The silence sat heavily between them as Yuñior looked into the darkness of the night. A week had passed since he’d last seen Diadra, and he was rapidly approaching the hours before the arrival of Irena. The tears were more for himself. Eduardo understood this more than most: the bullet wound, the amante meeting the fiancé, his grandparent’s arrival, and the impending showdown with Enrique Villareal weighed on his son.
“Yuñior, do you wish to share with me the true source of the tears?”
“Honestly? No, Papa, I do not,” he said. “The next year is going to be the most difficult of my life, but I have a plan. I cannot share this plan with you since I know you will not approve, but in the long run, everything shall work out as it should. Also, I shall miss Ramon. He had a way about him that made work for the men in the barns easy. I must find a replacement once we know what made him ill.”
“Is there more you wish to share?”
“Sí, Papa,” he said. “I do not wish his children to work the fields or the barns. I also do not wish the young men to come sniffing about Zeta, trying to take advantage of her grief. Is there a job in the house for her?”
“We are fully staffed,” Eduardo said, starting the cart again towards the house. “You could always create a job for her. She has completed the majority of her primary education and would be ready to enter the university if that were the path Ramon started her on...but I don’t think he did.”
Yuñior remained quiet as the cart rolled to the house, and his father parked the vehicle and plugged it in for charging. This was one of the few occasions that neither Tonda, his father’s right hand, nor Gunther did not accompany the men. It was also one of the few occasions where Yuñior had time alone with his father. Eduardo spoke freely to his first born.
“All of the women who work in our home are either related or too old to be desirable,” Eduardo told him. “It is that way by design, so thinking what you are thinking may not be plausible.”
“Plausible, possible, and a game changer, if it were to unfold as I am imagining,” Yuñior said with a devilish stare.
“Yes, but in what capacity?” Eduardo asked, looking at the back door. The house remained quiet as all others slept. It would be hours before the remainder of the house was awake and stirring about.
“I really could use an assistant. The sheer number of meetings, follow-up calls, and the like, actually is quite overwhelming. She could be my Marianna,” Yuñior said, “I mean if your Marianna is willing to train her.”
“Nope, if you wish Zeta to serve as your assistant, you will train her. Send the señorita for schooling and certifications and make a space for the lady in your office, but she can’t stay in the house,” Eduardo said.
“No worries. I shall build her a house of her own, close by, so I can shoot at any men sniffing around her door,” Yuñior said.
“You are taking this personally, mijo,” Eduardo said, “and she will be provided for as the young women of the lands are. I can make her a match of a good young man and she can start a family of her own.”
“Or I can train her to be a bad ass assassin who wears high heels, takes notes, and proceeds me into every room to frighten the hell out any cheeky necktie sitting at the table,” Yuñior said. “I wish a different future for Zeta than being a breeder for the next generation.”
“A breeder? Is that how you see the women of this land who provide our work force and sustain our way of living?”
“No, I don’t but Ramon...he took care of me when you sent me to oversee those barns,” Yuñior said. “Yes, I knew how the process worked, and as your son, I really had to do nothing other than show up and look intimidating, but Ramon taught me. Papa, I can walk into any barn and listen to the machines and know which ones are out of sync or if there is a bolt loose. He taught me that and he didn’t have to. In return, I shall take care of his daughter and ensure a bright future for her.”
Eduardo adjusted his stance, standing toe to toe with his son, daring him to flinch as he spoke. “Is this woman Diadra that you are seeing making you soft, mijo?”
“On the contrary, she is making me see myself differently, not only as the man that I am, but the man that I could be,” Yuñior answered, not flinching or moving a muscle. “I like me better with her in my life. I can see more. I can be more. Good night, Papa. Te quiero.”
“Goodnight, son. I love you as well,” he said, watching his eldest walk up the stairs. In the morning, Eduardo would sit down with Marianna and look over plans for the land and to find a mentor and guide for Ramon’s sons. He would also talk to her about training for Zeta. Maybe the changes in Yuñior were also helping him see their world in a new light.
