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Chapter 25 - The Ship Is At The Port

This chapter is a long one! I hope you enjoy ❤️

~ Madison's POV ~

When I heard Santiago react so angrily, I was confused for a moment until I heard the male voices in the hallway.

Then I knew who it was and that explained his reaction.

So I guess it's time for that conversation then.

I knew it had to happen and I guess I was glad I was there for it, but I was kind of hoping it would happen after Santiago had finished his medication in case he wanted a drink, away from the house and maybe not so late at night.

When I heard Santi direct them into the living room, I let out a sigh as I waited for them to come inside.

"Woah, you got a dog?"

Instead of responding to Nicolas, Santiago just clenched his jaw, going over to stand to one side in the living room as the four of them came in and sat down. From the voices I heard, I was expecting to see Noah and Nicolas who sat across from me but I definitely wasn't expecting to see Katia and Sienna who sat on another couch.

"He's cute bro, what did you call him?"

This time when Santi didn't reply to Noah's question, I let out a small sigh before speaking, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Pancake."

Noah nodded his head, looking at Santiago weirdly before rolling his eyes, probably assuming that his mood wasn't about anything serious.

They all turned to look at him and just as Noah went to say something to start up a conversation, Santiago spoke first.

"I'll be back in a second." I turned my head to look at Santi who spared me a quick glance before he walked out of the room, leaving me with three people I really hate and Sienna who was nice, I guess.

At least I have Pancake though.

Turning my attention to our little puppy, I couldn't help but smile when he shuffled across the couch to sit next to me now that Santiago was gone.

So, maybe I was little hasty to say I didn't want a dog.

"How have you been Maddie? It's been a few weeks since we last saw you in Mexico."

I was actually enjoying that moment of peace and quiet until Noah spoke to me and then I just wanted to cry.

I should kill Santiago for leaving me alone with them.

I was never the type of person to be unnecessarily rude to someone, but after what they did, it pained me even more to be nice to them.

Still, I did my best to be polite.

"Fine, thanks."

When I gave him such a short response, Katia let out a scoff.

"What the hell is your problem? What's going on here?"

I knew she was also referring to Santiago's strange mood but, instead of responding to her question, I just rolled my eyes. Standing up, I lifted Pancake up into my arms before walking out of the living room.

There was no way I was leaving my new little fur baby with those horrible people.

And anyway, he didn't seem to mind the contact as he just silently relaxed in my arms.

"Santiago?"

When I stepped into the kitchen, I saw Santiago facing away from the door, gripping the edges of the kitchen counter while his entire body remained tense. You could literally see the tension in his shoulders as he gripped the counter.

At the sound of my voice he slowly turned around to look at me and I finally saw the murderous expression on his face, similar to the one he had when he first found out about all of this that night in Mexico.

"I want to kill them so bad Maddie."

I nodded my head as I stepped closer to to him, using my free hand to take his hand in mine.

"I know baby, but you know you can't do that, they were your friends once upon a time. You'll end up regretting it one day baby. Have you called Arturo? He should be here for this, he'll keep you calm."

"I have called him but...crap, Maddie I need a drink or something. I need something to calm me down before I do something..."

I can't say I wasn't worried about him turning to alcohol to calm this feeling he had, because I was.

Just by looking at him I could tell he was right on the edge. It reminded me of that day when he found out I tried to take the twins from him because of Asher. He was pacing around my apartment with the gun in his hand trying to fight the instinct to shoot while having an internal battle with himself.

It was exactly the same, except this time was worse. Noah and Nicolas had been his bestfriends for a very long time and they'd kept this from him for eight years. Not to mention the implications it had on my relationship with Santi.

Just as I was about to start pathetically begging him to stay away from alcohol and cigarettes tonight, his gaze settled on the puppy in my arms. I watched as he gently took Pancake from my arms before holding him carefully against his chest.

It took a few minutes, but suddenly the tension seemed to leave his body as he let out a deep breath, closing his eyes.

Aw, Pancake is his calming influence.

"Don't smile like that."

My eyes widened when he spoke, still keeping his eyes closed and almost instantly the smile was wiped off my face.

"What? How did you know?"

"You always smile like a weirdo, it wasn't hard to guess."

This time I just narrowed my eyes at him before letting out a sigh, leaning against the counter next to him.

"When is Arturo coming?"

