"Chamuco I need you to fly out to Laredo yourself, I want you to check out the security tapes in the warehouse. I'm going to ask Joel to leave with you...this is something I want him to look at personally. You can take one of my jets." Santiago said to my friend the morning after the party.

We were back at the mansion with the rest of our friends and family.

He chose to have breakfast outside with me out in the garden while the others were either sleeping in or having breakfast inside. Santiago still hadn't told anyone about what happened in Laredo, he said he wanted to find out it was Hector who had stolen the drugs before informing the others.

"Why can't we just drive over there?" Chamuco asked.

Santi shook his head. "I know my brother and he won't want to drive all the way over there. Plus, I want to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible."

"I'll get right on it, sir." He bowed before excusing himself and walking away from the garden table.

Once alone I turned to my boyfriend, "Are you sure you trust Joel to take care of something as delicate as this?"

"Despite all the differences I have with my brother I know I can trust him with anything when it comes to the business of the cartel." He put down his orange juice and continued eating his fruit.

After the romantic confession I got from Joel I definitely beg to differ. How could Santi trust his brother? The one who is trying to steal his girlfriend behind his back, would he still trust him if he knew the truth?

"I just...think that maybe you should send Chamuco to take care of this alone. Why bother Joel?"

Santi put down his fork and stared at me for a long time, his eyes studying my face carefully. "Why do I feel like there's a reason you don't want me to send Joel on that trip?"

And these are the cons of dating a mafia boss...they pick up on anything suspicious.

"Why do you want to keep him here?" his voice took on a harsher tone and even though he didn't want to show how much this bothered him the clenching of his jaw gave it away. "Do you care about him that much?"

Santi was jealous of his brother. Ugh, only he would get the wrong impression about my concern.I have to hell him the truth. It's now or never.

"You're going about this the wrong way, Santiago."

He placed his hand over mine. "Then please explain it to me."

"O-Okay" I sighed, taking a deep breath before looking my boyfriend in the eyes. "After you rescued me from the kidnapping.... Joel came into my room when I was alone. He confessed that he has feelings for me and he asked me to leave you and be with him."

Santi showed no emotion as he took in my words, he nodded. "What did you say to him?"

"I told him that I could never do that to you,and that I care too much about you and there was no way I could return his feelings."

"I knew he was interested in you when we first met you. But I didn't think he would do anything about it once he found out we were together."

Tell him the other thing. Ask him about the secret Joel claims Santiago has not confessed.

"He also mentioned something about history repeating itself? he said you're not the good guy you always pretend to be...What was he talking about?"

Santiago was furious. He dropped his fist down loudly against the table. "I can't believe he would bring this up after all these years. I've told him she lied to me too but he won't believe me."

"What are you talking about" I whispered, trying to prevent him from getting anymore mad. "Who is she?"

"He didn't tell you?"

I shook my head. "He told me to ask you."

"Gabriela, this is something that happened a long time ago. There's no reason to bring it up now. Just forget about it." He brushed it off like it is no big deal.

The hell I will.

"Okay so I was hiding the whole Joel thing from you and you went all jealous psycho on me and now that I want to know about this secret between you and your brother you want me to forget about it?" I was pissed off and by the look on his face he didn't like how I was speaking to him.

Good. Now he gets a taste of his own medicine.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine" I muttered. "Then don't expect me to confide in you anymore."

"Gabby don't be like that" he tried to grab my hand but I cringed away from him. "Okay, okay" he sighed. "I'll tell you under one condition..."

I was still a bit wary so I hesitated before asking, "What condition?"

"You have to promise not to interrupt while I tell you everything that happened and I don't want you to keep being mad at me."

"I promise" I said in a softer tone after hearing his second request. To prove my point I scooted my chair closet to him and took his hand in mine.

"Five years ago, when I was about 18 and Joel was 16 he met a girl at a party he went to with some of his friends. He started hanging out with her and would talk about her all the time so when he asked her to be his girlfriend he brought her to the house to introduce her to dad. Her name was Jessica and she was very pretty."

I felt a bit of jealousy at hearing Santi speak about another girl in that way but I didn't dare utter a word, keeping to my promise.

"My father disapproved of her from the beginning,so that made Joel want her even more. He would bring her to the house all the time to make dad mad but our father didn't pay any attention to him. I thought Jessica was a nice girl but then she started acting really weird with me. Every time Joel wasn't around she would do anything to get my attention, she would flirt with me...and I eventually fell for her." he continued. "At first, I refused to betray my brother but she made it very difficult for me. One night she stayed over and she got Joel really drunk and once everyone in the mansion was asleep she came into my room and...a-and we ended up sleeping together. The next day she acted like nothing happened between us and when I demanded for her to tell my brother the truth she refused to say anything and said that she would deny the whole thing."

