I nod to let him know that I hear him, unable to say much else. Let them do all the talking? I hardly have any choice in the matter.
Up ahead, three extremely intimidating men stand off to the side of the hall, wearing matching pairs of sunglasses with their arms folded carefully out in front of them. Something tells me that these are the guys we’re looking for, and as we slow down, Michael nods to them. Joseph threads his fingers through mine.
“Señor Wright? Paolo has offered you a ride. We have the car parked out front, waiting, but Paolo wishes to speak to you as well. Follow us,” the man in the middle says, taking quick stock of our surroundings before gesturing down the hall.
“Of course,” Michael says, sharing an unreadable expression with Joseph as we follow after the three men.
The small airport is practically empty aside from the six of us walking to the front, where a white Range Rover in pristine condition is idling at the front curb. This must be our ride.
Michael opens the door for me and I slide in, still not sure if any of this is real. I don’t know whether it’s the lack of sleep, or my nerves, or probably a combination of both. I don’t know what to expect from this Paolo guy, but I have to put my full trust and faith in Michael and Joseph. At least I have them on my side…
Once we’re all seated inside the Range Rover, the man who spoke to us before slides into the front passenger’s seat, turning to face us as he pushes his sunglasses up on top of his head. “We know of where your daughter is located,” he says, his accent thick.
I take a deep breath and nod.
“But there is a problem. The man who has her, he has very powerful protection. The Escobars are feared. We are not sure there can be much done if they do not want to give her over.”
My vision goes hazy. I fight against the hopelessness that’s trying to drown everything out inside of me. “What are we going to do, then?”
Michael rubs my shoulder, his voice low, “We’re not just going to stop there, Lana. I don’t give a damn if we have to hire an entire army to extract Olivia, that’s exactly what we’ll do. But first, we need to speak with Paolo. There might be a better way of handling things. Can you take us there?” he asks the man.
“We will bring you to Paolo. It’s not far from here.”
The car pulls away from the airport, bright city lights turning into colorful blurs as we fly past. I wish that I could enjoy the scenery, remembering how Javier used to talk about the small town he grew up in, how gorgeous it was, but I bury the thought, bitterly. The very last thing I want to think about is anything that makes Javier smile.
As the city lights fade away behind us, the road turns narrow and winding, and it’s not long before we’re driving down a real dirt road, somewhere deep in the lush green forests. With the windows rolled down, warm air whips at my face, keeping me alert. I can smell the sweet scent of flowers from somewhere nearby, my brain picking up random thoughts as we go.
Joseph’s rubbing small circles along my lower back, while Michael keeps his hand firmly planted on my knee. God knows I don’t know what I would’ve done without them — how I would’ve even made it this far. As absolutely shaken as I am, at least I have them to draw some of my strength from. Their confidence in getting Olivia back helps soothe me, even though I don’t think it will be as easy as they seem to think.
I see the how deeply the dark circles are etched under both their pairs of eyes, and I know they’re worried too. Olivia means a lot to both of them, and even though I don’t quite know what to make of that, I can’t help but appreciate it nonetheless. I know neither one of them have slept any, not with that kind of determination in their eyes.
I settle myself between the two of them, keeping my eyes on the darkness ahead of us, waiting.
24
MICHAEL
I lose track of time, it’s so easy in a place like this. With nothing but the jungles to go off of, I can’t tell how far we’ve traveled, or how long it will take for us to arrive at our destination. Lana is tense beside me, her whole body on full alert.
“We are here,” Paolo’s driver says in thickly accented English, the headlights of the car sweeping over an iron wrought security fence, where a gate is creaking open as the driver stops and gives a wave to a camera off to the side.
Lana leans forward, her eyes darting from one side to the other, and behind her, Joseph looks at me, his eyebrows knitted together. I know exactly what he’s thinking. This is the last place we want Lana to be.
Once we pull up the long drive to the front of an expensively crafted modern-looking home, both the driver and the other man get out of the car, the driver opening my side door first.
“You know what? I think it would be best if you stay here with Joseph,” I say to Lana who is getting ready to slide out behind me.
She frowns. “No! I want to go inside and talk to this guy, too.”
Joseph gently places his hand on her shoulder, his eyes still on me. “Michael’s right, as much as I hate to admit it. There’s probably a bunch of trigger-happy armed men crawling all over this place. It would just be safer if someone stayed out here with you while Michael goes inside and handles business. Besides, Paulo likes Michael best, I think.”
Lana studies my face for a moment before slumping back against the seat. “I don’t like this. Not one bit. I hate having to stay in here like some child, waiting. Olivia is my baby. Mine.”
I know she’s just cranky, and only riding on fumes, so I reach out and tuck a stray curl behind her ear, Lana leaning against my hand, her eyes fluttering shut. “I know she is. So let me take care of this so we can get her, okay?”
She nods as Joseph pulls her against his chest, and I shut the door without another backward glance. I hate seeing her so torn up like this.
Paolo’s men gesture for me to follow behind them quickly, and I’m led up the few long steps to the entrance of his place, where just as I had imagined, two armed guards stand, having a full-on conversation with both men I’m with in fluent Spanish. Deep down I’m pissed off at myself for not having kept up with my Spanish lessons from Wellington-Meade, only catching clips of what they are saying here and there.
