Mateo strolled into the room with Sergio and Elias right behind him, taking his usual seat at the head of the table. He took my hand in his and held it tightly.
Sergio sat on one side of Peyton and Elias sat across from Melody, giving her a flirty grin which she blatantly ignored.
As if he had a timer that told him when to bring out the food, Gerald appeared with a silver meal cart loaded with our dishes.
He placed each one in front of someone and then left the room, leaving behind a bottle of wine.
“Let’s eat,” Mateo said, draping napkin linen across his lap.
“So, Melody, Peyton, do either of you have any plans this August? Travelling anywhere?” he asked as nonchalantly as ever.
“I’ll be around,” Peyton replied.
“I will too. Why do you ask?” Melody questioned with more than a little suspicion.
I eyed him with same scrutiny.
We all knew damn well Mateo couldn’t care less about their summer itineraries.
“Just curious. I thought maybe you two would like to help plan the wedding. Full access to whatever you need. As long as you clear it with Elena, of course…this is her day, after all.”
I puckered my lips around the rim of my glass, holding back a scowl.
“For real?” Melody asked with so much excitement I was transported back in time for a minute, to when she was the peppiest little cheerleader in our entire school.
“Who else would do it? I’m the least design enthused person on the planet,” I smiled, going along with him for the time being.
We would be discussing this later.
Whatever his intentions were, he kept them secret as the evening wore on.
He’d basically won Melody over with wedding talk, and he finally reeled in Peyton by asking to see blueprints of some company he wanted to start up. Something about a good investment.
It was easier not to roll my eyes because these were my two best friends. Correction: they were my only friends.
But it still took effort.
Elias and Sergio kept casting me amused smirks, knowing just how well Mateo was buttering them up.
I was on my third glass of wine when he finally got to the point.
“We need to find Elena’s mother, and I thought you two would like to assist.”
“What?” I asked, only it came out muffled and choked due to half a mouthful of red wine.
“Whatever you need, we’re in,” Peyton answered, shooting me a quick glare.
“Excellent. Her boy toy will be at club Em Dívida tomorrow night, and I would love for us to finally meet face to face.”
“What do we need to do?” Melody asked with a bit too much excitement in her voice.
“Nothing. You do nothing. They do nothing,” I directed at Mateo.
“I was going to bring you in with us. As soon as he sees your names on the guest list, he’s going to call Rihannon. One of you will innocently approach him, or lead him astray, and then I can handle the rest.”
“That sounds simple enough,” Peyton mused.
“It sounds vague as fuck, dangerous, and suicidal. Why wouldn’t you just use me? Why would this guy go for one of them?”
“That’s too risky, and it would never work; your mother isn’t stupid. She knows we wouldn’t allow anything to happen to you,” Sergio answered.
“Your mother wants to hurt you in any way she can. Those men she sent to take out Raine only came back to get you next. You’d have been lucky to receive the same death sentence the little redhead got in place of what Rihannon would do to you,” Elias added.
I briefly wondered how he even knew about that, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know Mateo had shared this with him.
I looked to the ceiling as if it could offer me some guidance. I understood my friends’ overwhelming desire to constantly help, but I really didn’t want them having anything to do with my crazy bitch of a mother.
They continued to talk, hashing out details and different scenarios.
By time they were done, I was ready to light Mateo on fire.
We finished our meal and then he excused himself, kissing my cheek on his way out of the room.
“El—” Peyton began.
“No, I don’t care what you have to say. Why would you agree to this? We don’t know how big this club is, or how many people will be there.”
“Because just like you can make choices for yourself, so can we. How many times are we going to go back and forth with the same outcome?” Melody asked, draining the rest of her glass with a shake of her head.
“Do you two not understand you could die? Are we already forgetting what she did to…what happened with...” I stopped and took a deep breath. Clearly, I’d had too much to drink.
“We know all the risks, El. Are you forgetting we grew up in Vice City? You were sent away. This is all we know.
“Why do you think it’s so easy for us to accept that our best friend is forever tying herself to a notorious kingpin, kills people, and will know all the ins and outs of dealing coke by this time next year?”
“I’m sorry; you’re right. You two have been there for me through everything. I can respect your decision, even if I don’t like it,” I resigned.
They looked shocked I’d given in so easily for a full minute, quickly trying to play it off.
I didn’t want them to go, but I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t physically barricade them in a room, or demand they not do something. We were all adults now.
I just hoped their decision didn’t get them killed.
Chapter Seventeen
I was climbing into bed when Mateo finally returned from wherever he’d gone.
He undressed down to a pair of black briefs, and then came to sit beside me, resting a hand on the comforter right above my knee.
“I know you’re upset—”
“Understatement of the year, Mateo,” I snapped, but the anger from earlier wasn’t behind it. Honestly, I was too tired to argue with him, and it would change nothing.
“How could you drag them into this?” I mumbled, rolling onto my side to get more comfortable.
