THE PLAN

And I'll find comfort in my pain, Eraser

***

CHAPTER LII

*****

"YOU'REEVIL," LUCIEN said as I walked into the basement, his eyes sending me a poisonous glare. I knew that if he wasn't tied up right now, I would probably be dead but luckily, he was. "You're the most psychotic bitch I've ever met."

"You flatter me," I said as I placed my hand over my heart as if touched by his words. Instead of exchanging any kind of pleasantries with him, I grabbed a chair from the side of the basement and dragged it over to him before sitting right in front of him and crossing my legs. "Now, why don't we talk business?" I asked, making him narrow his eyes at me before looking away defiantly, making me chuckle at his expense. "Unless," I said softly as I ran my eyes over his beaten and bruised appearance, noting the way his clothes was soaked through with his own blood, "you still need to be softened up a little bit." His eyes briefly widened at the warning in my words as he turned to face me again. "I could arrange for that."

"I'll talk," was all he said in a low, begrudging voice, making a charming smile stretch across my face as I leaned back into the chair and folded my arms across my chest.

"Then talk."

"What do you want to know?"

"Why don't we start about where my husband is?" I asked, getting straight to the point. To my surprise, he hadn't answered as fast as I had expected him to and instead swallowed down a nervous gulp as he met my eyes.

"I don't know."

"You must think I'm stupid," I said, shaking my head in disappointment as I reached into my sock and pulled out my pocket knife. I leaned in closer to him and pressed it to the base of his neck, making him squeeze his eyes shut. I suspected kt must have been an effort to keep me from seeing his fear. It clearly didn't work. "Do you think I'm stupid, Lucien?"

"I-I swear on my life, I don't know," he spluttered out, taking me by surprise at how genuine he sounded. Either he was an extremely good actor or he was being honest with me. "I made plans for them to take him away so they can apply pressure on you to give yourself up. They never told me where they were taking him to, but I was assured that he would be returned to me without a scratch on him as soon as they got you. That was the plan."

"Huh." I slowly lowered the knife from his neck, surprised at the fact that I actually believed him. From what I knew, Lucien was actually being truthful. If there was one thing I knew about the Costillo's, it was that they worked with the utmost secrecy. They were trustworthy if you were allied with them, but they kept themselves private. Only the higher-ups knew anything about locations and profiles. Even the leader was still unknown to most. Anyone that tried to reveal information was swiftly assassinated and anybody who that person had told was also killed. It made people not want to talk about them at all. Nobody knew if they were messing with one of their moles. "You're a stupid man, Lucien," I chuckled as I leaned back against the backrest of my chair and shook my head. "A very, very stupid man."

"Shut up," he said narrowing his eyes at me but instead of getting angry, I only laughed because there was nothing that this man did that didn't amuse me. He was a clown.

"What else do you know?" I asked, making him narrow his eyes before looking away. Unfortunately, before he had completely averted his gaze, I had caught onto the way his lips had quirked up into a smirk as if there was something else he knew that he felt powerful for not telling me about. "Speak, idiot. What do you know?"

"Watch the way you talk to me!"

"And watch the way you talk to me," I said, barely letting him finish giving me his order as I held the knife back up to his neck and smirked at him. "Just because you're a man doesn't mean I'll respect you, Lucien. Now tell me what you know."

"Nothing," he doubled down, standing firm in his stance. "I don't know anything. You're barking up the wrong tree."

"You don't know why the Costillo's are after me?" I tried to push, but Lucien only looked at me and smirk.

"What other reason do you think they have?" he asked as he leaned in, his eyes peering at me with disgust. "You're theirs. They want their property back."

Unable to hold myself back, I had slapped him as hard as I could right across his face making him hiss in pain since I had ended up slapping his bruised cheek, but I couldn't find it within myself to care less. I wasn't even angry with what he had just said to me. That was merely revenge.

With a small smile gracing my face, I sat up, responded to his glare with an acknowledging nod before making my way towards the door, yet his voice had called me back.

"W-Wait!" I turned around to look at him, deciding to give him the time of my day one last time. Maybe this time, he would say something reasonable. But then again, it was Lucien we were talking about. "You're not going to let me go now?"

