Chapter 162: Different life
1819words
Molly had slept all through the night and I didn't get a wink of shut eye. I wanted to be awake when she opened her eyes. She needed to see that I was out and that I was here by her side. But she hadn't moved a single muscle all night long.
Her Aunt Rose came in and gently patted me on the back. I glanced up at her warm face as she smiled down at me.
"Why don't you go stretch your legs and grab some coffee? I'll stay with lynn while you and Micky discuss some things."
"But I-"
She gripped the top of my shoulder and shook her head, cutting me off. "No, son, you need to go speak with Micky. I've got this sweet girl."
I glanced between her and lynn before I decided to take her advice and stood up. It was hard stepping away from her but I knew she was in good hands. And I also really wanted to see what Micky had done all night long. Had he made any progress? Had he found them yet? Dakota and Luis's life hung in the balance and it made me nauseous. Perhaps that was another reason why I couldn't sleep at all through the night.
As I approached the lounge, the strong aroma of coffee greeted me and my feet moved just a bit faster. I poured the steaming coffee into a Styrofoam cup as Micky approached me, pouring himself another cup of Joe as well.
"Any news?" I asked softly, dumping two packets of sugar into my cup.
When I glanced up at him, he was looking around. "Not here. I've set up shop in a conference room down the hall. I'd like to show you what I found and what I'd like to do to proceed."
I nodded, allowing him to show me the way. My heart was hammering in my chest at the thought of what Micky might have found. We came from a rough life and there was a long list of things Diego has done over the years. I just hoped Micky didn't dig too far into my past in order to find things out.
We entered the conference room where I saw Micky's laptop and several documents and photos spread across the table. My eyes weren't sure where to look when Micky pulled out a chair for me. I sat down as he took his spot before we silently sat there for a moment.
"I hope you don't mind that I did some digging on your brother dearest. He's got a long list of offenses that he's never lawfully taken care of. I can easily put him behind bars for ten years with this alone, but he fucked up this time and he might be seeing life behind bars," Micky said as he slid me a few police reports.
I scanned over them and saw what my little brother had been up to since I've been gone. Drug charges, prostitution charges, and money laundering. He only got worse after I left and I couldn't help but wonder if things would have been different if I stayed.
"Drake, this isn't your fault," Micky told me. How the hell did he know what I was thinking?
"No, but I was all he and Dakota had. It's a little my fault. I left them when they both needed me."
He sighed. "You were their brother, not their father. You can't take the blame. Everyone has choices in life. You made yours and he made his."
Micky was right, but it was still a hard pill to swallow. I had taken care of them after my dad was arrested and my mom couldn't even stay awake for longer than twenty minutes at a time. They needed someone so I was there, so when I left it was really hard on me. So yeah, the blame was there.
"What do you have?" I nodded toward everything on the table, wanting to change the subject.
"Well, I'm trying to find his whereabouts at the moment but haven't found anything as of yet. He's a smart man. I have a few guys looking for his movement so they can follow him but still nothing yet." Then he slid over a document toward me. "Looks like he owes a shit ton of money to this man in Chicago." He showed me a photo and I swear all the blood drained from my face. "Do you know this man, Drake?"
I swallowed hard, grabbing the photo as I studied it. I hadn't seen this face in years.
"This is my father," I whispered.
Micky's brows shot up as he took the photo from me and looked at it himself. "He's a very wanted man. Did you know that he rose to be the most dangerous drug lord in Chicago? He was released from prison five years ago and the rest is history."
Now everything made a little more sense. Diego owed our father a shit ton of money and had been working for him. There wasn't a doubt in my head that they had seen the article about Molly and her family. Why else would they come after me now? I didn't have money. Not that kind of money anyways.
"What do we do?" I asked, turning my gaze back up to Micky's.
He took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. "We wait for Molly to wake up. Diego was there for a reason last night. He took luis because he didn't get what he wanted."
"Drake!"