“Because your mother will be coming for them, and this way I can try and beat her to the kill…so to speak.”
I sat up so fast I almost fell from the bed. “Why didn’t you warn them then? Mateo, I swear I don’t understand you sometimes. Why wouldn’t you use me? I’d have sent them to some place safe. They could die!”
“Elena, I don’t give a shit about the lives I take or help destroy; I only care about your life, our life, and our future together. Nothing will ever matter to me more than that.”
Blinking the wetness from my lashes, I flipped onto my back and stared up at the ceiling.
“I care, Mateo. I can’t lose anyone else. I haven’t even dealt with Eva…or my father.” Letting out a noisy stream of air, I ran a hand across my brow.
“This whole clusterfuck that my life is…I can push it all down, ignore it, tell myself I’m not going to mourn them or let it affect me, but none of that makes it stop hurting.”
“I’m not going to let anything happen to your friends. I know they’re important to you.”
I didn’t respond. There were a million and one things circling around inside my head. I felt his eyes boring into me, and for once I couldn’t bring myself to give a shit about how this made me look right then.
I’d been strong, I’d held myself together when I didn’t want to because life went on; it didn’t stop for anyone, and it wasn’t going to get any easier. At the same time, though, why did it have to be so goddamn hard?
“Elena,” he huffed, standing up.
I thought he was leaving, bolting from the emotional mess in his bed, but Mateo wasn’t like that. He never ran from anything.
He cut the lights off and then came back to me. Climbing in on his side, he covered us up and rolled me into his arms.
It was the equivalent of someone asking if you were okay
when you already had tears streaming down your face. That stupid question always made things worse.
“She’s my mom, and even for all her faults, I loved her. So why didn’t she want me?” I sniffled.
“I’m not good at things like this, amada,” he began, holding me a little tighter. “Some people should never be parents. The love she had for you wasn’t real, and I know that hurts, but at least you know the truth. She doesn’t want you? That’s her loss. Look at how many people do.
“You haven’t even met my full family yet; they’re going to adore you, and we’ll never abandon you. I’ll never abandon you. This is almost over, and when it’s finally done, you can fold. I’ll pick you back up.”
I hoped he meant that, because I intended him to make good on his word.
Em Dívida was not what I had in mind for a club.
It didn’t look like a club at all, actually. The lavish building was at least four stories high with an air of regality all of its own.
I hung off Mateo’s arm and allowed him to lead me through a private entrance of large coal black tinted doors. We then entered into a hall lit only by tiny lights in the walls’ crown molding.
At the top of a staircase, my red bottom heels came to an abrupt halt.
Nothing but dark, empty space could be seen from where we stood.
“What’s down there?” I asked with more than a little suspicion.
“Elena, you couldn’t be safer than you are with me.” He successfully dodged my question and propelled me forward in spite of my protests.
The further we descended, the tighter my grip grew on his forearm. He snickered at my obvious discomfort.
At the bottom of the staircase, I heard the sound of voices. They continued to grow louder as we approached a single red door where a man who looked like he benched Hummers as a hobby stood guard.
“Mr. Remmington,” he greeted respectfully, pushing open the door.
I squinted at the sudden burst of bright light as we stepped into a room bustling with activity. Men in crisp tuxedos and women in the finest floor length dresses stood around, talking amongst each other.
There were only about fifty to sixty people present, but that was still a lot—especially for someone like me, who was severely out of touch with all this social stuff.
As we made our way around the room, the crowd parted like the Red Sea, and heads turned to follow our every move. Peyton and Melody were already here somewhere, but I couldn’t spot them.
I felt significantly better knowing Elias and Sergio were also here watching over them.
Mateo kept me glued to his side until we reached a long table in the front of the room. He pulled a chair out and urged me to sit.
Wordlessly doing as he wanted, I sat, trying to ignore the blatant stares I was getting, and took a good look around, seeing the room as a whole was set up so that it formed a circle.
My attention was immediately drawn to the far back corner.
Two men impossible not to notice stood together side by side.
They looked completely out of place, dressed down in T-shirts and jeans.
Mateo’s hand landed on my thigh where my dress exposed a bit of my flesh, raising my internal body heat.
“Did you know the name of this place translates to ‘indebted’?” he leaned over and asked, speaking softly into my ear.
Following his slight nod, I looked to the center of the room where the two men were now approaching together. A hum of nervous energy and excitement filled the air.
They met in the middle with another guy dressed in a flashy pantsuit, all were wearing grim expressions. He said something to them, they both nodded, and then he raised his hand in the air, causing a hush to fall over the room.
When his hand came back down and he stepped away, the two men moved to face off with one another and removed their shirts.
The room was suddenly assuaged with enough noise that had me shifting nervously in my seat.
Mateo moved his hand higher, massaging circles into my skin.
With no more hesitation, the men began to bare-knuckle box. They held nothing back.