"He said in about ten minutes, maybe a little less now."

I nodded my head before stepping closer to him, attempting to give him a hug although it was kind of hard without hurting Pancake who just seemed confused by our little game of pass the puppy and then hold the puppy.

"Take a second to calm down and then we'll go back in there together."

After placing a kiss on my forehead, Santiago took some time to calm down, and after a few moments he finally started walking to the door with me following behind him. As soon as we stepped into the living room, all eyes were on us again.

After we sat down, Santiago relaxed back into the couch and closed his eyes, holding Pancake against his chest. It fell quiet for a while before Katia spoke.

"Santiago, I'm so sorry I couldn't come to see you in Mexico. I hope you weren't too hurt."

"I was kind of dying Katia, but yeah sure, whatever."

If it was me, I probably would have given up on trying to make conversation with Santi if that was his response. However, Katia seemed even more intent to speak to him after that.

What is it with girls never taking a hint?

"Dying? No one told me you were dying! Santi, I'm so sorry, I wasn't there for you, I-"

"Please, just shut up." Once again Santiago basically shut her down and this time instead of acting all worried about his health, she turned her attention to me.

Thankfully she didn't say anything, instead she just glared.

"Please stop looking at my girlfriend like that, Katia."

I couldn't help but smile a little when I saw the expression on Katia's face. It was even funnier considering his eyes were still closed.

"Girlfriend? Santi you told me you weren't together!"

"That was months ago, things have changed." Santiago was speaking with no emotion in his voice as he sat there clearly trying to stay calm with his eyes closed, resting pancake against his chest.

"She's not good enough to be your girlfriend. Santiago, I've been here by your side for years! We have something special, you know you felt it when you kissed me."

"I didn't kiss you, it was the other way around. I would never kiss you."

Finally, he started to lose whatever composure he had as he allowed the anger to start seeping back into his tone.

"Really? Santiago come on, you've wanted me for so long, anyone can see that."

"Why don't you just stop? Do you realise how desperate you sound right now?" This time when I spoke, she turned to give me another glare.

"I wasn't talking to you. You can't just randomly pop into his life out of nowhere and stick your claws into him. I've known Santiago for years and just because you have children with him, that doesn't mean you know him."

"That's enough. Katia, I swear to God, if you want to keep your life I suggest you shut your mouth right now. Trust me when I tell you that you don't know the half of my relationship with Maddie."

Before anyone could say anything else, the sound of the front door bell rung out again causing Pancake to lose his mind all over again.

Unfortunately for him the living room was very close to the front door so the sound was a lot louder there.

"I'll go."

Santi nodded his head as he stroked Pancake's fur to calm him down. Making my way out into the hallway, I opened the front door to see Arturo...

and Lucia?

Why would he bring her?

The first thing I noticed about their appearances was that they coordinated so well together. Both of them were dressed in black and white, particularly with fresh white trainers which I'm an absolute sucker for.

They get dirty super fast but nothing beats a clean, fresh pair of Air Forces.

Instead of the sophisticated dress and heels she was wearing the day we met her, Lucia was now dressed in leggings and an oversized jumper with her trainers.

So she was a normal girl at heart. When she and Arturo finally get together, I can definitely see her as my...

I was going to say kind of sister in law but since Arturo and Santiago aren't actually brothers I'll just say distant kind of cousin.

"Where are they?"

"Living room." I pointed towards the living room door and Arturo nodded his head, pressing a kiss to my forehead as he walked past me.

"Is there something I should know? Arturo looks like he's ready to kill someone but he won't tell me what's going on."

I gave Lucia a small smile as I closed the door, taking her hand in mine.

"I'll explain later. Just don't say anything and you'll be fine, I hope."

She nodded her head as I pretty much dragged her into the living room when she refused to move from her spot by the front door.

"I really don't like confrontation Maddie. I'm a lover not a fighter."

How did someone so pure and innocent end up involved with El Dios Del Diablo?

Once again I just gave her an encouraging smile.

When we went back into the living room, this time Santiago was now standing next to Arturo and Pancake was lying stretched out on the couch.

Everyone was just watching Santi and Arturo with confused expressions which intensified when they saw Lucia with me.

"Who the hell is she?"

Of course it would be Katia to speak about her like that.

"No one you need to concern yourself with." Arturo sent Katia a glare before turning to look at Lucia, his expression softening slightly when he saw the apprehensive expression on her face. "Just sit there, next to...you guys got a dog?"

