Page 7 of Scarlet Embrace

We moved a distance apart, and he explained to me that he ran what I told him through his network, and he got something interesting back. It turned out that Lucas Cruz has been involved in a couple of side projects, one of them being the import of luxurious cars.

“Wow, that’s huge. Maybe that’s why he went to visit that guy?”

“Yes. Sonto Kunato. He’s a Japanese-American who dropped out of MIT a few years back. Has a couple of arrests for illegal racing and has quite an acquired taste for expensive cars.”

“Did something happen with the cars? Because from what I saw, Lucas seemed bothered.”

There was a momentary pause from Roland, and I could tell he was a bit reluctant to tell me. His reluctance only made me curious as I wanted to know what had happened to Lucas’s cars.

“They were stolen.”

“Really?” I yelled, drawing attention. I cleared my throat before dropping my voice several decibels. “I’m sorry. Let me guess, the LaRosa stole them.”

It was the only explanation as to why he would make the trip to Marcus’s restaurant, seeing how they both had a sour relationship. If the LaRosa had truly stolen Lucas’s car, it was only a matter of time before we had a street war on our hands.

“For now, we’re still trying to gather information,” Roland told me before someone called his name. “I have to go now, but honestly, thanks for the information, Elena.” He smiled, bringing a change in his appearance.

I watched him meet up with his fellow detectives while my mind raced at the implication of this. I needed to find those cars as quickly as possible. Only God knows what those cars could be carrying. Drugs, diamonds, anything. In fact, it might be that Lucas was trying out an entirely new trafficking system, and if I found the cars and gave that intel to Roland, the cops could swoop in and seize the cars, making Cruz lose a couple of millions and a trafficking route.

“Kaze. I need to reach out to Kaze.”

Kaze, whose real name is Kazeem, was a former client of mine who worked as a mechanic. I helped him out, and he told me to come calling whenever I needed a favor. Swiping through my contacts, I found his number and placed a call to him.

“Kaze,” I said the second he picked up.

“If it ain’t the good lawyer. Please tell me you want to take up my dinner offer.”

There were a number of rules I abide by, and one of them was not to dine with my clients. Once the trial is over, I try to keep very little contact with my client, and if not for the favor I needed, I wouldn’t be reaching out to Kaze.

“Sadly, that’s not the case. I’m calling for a favor, Kaze,” I told him.

He laughed and told me how I had no idea what I was missing out on before asking what I needed help with. I asked if he knew about a stream of luxurious cars that might have somehow made their way into the city.

“Depends on who’s asking and why,” Kaze answered.

“Elena is the one asking, and I need it to help a client,” I lied.

Technically, I’ll be hiring myself as a client, so it’s not a lie.

Kaze told me that he might know something about it, but he would have to confirm from his sources. I asked him how long till he got everything, and he told me to give him till tomorrow.

“Sure, you don’t want to take that dinner offer?” He asked.

“Get me the address, and we’ll see, Kaze.”

CHAPTER 4: LUCAS

A CLUE

It’s been two days now, and I haven’t gotten any information about the location of my cars. Sonto told me he was already trying to get the cars back, but I suspected he was lying to me, and he was way too scared to look me in the face and tell me the truth. Father was still out of the country, but it was only a matter of time before he returned, and by then, I knew I would have to provide an explanation as to why I paid a visit to Diana LaRosa. I would have stayed back at the mansion to gather my thoughts if Daniel and Linda weren’t being a pain in the ass.

My half-siblings were quite spoilt, none of them realizing what it meant to be a Cruz. Linda was busy with law school, though that wasn’t the only thing she was involved in, or at least that was what I thought. To be honest, I don’t really know much about her. Daniel, on the other hand, I know a number of things about, one of them being that he was a rather spoilt brat who was following in Alexander’s footsteps. I preferred him acting out as it meant that my future as the patriarch was secure, but I knew Hannah wouldn’t agree.

“Come on, what’s got you all wound up?” Rufus asked as he placed the tray on the table.

“I’m not sure you want to know,” I said with a heavy sigh.

Coming to his estate seemed like the best option at the moment since I couldn’t calm myself down. Talking with Rufus was always good for my nerves, a comment my father had made a few times.