Paolo
“So what is your plan now?” Elena leans into the frame of the video call over Riccardo’s shoulder, and the screen of my laptop shows her icy blue eyes and round Slavic features. “You can’t keep the girl here forever.”
Elena is frowning, and her lips are slightly pursed in disapproval as if she has the right to question my decisions. But as always, Riccardo doesn’t put her in her place and only turns to the camera of his phone with a silent order to answer his wife’s question. He has our family’s dark eyes, olive skin, and sharp features. The two of them look like complete opposites of each other, but it’s almost infuriating how similar their minds are.
But I don’t let my annoyance show and keep my expression neutral as I answer, “Gerardo is losing his mind as we speak. We’ve already received a few reports on his location, and it looks like he’s spreading his men all over Chicago. They got close to our border too, but Matteo detected them before they crossed it, and I sent a few men to scare them off.”
Riccardo smirks and nods in approval, but Elena doesn’t look convinced. She sits down right in Riccardo’s lap, nudging him to hold her, and crosses her arms right in front of the camera. I can barely stop myself from rolling my eyes. They really don’t care about keeping their relationship to themselves, but well, I have no right to tell them to stop.
“If the Escarra find out that Jacinta is your hostage, they may declare war-and then what? Chicago is gonna turn into a bloodbath.” Elena shakes her head and turns to Riccardo as if I’m not even here. “I don’t think it’s gonna end well.”
“And I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”
Riccardo looks up at her with a calm expression, and only I can notice the slight difference in the look of his eyes. For anyone outside of the family, Riccardo would look almost indifferent-but I can see just how
smitten he is when he looks at Elena, and it makes me want to grimace and turn away.
“Gerardo is obsessed with his daughter. He wouldn’t go as far as to risk her life for a huge fight between our families.” Riccardo’s hand slides down Elena’s back while his gaze darts to the screen. “It is more plausible that Gerardo will get desperate enough to offer us a good deal-and I trust Paolo with this. You did a good job, brother. The whole operation is a huge success for our family.”
Oh. I blink, and my eyes widen in surprise as something in my chest warms up at Riccardo’s praise. No matter what, I’ve always looked up to him, and it means a lot to receive his acknowledgment. I can’t even help a small smile creeping into the corner of my lips as I accept his words with a nod.
It’s too awkward to say thank you though, so I only clear my throat and scramble for a change of topic. “So when do you guys plan to…when do you plan to come back?”
A knock on the door interrupts me in the middle of the question, and even though it’s quiet enough to let me finish it, it does distract me. I look away from the laptop and see Alberto, the butler of Riccardo’s mansion, in the doorway. He knows better than to interrupt me without a good reason, so when I catch a concerned frown on his face, it makes me sit up.
While Elena tells me something about the sunny weather and California beaches, Alberto gestures at the door a few times and mouths something that looks like Jacinta. Ah, damn it. Again?
I huff out loud, and Riccardo seems to catch that. “Paolo? Did something happen?”
“Nothing important.” I wave a hand and give him a tense smile.
Well, it’s almost not important. “Jacinta just likes to play on my nerves. Do you mind if we finish our talk later?”
The thing is, Jacinta is not a regular hostage. If she was any other Mexican girl, I would lock her in the basement or force her to do some dirty work for us-if I’d keep her alive at all. But I can’t treat the Mexican Princess like that, you know? She is a priceless tool of power, and by the time I decide to release her, Jacinta should be safe and sound.
So I’ve done all I can to make her life here as peaceful and pleasant as possible. The servants treat her with respect and fulfill her every wish- sometimes, I even feel like Jacinta receives better treatment than most of our men that visit Riccardo’s mansion. Delicious food, a huge collection of books, movies, and magazines, a hot tub, and a whole park right outside of the mansion-it’s better than any hotel she’d ever visited.
But no matter what, that goddamn girl keeps trying to escape!
As we rush down the stairs to the entrance, Alberto explains to me that, despite the gloomy weather, Jacinta spent the whole morning in a garden alcove, reading a book. She kept sending the servants and even her guards to get her a blanket, a cup of coffee, or more cookies-until everyone got so distracted with her orders that they didn’t notice that she had disappeared.
“Marco has traced her to the forest, but it seems that Senorita Jacinta is too ferocious to handle,” Alberto finishes in one breath on the doorstep of the mansion, and I only nod at him and take off in the direction of the forest.
Goddamnit. How come two trained guards can’t handle one eighteen-year-old girl?
Anger and annoyance keep building up in my chest, and I tighten my fists when I finally notice a few figures between the scattered trees of the park. It’s easy to spot Jacinta in her beige hoodie and with her black hair loose in the wind. She truly looks ferocious as she backs away from Marco and Hector and holds her arm between them with a…what is that?
I focus on her hand as I come closer and realize that it’s a pointed mirror shard. Jacinta has broken her damn mirror to get here-and judging by the way Marco holds onto his bleeding shoulder, it’s not a bad weapon. I can’t help but chuckle as I join the scene in front of me. That girl is truly something.
“Don’t touch me!” Jacinta screams and slashes the air when Hector attempts to step closer. She’s out of breath and shaking but too determined to give up. “I want to leave!”
“And where are you gonna go?” I ask, and Jacinta turns to me with a gasp and immediately holds out her weapon.
“I’ll find my own life, and you can’t stop me!” She glares at me, and I can’t help but adore her features for a moment.