Chapter 9

24 hours until release

Elena

—

Dear Marvin,

Link me up with your thirty cousins, all of them! (I’m serious)

Thanks for your concerns, I know there are many bad people in this world, but I actually really enjoy talking to you. Tell me if I’m wrong, but I feel like we’re even becoming friends!

Unfortunately, it’s just me, my dad, and my brother, but I might’ve overreacted a tiny bit. They’re honestly not as bad as I made them look, and they also have some good sides to them.

I admire you for your dreams, and I can’t even imagine how hard it must be too hope for freedom. Keep dreaming, Marvin, and who knows? One day your dreams might come true!

I also took a look at the pictures you send me, and just like you, I also had to hold my breath. I think you might be one of the ugliest human beings I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and trust me, I’ve seen a lot!

(I only gave you the reaction you wanted.)

Dear Marvin, I have something to confess.

I haven’t had a genuine smile on my face in a long time, but somehow you’ve managed to cheer me up. I want to thank you for your time, and please know that I appreciate it a lot. Your emails are the highlight of my day, and I’m always looking forward to them!

I truly hope we can continue this friendship, and I hope you feel the same way♥️

Love,

Lena

—

“It looks like you’re busy,” Alex spoke as he leaned over my shoulder to see what I was doing. I let out a surprised gasp and closed my laptop.

Getting privacy in this damn house seemed impossible, and my brother snooping on my laptop to see what I was doing was the living proof of it.

The last thing I needed him to see was me confessing my love to a prisoner. Could it even be seen as a confession?

Yes, technically, it could—but I had no romantic feelings whatsoever. I was just grateful to have Marvin as a friend, and I enjoyed talking to him. The best thing was that he would be in prison for his entire life, so I had found a friend who wouldn’t bail on me, unlike Victoria.

“So?” Alex asked. “What were you doing, and why did you close your laptop?”

I had hoped for him to leave, but he sat down next to me and waited for my answer. “I was making recipes.” I twisted the truth. It wasn’t exactly a lie, I was busy with the recipes for the wedding, but it had been a spontaneous decision to email Marvin instead.

To be honest, I didn’t even have time to email Marvin. I had so much to do for the wedding, and hearing these people were wealthy, only made me more nervous. I had to make sure that the drinks were of the best quality, and I didn’t want to become the laughing stock at the wedding.

“Is it for that wedding you were so happy about yesterday?” Alex smiled. I gave him a nod and handed him my notebook. “These people are willing to pay a lot, and Rona could really use that money towards the shop.”

“I see,” Alex spoke as he browsed through the notebook. “Caramel popcorn cocktail?” Alex laughed. “Somehow, you always come with the craziest stuff.”

“Yes,” I snarled and snatched the book from his hands. “And as you can see, there are many people who can accept my creativity.”

If this was the comment he was going to give me, he could keep it.

“What are you doing here anyway? Don’t you have work?”

Alex placed his hand on top of mine and looked at me with a worried look on his face. I shoved my notebook to the side and stared at him. “Alex, what’s wrong?”

Alex let out a deep breath and sat down. “Alex, come on!”

I was anticipating his words and was secretly preparing myself for the worst. “Dad isn’t doing very well,” Alex spoke. “I need you to take it easy on him. It turns out the DEA had the wrong person after all, and the person who supposedly killed Maddens is innocent and will be getting released tomorrow.”

“That’s awful,” I whispered. I couldn’t even imagine how my dad must’ve felt at the moment. My dad’s worst dream was becoming a reality, and there was nothing he could do about it.

“Dad is so convinced that the Castillo’s are behind it, while the evidence clearly shows that they’re not,” Alex explained. “They said it was a setup, and we got the wrong person.”

I nodded my head as I went through the names in my head. I was a bit inexperienced in that field, so it was challenging to keep up with it.

Alex hated sharing work-related stuff with me, and it was so out of character of him to do so. Only that was more than enough to prove that the situation must’ve been difficult.

“So what now?” I wondered. I could tell by the look on Alex’s face that he doubted his decision about telling me the truth.

“The person who’s being released has decided to work with the DEA to take down the apparent real issue, the Hernandez cartel.”

I was grateful for the information, but I still had no clue what all of this had to do with me. Just the thought of these groups made my body cringe. “Will dad be fine or—“

“Dad has been dismissed,” Alex spoke. “He’s been suspended for eight weeks for attacking our senior, and he has taken it upon himself to take down the Castillo cartel.”

“He’s crazy.” I scoffed. Alex’s words were supposed to surprise me, but my dad was so far already that it wasn’t even all that shocking. “So, how are we going to stop him?”

“I don’t know, Elena,” Alex spoke. Alex was the type of person to keep calm, and I had never seen him worry like this before. What the hell was my dad even thinking? He couldn’t go after these people by himself. They wouldn’t kill him.

“Elena...” Alex sighed. “If dad goes after these people on his own and can’t prove that the Castillo’s murdered Maddens, it means he can kiss his job goodbye.”

Hearing him being willing to break everything he had ever worked for, just to go after some family broke me into pieces. It wasn’t supposed to go like this.

“So, how do we stop him?” I asked again. Stopping him was the only thing on my mind as I did not want to lose him. Losing one parent was more than enough.

“That’s what I’m here for.” Alex smiled. Of course, Alex would know what to do. He had always looked out for him.

“I’m not going to stop him.”

“What do you mean, you’re not going to stop him?”

It felt as if my world had shattered into tiny little pieces, and I didn’t know what to do about it. As if things couldn’t get any worse, Alex decided to play the hero. “Dad seems to be so sure, and he’s never made a mistake in his life,” Alex spoke. “It’s the best for me to stand behind him, you know that.”

“No,” I shook my head. “I don’t know that, and you guys have lost it.”

“Alex, please, I’m begging the two of you to stop this—please!”

Alex looked at me with a sympathetic look in his eyes, and I could tell that he would not obey my wishes. He had already made his decision and was just kind enough to inform me about it. “I won’t bail on dad.”

Those words made me angry. Bail on him? It wasn’t bailing on him. It was protecting him.

“Let me guess. You’re telling me this because there’s a possibility that my life will be in danger?” I chuckled. It was almost hilarious to me how the two of them just did whatever they wanted. If they really cared for me, they wouldn’t even think about doing this.

“Not for now.” Alex sighed. “But I need you to know that if things do come down to that...”

“I need you to know that in the worst-case scenario, we have to flee, so I’m just asking you to keep that in mind.”

“Fine!” I yelled as I gathered my belongings to make my way to my room. “I’ll keep in mind that there’s a possibility that the cartel might come after us for digging too deep. Thanks for the heads up!”

I stormed off and ignored Alex’s calls. I knew my dad was crazy, but I always thought Alex was the sane one, which did not turn out to be the case.

I couldn’t understand how they could do this to me, but most importantly...

I could not understand why they’d want to involve themselves with the cartel.