Ruthless King (Dark Syndicate 6)

Alejandro

Irace down the corridor Lucia and Thiago took.

Eric is behind me. He catches up to me as we get to a fork in the path, and I remember the fucking place is like a maze. There are color codlings on the walls, but no one has used for them for over a decade.

This place was closed down after the explosion, and anything that meant anything was destroyed long ago.

“I’ll go this way.” Eric points to the right.

“There’s a meeting point somewhere, but I can’t remember.”

“We’ll find it. Just go.”

I do. I run to the right, hoping I can get to Lucia before Thiago hurts her.

There is no sign at all of either of them.

Dim lights pop on as I run, and I keep expecting to see or hear something, but nothing happens.

I don’t want to call for Lucia. It’s better if Thiago doesn’t know I’m on his ass, and if Lucia is hiding, I don’t want her to step out into danger. This was such a fucking bad idea.

But it all was.

I don’t know what we could have come up with that would have been better, and I was always doomed to land in shit.

I can’t even take some respite in knowing I killed my father. Not when I don’t know what fate the girl I love has suffered.

I run into a section of fucking glass walls that show my reflection.

“Welcome to the maze, brother,” Thiago’s voice echoes down the path.

I whirl around to face him, but he’s not there. I can’t see him anywhere.

“Where the fuck are you? Come out and face me like a man instead of hiding like you have for all the time I knew you.”

“I wasn’t hiding.” He laughs. “I was hired to watch you and infiltrate when the time was right. The old man promised me everything to make up for the shitty childhood I endured when he shunned my mother he got knocked up when she was fifteen.”

“He’s dead now. I just put a bullet in his head.”

“Well, I guess that means I get it all. I don’t mind taking that baby off you if it means getting unimaginable wealth in seventeen years. It’s not like I won’t have the other companies.”

“You fucking bastard!”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I am. The fucking bastard who had to grow up in your shadow. I had to watch you and Eduardo get everything, while I had nothing. The old man only made use of me when he wanted to, then I got an upgrade to son when you became the cartel king.”

“And you thought you’d screw with me and mine along the way. What did Carlos do to you, Thiago? He trained you. You guys were so close.”

“Carlos was too loyal to you. I killed him when he saw too much. He was onto me from the day Eduardo died and followed me around like a dog. I knew he suspected me but never said. To prove his innocence to you, he dug way too deep and found out who I really was and who my father was. Thanks to Lorenzo, we eliminated him before he could tell you.”

There’s a shuffling noise, but I don’t fucking know where it’s coming from. I walk slower and cautiously. William was right when he said Thiago was psychotic. This feels exactly like what a psycho would do. Trap me like a mouse and toy with me. Then strike when he has me exactly where he wants.

Since he’s talking in such a confident manner, it means he can see me.

He’s probably at the intersection with the cameras, which can’t be that far away if I can hear him.

The fucked-up thing is that he has the upper hand.

“Looking nervous, brother.”