Little slut.

"After that, I realized what I did was a huge mistake and I knew that she wasn't a good girl for my brother. I decided to keep the whole thing to myself but once my father announced that I would be the one to take over the business she dumped Joel and told him she had cheated on him with me. By then I didn't want anything to do with her so when she tried to get with me I told her that so she left my brother. He said he would forgive her for what she did with me but she confessed she had been playing us both all along. After she left for good.... the relationship with my brother only got worse, he blamed me for everything that happened and the fact that I'm the leader of the cartel only intensified the hate he has towards me. That's why our relationship is so fucked up."

I stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue but he was only looking at me expectantly.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" he asked nervously.

And that was my cue to talk. "Sorry I thought you still had more to say." I laughed. "All I can tell you is that if I ever meet that Jessica girl I will beat the shit out of her."

Santi smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "I thought that after telling you the whole story you were going to take Joel's side. My brother is right, I'm not good."

"No no no no" I got up from my chair and sat on his lap, grabbing his face in my hands. "If there's anyone to blame for this whole thing it's that slut who lied to you both. Yes, you shouldn't have slept with her but everyone makes mistakes. And I'm no one to judge you for something that you feel so bad about. I can see it in your eyes Santi, the regret you feel for what you did." I kissed his lips.

"If I could go back in time I would do anything to prevent my brother from ever meeting Jessica. But what's done is done."

"And Joel is an idiot for blaming this all on you." I said truthfully "But if you want to send Joel on that job with Chamuco then I won't do anything to stop you."

"I know that it was wrong of him to come on to you like that but I can't blame him after what I did." Santiago said to me. "My brother may not feel loyal to me but he is definitely loyal to the cartel. Without a doubt."

"If you say so then I believe you, babe" I nodded. "Do whatever you have to do."

*******

A week had already passed since we received the news about the robbery at the warehouse and still no one else but Santi, me, Chamuco and now Joel knew about what happened.

Chamuco and Joel left yesterday in one of the private Jets to Laredo, determined to find out what went down that night. The others thought they had left for a business meeting that Santiago had sent them to.

"We're leaving to that original bosses meeting tomorrow." Mom told me while I was with her and my father in their room.

Yes, I'm that girl who hangs out with her parents every once in a while. Can you blame me though? I spent half of my life with my parents separated from each other. It makes me happy to see them together.

"So we'reare goanna have the mansion to ourselves again?" I joked. "This calls for a house party!"

"Didn't you already have enough with the one we had a last week?" my father raised an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm joking dad! I doubt Santi will let me; he already told me he has a lot of business meetings to take care of. I'm going to ask him if I can go with him. I hate staying holed up in the mansion all day."

"There's no need for you to do that. I can ask for the guards to take you and the girls out while the men go off to the meetings." Dad said. "I don't want you involved in any cartel business."

Dad had always hated it when I tried to get involved with the cartel business. But I just can't help myself. I don't like being left out in the dark; I want to be informed about what's going on around me. And Santi doesn't share the same opinion as my dad; he doesn't mind sharing with me everything that is going on with both the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels.

I love that he trusts me so much.

"Maybe she just wants to spend time with her boyfriend." Mom said as she put some of her clothes in a suitcase to take on the trip."You're just jealous she's not following you everywhere like she did when she was a little girl. Admit it, Salvador."

"I'll always be the main guy in my little girl's life." Dad kissed my forehead as he walked by me to hand some of his shirts to my mother. "Verdad mi princessa?" (Right princess?)

I laughed. "Always daddy. But now Santi is a big part of my life too, you don't mind sharing the spotlight with him do you?"

"Ouch! My heart just broke into tiny little pieces."

"You sound just like Tio Felix." I pointed out. "Speaking of my uncles, where are they right now?"

"Probably helping your brothers taking care of some business" Dad shrugged. "They left early this morning but they'll be back in time so they can leave with us tomorrow."

Dad had been spending less and less time working for the cartel, it seemed like he spent most of his days hanging out with my mother the most he did with cartels was join the meetings to put in his opinion. Martin seemed to be the one in control of the Gulf Cartel.

"Dad, you've been kind of distant from the cartel lately, do you feel okay...is there a reason you've left the position to Martin now?"

