Punished (Calavera Hotels #1)

Chapter Thirty-Four Adrian

It should be illegal to own a dog that ugly. My grandfather’s birthday party is still a month out, and family I have never met are flying in left and right. I am relieved when I reach Enrique’s office to see he is alone. He had messaged me to meet him down here, and I’m assuming he’s found more information on Constance.

“You look like you’ve seen La Llorona,” he says when I walk in.

“More like a demonic dog.”

“I take it you met Guapo, then,” he laughs. “Your other cousins are parading around here. Adan was able to get me the phone records on Constance. It appears we were right: that call she made was to Bryan.” I had already figured as much. I had more important things to figure out before questioning Bryan myself. With this new information Thalia shared with me, I feel like there is a much larger threat hanging over us than whatever Constance and Bryan are scheming.

“There’s more. Don Mario caught Bryan snooping around here, meeting one of the sous chefs after hours.”

“Where’s the sous chef?”

“Axel got in last night and was bored, so he asked if he could torture the poor soul. The guy confessed that Bryan was paying him to get samples of DNA. Your DNA, Mireya’s DNA, and even Thalia’s. I went back through the hotel security footage and found him collecting hair, a glass you had drank out of, and the sick fuck even had one of Thalia’s tampons.” I cringe at the desperate attempts.

“Why the hell would they want a DNA sample from each of us?”

“Por favor, Adrian. Crime and extortion is your job. Which is why I am giving you the information. Use your own methods to figure it out.” He rolls his eyes and straightens the lapels of his jacket. “I’ll call Axel in, and I’m sure the two of you can bond over torturing Bryan together.”

I had been biding my time with Bryan, but he is becoming a bigger threat than I had suspected him to be. I’m not about to let him throw Mireya and Thalia into his plans. It looks like it’s time Bryan and I have a little reunion of our own.

T urns out Axel is a psychopath. The moment I met him, I could tell he had one of those detached god complexes. He wore a designer suit with gold chains, rings, and a bracelet. Above his right eyebrow, he had tattooed the word DESMADROSO. It fit, considering he seemed reckless and unhinged. Adan, his identical brother, opted for a calmer look. He wore casual joggers and a black hoodie. Where Axel was all brawn, Adan was all brains. A tech nerd whose father used his skills to hack into enemies’ territories and dismantle high-end security systems. He was active in the cyber cartel and was able to expand profits with cryptocurrency. Finding a person’s location was child’s play to him. He located Bryan in less than an hour.

“So, what’s the plan? Kill on sight?” Axel says as he kisses the gun he’s carrying. We’re in the operations van. Thalia joined us while Ariella watched the twins. She watches Axel and rolls her eyes at his antics.

“No, we need to be smart, figure out what the connection is, and keep him alive for questioning.” She sounds just like Patricio.

“The only one allowed to kill him is me.” I look directly at Axel.

“Okay, bet. I like this guy, Adan. You could learn a thing from him.” He elbows his brother, who keeps a straight face, avoiding his brother’s commentary. I’ve learned that Adan doesn’t talk unless necessary, and I appreciate that, considering Axel does enough talking for the both of them.

“He’s not some guy. He is your cousin, cabrón,” Thalia says, coming to my defense.

“Even better. Mas vale onza de sangre que libra de amistad,” Axel replies, and for the sake of this operation, I hope that’s true. Since getting out of jail, I’ve learned the only people I can depend on are my family. My blood. My sangre.

We drive up to the compound where the men are keeping Bryan. He’s handcuffed to a metal post, and his face is already bloody from their attempts to get him here. He sees me and smirks.

“Long time no see, Adrian.” He laughs. I fail to see the amusement, since we clearly have the upper hand here.

“What the fuck are you laughing about?”

He spits at me, and I grab him by the hair and drive my first into his face.

“Still jealous I took your bitch, I see.”

“More like you just love all my leftovers. ”

“Bor-ing.” Axel fakes a yawn and steps in, pointing a gun in his face.

“I have a week’s worth of high-end Texas pussy waiting for me, so if we could hurry this little reunion up, I would appreciate it. Why were you gathering DNA samples?”

Bryan’s eyes widen. When he refuses to answer, Axel cocks his gun and begins to count down.

“Three, two…” A shot fires into Bryan’s left leg and he lets out a cry. I glare at Axel and he shrugs. Bryan’s screams echo off the walls, and he lays down on the cold cement floor in the fetal position, unable to move his hands to the wound.

I crouch down, gun in my hands, and look at him.

“Why did you need our DNA? Were they for Constance? I know you're working for her.”

He scoffs. “Constance is the least of your worries.”

“Answer the fucking question.”

I hear Thalia’s heels click on the floor behind me as she walks forward. She walks to him and his breathing becomes shallow as he tries to breathe through the pain of the shot. She bends down and sticks her long nail into the bullet wound, and he screams, a satisfied smile appearing on her face.

“FUCK! Okay, okay. I’ll tell you, just… just get me help. I don’t want to die,” he cries out, and she removes her finger nail.

“I got the samples for Claudia. She… she asked for them, but I don’t know why.”

We all look at one another, unsure who Claudia is.

“Who is Claudia?” I ask, when I notice none of us are familiar with the name.

“I… I don’t really know. She came to me a few months ago. Julian has been blackmailing me since high school. He was the one who set you up and forced me into this fucking marriage. Claudia said she would get me out if I gave her information.”

“What kind of information?”

“Just the DNA samples. Constance has been looking for a son she had. My guess is that Claudia is looking for him, too.” He’s sobbing as his leg continues to bleed out over the pavement. “I never wanted to be a part of this. I just don’t want to marry that crazy bitch.”

Son? Mireya never told me she had a brother. By the confused look Thalia has on her face, I’d say she knows nothing about this, either.

“He could be lying?” Her eyes narrow on him.

“I could be.” He smiles. “But I don’t give a fuck what you think. Julian and Constance have been looking for some fucking long-lost son of hers. That’s the truth.”

“But why would you need our DNA?” Thalia says out loud, a question to herself. A puzzle she needs to solve.

“My guess is that the son is somehow related to the Consuelos. Julian and Constance didn’t want Adrian finding out he was a Consuelo because that would make him the rightful heir of the company, being the oldest son of Ivan.”

Thalia and I look at each other. Before Bryan can say another word, we hear a gunshot fire. The blow is delivered directly between Bryan’s eyes, and he falls to the ground in front of us. We turn to see Axel.

“We got what we needed,” he says. I glare at him as I watch the blood pour from Bryan’s lifeless body. I still had questions, and now I was suspicious of why Axel was so quick in killing him. Adan sighs, and Thalia’s face reflects mine. How about that for family bonding?