When he saw Pancake, a confused look took over his face and he turned to look at Santiago and then me.

"Today actually. His name is Pancake."

"Let me guess, the twins named him?" I nodded my head, letting out a small laugh which was quickly cut off when I realised everyone in the room was listening to our conversation.

"Come on." I pulled Lucia over to the couch where Pancake was lying, letting out a laugh when she sat down carefully next to him, trying to keep her distance.

"He won't bite."

"But...is his fur hypoallergenic?"

I rose an eyebrow at her words before glancing over Pancake who was watching her with cautious eyes.

"Uh...I don't know." She just nodded her head at my response before gently patting Pancake's head twice and then turning her attention back to Arturo and Santiago.

Santiago was just watching her with a frown while Arturo had a ghost of a smile on his lips.

Aw.

When no one said a word, Noah let out a frustrated sigh.

"Can someone just tell us what the hell is going on? Why the hell are you both acting so weird? We only came to see how you were doing Santiago."

Keeping my eyes on my boyfriend, I watched as he clenched his fists, clearly trying to keep his emotions in check.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?"

"What?" Santiago's question just caused Noah to frown, and when Santi looked over at Nicolas he also looked extremely confused.

"Like what Santi?"

"I don't know, you tell me. Is there something you haven't told me?"

The longer this conversation went on like that, the more it seemed like they were starting to understand what was going on.

It really wasn't hard.

If you'd kept such a huge secret from someone like Santiago, knowing at any moment he could find out since I was clearly back in his life, wouldn't you constantly be on edge?

I would.

"Santiago I think you should just sit-"

"Don't tell me what to do. Answer the freaking question, or shall I give you some encouragement?"

When he said this, Santiago took his gun out from the back of his pants, pointing it in their direction. As soon as they saw it, they both suddenly sat up properly, watching him nervously.

"Santiago just put it down and we can talk about this."

"You lost that opportunity when you didn't tell me. You could have told me eight years ago but you didn't and then you had the chance when you found out Maddie was the mother of my children and yet you still didn't."

"Santiago we were just trying to do what was best for you. If we told you then you would have gone back to her."

When Noah said this, Santiago let out a scoff, putting his gun back into the back of his pants.

Something told me that wasn't the last we were going to be seeing of that black death giver.

"Of course I would have gone back to her! She needed me and you both knew it."

When neither of them responded to Santiago's words, Arturo spoke for the first time, bringing himself into the conversation.

"You had no right to keep it from him, you had eight years to tell him before Maddie finally did."

"Tell him what? Santiago you've known Madison for eight years?"
We all turned to look at Katia who was watching this play out, clearly confused at what was going on.

I forgot Santiago hadn't told anyone else about our friendship - only Arturo and by default Nicolas and Noah since we knew them in highschool.

I guess that explained why she said I had suddenly got my claws into him.

Actually bitch I've had my claws in him since I was five and he gave me both the Twinkies.

"We were bestfriends from the age of 5. We...lost touch when Santiago moved to LA when we were 18."

Her eyes widened when I spoke for the first time since the argument started and the reality of the situation suddenly seemed to dawn on her.

"That's why you love her so much?" For the first time it didn't seem like Katia was angry or jealous about my relationship with Santiago, instead she just seemed shocked.

In response, Santiago just nodded his head, ignoring the shocked expression on her face and also on Sienna's face.

I forgot she was even here until she spoke for the first time since she came into the house.

"What did they do?"

Santi rose an eyebrow at her question before turning his attention to Noah and Nicolas who both looked extremely nervous now.

"Why don't you tell her what you did?"

"Santi..."

"Say it." When they heard the anger in Arturo's voice they turned to look at Sienna.

Arturo and Santiago really did make a good team up there.

"We knew that Maddie..." Noah took a nervous glance in my direction before he finally forced the words out. "We knew she tried to kill herself when Santiago left her when she was eighteen and we didn't tell him."

As soon as it was said out loud so bluntly, I just looked away, suddenly realising that the worst mistake I'd ever made was now the main topic of conversation.

For some reason it didn't click with me that this would come up so openly.

"Oh come on, you can do better than that. Tell Sienna how you went to see Maddie at the hospital and then never told Santi about it. Tell her how you kept it quiet even when Maddie came back into his life when the twins were born."

