(A/N: If you understand spanish you can listen to the most beautiful song ever to go with this chapter...video is on the side. Mi Promesa- Pesado)

"We'll be back soon. And you can call us at any time in case of an emergency." Dad told me as we walked down the stairs with all the others. "But I trust Santiago to take care of you." He gave my boyfriend a nod.

The guards were loading all their suitcases in the back of the two SUV's. I gave my parents both a hug goodbye and then walked over to where Santiago was talking to Don Ernesto.

"I trust you, son." the ex-leader told Santiago. "I know you're capable of leading this cartel without my help, but you know you can call me in case you need anything."

"Have a safe trip Don Ernesto" I hugged him. "I'll make sure Santiago doesn't get in any trouble."

That made the old man laugh. "In any case Santi should be the one looking out for you, Gabriela" he pulled away from the hug and smiled at me. "You've become very important to me... and I'm glad my son found someone like you."

"Thank you" I blushed at his bashful words.

"It's time to hit the road, the private plane is waiting for us." his brother Rafael called out as he jumped in to the truck.

I ran over to the other side and gave both Tio Felix and Tio Carlos a quick hug. "I'll see you both soon."

"Of course you will." Tio Felix grinned. "You have to take that boyfriend of yours to meet the rest of the family in Tamaulipas."

"I'm sure it'll happen soon. I want to see grandma Lina too, I haven't seen her in a long time."

"She'll be happy to hear you're coming home. She's been bugging your dad to bring you over since we heard you were in Mexico." Tio Carlos said.

"I'll talk to dad about it as soon as he gets back." I promised them before reaching out for another hug and stepping away to where my friends and my boyfriend were standing.

We watched as the trucks pulled away from the mansion. It was eerily quiet even after the black vehicles were out of sight.

"Let's go to the meeting room. There's a few things we need to discuss." Santi broke the silence.

"Let's go.." Leo nodded pulling away from his girlfriend.

"No no" Santiago surprised everyone by saying, "I want the girls to listen in on this too."

Both, Leo and Daniel were shocked to hear this. Every time the boss called a meeting he always made sure to keep everyone who wasn't as involved with the cartel away from the meeting room, the fact that he asked for my friends to be there proved that he was now taking into consideration that they were trustworthy people.

Santiago walked ahead with my hand in his, he led the group into the large meeting room where they held all the drug cartel related business.

******

"A traitor? There's no way!" Daniel said, unable to believe that there was someone out there with the guts to betray them

"I couldn't believe it either primo" Santiago shrugged "but the proof is there, now what we have to do is find a way to get rid of the son of a bitch. I don't care who it is...the traitor will be killed."

"Have you..." Leo paused, giving me an uneasy look. "I'm sorry if this offends you Gaby... But have you thought about the possibility that it might be a Romano?"

Nessa elbowed him. "LEO!"

"I'm just putting all possibilities out there" he winced.

"There's no way" I shook my head. My dad and brothers would never do that to the people that were helping them. Don Ernesto and my father have been friends for years! "But if it's someone from my family, I want you to discuss it with me before making any rash decisions." I told Santi.

"Fair enough" he nodded.

Could it be possible? No, no...never. This would ruin my relationship with Santiago.

"For now, I need you to fly out to Nuevo León and find some information of your own about Hector's future plans." Santi said to Daniel. "You have to dig deep, find as much information as you can. I know there's many people in his hometown who are dying to see him fail after all the dirty things he's done to reach the position he's in."

Daniel nodded, a far away look in his eyes as he contemplated the stuff he would have to do.

"You're leaving?" Sofi asked looking disappointed.

"Not alone,babe" he grinned. "Pack your bags because you're coming to Monterrey, Nuevo León with me."

My friend broke out into a smile and agreed to go excitedly.

"Leo, you'll have to go back to the ranch and start strategizing with our army in case we need to go into battle to get that stolen merchandise back. As soon as we have word of where it's located we're going in. Understood?"

