Alejandro
Lucia should be at the house now.
I’ll check in with Estelle after this meeting and see how things are.
Of course, I’m eager to see how Mia responded to Lucia and if everything is going okay, but I can’t deny I want to see her again for myself in the walls of my home. Where I can start doing whatever I want to her.
My fucking cock is still hard, and while I know I need to exert some control, I can’t get yesterday out of my head. I’m like a fucking schoolboy, eager to see the girl he jerks off to.
Fuck,I’m old enough to be her father.
I’m twenty-three years older than her, so I should know better than to indulge in the temptation of a sweet woman who has no business living in my dark world.
I don’t know what the fuck I’m thinking by going ahead with this crazy plan of Cristiano’s, but I seem to be doing it and going through the motions.
And now, thinking of Lucia Ferreira is messing with my already fluctuating attention span when I’m supposed to be working. Or more precisely, looking out for tell-tale signs from my traitor.
I’m sitting at the head of the table in the meeting room at Equibras.Next to me is Cristiano, and surrounding me are my lieutenants I christened my Four Horsemen—Lorenzo, Thiago, Marcus, and Carlos.
I named them such because they have power in their own right.
My cartel is set up in a similar way to most, so apart from my lieutenants, I have hitmen and falcons, the street guys.
Unlike most, I have over twenty thousand members in my organization. The majority are based here in Brazil, while the rest are scattered across South America and the US.
I’ve been leader of the Ramírez Cartel for fifteen years now and I set things up so my men are equivalents of me, and therefore equipped to take over in the event of my death.
Even though I’ve tasked my men with taking care of the cartel as a whole, they each have their niche areas they look after.
Thiago looks after new clients and contracts, Lorenzo the trafficking side of the business, Marcus takes care of the workers, and Carlos the accounting and production side of things.
Thiago is the youngest at thirty-five and Lorenzo just turned forty. Carlos is the eldest at fifty-six and Marcus is the same age as me. Like Cristiano we grew up together.
We always meet here at Equibras, no matter what business we have to discuss.It also gives me a chance to observe them.
Thiago is taking charge of today’s meeting because we have twenty new drug contracts in Russia.
I synthesize opium to create fentanyl, a drug that’s a hundred times stronger than morphine. I sell directly to various governments and pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Of course, I wouldn’t be the cartel king if I didn’t run my side business to private agencies and other individuals.
When Thiago starts talking about sales figures, I try to listen, but those sinister questions that always swirl in my head are stuck on repeat like an annoying infomercial.
Who betrayed me?
Who the fuck did it?
Which one of them is it?
This is the first time seeing all my men since Eric’s discovery, so the questions are screaming at me.
The only thing stopping me from going ape shit and killing them all is that I need them alive. There is no sense in killing when the problem of El Diablo still exists.
Of course, I’d hate to kill an innocent man, but I’m at the point where madness and darkness have coalesced, and I can’t see beyond the concept of kill or be killed.
They’re aware I know about El Diablo and am actively looking for him. When an enemy like that motherfucker is out to get you, the best thing you can do is let him know you’re waiting for him. That’s why I feed them bits of information in the hope to use them as live bait. I’m sure they know that, though.
What pisses me off is the fact that I could be sitting here now with someone who wants me dead.
I chose my men to be my horsemen because they were as close to me as family. We’ve all known each other for years. I’m supposed to know them so fucking well I could probably guess what they’ll be doing by the hour, so I shouldn’t still be thinking one or more of them betrayed me.