“Paolo is inside. Waiting for you, come,” they say.
His place is tastefully decorated, not as extravagant as one would expect from a drug cartel overlord, funny enough. As I walk into a large formal dining room, Paolo is seated at one end of a long table, a plate of something that smells absolutely delicious steaming in front of him.
“Ah, Michael Wright. Please, have a seat by me,” he says gesturing to the open seat next to him, across from the same man I had met before, Ramone.
“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice,” I say to him, nodding my head in his direction as I take a seat. Hopefully, no one can hear how loud my stomach is rumbling since I haven’t eaten anything in at least twelve hours or so.
“But of course. Now, let’s get down to this nasty business with the Escobars. I know them well enough, Julio Escobar is my rival, yet we’ve been able to keep it more so civilized than some of the other smaller groups. I believe we can help you get the little girl back, but…” He folds his hands out in front of him, something glinting in his eyes. “I will need something in return.”
I fully expect this, of course, because nothing is ever free. “What is it that you would like in return?”
Settling back into his chair, he levels his gaze at me, studying me perhaps. Finally, he shrugs his shoulders. “I want an interest in your business. You see, I am in a certain business that profits well enough, but I believe in keeping up with changing times. It would help my efforts considerably to have your company invested in me, and have American money pouring into my accounts, now that everything within my empire has changed so drastically. I need to stake a claim, to legitimize everything, so to speak.”
As much as it pains me, I understand where he’s coming from. And even after all the hard work my mother did to ensure that the b
usiness was handled with care, and turned into something booming and thriving, I was going to have to get that all up for Lana. “We can offer you 20% of the company.”
A slow smile spreads across Paulo’s face, but he simply shrugs again. “Hmm. At your business’s valuation, I’m going to need at least 40%. Not so much that I will have a controlling stake in it, but substantial enough. With such resources, I could make sure that the Escobar cartel will soon cease to be an issue here. No one will speak of them again once I’m through.”
I fight the sick feeling in my stomach, reminding myself why we’re here in the first place. “Let me make the call, first,” I say to him, pulling out my cell phone.
Joseph picks up on the first ring. “What did he say?”
I keep my voice level. “Paolo says he can help us. He is going to need 40% of the business, however.”
“Give him whatever the hell he wants,” Joseph practically growls. “Tell him we have a deal.”
Pocketing my phone, I give Paulo my best business smile. He’s a shark, there’s no doubt about it, and it might lead to trouble down the road, but Olivia’s worth it. Her sweet smile is all I can think about. “We have a deal. But first,” I say, watching the way Paolo’s eyes light up, “I will need you to trust me to sort out all of the business arrangements once this whole thing blows over. Can you do that?”
He simply waves me off, looking as though he considers me an old friend all of a sudden. “But of course. I believe that you are a man of your word, Michael Wright. We can certainly set up a meeting once the little girl is taken care of. I will have my people call your people, as they say.”
We both stand up, and I stick my hand out for him to shake first, thanking him for his time and help.
--
“But I don’t understand. Who is he?” Lana asks as she sits down on the hotel bed. “Is this a man we should really be trusting?”
“I understand your apprehension, believe me. But we’ve been working with Paolo for some time now, we have a good understanding of how he works, anyway. He inherited his father’s cartel, but they’re not like the Escobars. For one thing, Paulo has been trying to turn his father’s so-called empire around… He’s wanting to legitimize it I guess. He’s investing in his country, he claims, and we’ve been helping him. As far as we know, everything seems to be checking out.”
Joseph nods, leaning up against the wall. “I wouldn’t say that Paolo is good people necessarily, but he will help us.”
Lana’s eyes narrow at me before she looks over at him. “And why do you think he would help us? What is he getting out of this?”
“Oh you know, the usual. He just wants what everybody else once. Money. Nothing we can handle,” Joseph says, playing it off.
She doesn’t seem to buy it though. “Nothing you can’t handle? How much money are we talking, here?” She turns to face me as if I’m going to contradict what Joseph saying.
“It doesn’t matter. Even if Paulo would’ve asked for everything we own, I think Dave and I can both agree we would’ve given it to him, no questions asked.”
25
JOSEPH
It takes me a moment after rolling over in bed, to realize that I’m not in my bed at home, and instead, I’m in a cramped hotel room that smells like stale cigarette smoke, the soft breathing of Michael coming from the other bed. I reach over, remembering that Lana had fallen asleep in this bed right next to me, but all I grab is empty sheets. I wipe the bleariness from my eyes, searching the dark room until I find her.
The bright red numbers on the alarm clock read 6:02. Yawning, I slowly pull myself up out of the bed, stretching my arms overhead. Being away from home, away from the comfort of my real bed, only leaves me appreciating it even more.
I pad barefoot over to the opened balcony door, where Lana’s standing, leaning against the railing. The breeze catches her dark hair, tossing it around as she overlooks the watery city lights around us.
