5–The coincidence

GUSTAVO

I never thought I’d see the beautiful auburn-haired girl again.

But here she is, walking by my new office.

I moved my office from our other location after the Eduardo situation.

He knows where it is, and I have a feeling we’re going to have many disagreements soon.

So, I packed up and moved to this building.

Her presence is too much of a coincidence.

No person, let alone a girl as hot as her, would be in the same area as a Mafia underboss in the span of two days.

I storm towards her and demand an explanation.

Tears well in her eyes as she says that she lives in the apartment down the street.

Tony verifies the information and says she’s been there for a year.

I’ll accept it…for now.

“Good,” I say.

I can’t help myself.

I nibble the delicate flesh of her ear to taste her.

I couldn’t help myself the day we met, either.

When she looks at me it’s a combination of fear and desire.

The conflicting emotions and the fact she’s drop dead gorgeous set me off.

When I left Saturday, I needed to taste her tan skin, which was so, so sweet, and I wanted more the moment I left.

So, I took a bite today.

As she runs off with tears in her eyes, I know I’m in for a huge problem.

If she’s not working for Eduardo, she’s going to consume my thoughts until I have her.

And if she’s not working for him, I will take her.

But right now, it seems the most likely situation is she’s colluding with him, or another enemy.

I spin to Tony.

“Tell me everything you know about her.”

“Right. Her name is Maryjane Diego, and she works at Flux Productions…”

I listen to Tony talk about her life, from her accomplishments to her cat named Slippers, and take notes on my phone.

From the ridiculous things he’s saying, Eduardo’s either an idiot or genius for choosing her to spy on me.

Who the hell names their cat Slippers?

He pauses.

“She’s a nice girl, Gustavo Silver. She stitched you up without even knowing you, right?

I really think it’s a coincidence.”

I’ll believe when I see the receipts.

If any of this doesn’t corroborate with a background check, we’re in for trouble.

“Yeah, we’ll see.”

I spin right back into the office instead of leaving.

I reach my office and stab Taime’s number into the phone.

“Hey,” he says.

“Taime. I need you to find information about a girl ASAP.”

“Alright. Just give me her name.”

I give him all relevant info then slam the phone back in the cradle.

I don’t want to deal with this today.

I already have too much Eduardo bullshit going on, and I don’t want to add anymore to the plate.

Who is Maryjane Diego, and why am I torn between fucking her or killing her?

*****

It’s the next morning when Taime gets back to me.

“You’re not going to believe this,” he says.

“She’s working for them, isn’t she?”

I slam my fist on my office desk.

“Shit.”

“Well, no. Maryjane Diego is the daughter of Gary Diego.”

“The owner of Diego Medical Supplies? No, it must be a coincidence.

Her father probably has the same name.”

“That’s what I thought too,” Taime says.

“But I kept going. I have years of family photos of them together.”

“Ok,” I pause.

“So did Gary set this up?”

“I really don’t think so.

She abruptly quit med school a little over a year ago and moved from the Bay Area, so I think there was a falling out.”

“So, this really is just a coincidence,” I mutter.

“Yes. But I’d consider a call with Gary.

We have most of LA on our payroll, but he’s one of the select few where the situation is flipped.”

“Will do. Thanks, Taime.”

“Anytime.”

I put the phone in the cradle and rest my face in my hands.

It’s a coincidence.

But this coincidence is leading to a new set of problems.

The first, and most problematic, is that I want to fuck Maryjane Diego.

But now that I know she’s Gary’s daughter, I can’t touch her.

I have no idea how to suppress my need for her.

The second is her role in Gary’s business.

Did he send her there purposely to spy on us?

Why was she at the docks at the exact time we were doing business?

I can take care of one of those right now.

I find Gary’s number in my phone and dial out.

“The Devil himself,” he says.

“Gary,” I say. “How are you?”

“Good, good.”

Gary chats about his legitimate business for five minutes and I want to rip my eyes out.

I don’t care about business dealings unless they’re of the illegal type.

“I presume you heard about the Mexican Mafia situation?” I say.

“Of course. I am sorry about that; I had no idea when I declined them it would cause so much trouble.

Is that what this call is in relation to?”

He sounds sincere.

I don’t think our business relationship is jeopardized in any way.

But, I still need to find out about Maryjane.

“No, actually,” I say. “It’s about your daughter.”

“Maryjane?”

So, she really is Gary Diego’s daughter.

Taime has never given me intel that is wrong, but I was having trouble believing this.

I see their similarities now, though.

Maryjane has Gary’s auburn hair, although his is now streaked with grey.

She also has the same, dark green eyes.

“She was at the docks that day.

I stumbled into your warehouse after I was shot, and she stitched me up.

If she hadn’t found me, I’d be dead.”

“How much does she know?” he asks.

“That’s why I called you.”

He exhales, and I can tell he is very displeased.

“She told me she was ill and couldn’t go.

She’s about to be in a large amount of trouble for lying to me.”

“So, she does know about the other side of the business?”

His voice reaches an even lower octave.

“No, she doesn’t.”

“I see.”

There’s a pause between us.

Gary has about a thousand thoughts going through his head, and I know he’s about to take them out on me.

“How did you find out who she was?

You know what, it doesn’t matter.

You’re lucky you didn’t shoot her when she found you,” he seethes.

I feel the same way.

Enduring with the wrath of Gary Diego is something I’d rather not deal with, especially with my Eduardo problem going on.

“Either way,” I say.

“Will this be a problem?”

“I don’t think so.

The Mexican Mafia have a problem with me, thus they have a problem with you.

I’ve kept Maryjane sheltered, and she’s never met any of those types of business partners.

But, as I’m sure you’re aware, we haven’t figured out their intentions.”

“I’ll keep an eye on her.”

Although the reason why may be for selfish reasons.

*******

“What are the fucking chances of that?” I grumble as I slump into the sofa.

Taime is in the middle of cleaning his guns.

He’s ‘going out’ tonight, which is an unspoken phrase that he’s going to kill one or more people.

With the amount of guns he’s taking, I can tell it’s multiple.

He’s the man movies are based on.

The ones about the guys who can walk into rooms of people, and just take thirty plus of them out.

Where a mob boss cringes when he learns the man is after him and will send teams of people to try and take him out.

You can speak his name and people will cower in fear.

Taime is the real life boogeyman.

I’m glad he’s my best friend, because I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of his wrath.

“I’m glad you talked me out of killing her,” he says.

We had been texting the entire car ride.

He was adamant that she be taken out, that she had seen too much, but I said no.

“Me too.”

“So…what’s the plan with Eduardo?” he says.

Eduardo.

I haven’t even had time to think of him because of Maryjane.

I’ve been mourning that I can’t fuck her because she’s Gary Diego’s daughter.

Her beautiful green eyes, tan skin, auburn hair…and I’ve already had a taste.

Fuck.

“I have no idea.”

Taime raises his eyebrow at me.

“That’s unlike you.”

“I know.”

I rub my temples.

“Eduardo is going to try anything to disrupt operations now.”

Our relationship with Gary is simple.

He supplies a transit for our drugs, and we provide him protection for his various business dealings.

And Gary is always up to shit, so we have no shortage of work.

Taime has killed off multiple CEO’s, investors in Gary’s competitor’s companies, and even his wife.

Gary is merciless, but has other people do his work for him.

But without him, we can’t run our drugs.

“It’s better to be on the defensive for now,” I say.

“I mean. He did steal 500,000 dollars’ worth of drugs and almost kill me, but if that’s it for now, I’d rather have plenty of time to plan.”

“Makes sense.”