For the first time ever I was really starting to see that angry side of Arturo that I, deep down, knew existed.

Santiago did once tell me that Arturo called himself the 'creative director' of murders since he liked to make them creative. I guess when you get to know someone so well you forget that they could possibly have a side to them that you wouldn't ever want to know.

When both Nicolas and Noah stayed quiet, Arturo let out a laugh while shaking his head.

"You pendejos screwed with my bestfriend and you think I'm going to let you get out of this so easily?" (Assholes)

When he suddenly took a threatening step towards them, reaching behind himself for his gun, I quickly jumped up to stop him.

"Arturo what are you doing? You were supposed to be the calming influence here."

When I said this, he stopped for a moment before his eyes widened a little and he took a step back from me.

"Sorry, I forgot. I get a bit excited sometimes."

He gave me a sheepish smile while I just rolled my eyes, taking a seat next to Lucia who was now stroking Pancake who was lying on her lap.

She didn't even seem fazed at what was going on, instead she was busy with Pancake. It was like she was oblivious to what was going on.

But at least she liked Pancake, at first I thought she didn't.

"How could you do that? Santiago is supposed to be your bestfriend. He loves her and you kept that from him?"

My eyes widened when I heard those words directed at Noah and Nicolas and I'm pretty sure everyone in the room was shocked, even Pancake.

Was it Arturo? No.

Lucia? No.

Sienna? No.

Katia? Yes.

"Katia, you don't understand. If Santiago knew about it then he would have gone back and it would have weakened him right when he needed to be strong."

"How is love a weakness? He loves her and you had no right to decide their fate!"

Holy crap she was fired up.

You go bitch!

"See, Katia hates Maddie and even she agrees you shouldn't have done it." Arturo's words caused Noah to let out a frustrated sigh before he stood to his feet.

"We did what we thought was best, now if you'll excuse me, I have things to do for my freaking boss."

Just as Noah took a step towards the door, Santiago spoke again after being silent for a while.

"I'm not your boss, not anymore."

For some reason those words left everyone deadly silent in the room before Santiago spoke again.

"Both of you have lost your place in my cartel."

"Santiago you can't do that-"

"He can and he is." Arturo quickly cut Noah off, sending him a glare.

"But I'll have nothing left." This time it was Nicolas who stood to his feet aswell, panic seeping into his tone as he spoke.

"That's not my problem. You took eight years away from Maddie and I, she's my everything and you took her away from me. So, now I'm taking everything away from you - your money and income, your status and respect, your freedom, your friendships."

"Santiago, don't. We screwed up-"

"Yeah, you did. You were supposed to be my bestfriends who I've known since I was a freaking teenager. But all you did was betray me."

For the first time he finally let the hurt show in his voice but only for a second before he replaced it with anger.

"You're done, I never want to see you again."

Santiago's words signalled that the conversation was over and I was actually really proud of him for being able to stay so calm.

I knew how badly he wanted to kill them or at least hurt them. This was Santiago we're talking about - he used to get into fights at school over the smallest of things and that hasn't changed even though he's 26 now.

When no one else said a word, I stood up, going over to Santiago and Arturo who were still standing on one side of the living room.

Without a word, I pulled Santi into a hug, wrapping my arms around his waist as I buried my face into his chest.

I hoped that the hug would show him just how proud I was of him without me needing to say anything.

"You think you're so big don't you Santiago?"

Both Santi and I tensed up when Nicolas spoke in a harsh tone, suddenly no longer apologetic about what he did.

Actually, he didn't even seem that sorry in the first place. He was more scared for his own ass than anything, both of them were.

"Just because you're the damn jefe, you think you can do anything. Well, let me tell you something, you can't. You're not even that strong, remember? You're nothing but a little bitch for El Dios Del Diablo." (Boss.)

The room was deadly silent as I slowly pulled away from Santi, turning around to see that both Nicolas and Noah seemed absolutely furious.

I guess since they just lost everything, maybe they thought they had nothing else left to lose.

I can think of one thing.

"Get the hell out of this house before you're carried out in a body bag. Both of you." Arturo sent Nicolas a glare before also directing his words towards Noah too.

"You're going to kill us for him?" This time it was Noah who spoke, letting out a laugh while shaking his head. "Man the hell up and do it yourself Santiago. Daddy taught you how to pull a trigger didn't he?"

