mom those around him, and at the end of the day, everyone in that house was just a pawn in his twisted games.

“I get it, George.” I nodded. “I’ll get you what you want-so please be patient.”

After I met with George, I was back at the station. Making detective was not as easy as I expected it to be, mainly because I couldn’t focus on my job.

All I could think about were Elena’s words about the maids. If they were indeed close to mom, they could give me some more information about how disgusting Mario treated her.

“Mario Castillo, are you here to turn yourself in?” I heard from a distance.

“For what, leading a legal liquor brand?”

Shocked, I jumped up from my chair and turned my head to look at the man who leaned over the desk. Mario Castillo. Behind him stood two of his men, who shouldn’t have even been here.

“What was he doing here?”

Mario looked straight into my office, and our eyes met. “Absolutely not.” He straightened his tie. “I’m here to meet my s—“

“Sir!” I yelled out before he could finish his sentence and nearly ran out of the office. This was the only division that was not corrupt, and no one would ever take me seriously if they knew about my relationship with the Mario Castillo.

“Lucas!”

“First name basis?” The new captain revealed himself, walking down the stairs. As if things couldn’t get worse, I now had to deal with the head of the apartment.

Peter Clover.

He was a well-respected man and used to be a DEA agent until he made the switch after catching Freddie Hernandez for the murder of Stevie Maddens. The same murder George believes Marvin committed.

“I-I j-just.” I tried explaining. “He’s here because I had some questions about this case I’m working on?”

Clover looked from me to Mario and the men with squinted eyes but eventually stuck out his hand.

“How are your sons?”

“Good.” Mario chuckled. “Marvin found himself a beautiful angel.”

“Is that so?” Clover frowned, unaware that this angel was the daughter of his former colleague.

“I heard Tiago is out of town.”

“Won’t you look at that?” A laugh escaped from between Mario’s lips. “It’s good to know you’re finally making use of those gigantic ears of yours.”

Clover let out an embarrassed laugh, knowing he couldn’t get to Mario. Clover and I felt the same, but unfortunately for me, that man was my dad.

“Just don’t knock him down.” Clover looked at me. “Lucas is one of the good ones.”

“Don’t worry. I’m behaving today.” Mario spoke. He pointed his finger at me. “I like this guy. He knows how to treat me with respect.”

The two men stayed behind as Mario followed me to my office. I made sure to shut the door behind me and looked at the man who had the nerve to call himself a father.

“Are you embarrassed?” Mario sat down in a chair. He had a bold personality and was not afraid of speaking his mind. It almost pained me to say that I recognized myself in him.

“Never.” I lied to his face. “I just don’t want people to ask me questions-because I don’t like answering them.”

“I see.”

“So, what are you doing here?”

“Am I not allowed to visit my son?”

I planted a grateful smile on my lips. “You’re always welcome,” I said. “Just wondering what you’re doing he-

“I’m here because I miss you.” Mario’s words surprised me. The most feared criminal in the city risked everything to come and see me at the station because he missed me.

“I enjoy your presence.” He continued. “You’re different from your siblings, and I like that about you.”

Sure.

“You’re allowed to visit whenever you want,” I said. At first, I was surprised at how much free time this man had-but what else was there to do if he had others doing the dirty work for him?

“I need to take you somewhere after your shift.” Mario gave me no choice. “I have a lot to tell you about your mother, and I should’ve told you sooner.”

So there was more? After feeding me lies, this man would just keep going and going. I held myself back from clenching my fists.

“Okay, we can do that.” I agreed. “Just tell me the time and place.”

It wasn’t long until hours had passed, and just as discussed, I met Mario for dinner at a restaurant.

Had I known that the man was planning on renting out the whole place, I wouldn’t have shown up.

“Don’t worry about it. We own the place.” Mario claimed. The ‘we’ in question made me uncomfortable because I had actually worked my butt off to get where I was today. I wasn’t involved in any illegal business and did not have to execute someone for it.

“Here you go, sir, your pasta.” A waitress put a plate in front of me. At least the food looked good because I was starving.