They beat the hell out of one another, fighting as if their lives depended on it. From the corner of my eye, I saw another man with a ski-mask over his head, holding what looked like an assault rifle stalking his way towards the center of the room.
His gaze was transfixed on the brawling men. I looked away with an understanding of how the building got its name. These men were fighting to clear their debts.
The sound of raw flesh hitting raw flesh rang out in the air. I clenched my teeth when I felt a finger slip beneath the fabric of my underwear.
The table and the linen obscured us from open view, but if someone really looked, they would know what he was doing.
He ran one digit up and down my slit with slow caresses; I did my best to solely focus on the fight, failing to remove it.
I found myself self-consciously rooting for the one on the left. He had more drive in him.
Even with a bloodied lip, blackened eye, and split knuckles, he persevered. Sweat drenched both men, matting their hair to their foreheads.
An audible crack snapped through the air as a fist connected with a mouth and sent a few teeth scattering to the floor.
They were growing tired, losing stamina with every blow taken or doled out. This clearly wasn’t like a fight on television where a ref intervened when one of the opponents had reached their limit.
Blood covered the black marble floor. They slid through it, each grappling for the upper hand. Only when the man on the right was stooping, barely able to stand, swaying on his feet did the man in the pantsuit raise his hand again.
He looked directly at us, as did most others in the room. Mateo waved his free hand in a circular motion, giving the green light for what occurred next.
The winner was assisted out of the room. The loser was approached by the man wearing a ski mask. Without having to be told, he sunk to his knees. He was exhausted, defeated, and resigned to certain death. You could see it all in his demeanor.
My stomach churned as the gun was held to the back of his head. The look of sheer terror on his face, and the sound of the bullet dischargin from its chamber, were more haunting than the bloodied display put on just seconds ago.
A hole formed, blood drizzled down his forehead, and his lifeless body simply slumped forward.
Mateo removed his fingers from between my legs and sucked them into his mouth, leaving me more sexually frustrated than I’d ever been before.
Some people applauded; others called something out in foreign tongue. Everyone began to move towards a set of double doors.
“And now you know one of the many ways a man can clear his debt,” Mateo said, rising from his chair. He offered me his hand, the same one that had just ended a man’s life, and I didn’t hesitate to take it.
Chapter Eighteen
People stood in small groups, laughing and drinking champagne. This was how these people entertained themselves after watching a man be killed.
It wasn’t like I could judge, though, so I casually scanned the room every few minutes in search of my friends. The space we were in now reminded me of an extremely upscale hotel lobby, but with a large U shaped bar that spanned the entire length of the back wall.
There weren’t so many people here that I shouldn’t be able to find them. Come to think of it, I couldn’t find Elias or Sergio either.
A feeling of foreboding spread in my gut. They’d said they were here—I still had the text. So where were they?
“What do you think?” the older woman who’d been talking for the past ten minutes asked me.
I had no idea what she’d been going on and on about, being that I couldn’t care less.
“Elena’s a virgin. I’m sure after a few more rounds she’ll loosen up and be able to take it all in like a champ,” Mateo replied for me, giving her and her partner a disarming smile.
“Oh. Well, he’s righ
t. It does get a little easier every time.” The woman gave me a knowing smile, as if he’d really been discussing my level of sex expertise.
I gave him a flat look and silently communicated that we needed to talk.
He got the message, telling the two women goodbye. We moved on from the couple and made our way to a more private corner.
“Where the hell are they?” I hissed in a low whisper.
“There was a last minute change of plans.”
“Explain,” I demanded, crossing my arms.
“Brock has Melody. It’s okay, though. Elias, Sergio, and Peyton are tracking her.”
I waved my hand between us to get him to shut up for a minute.
“I take it Brock is the boy toy. So tell me why he has my best friend, and you’re just now telling me about it?”
“What part of ‘last minute’ should I clarify?”
“Don’t get smart with me, you sneaky fuck. Where. Are. They?”
“Elena, that mouth of yours really is filthy,” he sighed. “They were on their way to your mother’s, last time I checked.”
God, this man truly was a piece of work. There were so many things that could have been said, but now wasn’t the time.
“I guess me and you are going to see my mother then, aren’t we?” I stated, pivoting on my heel.
I walked away and didn’t look back; if I had, I’d have seen the satisfied grin on his face.
He weaved his classic Mustang in and out of traffic on the highway, and I was reminded that he had tendencies to drive like he was invincible.
“Don’t be upset, Elena. I made an executive decision to see this through, and it’s working.”
Angling my body towards him, I crossed my arms and shook my head.
“Executive decision? We aren’t business partners. We’re supposed to be regular partners, like a team, but every time I turn around, you’ve gone behind my back and I’m tired of dealing with this bullshit.”
“Actually, we are business partners; you have half of everything, legally. I put the papers through last week.”
“I didn’t sign off on anything,” I retorted in partial disbelief.
Old Money Roulette: Complete Trilogy Page 28