Secret Crown

XXII. Twenty-Two

Adrián

Callum offered me one of his nearby warehouses and drove us to its location. As soon as we arrived, there were a handful of men waiting for our arrival to help with unloading and preparing Jonas to get out of the trunk and into a more suitable room. While Callum went to his office upstairs to take an incoming call, I removed my coat and my button-up shirt and made my way to the prisoner room to wake Jonas up. I wanted him to be wide awake for what was coming to him. I picked up a large metal bucket off the concrete floor filled to the brim with ice and water and emptied it all over his head, making him gasp and shiver as he sat strapped to a metal chair. He looked at me directly with wide eyes, begging for mercy. "Adrián please!" He whimpered, "I'm sorry!" As he began sobbing hysterically, tears streaming down his face mixed in with his own snot. "You single-handedly turned Scarlett's dream job into a fucking nightmare that had her crying out to God for help!" I roared. "But God didn't answer her cries, Jonas. The fucking Devil did, and I want your soul with interest."

I turned around to face the table behind me and slammed my fists on it with rage, making him flinch as I grabbed a large pair of pliers off of it, and then proceeded to walk over to Jonas and lean in closer to him, so close that I felt his breath on my face. He smelled of fear and urine. I wickedly smiled as I tightly grasped onto his cheeks, forcefully squeezing his mouth open. His eyes widened with fear as he saw what was coming to him. "You've spewed nothing but lies and have ruined countless lives with that tongue." I seethed with rage, "And now... I'm fucking taking it." I spat as I yanked it right out of his mouth with the pliers. Blood splattered all over my skin and began flowing out of his mouth like a bloody river. His body violently convulsed from the pain as he cried in agony. I tossed the pair of pliers with his tongue onto the floor for him to see.

Callum opened the door behind us and walked in, looking at the bloody mess I had created. "You need to wrap this up; the meeting is in three hours." He said, looking down at his watch, "I'll have one of the guards drive me home; I have to go see my wife before that time comes. Leonardo's keys are with your coat."

"I'll be done soon," I grinned, looking over at Jonas. Callum gave a wicked grin before he left the room as another call came back in on his phone, leaving me alone with Jonas. His eyes were rolling into the back of his head as he kept going in and out of consciousness. He was going to suffer for putting his hands on Scarlett. I never told her what was coming to Jonas for bruising her wrists and for all the years of harassing her. I could tell her about it later, once things have settled. It's about time he gets what he deserves. I grabbed a meat cleaver off the table and began dismembering Jonas, starting with his hands. The same ones that had touched and hurt what is mine were going to come off of him before his very eyes. He writhed in pain and kept coming in and out of consciousness from all the blood loss. Seeing him slowly die wasn't quick enough, as I gave his almost lifeless body one final glance, pulled my gun out, and ended his life with a bullet to his head. His body went limp instantaneously. He would never make Scarlett or anyone else suffer, for that matter.

As I exited the room, two of Callum's men went inside to clean up and get rid of the body. I wiped his blood off my body, changed back into my shirt and coat, and headed back home to speak with my father and get ready for tonight.

****************

As I pulled into the garage, the music was blasting loudly over the garage speakers. Leo was home and working on a car closer to the entrance of the house. I shifted my car into park and walked over to where he was hard at work on his next project. Aside from our huge car collection that our family had, the reason we had it upgraded and made the garage huge was because of Leo. He always brought in cars to fix up and restore, or else he'd buy a completely new one and mold it to his own liking. I was surprised to see that Leo had Scarlett's car raised, as he was going to work under it. He slid out from under the car with a wielder's mask on and a torch in his left hand. "What are you doing to Scarlett's car?" I asked.

"I'm going to fix it up and restore it for her." He smiled, "It's such a shame seeing this baby in dire conditions." He said this as he turned off the torch. "But you won't believe what I found once I began tearing this bad boy apart." He said this as he rose from the floor. "What did you find?" I lifted a brow.

"Follow me." He grinned as he led me back through all our cars to what appeared to be an empty parking spot in the garage. When we approached the spot, there was a pallet with a bunch of stacks of cash resting on it. "What the fuck?" I asked, looking over at him. "Where did all this cash come from?"

"Don't tell me you robbed another bank with Owen." I ran my fingers through my hair, feeling my head about to blow with rage. Leo and Callum's guy Owen robbed banks from time to time for the fuck of it, chasing the adrenaline high, but the mess and cleanup work that I had to do afterwards was a pain in the ass. "Relax," he said. "I didn't rob a bank. Although now that you bring it up, I might hit Owen up for a refresher." He chuckled as I hit him on the back of his head. "Then where did all this cash and stuff come from?" I questioned. "From Scarlett's car." Leo quickly got serious. That day, you made me take her to work and collect her car to scramble the GPS. I drove it back to the docks, where I was going to toss the tracker. But the car felt unnatural." He paused. "I've driven this model before, and compared to a restored one, this one rode too heavy, burned through gas fast as hell, and the tire pressure kept going crazy the entire drive there." He explained, "Either she had some serious engine problem, or the car was riding way too heavy and low."

"So, after chucking the tracker, I brought it back this morning and began getting to work on it. When I started taking it apart to fix everything from inside, I found the stacks of cash strapped to it, hidden in its bones." Leo said, "Scarlett has never gotten it fixed or restored, so she wouldn't know. But not me." He grinned. "This is the Catalano fortune here, or well, part of it at least, not just in cash but jewels, deeds to properties, and some other contracts with families." Leo sifted through the stacks of cash, showing me some of the paperwork. In the paperwork alone, full of bonds, trusts, and debts owed, back in the day, it would match our own wealth, Adrián."

"How much is it all worth now?" I asked.

"Ian ran the basic numbers, and it's not anywhere near the heights we're at now." But in the wrong hands, it's surely a boost of power. Enough for an army and to wipe out the smaller families and get them under their control." He cautioned, "That's where things can become dangerous."

"Scarlett left because she had been searching for this most of her life." I glided my fingers over the cash. "Well, everything here is more than enough for her to live comfortably if she wants to pay off the debt and retire early." Leo said.

"I'll be taking care of her moving forward." I spoke. "I've never seen you this way before, Adrián." Leo crossed his arms and asked, "Is she really someone who you will let in? or another one of your toys?" He raised a brow and said, "Mamá's taught you better than this, especially with bringing someone home without a proper introduction. You know she'd be extremely pissed, given that you're the firstborn. It's your job as the firstborn to give our family an heir, just like Natalia has given the Clarkes." He added. "Everything will fall into place as it should once this is settled. Scarlett must be protected like a Leon now." I replied, letting him know how serious this was: "She will carry the family name soon, and if she's not already carrying our future, she will soon." I stated clearly, knowing I hadn't worn a condom with her, and I didn't even bother asking if she was on birth control. Not that I gave a fuck anyway; it doesn't matter; I'm not planning on letting her go.

"Well, let's make it out of this alive so we can have a formal introduction." Leo smiled. Time was counting down already, and we all had to prepare for this meeting.