Page 19 of Scarlet Embrace

“Please. I need your help. You are my last hope!” he begged.

He was wearing a checkered t-shirt and faded jean pants and had a cane in hand. His white beard and bald head placed him somewhere around his late fifties or early sixties. I noticed how his hands seemed to shake, and I wondered if he had tremors. His name was Hector.

“Fine. Let’s come to my office to talk,” I told him.

Offering him a cup of coffee, he told me that his grandson was the reason he was here. The boy was just a few weeks short of his sixteenth birthday but had been arrested by the police. According to Hector, Javez was innocent, and his friends were the ones who had put him up to it.

“They’re all excited about joining the LaRosa’s. I tried to tell Javez that no good would come with being a member of those killers, but he won’t listen to me,” Hector broke down in tears.

High school kids were often recruited into the LaRosa, and the numbers were pretty much alarming. Attempts to curb the recruitment had been made in the past, but it was ineffective. The passage rites often involve doing something crazy, and I guess Hector’s grandson had been caught doing whatever crime was meant to be his passage rite.

“Alright. I’ll do everything in my power to help you, but I need to know everything that happened.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much,” Hector said, his eyes suddenly becoming moist.

We spent the next hour and a half talking about Javez’s crime. He had been caught robbing a store with a knife. He and three other kids were involved in the crimes, but only two of them were apprehended by the police. I told Hector I’d ask a friend about Javez’s case, and I’ll get back to him.

It was already evening by the time I finally sent Hector on his way. I sighed as I realized that I still had to go to the market to get the ingredients for dinner.

“Elena Rodriguez?”

Please, not again.

I was about to tell whoever it was that they’d have to come tomorrow, but the words barely left my mouth. The three men in front of me were packing, and for a brief moment, I thought they were from Lucas Cruz. The past few days had been oddly silent, and I thought he had forgotten me, but it turned out that I was wrong.

“Who are you?” I asked warily.

“Who we are is not what matters. You should be more concerned as to why we are here,” one of the men said as he stepped forward. The smell of cigarettes hit me, and I stepped back. “Someone wants to have a discussion, and they asked us to bring you along,” the tallest of them asked me.

“Tell Lucas Cruz that I really don’t have the answers he wants.”

The men looked at each other, and I noticed the one who had addressed me got a subtle nod from the man to his right, who had a stocky build and a bald head. He lifted his jacket, and I saw his pistol. “Since you are familiar with Lucas Cruz, then you don’t have any reason to worry. Someone important wants to have a discussion with you regarding Lucas, and we are just meant to escort you.”

This isn’t looking good.

The idea of running crossed my mind, but I dismissed it as I knew that there was no way I would be outrunning these men. If they weren’t from Lucas, could they be from the person who had stolen the cars? Lucas has been asking me if I knew who had stolen them, a question I couldn’t answer because I didn’t know.

“Do I have to follow you right now? I have a dinner to plan, and I—” I began before the man cut me off. His finger to his lips made it clear that he wasn’t interested in anything I had to say. I looked at them, and I swallowed nervously.

“Can I find a taxi then?” I asked as I struggled to remain calm.

“Oh, we came with our own car. We will take you to the meeting venue and will bring you back. Don’t worry, you’re safe with us.”

That statement seemed like a stretch, but at the moment, my hands were tied. Having no other choice, I followed them. We got into the sedan, and I had a man to both my right and left while another got into the driver’s seat and drove away. We drove for what seemed to be twenty minutes before we went into an underground parking lot.

“Is this where we are meeting?” I asked.

All throughout the ride, the men had remained silent, an act that terrified me even more. This wasn’t the first time I had been threatened by gang members, but this was the first time I was escorted to some location. Several thoughts crossed my head throughout the drive. I kept thinking about Bianca, and I was worried for her safety.

“You’ll find out when you get in.” the stocky and bald man said.

We stepped out of the car, and that’s when I realized that things were about to take a rather different turn. A silver truck was waiting for us, and I was told to get into the trunk. I realized how serious they were when they tied my hands.

God, let me get out of this safely. I need to get out of this safely.

How long we drove was beyond me, but after what seemed to be several stops and turns, the car stopped moving. The trunk was opened, and the tall man dragged me out.

“Emilio! That’s not how we treat our guests.”