I whipped around at my name and saw Aunt Rose standing there with a grin on her face.
"She's awake."
I've never bolted out of a chair faster in my life. I stormed out of the conference room and ran down the hallway to her room. When I entered, she was blinking like crazy and trying to sit up. I ran to her side and grabbed her hand.
"Don't move, baby, you're hurt."
Her eyes landed on mine as her mouth fell open. She studied me for a long moment before tears filled her eyes.
"You're out," she whispered.
I chuckled. "You can thank your Aunt Rose and Micky for that." I pulled her hand to my mouth and kissed it. "How are you feeling? I was so broken when I found out that Diego hurt you."
Her bottom lip trembled. "He took luis. He's hurting Dakota."
My brows furrowed together as anger coursed through me. "What do you mean he's hurting Dakota?" The last I heard, she was helping him.
"He showed me a picture. She was tied up on a nasty looking mattress. I have to help her." She went to get up from the bed again before she cried out in pain and laid back down.
"Your ribs are bruised, baby, you can't go. Tell me what he said to you."
Her bottom lip trembled again as she stared into my gaze. "He wants ten million cash by midnight or they're both dead," she rasped out.
I saw red. Leave it to Diego to ask for an obscene amount of money and then threaten to kill someone if he didn't get it. It was disgusting what money could do to people. I wouldn't let luis and Dakota go through that.
Micky stepped into the room and very slowly approached lynn. Her eyes lit up when she saw him and I almost allowed my jealousy to come roaring back, but I swallowed it down.
"Micky," she whispered.
"Hey, lynn." He grabbed her free hand and squeezed. "I'm here now and won't let anything happen to anyone. Tell me more about this money exchange. Did he give you a location?"
I ignored his first words and focused on the mission at hand. There was no room for jealousy right now and we'd already been through this. Lynn chose me.
"No." She coughed. "I just assumed he'd come back to Drake's at midnight."
Micky and I exchanged a look as a smirk lifted my lips. We had Diego exactly where we wanted him.
"Looks like we have a meeting at midnight, Drake. It's a good thing I pulled some strings and kept your file sealed. He won't know that you've been released from jail. Hell, he probably thinks you're on your way to Chicago right now."
Lynn let go of Micky's hand and framed my face, pulling my full attention back on her.
"I was so scared for you. I called Piper like you asked while Lane looked up attorneys." Her voice cracked.
"You did amazing, baby. I'm okay now and I'm not going anywhere again. We need to take Diego down before it's too late though." I glanced up at Micky. "What's our plan?"
He grinned. "We're going to let Diego come back to your place at midnight and Lynn's going to give him the money. I'm going to have him trailed after that. We need to locate Dakota and luis before it's too late. I don't trust the fucker not to kill them even if he has the money." Then he glanced at lynn. "Don't worry, you won't have to actually pull out ten million. We'll fill the bags to make them heavy enough and only put real money on the top. Can you spare one million?"
She snorted. "For luis and Dakota? Absolutely."
But I glared at Micky. "You're going to let her be there to meet Diego? Alone? I don't like that idea at all."
"Drake," lynn whispered, pulling my attention back to her, "I'm not going to be alone. You and Micky will be close by. I have to do this. I have to make sure my best friend and your sister are okay."
I stared deeply into her eyes as I let out a sigh. She was always looking out for everyone around her and I loved her for it, but I hated that she'd be put in danger to do so.
"What if Diego realizes the money isn't all there? That it's fake..." I turned my gaze to Micky.
"That's a risk we're going to have to take in order for us to trail him. My guess is that he'll take the money and run. He knows lynn is smart. He won't want to be in the house longer than he needs to be."
"I hope you're right..."
I glanced back down at lynn and memorized her face as tears blurred my vision. If anything happened to her I'd flip out. I already had a hard enough time not tracking him down and killing him myself. He put his hands on my girl and hurt her. He deserved to die. And I was the one who was going to do it. I'd play along with Micky's plan for now but I had a few of my own.