He’d been surrounded by enough darkness to last them all a lifetime.
THE IDEA CAME TO EDUARDO Delgado at the crack of dawn. He was up making coffee and waiting for Yuñior to arise. A solution was always present, and the one needed was right around the corner, figuratively and literally. Tired of waiting, he bounded the stairs to Yuñior’s room to find him asleep, and Isabella curled up in bed on top of the covers, snuggled up in her favorite blanket.
He didn’t know what the bond was between his oldest son and oldest daughter, but for a reason he couldn’t fathom, the child could not stay away from her brother. When he traveled, Isabella brooded around the house until he returned. A similar connection also existed between the father and his first born, although he wouldn’t admit to brooding when Yuñior was away. The second Eduardo entered the room, Yuñior’s eyes were open. In the dark, he stared at his father, initially saying nothing until his father touched his foot.
“She came in after we returned from Ramon’s. I was too tired to take her back, so I allowed her to remain,” he said to his father. “Is everything alright, Papa?”
“Yes, as soon as the sun is all the way up, I have something to show you that will serve the needs you seek,” Eduardo said, flashing an uncharacteristic smile.
“You are smiling and did not kill anyone, therefore I’m excited to see this as well. I shall shower and dress and be ready,” Yuñior said, getting up too fast and wincing in pain from his shoulder.
“Let me look at that wound,” Eduardo said, flicking on the light. Gently, he lifted the bandage, checking for pus or discoloration around the stitching. Lowering his head, he sniffed at the wound for sour odors indicating an infection. “It will need to be cleaned before Irena arrives. Why is she coming back again?”
“She cannot get enough of my handsome face, Papa. What is the woman to do?” Yuñior said and found himself chuckling.
“You sure it’s nothing else?”
“Papa, I do not know that woman biblically,” he said with straight face.
“The other woman, Diadra, you seem to know her in the biblical sense,” Eduardo said, feeling uncomfortable broaching the subject of his son’s sex life.
“Papa, I can quote you chapter and verse, including when Peter went to the well to fetch the water to wash Jesus’ feet, without the book in my hand,” Yuñior said, laughing loudly. It was a foreign sound to Eduardo’s ears but one that warmed his heart. “To be honest, Papa, I think it was the book of John when Jesus began to wash the feet of his disciples. Ademas, it may take more than seven verses to clear my dirty mind of that woman.”
Eduardo found himself squinting as he asked, “You really like her, don’t you?”
“Like is not the correct word to describe what I feel for my Diadra,” he said, looking out the window. His eyes went back to the bed. “I have slept in this bed most of my life, and until she laid down beside me, I have never felt more rested. She calms me. Most of the time, I spend plotting ways to painfully kill people in the most excruciating manner, but she makes me want to kill them with one shot, so they do not suffer. Does that make sense?”
Eduardo scratched his eyebrow to stop it from twitching.
“See, I knew you would understand. Ademas, if I bring in Zeta, who will travel with me constantly, Irena will spend less tim
e worrying about Diadra and focus on Zeta. The girl in turn will develop a thick skin, and I shall be free to hold the intensive biblical lessons with Diadra. It is a good plan,” Yuñior said, clapping his hands. “The sun is almost up. I shall wash and join you for coffee. Diez minutos, Papa.”
“Diez minutos,” he replied, walking around the bed and lifting Isabella into his arms. He understood now what the man with the scar, Brody the Johnson meant. His son was a calculating sociopath with homicidal tendencies. Eduardo Delgado was proud.
YUÑIOR FOLLOWED HIS father out the front door and down the main stairs of the Delgado home. Usually, they would turn to the right at the base of the stairs to head down the walk path towards the garden or around the right side of the house to the pool. Rarely did anyone walk around the left side of the home since both his and Andres’ wings of the house protruded from that portion of the domicile.