As soon as Noah mentioned Santiago's father, Santi suddenly pushed me to the side before taking a few long strides towards the two of them.

Just like that, Katia and Sienna also stood up while Arturo rushed over to Santiago to stop him from hitting them.

Although, anyone could tell that Arturo was also just as angry.

I was surprised he was even trying to stop them from fighting.

"You want me to kill you?"

Just as Santiago reached out to grab Noah by his collar, Arturo managed to push him backwards.

"Get away from me Arturo. I tried to stay calm but I'm done, I'm going to kill them both like they freaking deserve."

Once again he tried to get past his bestfriend who again pushed him back.

"No you're not, no frente a ella." (Not in front of her.)

"Ella sabe quién soy, no es importantante, ¡ahora muévete!" (She knows who I am, it's not important, now move!)

Finally somehow Santiago managed to push past Arturo, letting his fist swing out towards Noah's face.

The sudden impact caused him to lose his balance and Santi took the opportunity to grab him by the collar, hitting him with a few more punches before dropping him to the floor.

Of course he wasn't done yet and he bent down, throwing blow after blow at Noah who was trying his best to defend himself from the onslaught of punches.

"Santiago stop!"

He ignored the way everyone was calling for him to stop, constantly pushing Arturo away whenever he tried to pull him off of Noah.

For a while I just stood there in shock as I watched him fight the man who was supposed to be one of his bestfriends. But eventually I came to my senses and I stepped towards him.

"Santi stop it!"

He just ignored my pleas as he carried on.

"Santiago that's enough!" Arturo once again tried to get to Santi and this time Santiago stood up properly, but instead of stopping, he turned his attention to Nicolas.

"Santiago..."

Without a word, Santiago stepped over Noah and made his way over to Nicolas who looked like he was about to cry especially when Santiago pulled his gun out on him.

Before he could click the safety off the gun, Arturo wrapped his arms around Santiago and pulled him backwards.

"Arturo I'll kill you too if you don't get the hell off me!"

His words came out in a deep voice, dripping with fury as he struggled against his bestfriend. It was only when I stepped into his view that he slowly began to relax a little more, but not by much.

"Baby please don't. Our children are sleeping upstairs, you can't shoot him here."

The mention of the twins seemed to be the thing that finally managed to get through to him although it didn't reduce his anger.

"They deserve to die for what they did. I stayed calm but..."

"And I'm so proud of you for that baby. But you have to put the gun down now, you've done enough."

"I haven't done anything to Nicolas yet and that was just me getting started on Noah." When he spoke he gestured over to Nicolas who was backed into a corner, watching this unfold before gesturing to Noah who was starting to sit up again.

"If you shoot them then the twins will wake up. They'll come downstairs and they'll see everything. You don't want that, do you?"

It took another few moments, but finally his grip on his gun eased and I gently placed my hand on his, lowering his gun down.

"That's it baby. Just breathe, remember what Cameron taught you? Hakuna Matata."

"Hakuna what?" When Arturo gave me a confused frown, I sent him a glare, basically telling him to shut the hell up.

"That is so annoying."

Santiago shook his head when I reminded him of the way Cameron tried to teach the song to Santi this morning, incase he ever got angry again so that he wouldn't snap at Kenzie like he did.

It was actually so freaking cute.

Finally, Santiago handed his gun to Arturo who gladly took it and then took a few steps away from Santi, turning his attention back to Noah and Nicolas.

"If I ever see either of you again, I'll kill you. Get the hell out."

Nicolas didn't need to be told twice and he quickly rushed over to Noah to help him up off the floor before they left the house, leaving us all in an awkward silence.

"You guys should go too, it's getting pretty late." This time when Arturo spoke, turning his attention to Sienna and Katia, his tone softened a little.

"Yeah..." Sienna cleared her throat before coming over to me, giving me a small smile.

"Now that you're back we should catch up soon. I feel like there's a lot we should talk about."

I knew she was referring to the fact I hadn't told her about my 21 year long relationship with Santiago, causing me to smile a little.

I guess now that the cat is out of the hat I can finally tell her.

Or is it a bunny in the hat?

"Yeah sure. It would be nice to talk to a girl for once instead of these two." When I nodded towards Arturo and Santiago, I just received a glare from them in response.

No it was a cat in a bag and a bunny in a hat.

