POV: Raphael
“If you had a way of getting them back all this while, why haven’t you done so yet, why are they still being held hostage, Mr perfect plans?” Dominic retorted angrily.
” It’s your perfect plans that got me into trouble with Carlos Gonzalez in the first place, remember?” He asked again, scoffing at my words. I wanted to refute his decision one more time, but he stopped me with a wave of his hand, dismissing what I had to say as if it didn’t matter.
“Save it, Ralph, I don’t want to hear it!” He told me angrily, glaring at me.
“Tomorrow, I’m saving the girls and bringing them home to their family and loved ones. You can keep planning and stalling for as long as you want, I don’t care. But I’ll advise you to stay the fuck out of my way before you get hurt!” he warned me, walking past me and heading back outside. He turned around when he got to the door and he turned to Miguel and said,
“I’m going out there to make plans on how to save your sister and my woman. You can choose to help if you want to, or you can listen to this moron and stay back here to plan to reason with a lunatic. But if I were you, I’d advise you to come along with me because this is the first chance you’ll have to prove to your sister that you would do whatever it takes to protect her.
It’s a risk we are taking, but trust me, it’s worth it. We won’t even consider it a risk when we have the girls back here with us. I’m going to save them with or without your help anyways, so it’s up to you if you want to come over and help, or not,” he told Miguel, shrugging his shoulders as he turned around and left.
“I’ll be right there, Dominic. I just need to handle a very important issue back home. My parents are under attack, she sent her boys to hurt them. But we are working hard to get them to safety. I just want to get confirmation that they are out of that hotel and safely hidden away. I’m expecting a call from them in a few minutes. As soon as I’m done here, I’ll join your team.” Miguel told him, ignoring me completely. Dominic nodded in understanding as he left us in the living room and went out to make plans for the next day.
“Really, Miguel?
Really?” I asked him angrily as Dominic walked out on us.
“What?” he asked back in the same tone, pretending not to know what I was talking about. I can understand that Dominic is pissed at me for making him go to war today and losing some of his guys. I’m the reason why he is hurting this way, I’m the 4eason why he is sporting some injuries and wearing bandages around his head and hand.
So I totally understand if he is not responding to me like before, and I understand why he would choose to ignore my advice and do it his own way. But Miguel has no reason to humiliate me this way in front of Dominic. He is acting as if this was all my fault and that’s not cool!
“Did you have to agree to join his team?” I asked him in anger, making him understand why I was furious with him.
“What’s wrong with that?” he retorted angrily, looking at me as if I were a clown.
“What do you mean? What is wrong with that? What about our team? What about our plans?
Are you going to push our plans, understand the carpet, and go with his plans?
Do you forget that we have all the information and he has nothing? We did our investigations, and he did not. We have all the details about the island and her security system and we are working to bypass her security system. What does he have that makes him feel that he can get the girls back so easily?” I asked him, reminding him of all the hard work we have put into this mission.
“So what happens if his plans fail because of a lack of proper planning? What happens if we make the mistake of getting defeated and Eloise decides to change location and go into hiding in a secret location that would be more difficult to penetrate?” I asked him, listing the risks to him. He smiled at my words and just shook his head at me as if I was being silly or something. That felt like an insult, and I glared at him furiously, earning me his laughter as he raised his hand in mock surrender, laughing at me as he did it.
“I don’t know what happened between you two but do not bring me into it, Raphael. How the hell are we supposed to know if he is making the wrong or right decision if we let him do it alone? Have you stopped to think that he needs us to provide insight into our previous investigation?
Why don’t we let him help us the best way he can, can’t you see that he has more resources than we do?” he asked me. To be honest, I think his words make sense, but I just don’t want to believe that all our investigations will be thrown under the rug because of Dominic.
“We stick to our plan, Miguel. That’s how it works. Let’s wait for Carl before making any rash decisions!” I stated firmly.
“No, Raphael, I’m not waiting any longer. As it stands, I think we have wasted too much time as it is. As soon as I’m done here, I’m going out there to offer my support and help him out with anything I can because I would do anything it takes to find my sister.
We are all on the same team, Raphael. I suggest you get rid of any grudge against Dominic and help as well. I’m not on his team or yours; I’m only trying to find my sister, and that’s it!” he told me firmly, sounding stern this time. I saw reason in his words, as usual, and I decided to calm down and see what Dominic had to offer that we hadn’t already thought of from the onset.
I want to see what he brings to the table, then I would decide if I’ll support his decision, or not. I sat with Miguel, and we waited for Shaun to call and give us an update on the attack at the hotel. We had one of Carl’s laptops that we would use to communicate with Shaun. I advised Miguel not to call him first because you don’t know what opposition he might be at the moment.
He could be hiding from the thugs Eloise sent their way. An unexpected call may give away his position and also expose the Myers if they are hiding too. Calling them is out of the question; we just had to wait for them to call us first. We sat there in Dominic’s living room for almost an hour, waiting for Shaun to call us.
He finally called, and we hurried to pick up because Miguel had been so anxious as we waited for their call. He had blood trickling down his cheek as we picked up his call. He looked so furious and I could tell that he was hurting because he kept wincing in pain every often.
“What happened, Shaun? We heard the gunshots, and we have been so worried. Where are the thugs, where’s Mom and Dad?” Miguel asked him, his voice filled with worry.
“We ran away when they shot at us because they had already picked a strategic position at the garage. They knew we were coming and they had already hidden down there waiting for us. They knew we would go down there and they set a trap for us. But we were able to run back to the penthouse, and we quickly set a trap for them too.
They were so many boss, and we tried our best to defend your family, but we had some casualties that we bargained for; we lost some guys and… and… and, some got hurt too.” he stammered.
“Where are my parents, Shaun?
Where is Mom and Dad!” Miguel yelled at him furiously, his eyes tearing up. I moved to comfort him, but he shrugged me off and just glared at the screen, waiting for Shaun to respond to him. He delayed in giving his response, and in my heart, I already thought that the report might push Miguel over the edge and get him to do something crazy.
“I’m sorry, boss. I did my best to protect them, but they got hit by stray bullets, and they are both in the hospital as we speak. Dad was graded on his shoulder and thigh. But Mom got hit in the chest and she just came out of surgery a few minutes ago. We are lucky the bullet missed her vital organs, they’re so lucky to survive this attack, Miguel, we are.” He let out sadly, sounding guilty.
We both let out deep breaths when he told us they were both alive. I don’t care what anyone says, I’m just so glad that they are alive. Miguel sobbed silently as he buried his face in his palm, looking so relieved. I placed my hand on his shoulder, offering him comfort and support. I looked up and saw Shaun had tears in his eyes too and I knew he felt relieved that they are alive too. I could imagine how worried he was all these while that she was in surgery. No wonder it took so long for him to call us, he must have been waiting for her to pull through before calling us to give his report. In many ways he is just like Carl and I’m beginning to love him already.
“How about you, Shaun, how are you?” I asked him. It was when I asked him that Miguel realized that he has not inquired about his best friend, he only asked about his parents and not Shaun.
“Im fine boss, I’ll pull through!” he let out with a smile, wincing in pain at that small gesture.
“No he is not!” a nurse let out furiously as she boldly snatches the phone he was holding and pointed it to his face so we could see the condition he is currently in.