The two wings of the home, once belonging to Eduardo himself and the other to Andres, his brother, were now assigned to his sons. Each wing included an ensuite master bedroom, three additional bedrooms, and a small eat-in kitchenette with an additional bathroom with a tub. Yuñior’s wing was partially furnished, and it would be the responsibility of his wife to complete the remainder of the décor. Andres had recently started to order gaudy modern furniture for his wing, which closely resembled pieces that Salvador Dali would have created on a bender.
The additional wings of the house were shielded by a high wall of vegetative vines which covered a wrought iron fence Yuñior never knew existed. He didn’t hide his surprise when his father released an unseen latch, opening a gate which emptied into a courtyard overgrown with high grass.
“Watch your step, mijo, we don’t want to come upon any surprises from this grass,” Eduardo said, using a walking stick to swing through the dense foliage and come to a clearing. “I almost forgot this was here.”
Yuñior placed his hands on his hips as he looked at the neat cottage which could use a bit of work, as well as relocating any creatures who may have chosen to make the spot home. “Papa, que esto?”
“It used to be the groundskeepers’ home,” Eduardo said. “It is three bedrooms, one bath, an eat-in kitchen, and a decent sized living space. By our standards, it would feel cramped for four people, but it is larger than the home Ramon’s widow currently occupies.”
“Really,” Yuñior replied, walking up to the porch and hearing the sound of animals scurrying, slithering, and scampering away. “What are you thinking?”
“If the woman is willing to serve as the caretaker of your and Andres’s wings of the house, she can live here. The boys can be trained to become the new groundskeepers and the girl can walk around the house to come home from work while still being close to her family,” Eduardo said, “but the revamp and maintenance of this comes out of your pocket.”
“Would it be cheaper to tear it down and build new?”
“No, the woodworking in the home is solid mahogany. My father had this home built by our craftsmen. If you hire the crew and have them start the day after tomorrow, they can move in after the funeral and not have to go back to the house where Ramon’s life ended,” Eduardo said.
Yuñior held up his fist to his father who stared at it in question. “We should bump the fist,” he said to his father.
“No, we shouldn’t,” Eduardo said, raising his hand to bump fists with his son anyway.
“This is good. I shall send for the girl and her family to show them this property and speak of the job for the boys as well as the new assignment for Zeta,” Yuñior said. “I think this will be a good start. It will also give the young women on Las Tierras another role model outside of Marianna and Julianna, a woman who is not related who gets a chance to excel. This makes me feel good in my heart and my head.”
“Well, this is going to cost you about thirty thousand feelings in your pocket,” Eduardo said, “plus Zeta’s training and salary.”
“Not really. I can have Micah train her in spreadsheets in less than a day and pay him a few hundred pesos. A couple of days with Marianna on office management, a few lessons with the Lady of the Land on manners, posture and bearing, and then Andres can train her as an assassin in between times and we are golden,” Yuñior said, smiling in a way that made Eduardo take a step back. “What, too much teeth? Brody the Johnson said when I smile, it looks like I am ready to ride through the village and kill all the kittens to make myself a coat of many colors.”
Eduardo burst into laughter. The accuracy of the description made him laugh even harder. He stepped onto the front porch which gave way under his weight, but Yuñior moved quickly, catching his father from falling through the rotted wood.
“You are fast,” Eduardo noted.
“Faster than you even realize,” Yuñior replied, righting his father and passing back the wallet he’d taken from Eduardo’s front pocket without him even feeling the lift.
“Why in the hell you take my wallet?”
“Because you were not expecting me to,” Yuñior said with a wink. “I like this place. It shall make a nice home for Ramon’s family, a safe space where no men would dare wander into this yard without feeling my ire.”
“There are times when you scare me. I’m glad you’re on my side,” Eduardo said.
“Always. No one shall ever come between my family or me and my Papa,” he answered, walking off the porch while carefully watching his father take steps. “Speaking of Daddies, I arranged a meeting between me and Diadra’s Papa when I took her home.”