I couldn't help but let out a loud laugh at his words, the hopeful look on his face falling once he realised how stupid of a question that actually was. "Now why would I do that?" I asked as I tilted my head to the side, making him scowl at me. "Well first, you'd have to wait for Daniel and Mateo to get back to me. And then when I do, you'd have to wait for me to tell Daniel just how much of a part you played in his kidnapping and then it would be up to Daniel whether or not to kill you." I slowly walked back over to him and leaned down so my face was right in front of his bruised and bloodied one. "So the sooner my family gets back to me, the better. And if you want Daniel to come back quick, you'd have to be cooperative with me."

He quickly turned his head to look at me, making me pull away from him because I didn't want to be that close to him. "What are you planning?" he asked to which I chuckled and shook my head.

"You'll see," was all I said before I turned away from him and made my way out of the basement, leaving him on his own again.

As I made my way up the stairs back to the foyer, I couldn't help the smile that graced my face at the sight of Pablo standing there conversing with Abigail before a frown had fallen onto my lips once I noticed how serious he seemed to be today. He had made to leave which confused me greatly because I didn't know why he would leave without checking on me. Instead, I called him back before he had completely gone.

"Pablo?" I said as I furrowed my eyebrows, surprised to see him here. He whipped around as soon as he heard me call his name, his eyes widening with worry and then relief and then worry again as he quickly moved towards me.

"Ara, have you seen Emma? Has she been here?" he asked, placing his hand on my shoulder once he had come close enough to me, making me narrow my eyes but shake my head to let him know that I hadn't. And she wasn't. At my answer, he took a step back and let out an exhausted breath as he leaned against the wall in obvious exhaustion.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I placed a delicate hand on his shoulder, ignoring the blood that smeared my fingertips. I doubted he would notice it with how worried he seemed to be. "Is she not at her home? Where is she?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be asking you," he sighed before slowly making his way over to the living room and taking a seat on the sofa. He leaned back, placed his hand on his head and closed his eyes as he tried to recollect himself. "I haven't been able to reach her since I came over here yesterday with Guillermo. I don't know where she is."

"How did that happen though? Weren't you protecting her?" I asked as I made my way over to the sitting room with him, making him open his eyes to look at me with a frown on his face.

"I was but..." he hesitated, making me raise an eyebrow at his reluctance to tell me what had happened. Finally, he sighed and let it out. "We had a huge argument at mine. She stormed out and I... let her." As he spoke, I could see the obvious guilt on his face as if all he wanted to do was go back in time and correct his errors. "I let her go because I figured she needed the space and I needed it too."

"Did you check Daniel's apartment?"

"I did, but there was no sign of her ever being there," he sighed as he shook his head before meeting my eyes. "The worst part is that her usual bodyguards were found dead." I couldn't help the shock that I felt at that revelation, my stomach dropping with absolute dread at what that could've meant. I already knew what that meant. "They took her."

I stood there staring at him in silence for a long minute, unable to formulate any words or think of what to do before picking up my phone sitting on the table, ignoring the long list of missed calls I didn't care about and instead handing it to him. He looked at me in confusion for a second before letting out another sigh and taking the phone from me.

"Call Guillermo. You need to warn him to stay safe and keep Celeste safe as well."

Pablo complied, immediately going to the phone app and looking for Guillermo's number before looking up again to meet my gaze. "What about you?" he asked, making me furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

"What about me?"

"Who's ensuring you're safe, Ara?" he asked, making me let out an annoyed breath through my nose as I rolled my eyes and sat myself down across from him. I didn't want to start having this conversation right now because I knew it was only going to lead Pablo to become more overbearing and protective which will just ruin my plans.

"This isn't about me," I said, easily brushing off his worries in an effort to put an end to the conversation. "All you need to do is worry about yourself. I can assure you that I'll be fine."

"What are you planning?" he asked immediately, making me meet his eyes again to try and read him; to find out if he knew anything. Of course, he knew I was up to something. I was pretty sure that the whole world knew that I was up to something. With my husband and son being kidnapped and with how stubborn people knew I was, it was common knowledge that the next move I made was only a matter of time. He knew that it was only a matter of time and there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop me. He knew that.

Instead, I smiled and got up.

"You'll see."

***

"What did he say?" Jorge asked as he quickly occupied Pablo's seat after he had left. I looked up from my hands, his voice breaking me out of my thoughts before I shook my head and sighed in exhaustion of the situation.

"He said that he had given Daniel to the Costillo's so his disappearance could further apply pressure on me to give myself in," I confessed, making Jorge's eyes widen in shock and disbelief. "He has no idea where Mateo or Daniel is, but he struck a deal with them that meant they would both be returned to him safely as soon as I turn myself in."