“Be careful,” I say softly. Lana jolts on the spot, but the tension quickly leaves her shoulders as I go to stand next to her.
She pulls away from the railing to look at me. Even though we’re in the middle of downtown Dosquebradas, it’s still quiet out. I don’t blame her for coming out here and catching some fresh air.
We stand there for a few minutes in silence before I finally find the right words I want to say to her. “I couldn’t really sleep, either.”
She pulls her arms around herself, nodding. “All I can think about is whether Olivia understands what’s happening. She’s so smart… I keep thinking that she’s probably trying to talk Javier into taking her back. Or maybe…maybe she’s just a scared little girl who just wants to go home.”
“I can see her trying to talk to him, sure. I’m pretty damn sure she could convince anyone to do anything, honestly,” I say, the hint of a smile my voice. I’ve never been a real kid person, but Olivia is definitely a special case in my eyes. Clearing my throat, I spread my arms out across the top of the railing, careful not to lean too much of my weight against it, just in case. “I want you to move back in with us, Lana. When all this is over, and before you say anything,” I say, watching as she immediately tries to interrupt, “I mean it. Even if you don’t want to be with me or Michael. I just want to make sure you’re safe, and that Olivia is, too.”
Lana is quiet for a moment, clenching and unclenching her hands out in front of her, chewing on her bottom lip. “But I do want to be with you. That was always the problem…it certainly doesn’t help that Olivia misses you and Michael so much, either. But you know me. Money can’t buy me happiness… Or my love, for that matter.”
I cup her cheek with my hand, her soft skin so warm. “I already know that. That’s one of the reasons that you stand out so much. Your integrity…how much you want to fight to earn what you have.”
“It’s the only way I feel comfortable,” she replies quietly.
“Ever since Mom died…it’s like there’s been this weird void inside of me. Like an emptiness. I kept thinking that if I sat still for even a moment, or let my guard down, I would fall right into this void, and never be able to crawl out of it. I threw myself into everything I could get my hands on, chasing all these stupid adventures like some kind of adrenaline junkie. I knew that if I kept pushing the limits, stepping my toe over the imaginary line, something would end up happening to me. It was only just a matter of time, really. I knew I wasn’t completely invincible, but that never stopped me. And then? I just didn’t care. None of it mattered to me anymore…until it did.” I take another deep breath and continue on. “Laying in that bed for months…it would’ve been the absolute end of me if it weren’t for you, Lana. You were the only thing that kept me sane, you know?”
Behind us, the floor creaks as Michael steps out onto the balcony. “I’m guessing I’m not the only one who is having problems sleeping, then?”
“I didn’t sleep much,” Lana admits. “What about you?” she asks him, studying his face intently.
“Well, like I said, I didn’t really get much —”
But she cuts him off, shaking her head slowly. “I don’t mean did you have any problems sleeping. I mean how do you feel? Do you feel the same way your brother does? About me?”
He stops short, his eyes darting between the two of us. “Yes. I do.”
Lana sucks in a quick breath, looking up at the stars overhead. “Do you two understand that I’m not going to be able to choose between you? Not now… Not ever. I just can’t. I know that probably makes me sound like some kind of horrible, selfish person but…that’s just the way it is. That’s how I feel.”
“There’s no need for you to feel selfish, we already understand that,” Michael says, catching my gaze and nodding as if to double check with me.
“You can’t help how you feel. Just like we can’t help it, either,” I add, taking another step closer to her.
“We’ve always worked best as a team, anyway. We can love you better, together. B
oth you and Olivia.” Michael’s voice is low, and I’m surprised as it’s the first time I’ve heard him finally use the word love.
I go to open my mouth, to finally tell her myself the words I’ve been trying to string together somehow, but Michael’s phone rings loudly into the night, startling all three of us.
He retreats back into the bedroom, and barely a minute later comes back out once the balcony. “The meeting is set. We have three hours.”
Silent tears fill Lana’s eyes as we all look out at the first light of dawn, just peeking out over the horizon ahead.
26
LANA
The ride to the so-called neutral territory Paolo and the Escobars agreed upon, surprisingly takes less time than driving to Paolo’s home. The man armed with the assault rifle next to me mentions that it’s because the Escobars are getting bolder, though I’m not exactly sure what he means by that. Whatever it is, it doesn’t sound good.
The forests of Colombia are very humid, and by the time we stop at some kind of checkpoint, I’m already dripping with sweat, and I pull my hair up off my neck.
We make it another mile or so before three different black SUVs block our way down the road. There are easily ten different men armed to the teeth with varying large guns, standing outside of these SUVs. Worried, I look over at Michael who seems much calmer than how I feel on the inside.
Ramone, the man who Paolo sent to escort us, turns back to face me. “This could be dangerous,” he says, before directing his attention to Michael and Joseph. “We don’t fully know what to expect.”
It hits me all at once, just how much danger I’m putting both of them in by having them here with me. “You don’t have to do this,” I tell them, even though my chest tightens with each word.
Joseph snorts. “Of course we’re going to do this. There was never any question. It’s too late to back out of this now.”
BILLIONAIRE BROTHERS: A MFM MENAGE ROMANCE Page 12
