Chapter 25
Later that evening, in a different part of town, Zo was busy examining himself in the hallway mirror of his family’s home. He took a step back to get a better look. Fitted in a custom Prada suit, he was very dapper. He buttoned the jacket and made sure that the butt of his tucked pistol was neatly hidden away. He shuffled from foot to foot to make sure he was able to move comfortably with the blade he had strapped to his ankle. He was positive that he wouldn’t need to use a weapon, but just in case, he was ready for whatever the night threw at him.
Zo contemplated meeting with Louisa all week, but he knew it was something he had to do. A part of him wanted to hunt her like a rabid dog and put her down. But even that seemed to be too kind. She deserved to have the same fate as him: to live a life of agony remembering what was lost.
“Lorenzo, I really think you should stay home tonight.” His mother crept behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Zo stared at her small frame through the mirror and saw that worry was written all over her face. It was for good reason. He was all she had left. If something happened to him, she might never recover.
“I have to go. If I don’t, she might hurt someone else I love. And this time it might be you.”
“But what if it’s a trap? That bitch is evil, Lorenzo. You can’t put anything past her!”
“I’ll be fine, Mamá. I’ll have enough men with me to ensure my safe return to you.”
“Make sure of it. I won’t forgive myself for letting you walk out that door if harm finds its way to you tonight.”
Zo turned around to face her and pulled her into a tight bear hug. She buried her head into his chest and didn’t let go until Rosaline stepped into the hallway. She was a woman about Christina’s age and was dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt. Although she was the help, she and Christina had developed a bond over the years, and Rosaline was allowed to dress comfortably for work.
“Mr. Alverez, everyone is outside waiting for you.”
“Mr. Alverez?” Zo asked and raised a brow. “I must really be getting old.”
“You are now the man of the house, so I will respect you as such,” Rosaline said and stepped forward to fix his tie. “Don’t keep your mother and me up waiting in worry, huh?”
“I will try not to.”
“That’s good enough for me.”
“And please make sure she eats,” Zo said, referring to Christina.
“I’ll force it down her throat if I have to,” Rosaline said and winked. “Come on, Christina. I fixed you some enchiladas.”
“Lorenzo . . .” Christina gave Zo one last hug.
“I’ll be back, Mamá. I promise.”
He placed kisses on both of her cheeks, and she nodded tearfully. When Rosaline led her away, he let out a small breath of air and checked his appearance one more time. He wanted to look powerful. How had Marco done it all those years? All he had to do was walk into a room and everyone went silent. Zo had been told that his grandfather Damián had the same trait. Zo wanted to exude the same kind of energy to Louisa to embed in her head that she had messed with the wrong family.
He was adjusting the diamond ring on his pinky when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out, quickly read the message on the screen, and placed it back in his pocket. It was time to go.
Outside, as Rosaline said, his men were waiting for him. He had no intention of being inconspicuous that night and would be taking three cars to the fish dock. Zo nodded his head at Tomás, the man holding his door, before he slid into the back seat of the Cullinan. Tomás joined him. He was an older man in his forties and had been loyal to Marco for years. He was a great strategist and a hell of a shot. If Zo was going into battle, Tomás was someone he wanted by his side. Even in light of recent events, his loyalty to the Alverez family didn’t waver.
“Estás bien?” Tomás asked when the driver pulled away from the house.
“Do I not seem like it?”
“I am only asking because Marco’s sister, this Louisa, seems to be even more of a shark than your father was.”
“Then I guess it’s time to shove a harpoon through her chest.”
“What is it that you think she wants?”
“Me,” Lorenzo stated. “Louisa wants to have me wrapped around her finger the same way my father was. She wants to pull our business from New York and wants us to work solely with her. I won’t.”
“I understand what you are saying, Lorenzo. But have you ever thought about the fact that she is an Alverez too? She had just as much right as Marco to the empire your grandfather built.”
“And maybe that’s why my father overcompensated her all these years. But that doesn’t matter anymore. She killed my sister. There will be no coming back from that.”
“What do you plan to do?”
“It’s not what I plan to do. It’s what has already been done.”
