Love & Lies

Chapter 13: ~Natalia~

"Why do you think the shipment is for Solano?" Marcos asked her.

"I helped him create the list." She finally looked at Alejandro with regret. She saw his face pale. His mouth fell into a straight line, and a darkness took over his eyes that was much different from the one she had seen before. He was disappointed. He was mad.

"We created it to fool the authorities."

Alejandro did not say anything in return. He just stood on the spot, hands on his hips, frozen. Andrés stared at her as well. This time his emotion showed on his face as it turned red. Neither of them believed what she was saying.

"Okay. So how does it work?" Marcos said, breaking the ice. Natalia sighed thankful that Marcos was trying to break the tension and keep things going, focusing on what was important.

"Solano would list the Brown name, which is one of the biggest companies out there who sell the most expensive cut of beef, to order over two hundred pounds of cocaine. Same would go for the merchandise that has the name of bottles of wine. The more expensive the product, the higher the quality was required." She sighed and put her hands on her hips as well, appearing not to be fazed by Alejandro who had not taken his eyes off her. She was mortified at his blank expression and the silence that accompanied it.

"So, we know for sure Los Calaveras are no longer making cocaine trafficking their priority and have ventured off into human trafficking. I'm guessing that they are using the same method as Solano to order the people from Beijing." Marcos spoke again, trying to bring back Alejandro from whatever trance he was on. She believed that it had finally dawned on him the fact that Natalia was and had been involved in the same business he had wanted to eradicate from the start. And she waited for him to finally explode at this realization.

"Why would Solano use the Brown name if they were famous for their meat business?" Marcos asked. "Wouldn't that incriminate them if the feds found out?"

"It would." Natalia nodded. "But the Browns are one of Solano's biggest investors. They use the meat business to launder money and wash out any incriminating evidence."

"What do you want me to do boss?" he asked Marcos asked Alejandro, who hadn't spoken a word and continued to take in everything Natalia was saying.

After a few more minutes, Alejandro finally blinked and moved to face Marcos who was now standing next to the computers along with Andrés.

"Get in contact with our informant and find out when is the shipment supposed to happen. Get as much info as possible. See if they can identify the buyer. We need to figure out if it is indeed Solano. Start assembling your team for the mission and let me know once you have anything concrete."

"You got it, boss." Marcos said claiming one of the computers and getting to work.

Alejandro turned to Natalia and signaled her to follow him out of the room. Once back out in the hallway, he turned to face her and spoke roughly.

"You created the list?" He sneered at her.

"It was part of my job."

"You helped him do all of that knowingly." He fired back at her. He was beyond mad at this point.

"Again. It was my job." She said between her teeth. She was annoyed and getting mad as well.

"Did you ever stop to think about the things you were doing at that time? How many people you were hurting? How much blood you were spilling? Or did you turn into a heartless bitch with no remorse and no conscience?"

She slapped him. Right across the face, hard. The sting tingling on her palm. The red spot already marking his face. She looked at him with so much anger a tear broke loose falling down her cheek.