Page 34 of Cartel Rose (Jorge)

“Yeah. But it should be me. They’ll already be upset you’re here once they find out you’re?—”

“A man in your suite who isn’t your boyfriend.”

“That too. Once they know who you are.”

“A potential investor.”

“That won’t convince them to have faith in you. We have to tell them who you are.”

“No, they’ll automatically assume this had to do with my family doing business with yours. It might, but it might not. They’ll fear I lured you all here. They’ll insist upon leaving, and they’ll insist upon calling the police. One of them might slip away to do it even if we convince them to stay. Right now, I’m an obscenely rich businessman who has unlimited resources at my fingertips because of that wealth.”

“That’d be true even if you weren’t in a cartel, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes.”

She leans away to look at me more easily. She studies me before she nods.

“What if they’ve killed Papa and are going to send him to me in boxes? I’m not at my office to receive them. Did they follow us and know to send anything here?”

“Whoever this is, is watching you. They knew to deliver the package while you were at lunch that way you couldn’t ask questions.”

“My assistant was away from his desk too.”

“They know the significance of your father’s ring and that you’d recognize it immediately.”

“Will they send more of him here?”

“I don’t know who this is yet. I can’t give you an honest answer—not even speculation—about what will happen next.”

“A ransom?”

“I doubt it. This isn’t about money. At least, that’s not all of it. What can you tell me about the note dropped in your lap at the park?”

Chapter Nine

Liesel

That wasn’t the question I expected next.

I narrow my eyes at him but squinting shoots a burst of pain between my eyes and up through my forehead to my scalp. I’m too exhausted to deal with that on top of everything. I’m completely drained suddenly, and I still have to brace myself for my mother and sister’s arrival.

I exhale before looking at Jorge. “There’s not much for me to tell you. It just said ‘we’re watching you.’”

“What does that mean?”

Anger flashes in Jorge’s eyes despite how the rest of his demeanor remains the same as it was. Reassuringly calm. I think he wants me to know he’s not okay with any of this, but he won’t lose his shit to keep from scaring me. He softens his tone before he speaks again.

“Liesel, I don’t like any of this, but I don’t blame you, and I still respect you.”

I can’t help the shudder that escapes. I didn’t expect that reassurance, and I didn’t expect how much it would mean to me.

“Thank you. I’ve been trying to make the best of a bad situation, but everything has just gone from horrible to catastrophic.”

“Do you believe whoever was responsible for the note is behind this?”

I’m not prepared to tell what’s been happening, but I may not have a choice if the people who’ve been watching me are behind my father’s disappearance. I do my best to skirt explaining its meaning.

“I believe it’s entirely possible, but I truly don’t know.”