Tomás gave Zo a quizzical look but didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, he leaned back into his seat and rode with Zo in silence all the way to the fishing dock. The Blues fishing dock hadn’t been used in years since the brothers who owned it died. However, someone must have been keeping up with it, because the dock itself looked to be freshly built. Even the warehouse right on the water seemed newly renovated with fresh blue and white paint. The inside was lit up, but Zo couldn’t see much through the windows. He noticed cars parked on one side of the warehouse, and he instructed his driver to park in the same area. Zo and Tomás got out of the Cullinan followed by the ten men who were in the other two vehicles. Their weapons were brandished, and they marched behind Zo in a military fashion.
“The door is there.” Tomás pointed at an open door on the warehouse. “They must be waiting for us.”
“I hope so,” Zo said, checking the Richard Mille on his wrist, “because we’re late.”
Tomás covered Zo’s front as they walked into the warehouse, and the overwhelming smell of fish surrounded him. Standing in the center of the open floor of the warehouse, waiting for him, was Louisa. She was wearing a skintight black dress and high heels, and she rocked big, soft curls in her hair. And she was not alone. Around her stood at least twenty men all armed and waiting for her order. A smile crept to her face upon seeing her nephew and his men.
“Nephew! Don’t you look nice in your little suit. Is that why you’re late?”
“You’re no family of mine,” Zo told her, ignoring her question.
“Blood and genetics would state otherwise. I actually think we have the same eyes,” she said in an amused fashion and then motioned to his men. “I thought you would bring more men with you.”
“I see you knew to bring more with you.”
“Oh, yes, I don’t take these kinds of threats lightly.”
“I’m glad you know that I’m a threat,” Lorenzo growled.
“You on a regular day? No,” she laughed. “But any man with the rage I’ve ignited in you is someone to watch out for. You’re welcome for that. Daniella told me how you were struggling to fill your father’s shoes. Hopefully I’ve helped with that.”
“Don’t you ever let me hear you say her name!”
“Who, Daniella?” Louisa taunted.
“I didn’t come here to play games with you, Louisa.”
“I know you didn’t. You came here because you thought that if you didn’t show, I would kill Christina. Which is true, so I’m glad you’re here.”
Zo breathed evenly, not letting on that the words were affecting him. He didn’t want his anger to get the best of him. He could tell that was what she wanted. “What do you want from me?”
“The same thing I wanted before. For you to join me. Except now the conditions have changed.”
“You and I both know that I’ll never join you, so there isn’t a point in me humoring you.”
“Tsk, tsk. Lorenzo, how rude of you. You don’t want to know what my new conditions are?”
“I don’t give a fuck what they are, you psycho bitch!” Zo said, and she laughed loudly.
“Lorenzo, I’m your aunt. You shouldn’t talk dirty to me. And although you didn’t ask, I’m going to tell you my conditions anyway.” Louisa clasped her hands behind her back and began pacing back and forth in front of her men. “I changed my mind about taking the operation from New York. It actually would be smarter to keep it here. There will be more money for me that way.”
“More money for you?”
“Oh, yes. This is the best part, Lorenzo. You are going to step down as the head of the Alverez family, and I will take your place. You will work under me as a third in command, since as you know Nolan is already my right hand. Speaking of him, he should be here shortly to explain what your duties will be.”
“Ha!” The laugh came from deep in Zo’s belly. “See, this is how I know you’re crazy. Because that will never happen.”
“I don’t think the decision should be left up to you. It should be left up to the Alverez family.”
“You’re talking about a vote?”
“Yes. I have just as much right to the throne as you if not more. Damián Alverez was my father, same as he was DeMarco’s. And when Marco died, it should have come to me.”
“Abuelo sent you away. If he wanted you to have any part of the business, he would have kept you around. We didn’t even know about you.”
“Hmm,” Louisa chuckled. “You’re right. And that caused so much pain inside my body. To not be wanted by my own father. Shunned by my own family. The same reasons why Daniella felt she could connect to me. That’s why it was so easy for her to trust me. She thought I could understand her. And I tried, I really did. But the more I got to know her, the more I understood why DeMarco would rather it be you. See, me, I learned to stand up alone. But her? She was so needy! Always needing constant validation. ‘Papá loved Lorenzo more than me. Papá never saw me. Do you see me, Tía?’ It was so annoying!”
“That’s why you killed her, because she wanted love?”
“I’ve killed people for much less, trust me.” Louisa shrugged.
“She was your family.”