I still hadn't forgotten how my brothers had told me dad had been sick before they brought me to see our father.

"I just feel like it's time Martin to take over for me. I'm too old to be going on trips all the time. The missions we go on sometimes turn into shooting wars and I can't keep up with the young folks anymore." He smiled at me. "But if it's my health you're worried about then you should know I feel better than ever. I'm getting old and I just want to spend my time with the woman I love." He walked behind my mother and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. Most people would find any form of affection between their parents to be gross but when I saw my parents like this it made me happy to know they love each other so much.

I only hope Santi and I have a relationship like theirs when we're their age.

There was a knock in their door and Nessa walked in after my mother called out that the door was open.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt" she apologized to my parents before turning to look at me. "We want you to come hang with us by the pool. Santi is all alone so he asked me to come get you."

"He can't live without me." I told my parents jokingly.

They laughed and my father was the one to say, "Go to Santi before he comes to get you himself."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You just want to get rid of me so you can be alone with mom."

"Guilty as charged" he smirked, reaching out to slap my mom's butt.

Ness let out a whistle. "Get it Mr. Romano!"

"Don't encourage them!" I walked towards Vanessa following to the door. "Now, let's go before I see something that will scar me for life."

I could hear my parents hollering with laughter.

"Love you mi princessa!" dad called out before I closed the door to their room.

*****

After changing in to a black two piece bikini Nessa and I walked out of my room and made our way downstairs and to the backyard where we found Sofi and Daniel playing around in the pool.

Santiago and Leo were sitting in front of the small bar that for obvious reasons was stacked up with every type of alcohol that you've ever heard of around the world. No kidding.

The Bustamante's loved their liquor and they went out of their way to feel any guests at home. The tiny pool bar was located off to the right side where anyone who didn't feel like sitting out in the sun could go hide and have a few drinks.

"It's not even 1 o clock and you guys are already drinking." I frowned down at the beers in their hands.

"It's 5 o clock somewhere..." Leo shrugged, taking a sip from his drink and handing one to Ness who happily accepted it.

They were truly a match made in heaven. They went off to their own little corner leaving me and Santi alone at the bar.

I went to stand next to my boyfriend who wouldn't take his eyes off me since I walked in. "I'm glad my brother isn't here to see you in that bikini because with the way you look right now" he paused, checking me out. "I don't blame him from trying to steal you away from me."

"Um...that's not the type of pick-up line a girl likes to hear...but I'll take it."

He chuckled. "A very fucked up pick-up line, right? Our life sounds like one of those cheesy and overly dramatic novelas that you see on TV."

I shook my head. "Nah. It sounds like a romantic novel."

"What would you call it?"

I pursed my lips in thought, "The Drug Lord and The Sexy Girl." I spread out my hands as if seeing the title in big bold letters in front of me.

"What about Beauty and The Drug Lord?" He joined in on the joke.

I laughed "But then people would say we copied Beauty and The Beast." I pointed out.

The sound of his cell-phone ringing brought our conversation to a halt. He looked at the caller ID and quickly put the phone on his ear.

"Que noticias me tienes Joel?" He answered without a greeting. (What news do you have for me, Joel?)

My ears perked up. Trying to listen in on whatever Joel was saying.

"Are you sure? Have you already let out the word so that we can find them?" Santi asked, but he didn't like the response he got. "I don't care if we have to look for those guys in every damn corner of the world. I want them in Sinaloa and I want them alive! You hear me? And don't you dare show your face here if you come empty handed." He finished the call without letting his brother to speak another word.

The leader of the Sinaloa Cartel was now standing before my eyes, this side of Santiago that I don't know very well because he never lets it out in front of me.

"At least they've made a tiny bit of progress." I spoke cautiously, breaking him always from his thoughts and bringing my Santi back.

"It's not enough. We need those guys to confirm that it was Hector who stole all that merchandise. I want them to lead me to where he is, knowing that son of a bitch he probably ran to hide and is on the move every few weeks."

"Why don't you send out your men to look for him instead?"

"I'm not wasting my time with that. It'll be easier to locate his two little helpers. I'll use them to my advantage so that Hector will tell me where he is without even knowing it."

"What are you goanna do when you find him?" I gulped, knowing Santiago the drug dealer would be the one to answer my question.

"I'll make him tell me the name of the traitor and then I will kill them both."

There was no hesitation in his voice.

No remorse.

And those eyes..

Those beautiful blue eyes held the coldest stare I had ever seen.

*********

Woah there. Santi is a badass. I love it!

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