Jorge remained speechless for a bit, his gaze trained on me before he shook his head and looked down at his hands. First, the look on his face had seemed to be one of hopelessness and sorrow but then it quickly morphed into confusion which had then morphed into a look of complete judgement.

"He didn't think to track Daniel in case something goes wrong or you ended up not giving yourself in?" he asked in a judgemental tone which had been the thing to raise a smile to my lips as I shook my head.

"I don't think Lucien has enough braincells to think that hard," I said in response to him before the smile had fallen from my face as an idea had come to my head. "But..."

"But what?" Jorge asked, pushing me to speak on as I hesitated to tell him what I had planned. I was sure I trusted Jorge but his priority, like Pablo, had been to keep me safe and I wasn't too sure how much he would be on board with this plan. If he would be at all.

"But if I turn myself in, you can track me."

"With what?" he asked, his brows furrowing in confusion. "They most likely check you for weapons and discard anything that they think will be unnecessary. You'll hardly make it to your location with a tracking device," Jorge argued, making me purse my lips in contemplation. His counter-arguments were good but there wasn't enough sense in the world that could've been instilled in me that would make me not even try. At this point, I was desperate.

"All you need to do is get me the smallest tracking device you can find," I said, shaking my head to dismiss him. "I'll handle the rest."

"I don't know how I feel about this, boss," Jorge said, the hesitation clear on his face as his doubtful eyes remained on me. "I know Daniel had asked me to serve you, but he had also asked me to make sure you were safe and keep you out of harms way and following this plan that you have - whatever it is - seems to be doing the exact opposite of that."

I couldn't help but sympathise with him in that instance. I was desperate, but I wasn't completely closed off to everyone else's concerns. Even Pablo. Although our ideas conflicted, I knew he only had my best interest at heart.

Now, Jorge was in a confusing situation. Where one boss was giving him one set of orders that completely overrode the orders he had received from the other boss. If I was in his position, my head would be wrecked too but I knew I needed to do all that I could to get my family back and to prevent my friends from being harmed. I was willing to stop at nothing and whether or not Jorge assisted me in that wouldn't prevent me from doing the needful.

"I understand," I said softly wanting to let him know that I wasn't in anyway angry or harbouring any negative feelings towards him. "You don't have to participate in this if you don't want. I'll be fine on my own."

"You're still going to go?" he asked, seeming surprised at my insistence of going on this mission that seemed was almost guaranteed to fail. I only nodded my head, my lips pursed because what else was I supposed to? In my head, it made perfect sense. It was a fair trade off. Teo would be able to grow up with at least one of his parents in a completely stable home and I would be wherever, knowing that my baby and the love of my life were both safe. It was a sacrifice, but it wasn't necessarily one I was hesitant to make.

"I have to, Jorge."

"You don't have to," he argued, making me turn away to hide the tears that were beginning to well up in my eyes. This really wasn't something I wanted to do. I was scared of the unknown and what they might do to me there, but I was more afraid of what might happen to my family which they had captured and were probably torturing. "I'm sure we'll be able to find their location and-"

"When?" I asked, my voice coming out shaky despite me only having uttered a single word. Jorge faltered at my question, his eyes wide with shock before he looked down again at his lap. "When Jorge? When will they magically find this place that has evaded them for this long? When?"

"Soon," he tried to say, but I only laughed and shook my head as I got up and began making my way out of the sitting room.

"Soon isn't soon enough," was all I had said as I exited the living room, yet he had come calling after me.

"Boss," he called for me but I wasn't really willing to listen to him try to convince me not to save my family. "Ma'am," he tried again but was only met with stone cold silence until he had finally said something that had made me come to a halt in shock. "Araceli!" Slowly I turned around, the expression on my face full of surprise because Jorge had never referred to me by my first name. Not in my presence. "I'm sorry but-"

"Don't apologise," I said, cutting him off because I really couldn't care less if he referred to me formally or informally. I didn't base my worth on that so it had little effect on me. Plus, it was my name.

"Let me help you," he finally said, making me tilt my head to the side in confusion. "You're a very stubborn woman. I understand that I can't convince you to not do something that you've set your heart on, but I want to help. At least then I'll know that I'm doing all that's in my power to keep you safe."

"Jorge..." I sighed as I shook my head. "You don't have to-"

"But I want to," he said, barely allowing me to finish my sentence. "This was what I had promised Daniel. That in his absence, I would protect you with my life and thats what I'm doing."

