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.
0 hours until releaseMarvin“Freedom!” I yelled out as I opened my arms and took in the smell of the fresh air. I was officially free, which meant I was officially working with the DEA to take down the Hernandez and officially a certified rat.Panther let out an annoyed huff and wrapped his suit jacket around my shoulder.“It’s cold. Please watch yourself.”“I am watching myself, and I look good, right, Laine?” I asked my lawyer. He patted me on my back with a forced smile on his face. “Panther is right, it’s a change of environment, and we don’t want you getting sick.”I rolled my eyes at their boring behavior and focused my attention on Stanfield, who had followed me outside. “I’m surprised you didn’t offer me your jacket,” I told him. “I thought you might because you followed me all the way up here&md
Marvin I opened the door to the living room, but no one seemed to have noticed me. The room was heavily decorated with balloons, and I could not understand why my dad decided to go full out. I had expected it to be much worse, but it was just my mom, Tiago, and Anya. The devil, my dad, was not even here, but I was not surprised.This was what he did. He liked to pretend as if he cared, while we all knew he didn’t. If it didn’t revolve around the business, he did not care. My eyes fell onto my mom, who was having a conversation with Tiago and Anya, before I stared at the ceiling, which was full of pink and blue balloons. “Is this your gender reveal or your baby shower?” Panther laughed at his own joke. It had already been a minute, but they still hadn’t noticed me. “Seems like I’m not that important, Panther,” I connected my fist with the door and knocked a few times to grab their attention. “Guess
Elena“Dad, you haven’t touched your food at all.”My dad looked up at me before he sunk his head towards his laptop. The suspension was the worst thing that could’ve happen to him and did not come to my advantage.Being stuck in a house with a man obsessed with going after the cartel was nothing to be happy about. I could still not believe that this man was willing to bring the entire family in danger just to prove his point, and I could also not believe that he had dragged my brother into this.Poor Alex could not lead his own life and even went along with my dad’s crazy ideas. It was no surprise his ex-wife divorced him because she couldn’t take it anymore.He didn’t even have time for his two-year-old daughter because all he focused on was his job, just like dad. I was never the one to look up any trouble, so I could genuinely not understand why those two airheads planned on going after
Elena“Hi, sir!” I smiled at Cyrus Schmidt as I entered the law firm. He was one of the best lawyers in the city and not to forget, Victoria’s father.He was a well-respected man and had even been my professor at one point. “Elena, what are you doing here?” Cyrus spoke, confused. He knew exactly what I was doing here. He was a workaholic and had been pushing Victoria to the fullest. I knew he saw me as a distraction, but I didn’t care. There was much more important stuff to worry about other than his feelings.Such as a criminal having the nerve to ask me out on a date.Was it even a date?“I came here to visit Victoria,” I told him. Being kind and supportive was part of Cyrus’s big act, so I knew he wouldn’t deny me. I knew what kind of monster he was, and it was all due to Victoria’s stories. The only flaw in her fabulous life was her dad.“Oh
Marvin“That’s your guy!” I pointed out. “Danny Hernandez.”It hadn’t even been a few days, and I had already found myself at the DEA office. The freedom was short-lived, and it was time to get to work.I looked in the eyes of agent Clover. The man who was out to make my life miserable.Someone had to get the blame for the murder of agent Maddens, and it was not going to be Santiago. Picking a fight and a possible war with the Hernandez was not on my to-do list, but I was just strictly following orders and doing what my dad told me to.It was as clear as a day that Santiago felt stressed and had been taking it out on all of us. He was worried about the wedding and nervous about my decision to work with the DEA, and most of all, he was anxious about my return.My dad made it obvious that I was more valuable than Santiago, and he couldn’t take it. Santiago was a sweet guy, but it wasn&
Marvin“I assume this bar is new?”We had finally arrived at Danny’s party and entered someplace I couldn’t remember. “Yes,” Panther replied. “They’ve been here for like two years. I heard they’re in charge of the bar at Tiago’s wedding.”“Times have changed, haven’t they.” I smiled as I walked in further. Four years ago, Tiago was still in high school, and now we were talking about weddings and bars. “Not really. You were just locked up.” Panther chuckled.“Come on.”I followed him upstairs to which appeared to be the VIP section, and noticed Danny and his entourage. The expression on my face had changed as I looked at Misty, who was seated on his lap.It seemed like she did not only got her lips done, but also her boobs and her ass. It was only getting worse and boy had I dodged a bullet.She let out a surpris
Elena“I’m sorry, my bad.”I pulled my hoodie over my head and reached down to grab my phone as I was determined to ignore all contact with the person who had bumped into me.“No worries,” I whispered as I stormed off and made my way towards the bar. Today was a workday, and the wedding was getting closer, which also meant my meeting with Marvin was slowly getting closer, and I was as nervous as one could be.“If you didn’t want to work today, you could’ve just said so,” Rona laughed as I walked past her. She followed behind me and removed my hood from my hoodie. “You know why I’m nervous,” I spoke. Besides Victoria, Rona was the only other person aware of the mess I had gotten myself into.“Come on, calm down,” Rona reassured me. “You still got some time left, and besides that, it’s not as if you’re going to see the Marvi
Marvin“I don’t have words.” Mario Castillo shook his head in disapproval.I knew my dad wouldn’t be happy with the decision to call agent Clover to arrest Danny Hernandez, but I could not let that man walk free any longer.“Tiago’s wedding is in a few days, and you’re pulling crazy stunts as if getting released from prison wasn’t already enough.” My dad growled out.“I did what I had to do, and I saved all of those girls, so I don’t care what you think of me.”“And we were about to throw him to the wolves anyway, so what does it matter?” I chuckled. “The issue has already been taking care of.”“Yes, and now they know that we have something to do with it!” Victor agreed with my dad. To be honest, I didn’t even know why he was in the conversation. He wasn’t even a real part of the family.“You?&