Love & Lies

Chapter 20: ~Natalia~

There was no sign in the video surveillance that anyone else was at the property. Marcos had gone through days' worth of video footage trying to see if anyone had been at the property at all recently.

"The house looks empty." Marcos told Natalia.

"Unless they tampered with the cameras and made it seem like it is." She said and looked at him suspiciously.

"Well, in that case, I guess there's really only one way to be sure." They both stared at each other in silent understanding.

"They might be trying to lure us in by making us think that the place is empty and then ambush us." He raised his eyebrows and looked at her with worry.

"No, I don't think Solano would do that. He loves attention. When he plans for revenge, he loves to make a show out of it. For everyone to see as a warning."

She looks back at the monitors and continues to think about the events of the day. "Today..." – she continued and shook her head, - "Today was no different. He attacked us in the middle of the street, in broad daylight. That was a warning."

"Yes, but he also stayed hidden just watching how his men tried to kill us." Marcus argued.

"Not really." She almost whispered as she tried to piece what had happened together in her head.

"What do you mean?" Marcos asked her.

"Today, the men shooting at us..." – she turned to him and asked - "Where they trying to hit you at any point?"

Marcos looked past her as if he were deep in thought trying to remember. Now that they were both going back to the scene in their minds the fact that none of the bullets hit them, except for Alejandro's, seemed odd to her. And even then, it made her think it wasn't supposed to happen.

"No. Now that I think about it, no." Marcos shook his head.

"It seemed as if they were trying to do anything but hit us. Except for Alejandro. But even that seems strange to me. I know for a fact that all Solano's men are rigorously trained. They did not hit you or Andrés, and when they hit Alejandro, he was trying to shield me. They had the opportunity to kill us right then and there and they didn't. That was a warning." She finished convinced.

"How did they know we were there in the first place?" He asked her. His tone was not accusatory, but it did leave room for questioning her loyalty.

"Someone must have been watching us. But if that is the case, I believe someone already knew we were coming to Brazil and warned him."

"If you are saying what I think you are, I assure you, you are wrong. Everyone in our team is loyal to us." Marcos told her slightly exasperated and with all seriousness. Natalia did not want to say who she believed to be a traitor. She was sure it would cause bigger problems.

"Then how?" She asked him. Marcos looked back at the monitors for a while, thinking of the possibilities that he did not want to accept, and then looked back at her.

"I don't know." He sighed and slumped on the chair. Natalia crossed her arms over her chest and sighed as well. Having suspicions of a mole withing Alejandro's organization was unfathomable to them. But people would do a lot worse for a lot less anywhere else in this world. It would be no different for a cartel, or for people that were trying to put a stop to some of them. It wouldn't be so much of a surprise, but the betrayal would be deep, and she knew that Solano would do anything to stop her.

After a while they walked out of the room and headed back into the kitchen room. She grabbed some ingredients to cook some soup and prepared the meal in the stove. Just when she was going to sit on the table and eat with Marcos, Andrés came through the door.