Leo nodded respectfully at his cousin. "I'll get right on it, man." He grabbed Vanessa's hand and gave it a small kiss. "Coming with me, love?"

Nessa scoffed. "Like you even have to ask! Of course I'm going with you."

After years of being friends we finally all have boyfriends at the same time and they turn out to be related men who belong to the same cartel. And they're dragging us around like we're some prized possession that will follow them anywhere they go!

Being in love makes people do stupid things.

Damn the Bustamante charm.

"What about us?" I looked up at my man.

"You and I will have to stay here, we've got some visitors coming in from the U.S" he said grimly. "Now it's my responsibility to solve this problem."

That's right, now it was up to Santiago Bustamante to solve the problem Hector and his people havecaused. It didn't matter that Hector was the one who stole the drugs, it was still Santi's responsibility to make sure all those packages were delivered to his people in the United States. If this problem wasn't solved by him personally, he would not only lose some very important clients...he could also be killed for not keeping his side of the deal.

"It's settled then?" Leo asked, looking at each and every one of our faces. "We have to show that son of a bitch that he can't mess with us and get away with it. Don't worry primo we have your back on this one."

"Gracias, Leo" Santiago gave his cousin a grateful smile. "Yo se que ustedes siempre estan conmigo en las buenas y en las malas." (Thanks, Leo. I know that you guys are always there for me in the good times and bad times.)

"This is the first time we'll have to go separate ways" Sofia said with a trace of humor in her voice. "If it's this difficult right now...imagine how it's going to be when we're all married."

"Sofia Bustamante, Vanessa Bustmante y Gabriela Bustamante" Daniel laughed. "It does have a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

Oh my God. Only Daniel and Sofia would be the ones thinking about marriage this early in their relationship. They're a match made in heaven, the romantic ones of the group had to end up together.

"And I bet you a hundred bucks you two will be the first ones to tie the knot." Nessa shook her head ruefully. "Our siblings are so damn corny, Leo."

He snorted. "Tell me about it."

Santi pulled out a chair and then patted his knee, beckoning me to sit down with him. "And you two are stubborn and crazy" he said to our friends as he wrapped his arm around my waist. "Don't make fun of them when you're just the same."

Nessa and Leo burst out laughing.

"Dude you're one to talk" Nessa choked out in between laughs. "Y-you and-d Gabby are so damn emotional and serious all the time, you both are so good at hiding your feelings and emotions... but when you can't control them....all hell breaks loose."

I stared at her open-mouthed. "That is so not true!"

"Yes it is" Dany said. "Hey, hey but despite all that, we have to agree that they're the perfect couple to lead this cartel, right?" he turned to the other three who nodded their heads in agreement. "You both have leadership traits that make you a very powerful and dangerous duo."

"Like Bonnie and Clyde" Sofia sighed. "So badass"

"Please make them stop" I buried my face in Santi's neck and I felt him shaking with silent laughter.

"Okay, that's enough!" Santiago yelled. "We've already had some fun talking shit about one another. Time to get to work."

"We gotta go pack. I have to make a few calls before we leave." Daniel pulled on Sofi's hand and they both disappeared out the door.

"Do we have to pack anything?" Nessa asked her boyfriend.

"No, we're leaving right now. It'll only be for a few days so anything we need we can just buy when we get to the ranch." he leaned in to kiss me on the cheek goodbye, Vanessa following after him.

I stood up to give them both a hug.

"We'll be in contact, Leo." Santi did a hand shake with his cousin and then kissed my friend on the cheek. "Let me know if you need anything."

"Will do."

**********

After taking a shower and changing into comfortable clothes to sleep in, I made my way over to Santiago's room for the night. We had agreed on sleeping in the same room together but that was all, despite the fact I love Santi with all my heart he knew I was still not ready to take on the next step in our relationship.

We'd only been dating for two weeks. Even though it felt like months.