All I could was give him a grateful smile and said, "thank you."

***

My plan hadn't taken long to formulate. In fact the only reason why it had taken two days for me to finally put it into action was only because I was being a chicken and trying to prolong it as far as possible. The plan itself wasn't insanely detailed. In fact, the only thing I had for sure was that Jorge would be the one picking up Daniel and Teo once I had finally turned myself in. We had forced Lucien into calling the Costillo's and telling them that I was going to hand myself in so he could take back his son and let them know that Jorge would be picking them up on his behalf, whereas in reality, Jorge wasn't working for him at all.

That left the most anxiety inducing part of the plan covered. The rest was only onto luck what would happen next but all I knew was that I had equipped myself in the best way I could, both with knowledge and with as much weapons as I could get away with, which arguably, wasn't even much. But it was better than nothing.

Now, with everybody at their position - me sitting in the car waiting for them to collect me and Jorge positioned where he was to collect Daniel and Teo - all we could do was wait for something to happen.

I hadn't been waiting long when I had peeped the sleek black car that seemed to be driving towards me in the far distance. Before they could get close enough to me, I had quickly picked up my phone and called Jorge so I could alert of him of the newest developments. Immediately, he had picked up the call as if he had been waiting for me the whole entire time and I had wasted no time in speaking.

"They're coming for me now. I can see them," I told him, trying to hide the nerves in my voice as I wrung my hands together. "I won't be able to contact you from here, but just remember the plan. As soon as you get Daniel and Teo, call Pablo immediately, tell him to gather his men and give him my location. Then drive them to safety, okay?"

"Yes boss," he said professionally before sneaking in before I had ended the call, "Good luck."

I had never really been very lucky in my life, but I was hoping that this time, things would be different. As soon as the car pulled up in front of mine, I tossed my phone underneath the passenger side car and watched carefully as four men, all clearly armed, stepped out of the vehicle. They were all dressed from head to toe in black, their hair buzzed off and most of their features covered by pairs of dark tinted glasses. They hadn't made a move towards me, only just stood at their car where they had stepped out and waited wordlessly for me to come to them.

Reluctantly, I had stepped out of the car, immediately raising my hands in surrender as soon as they had raised their guns and aimed right at me. The one who would've been sat in the passenger seat, beckoned me over to him making me make my way to him until I stopped completely in front of him and looked up at his menacing face. The fact that I couldn't see his eyes only made it all the more intimidating.

With all his colleagues still pointing their guns at me, he had lowered his and proceeded to pat me down, not caring that I was a woman and touching me everywhere to make sure I wasn't armed. I had held my breath once his hands had briefly gone over the place where I kept my most valuable items, but the padded bra made it hard for him to feel out anything especially with my amazing sewing skills and I supposed that a tiny razor and small tracking device as well as a couple lethal doses of enzyme inhibitors weren't particularly easy things to find. Especially when you weren't looking for them.

After that, he had search my pockets which had only showed up empty except for a clump of tissue I had forgotten take out before I washed my jeans. I couldn't tell behind his glasses, but to ease my nerves, I had imagined that he was judging me for that. In his mind thinking, "she really didn't check her pockets before washing? That's a cardinal sin. Rookie mistake if you will."

Once he was done with me, he had given his mates a nod to show that I was clear much to my relief, yet before I could get too comfortable, someone had ended up behind me and pressed an oddly smelling rag cloth to my nose which had quickly induced an immense drowsiness within me as my eyes drooped and my muscles became weak. I found myself falling against the mysterious man, my vision quickly darkening as I began to lose consciousness yet the only thing I could think about was how I no longer could jump out of the car and make a hasty escape halfway through the car ride. After that, everything had disappeared from me.

***

Reading back on this chapter like weeks later, I have to give myself my flowers. I really like the way the words flow in this one. It's particularly funny when you realise that I struggled for days to write this chapter but anyway, here I am.

Yall... hmm. You know it's been a month. I have so much to say but idek if I should say it.

The good news is that I've got a lot of good friends now! On top of that I'm trying to work on my relationship with myself and break more and more out of my shell because I realised that I do have a personality but I'm too scared to show it because trust issues so I just stay reserved and then it makes me feel like I'm boring.

Are any of you in the same boat? Lemme know.

Anyway guys, I'm still single and searching and iwl I'm seeing what god has been doing for other people 👀 patiently waiting for my turn.

Bruh I'm gonna go to bed now though much too late to be talking. I'll see yall soon I promise! Bye 👋