“Do you do this often?”

“Yes, with my wife,” Mario spoke. “Your brothers tend to run away from me Marvin didn’t even want me to visit him in “Prison,” I spoke casually. “So you said you had something to share about my mom?”

Mario took a breath and reached for his pockets. “Right, Carmela.” He pulled out several pictures and smiled softly.

“I found some pictures of us.” He threw them on the table.

Surprised, I grabbed the pictures and observed the man and the woman. It was Mario and mom at the beach, roller rink, movies, and anything else one could think of. Mario had his arm wrapped around her in an overprotective manner in most if not all of the pictures, and the two looked like a couple.

“Mom,” I whispered with a slight smile on my lips. In her last few years, the drugs had ruined her glow, but even then, one could not miss her beauty.

“If you don’t mind me asking, who took these pictures?”

“Your uncle, Julio,” Mario explained. “We used to go on double dates all the time.”

Even though he was married to Linda and had Marvin and Tiago.

“Is he still around?”

“He promised to fly over soon, and he can’t wait to meet you.”

“Can I keep them?” I asked shyly. I didn’t have many pictures of my mom, so I held on to each memory 1 could think of.

“They are yours.” Mario smiled warmly. “As you know, your mom used to be one of the maids, but she had never caught my attention.” He spoke. “Until one day she bumped into me. Our eyes met-

and that’s when I knew.”

“Even though you had Linda?”

“At that time, our marriage was done for, but we wanted to make it work for the children,” Mario told me. “I filed for divorce, and I wanted to marry Carmela, we spoke of a future together, but one day she was just…gone.

I dropped the fork from my hand and looked at Mario’s sincere expression. Was he telling the truth?

“I had sent your mother many letters, but she never answered, and due to some reasons, I did not want to bother her.”

“The cartel?” I clenched the end of the table. “You do not have to lie to me, and I do not wish to lie to you either-so I think it’s for the best if we could both drop the act.”

Mario cleared his throat. “Yes,” He gulped. “I expect your mom might’ve been fearful of this lifestyle.”

It took us some time, but we had finally addressed the elephant in the room.

“Did you really not know about me?” I asked. “Why didn’t you look for her?”

“I did look for her, and I found her years later with a little boy,” Mario stated. “She looked so happy, and I thought Carmela had moved on, so I didn’t want to take that away from her.”

“Lucas, had I known you were mine-I would’ve taken care of the both of you in a heartbeat.” He spoke determinedly. He looked into my eyes and spoke without a single stutter. “No question asked.”

The hardest thing about my mom not being here anymore was that I just had to believe her word over Mario’s, and if what Mario was saying was the truth-then why?

Why would she have lied to me?

‘No, Lucas-you aren’t sure, and you shouldn’t believe this man’s words, I reminded myself. This man was a professional con artist and made everyone believe he was running a legal business.

This man was Mario Castillo, and just like Elena-he was not a victim.

“You’re here now.”

Mario nodded. “I know, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“I heard you spend some time with Marvin and Pedro “I did.”

“Are you getting along with your brother?”

“I am,” I answered truthfully. “It’s too bad Tiago couldn’t join us.”

“And Elena?”

I sighed, thinking about the girl who ranted about her dad neatly folding the clothes in her suitcase without knowing it was me instead. “She’s too innocent.”

“She is.” He spoke in a fatherly tone. I could see he really adored her. Would he still feel the same after hearing about her dad?

“And Pedro?” Mario questioned. Only this time, the look on his face was not as warm anymore. I thought he liked Panther? He even introduced him as his other son.

“He’s very positive and bright,” I said, “Why?”

“It’s nothing.” Mario shrugged, but I could clearly see that there was more to the story. I did not like that tone.

“You can tell me anything.” I reassured him, hoping to find out a bit more.

Mario shook his head. He wouldn’t give me an answer.

“I just want to remind you that fake people have an image to contain.” He raised his glass of liquor.

“Cheers to that.”

Behind that smile, I could only see the truth.

Panther couldn’t be trusted.