“Then why did killing her feel no different than killing a bug on the wall?” Louisa asked and feigned a curious face. “Anyhow, now you know my conditions. They are concrete and not subject to change. I’ve already infiltrated not only your operation but your colleague’s as well. You’ve seen firsthand how far my reach can go. Abide and allow a vote to happen, or believe me when I say you will never get another good night’s rest.”
The answer to her request was easy.
“No,” Zo said and gave her the coldest stare he could muster.
The ice from his gaze seemed to make her stop pacing. The smile frozen on her lips seemed to tremble at the corners. It was almost as if she were really thrown off by Zo’s answer, and that shocked him.
“I hoped you wouldn’t make this difficult. That offer was the last show of love in DeMarco’s memory that I can give you, Lorenzo. I was trying to be fair, but now I will just take what I want! Enter!”
On her last shouted word, the doors behind Zo opened, and more armed men filed in, aiming their weapons. The only thing was they didn’t have them pointed at Zo. They were pointed at Louisa. Zo wished he had a camera to capture the priceless look on her face when she saw that the small army of men wasn’t hers. In fact, they weren’t Zo’s either. Zo grinned when the men parted and Caesar walked to the front of them.
“Am I late to the party?” he asked Zo, standing next to him.
“No, actually you’re right on time.” Zo grinned.
Zo’s men advanced across the room toward Louisa’s and forced them to disarm. Louisa watched with wide eyes as guns were placed to the heads of the people who were there to protect her. Anger took over soon after.
“What is this?” Louisa demanded to know. “Where are my men?”
“By now? Probably at the bottom of the river,” Caesar answered her smoothly. “When Zo told me you wanted to meet him here, I thought it might be best that I tag along. People like you never seem to know how to do good business.”
“But . . . how?” Louisa asked, clearly still dumbfounded.
“I knew you wanted to strike some sort of deal with me. But me being me, I would never agree to do business with you,” Zo explained. It was his turn to be amused. “I also knew better than to trust that you would let me walk out of here alive when I refused you. Caesar here has known about this meeting all week. In fact, before I arrived this evening, he was watching you. And as you can see, he was able to ambush the ambush you had in place for me. That’s actually why I was late. I was giving him time to handle his part.”
Louisa’s eyes had grown wide as reality was setting in. She’d been got at her own game. It didn’t mend the hole she’d placed in his heart, but it still felt good. Zo gave his men the signal, and the sound of gunfire erupted around him. Louisa jumped out of the way as her men were riddled with bullets. When the last one dropped dead to the ground, she screamed in anguish.
“You stupid, stupid boy! You will pay for this!”
“No, I won’t.” Zo smiled and shook his head. “You won’t get the opportunity to ever come at me again.”
“Kill me and get it over with then,” she sneered.
“No, death would be too much of a treat for you. I’m going to exile you from the state of New York and leave you to your agony.”
“You’re sending me back to my own kingdom as punishment? There is no agony in that.”
“There will be when you realize that you are now truly alone,” Zo told her.
Beside him, Caesar waved two of his men forward. Each was holding a burlap bag with fresh red blood seeping from the bottom. At the same time, they opened the bags and dumped the contents. Two severed heads hit the ground and rolled to Louisa’s feet. Her mouth fell open, but no words came out. She was in utter shock as she looked down at them in horror. One of the heads belonged to Nolan. Along with his head being freshly severed, he had a bullet hole on the side of his forehead. That was enough to send her hand to her chest, but it was seeing who the other head belonged to that made her collapse to the ground.
“No!” She sobbed and crawled to the head that belonged to a young Mexican man. “Alejandro!”
“You made one grave mistake the last time you flew home,” Caesar said. “You took Marco’s private jet. The pilot informed Zo the moment you contacted him for travel. And Zo then told me. I took the liberty of beating you there and following you home. You led me right to your heart. He thought I worked for you when I told him that you had sent for him from New York. So sad, just another casualty of war.”
She was sobbing on the ground next to Alejandro’s severed head. Zo didn’t think someone as evil as she was could even produce tears. It proved that she wasn’t completely a demon.
“Now you know what true agony feels like. You killed my friend’s child and tried to kill his last living one. You’ll live with this pain forever knowing that your decisions led to your lover’s death.” Caesar spoke with no emotion. “Louisa Alverez, you are in the territory of the five families, where you will never show your face again. If you do, you’ll be punished in ways that are much worse than death. You are now and forever exiled.”
Face your fears.