by Dave Daren
“I would be honored,” I replied, though I was fairly certain that the matriarch hadn’t been asking.
“Good,” the woman replied as she began to chop bell peppers with the large knife in her hand. “And you can call me Juliana.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said.
She lifted an eyebrow at me, and her smile became a little tighter, the way my mother had looked at me when I had said something wrong, and I gave her an apologetic look.
“I mean, yes, Juliana,” I corrected. “You can call me Rob.”
“Rob?” she asked with a little giggle. “A lawyer named Rob. No wonder my son likes you so much.”
“Have you talked to him in the last few days?” I questioned while I stepped toward the matriarch, my meeting with Osvaldo forgotten as I thought about their son, and the solitary confinement that he’d been put in.
“I talked to him yesterday morning,” she replied. “He’s eager to come home.”
There was an unspoken question in the look she gave me, but I only smiled and nodded my head since I was sure that her husband would want to be the one to tell her the good news.
“I should go talk to the boss,” I told her. “Do you need any help with dinner when I’m done?”
“No, no,” the beautiful Cuban woman said as she waved me away with her knife. Her spirit seemed lifted, and she hummed to herself as she went back to chopping.
I peered through the sliding glass door before I pulled it open and saw that my employer was leaning against the balcony railing as he stared out into the city. The lights of Miami had already begun to turn on as dusk fell across the bustling metropolis. The last rays of sunshine faded on the horizon, and the deep blue-black of night had already begun to usher in as the bright mango of sunset darkened to burnt umber.
“Mr. Fuentes,” I said as I stepped out and then shut the door behind me. “I understand you wanted to speak with me?”
The wind picked up to push me back a step before I gained my footing. The high rise condo had a constant breeze that brought the tangy scent of briny ocean to the heavens, and I took in a deep breath of the relaxing air as I walked forward.
“Jipato,” the scarred cartel man said as he glanced in my direction.
He had hung his suit jacket over the back of the chair next to him, and he held a glass tumbler filled with amber liquid in his beefy hands. His formidable scowl melted into a smile that flashed his three golden teeth, and the tension that had gripped me relaxed.
“Is there anything that I can do for you?” I asked as I stood next to him, the balcony railing to my right, and the city far below.
“I wanted to hear how things went with the judge,” my employer said before he took a long swig of his drink. “Alvaro said it went well. But I want to hear all of the details from you.”
“Yes, sir,” I said as I wiped my hands on my suit pants. “Well, the judge accepted your terms. He’ll give your men leniency when they come through his court, and we’ll keep what we found out of the hands of the DA.”
“Good,” the large man nodded. “I’m glad he was smart about it. It would’ve been a hassle if he’d decided to do something stupid.”
“Of course,” I agreed.
My stomach did a flip at the implication that he would’ve hurt or killed the judge, and I wondered if Alvaro really would kill a woman and child.
“Did he give you too hard a time?” the scarred man next to me asked.
“Not with Alvaro there,” I said with a small smile. “Though he did request fifty-thousand dollars donated to his campaign rather than forty-thousand.”
The beefy man’s laughter burst from his chest so loud that it was like a gunshot, and my heart skipped a beat as I stared at the intimidating man while he chuckled to himself.
“He’s an opportunistic little bastard,” Osvaldo said as he shook his head. “But that’s good for us. It means he’ll be easier to work with. You always want to know what drives a man.”
“Yes, sir,” I said with a nod as my pulse slowed to a normal rhythm. “The judge is driven by greed.”
“Men like that are good for business,” my employer told me. “Now, what about my son and his little friend?”
“They will be released in the morning,” I informed the intimidating man. “I already had an appointment with the Everson Juvenile Detention Center for nine a.m. so I gave him that as a deadline.”
“Good,” the scarred man said, and then he slammed back the rest of his drink before he set the empty glass on the small table to his left.
“Camilo and his friend will have to check in with the court regularly and go to a rehabilitation program,” I continued. “But my friend from the Public Defender’s Office volunteers with one that the boys can enroll in.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Osvaldo nodded. “That boy needs to learn to keep his nose clean if he’s ever going to take over the business. Can’t be in jail and run the shipping company.”
“Yes, sir,” I said.
I debated whether I should tell my employer about the solitary confinement, but his son would be home the next day, and if Camilo returned with even one unexplained bruise, then I would be the one to answer for it.
“The facility informed me today that Camilo has been in solitary confinement,” I spoke up as the beefy man began to stare back out at the horizon.
“Oh?” he asked as he lifted an eyebrow and glanced at me from the corner of his eyes.
“I told them I would be stopping by tomorrow morning with my own physician to make sure that Camilo wasn’t injured in any way,” I said. “And even though he’s being released, I would like to make sure that he hasn’t been harmed.”
“The guards are known for hurting the teens?” Osvaldo questioned, his voice an icy mask for his rage, though his deep scowl revealed how angry he was.
“There have been reports,” I said with a frown. “That reporter that I’ve been seeing is bringing a case to the DA to shut them down.”
“Good,” the scarred man said with a nod of approval. “You aren’t working with her on that, are you?”
“Not anymore,” I informed the intimidating man. “I went over last night to tell her she would have to pursue it with another lawyer.”
“That’s for the best,” my employer said. “Though it might be good to have a reporter on our side. Just in case. Do you plan to keep seeing her?”
“I do,” I said. “She’s an amazing woman. And she discovered the corruption at Everson before I brought it to her.”
“I like her already,” Osvaldo said with a small smile. “But make sure she doesn’t get too smart.”
“Yes, sir,” I responded, though my mouth had gone dry at the subtle warning that Eloa needed to stay out of cartel business.
The smell of bell peppers, chicken, and rice flowed out onto the balcony as Juliana slid the glass door open and poked her head out.
“Gentleman, dinner will be ready soon,” she said. “You have about ten minutes before I expect you to be at the table.”
“Si, mi amor,” the scarred cartel man said with a grin to his beautiful wife.
“I love you, too,” she said with a roll of her eyes despite the bright smile and blush that crept across her face. “Rob, make sure you wash up before you sit down. There will be no dirty hands at my dinner table.”
“Yes, ma’am” I replied and then blanched when the matriarch lifted an eyebrow. “I mean, yes, Juliana.”
“That’s what I thought,” the curly haired woman huffed before she shut the door and left us alone.
“You’ve done a good job,” Osvaldo said when his wife was far enough away that she wouldn’t hear us. “I know I was a little tough on you, but you’ve proven that you’re as good a lawyer as I’d heard.”
I thought about the constant presence of the goons outside of my apartment and had to bite my tongue as I wondered what being actually tough would entail. I didn’t want to know, and I was sure that I never wanted to find out.
“Thank you, sir,” I said instead. “I have enjoyed the challenge.”
It wasn’t a lie, even with the moral dilemmas that I had faced, I had never gone toe to toe with a corrupt judge before, and I’d come out on top. I had made enough money already to have in-home care for my mother, and Eloa would still be able to take down the Everson Juvenile Detention Center.
A comfortable silence grew between us as the scarred cartel leader stared out into the city. The sound of honking horns drifted up to us from somewhere far below, and the beach district lit up the night sky like a shiny beacon for tourists and anyone looking for a good time.
“Jipato,” Osvaldo said without turning his face from the skyline, though he spared me a sideways glance and a flash of a smile that revealed his three golden teeth. “You’re going to do big things in this town.”
End of Book 1
Author’s Notes
Thank you for reading my novel! If you enjoyed it, and you’d like to read another story about Rob’s new life, please leave a quick review by clicking on this link.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