Why would a cat be in a- actually, never mind.

Sienna just gave me a smile in response before leaving the living room with Katia who didn't even glance in my direction.

"You good bro?" At the sound of Arturo's voice, I turned to look at him and Santiago who just nodded.

"Yeah. I just need to..." As he spoke he turned to glance in my direction before letting out a sigh, running a hand over his face.

"Let him have one cigarette. It's not going to interfere with his medication, he needs it Maddie."

As much as I wanted to say no, when I saw the desperation in Santiago's eyes I found myself nodding. Very reluctantly.

Santiago gave me a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room with Arturo and moments later I heard the front door close while they went outside to smoke.

Finally it was just me and Lucia left.

I still had no clue why Arturo even brought her here but oh well, she was nice.

"That wasn't too bad, was it?" When she heard my voice, she looked up from Pancake before letting out a small laugh.

"I'm laughing but inside I'm crying."

Why is she so freaking relatable?

"That was horrendous Maddie. I've seen people get killed in front of me time and time again and I just...I hate it. I can't believe Santiago was so close to doing it."

I nodded my head as I dropped down on the couch next to her.

I was lucky to have never had to see anyone be killed in front of me but I could just imagine it. It would probably haunt me for a very long time.

When I turned to look at Lucia she was smiling at Pancake with that same innocence surrounding her.

She may have looked innocent, and she may have been the sweetest person I'd met in a long time, but...

I knew she wasn't necessarily innocent, maybe not by choice, she'd definitely been through things and seen things which would take away someone's childlike innocence.

She'd been through things which she already hinted at on the plane when she told us she had to learn self defence after experiences. But there was something else.

I was really curious about how someone like her could end up working for one of the deadliest organisations as an accountant. No doubt she's seen and heard things I couldn't even dream of and she was two years younger than me.

She didn't deserve it.

"Lucia?"

"Hm?" She turned her head to look at me, giving me a soft smile when she saw me looking at her.

And as much as I wanted to come out and ask her about her story, I didn't want her to lose that smile because of me.

"Where have you been staying?"

For some reason she looked away from me when I asked her this and a light blush coated her cheeks.

"Um...at Arturo's house."

"You've been staying with Arturo? How am I only finding this out now?" When I responded so excitedly, her eyes widened and she glanced over at the door that he'd just walked out of a few minutes before.

"Shhh. It was his idea, he took me to his house when we got back to LA."

"How is it?" When I wiggled my eyebrows at her she just shook her head. "Fine, I guess. He told me to stay away from him so I have. This is actually the most I've seen of him over the last two days since we've been here."

"Why would he say that?" She just shrugged at my question before giving me a smile.

"I don't think he likes me very much. I kind of upset him in his car when I put some hand gel on and then I think I offended him when I asked him to move away from me. Now I have to put my hand gel on in private everytime."

"You asked him to move away from you?" She seemed confused when I gave her a shocked expression while raising my eyebrow, causing me to explain. "It's just that, Arturo usually gets a lot of attention from women, it's not normal for one to ask him to move away."

"Oh. Well, I just...I didn't know him well enough to trust that his intentions were...safe for me."

Safe.

When she said this she looked away from me and although she didn't say it, from the expression on her face and the tone of her voice, I knew.

And it broke my heart.

"He's not like that. He may be a lot of things but he would never ever do that to a woman. Anyway, I think he actually likes you Lucia."

"I seriously doubt that. I ramble too much whenever he's around, I can't help it, I just love to talk. I feel like once his walls are broken down he'll respond back to me properly. I don't get to talk much to anyone whenever I'm working in Mexico City which is almost always so when I'm with him, I just talk. Kind of like what I'm doing now, I'm sorry."

She gave me a sheepish smile while I just let out a small laugh.

"Give him time to get used to you and trust me, you'll see it. The way he looks at you...it's clear for anyone to see that he likes you. As for the talking bit, while you're here if you need a friend you can always come to me. I'm not working at the moment so I guess I'll be here at home for the foreseeable future."

"Really?"

I nodded my head with a smile just as the front door opened and closed again.

"You ready to go?" As Arturo came into the room, he turned his attention to Lucia who was now looking up at him from next to me on the couch.

"Actually, we need to discuss a few things before you go which is why I asked you to bring her."

Santiago asked him to bring her?

And they got here in ten minutes.

Wait...