Eduardo lapsed into a string of curse words in Spanish, making Yuñior laugh loudly as they waded back through the high grass to the gate. Over breakfast, he walked his father through the meeting ending with, “To perfectly sum up the interaction, think of when you met Big Sarge. It was like that but without the punch in my face.”
Over eggs, he shared with his father the meeting. He spoke with Andres and Micah about his plan. He spoke with Tonda and Marianna about Zeta and her family. He ordered workers to come and clear the house and start the work. All of it occurred before noon and the arrival of Irena, who sucked out all the excitement buzzing in the air for the rest of his day.
The arranged fiancé whined about the heat. Irena spent thirty minutes complaining about the humidity from being so close to the Equator. Yuñior explained calmly that he had no control over the zero degrees of latitude which drew a line through the middle of the earth and caused it to be so fucking hot. Finally, nearing the end of his patience, Yuñior suggested she change into a suit and enjoy the pool.
“Only if you get in with me,” she mewled, griping the entire time about the ice cubes melting too fast in the glass of lemon aid.
“Irena, is there a matter you wish to discuss with me or is your plan to make me fantasize about ways to be free of you until your departure?” Yuñior asked.
“No, I’m just so frustrated right now, I truly don’t know what to do. I feel like little ants are crawling all over me and I just want to scream,” she yelled.
It wasn’t the first solution that came to mind but it was the quickest one he could think of to calm her the hell down. Getting the wound wet wasn’t a brilliant idea either, but he’d showered and came out no worse for wear, so a couple of laps in warm water would not matter as much in his estimation. He dove into the pool, slicing cleanly through the water and swimming to the shallow end where she stood. Diving under the water, Yuñior came up next to her, wrapping one arm around her neck.
“Lean back into me,” he said, swimming slowly, backstroking with one arm until they reached the deep end of the pool.
“Yuñior, what are you doing?” she asked, loving the feel of his body so close against hers.
“I know what you need. Let me take care of you,” he whispered in her ear.
“Take care of me? What are you planning...oh my...oh my,” Irena whispered as his hand slid between her thighs.
Irena’s mouth fell open. Greedy hands reached for him, trying to feel wh
at he’d been sharing with the other woman, Diadra, but he avoided her fingers. Instead, he pressed into her back, biting down on her shoulder, bringing her pleasure, until he heard her voice catch, and she tensed, moaned, and shuddered. A light kiss was placed on her shoulder as he pushed off from the wall and began to lap the pool.
“Ed, that was, surprising,” she said when he finally stopped his laps. “Do I need to return the favor?”
“No, not necessary,” he told her as Zeta came to the side of the pool. Her face hung low as she addressed him.
“Señor Delgado, I am told you sent for me,” Zeta said, refusing to make eye contact with him.
Yuñior noticed her body language and found a surge of excitement course through him at the thought of turning the mouse into a tiger. He didn’t smile when he spoke, afraid of giving off the wrong signal. “Give me a moment to get changed, Zeta, and we can talk.”
“Sí, Señor,” the young girl said, almost shuffling her feet as she walked. Irena’s eyes went straight to Yunior’s face, the anger evident when she spoke.
“Who the hell is she?” Irena asked, pouting.
“Zeta is going to be my new assistant,” Yuñior said, climbing out of the pool.
“An assistant? What do you need with an assistant and why her? She doesn’t look like she even knows how to turn on a computer, let alone handle the level of business skills required to aid you,” Irena challenged.
“Your problem, Irena, is that you think too small. I wish you could think bigger, outside of just yourself,” Yuñior said, blowing a kiss to plant the first seed to an uneven garden.
Chapter Five- Energy
Andres stared at his older brother with no expression on his face as he calmly explained to not only him, but to Micah and to Angel what he needed. Zeta also sat, looking at her hands while he spoke as her mother, Dona, who sat as well, uncertain what this new role meant for her only daughter. Yuñior also asked the Lady of the Lands, his father, Marianna and Tonda to join in along with them as well as Gunther and Irena.
Becoming the Czar Page 5