I walked in to find him on the edge of the bed with his head on his hands.His white button up shirt undone and the blue tie he had been wearing was hanging loosely around his neck.

He looked up when I closed the door and smiled at me.

I could see the tension in his body and it was obvious it had been a very stressful day for him.

Our friends had been right about a few things, as much as I hate to admit it. Santi is very good at hiding his emotions, his facial expressions are always set to look calm and businesslike...like he's wearing a mask all the damn time. To see him take off that mask when he's with me makes me feel like the luckiest woman in the world.

These are the many sides of Santiago Archivaldo Bustamante that only I get to see.

"Te tienes que relajar mi amor." I reached out to stroke his face with my hands. "Con la ayuda del cartel podremos resolver este problema, tu sabes que no estas solo Santiago." (You've got to relax, my love. With the help of the cartel we'll be able to solve this problem, you know you're not alone in this Santiago.)

"I know" he kissed my hand softly. "But I still can't help worrying. I don't want to disappoint my father or the cartel. I want them to see that I'm worthy of being the Don."

"Don Ernesto already knows you're the best for the job, you don't have to prove yourself."

"You make all this so much easier for me Gabriela." he looked up at me with the most sincere love in his eyes. "With you by my side I feel like I can do anything."

In that moment I felt a sense of Deja Vu.

I was very young when my father first started The Gulf Cartel, but I remember how every night after he came home after a long day at work, looking exhausted and stressed. He always confided in my mother and told him all his doubts and his fear of failure...my mother, Victoria was always there assuring him that everything would be alright... and every time he heard her say that he would stare at her lovingly and thank her for being his wife.

"Like mother, like daughter" I whispered.

Santiago chuckled, not expecting to hear that from me."What?"

"I'm scared, Santiago"

"Why?"

"Because I'm falling in love with you more and more every day" I answered him with tears in my eyes. "I'm throwing myself into the same fate as my mother...a fate that I promised myself I would never put myself in."

"Well that's too bad" he wiped one of my tears. "Because there's no going back...for either of us. Ahora que te tengo conmigo no te dejare ir tan facilmente." (Now that you're with me I won't let you go that easily.)

The tone behind those words were spoken softly and lovingly, but I knew behind those words was a promise.

A promise he would never break.

___________________________________________________



Ay dios mio! I know it's been a lifetime since I last updated. I'M SORRY! LO SIENTO! There is no way I can excuse why I haven't continued this story so I'm going to tell you guys the truth: I got stuck.

Yes, there's so many ideas for this story in my mind and yes I know how it'll end but sometimes it's so hard to put all those ideas into paper! I love this story with all my heart and there is not a day that I don't think of ways to continue on with it!

I had to go back and re-read this story so I could remember what was going on...how embarrassing -.- and that's kind of a big deal for me because I HATE reading stuff that I wrote...some of you might have guessed by all the spelling and grammatical errors you'll find here and there and EVERYWHERE!

I made some minor changes, a few corrections here and there but nothing that will affect the plot.

It was hard enough having to sit down and force myself to write this chapter....but once I got into it the words just started flowing from my fingers and into the keyboards....I'm so cheesy. SMH.

I've got my mojo back and I'll take advantage of it while I can.

As you can tell...things are finally starting to get pretty damn serious for Gabby and Santi. And the drama is only beginning!

I plan for this story to be 35 parts long...at the most 40

So I'm almost there! AND I WILL FINISH IT.

There will be a sequel. And I'll continue to write is as soon as this one is done! I'll try to write 10 chapters before I post it up so that I won't keep you guys waiting for months like I did with this story.

Again, I apologize to all you readers out there. I know many of you will probably have to go back and read from the beginning to understand what's going on. I've had to do that before with some of my favorite stories on this site so there's no need to be rude to me or any of the other fans of the story.

Remember I don't get paid to do this. It's all free! And I do it all for you <3

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