This bitch knew!

"How could you keep something like that from me?"

~ Lucia's POV ~

Now what?

Honestly, this is more arguing than I'm used to and I've watched every season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

At the sound of her deeply offended tone, the three of us all turned to look at Maddie although she was busy glaring at her boyfriend.

These people really do love to argue, don't they?

"What?"

"You know what!" Santiago glanced over at Arturo and I before he turned back to look at Maddie with a bewildered expression.

"Maddie-"

"You knew she was staying with him and you never told me! Santiago the ship is at the port and ready to set sail, you should have told me. You know I would want to know about that."

Oh...so I was the cause of their argument? Awkward.

Ship? There is definitely no Arturo and Lucia related ships at any port.

Arturo and I are not...

Are we?

No, bitch you're definitely not. He's just like them.
He's like all of them.

Right, yeah, we're not.

When he finally understood what she was so upset about, Santiago's confusion turned into a mixture of annoyance and amusement - although the annoyance seemed to be the more dominant emotion.

"Maddie we'll talk about this later."

She held his stare for a moment before she eventually took Pancake from my lap and stood up. Without a word she left the living room, leaving me alone with Santiago and Arturo.

"Excuse me?"

When I spoke in a small voice, they both turned their attention away from the door and to me instead.

"Sorry to...uh- get in the way of your...discussion, but, why am I here?" When neither of them replied for a second I, for some reason, felt the need to continue digging a hole for myself to jump into. "You see, It's almost 11:30pm and I'm exhausted. I'm usually asleep by now and a girl like me needs as much beauty sleep as she can get so-"

"Stop talking and I'll tell you."

Santiago gave me a weird look before he and Arturo sat down across from me.

"Arturo told me that your boss, Hugo, sent his list of demands that he wants completed by the end of the month. You need to tell him that it's impossible, there's no fucking way we can get it all done in less than three weeks."

But that would mean that...

"You have to." Before I could even stop myself, I blurted out the words causing him raise an eyebrow at me.

"You don't tell me what to do, do you understand? I don't freaking answer to the accountant." The way he said it instantly told me that he looked down on me and that he didn't think much of me.

That's not very nice, and my sub-conscience definitely agrees.

Does this bitch know how many hours you spent cramming for your endless number of exams?

Uh, no, unless he was in my bedroom which would just the weird.

"Don't speak to her like Santiago. She's not the one at fault here."

"You're on her side?" Santiago now seemed more amused than annoyed. Just from the start of this conversation it was clear to see that he hadn't calmed down from his fight with the other two people earlier.

Maybe he should have had this talk with me another time once he was a bit calmer.

He probably would have been a little nicer to me and my feelings.

They're pretty sensitive.

"It's not about sides. Look, she's just the messenger, it's not her fault that Hugo is a jerk. But, we do need to get it all done."

When Arturo said this, he glanced over at me and I was instantly reminded of the conversation we had about the way I would be punished if they didn't meet Hugo's targets.

"Why?"

This time when Arturo looked at me, I tried to send him a subtle shake of the head to stop him from telling Santiago, but of course it wasn't subtle at all.

Santiago just looked between us for a second before his gaze settled on his friend.

"What is she hiding?"

"I'm sorry Lucia, I don't keep any secrets from him, especially to do with business." Arturo sent me an apologetic look before he spoke. "If Hugo doesn't get what he wants from us, he's going to...punish her, not us."

"Why her?"

"That's how they do things, they've always been like that. They try to keep their relationships good with their contacts so instead so they take any anger out on the one who is in charge of each assignment."

When I said this, Santiago just looked at me with a frown before shaking his head.

"That's screwed up."

"It is. Look I know we don't know her that well, but I..." Arturo glanced over at me and then looked back at Santiago, sending him a pleading look.

A look of understanding crossed Santiago's face and he let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair as he thought about it for a moment.

"Okay, we'll get it done. But since we just lost those two idiots, it will mean no rest for anyone. Not even you." When he said the last part he turned to look at me. "You're going to help us."

"But I'm an accountant! I can add up numbers but other than that-"

"Arturo will help you. We're doing this to protect your ass, and I don't do things for free. You're helping whether you like it or not. Now, can both of you get the hell out of my house."

I really need to have a talk with Maddie about her taste in men.

This guy was not very nice to my feelings at all.

Lucia is just so pure 😩❤️

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