53

Staring out the window and watching rocky, dusty mountains blur past us, I thought hard about the deal. Mike had been meeting up with Draco Avelino for the past week to put the contract in place and confirm it while I handled the shipments in the warehouses down south of Spain.

Another ten million had gone missing from the shipment returns in Cape Town and Seville just like two months ago when I caught Liam stealing the money. He didn't unveil the name of the person who asked him to do so, instead he gave up his life to protect it. Someone on the inside is bound to be the culprit for them to know the locations of the shipments and stealthily taking it out from the cartel. It's just a matter of who now.

"I'm going to the wedding too." Mike blurted out drawing my attention back to him.

"What wedding?" I look to my right and up at him.

"The one you're going to."

"You're Wendy's date?" I narrow my eyes at him and cock a brow his way.

"I wouldn't let anyone else be her date," he chuckles and looks at me. "I'll be seeing you at there tomorrow."

"I thought you would have moved on by now." Mike has never been the one to pursue a woman for more than a week, let alone two months. Hell, even I never did that, but look where we are now. Mike rolled his eyes at me and looked straight ahead without replying. "You got feelings for her?" My mouth jerks up into a smirk with amusement clinging onto it.

"I told her that I loved her the day before we came here." A smile spread across his face, punching dimples into his cheeks as he looked at me. "She's it for me. There won't be any other woman."

"Good for you, man." I pat his shoulder matching his smile and joy. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks!" He beamed even more, flashing his white teeth. "So, when are you going to tell your girl?"

"What?"

"Don't act stupid, Leo," he let out a laugh and continued, "you know exactly what. When are you going to confess your feelings to Arie. It's about time you do."

I sigh and face the window once again. "It's too dangerous for her. I'll keep her away as much as possible. Once Astor's chapter ends, she'll go back to her life and finish schooling. I can't drag her away from the peaceful life that she deserves."

"That's what I feared too, but I told Wendy how I felt and she feels the same. I have a inkling that Arie won't let you decide for her so you might as well tell her."

"Well, does Wendy know about your profession?" I shift back to him and open the buttons of my suit gray suit that was slowly tightening on my torso.

"Not yet. Arie and I will tell her together. I'll reveal my story and what I do while Arie discloses what she hid from her auntie and everything she's been through." He raked his fingers through his black hair and let out a heavy, shaky breath. "I don't know how she'll take it, but if she doesn't want anything to do with me after, then I'll let her go."

"Maybe she'll want to stay."

"If so, then I'll be the happiest man alive, Leo." He grinned wide, emitting intense happiness from all angles. "She's the most amazing woman I've met who stole my heart from the very first moment."

I laugh and shake my head at his contentment. "It's good to see you genuinely happy, Mike." I had never seen him so cheery in all my years with him and twelve years is a long time, but look where we both stand now.

Slowly, he was infecting me with his joyous emotion that plastered a smile on my face thinking about my queen. I couldn't wait to see her. Two months ago, if someone told me that I'd fall in love, I would have laughed in their face, but my demons are laughing at me now. This week has been too long without seeing her face. Talking to her on the phone isn't as satisfying as talking to her in person, drowning in her twinkling eyes and drifting away with her angelic voice. Watching her luscious lips move while the entire world seems to stop around us, makes my heart beat faster as a feeling of tranquility floods each and every sense of mine. Everything in the world always feels right in her presence. She somehow sucks the darkness away from every room that she enters as she becomes my sole light source that I long to unite with but can't.

The vehicle came to a halt over the peak of a mountain and in front of a lavish mansion covered in beige paint. I exit when one of my men opens the door for me while I begin scanning my surrounding. Men in thin white cotton shirts and black pants surrounded the outskirts of the area with TAR-21 in their hands standing close to the edge of the mountain, looking over the city down below. Two tall cypress trees swayed with the heated Madrid breeze on either side at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the main maroon double doors while the grass danced upon the thick patches of soil below covering the entire property. Whipping out a pair of sunglasses from the inside pocket of my suit, I wear them to avoid the scorching sun from blinding my eyes as it peppered my exposed skin with burning kisses.

"Fuck!" Mike whispered under his breath as he walked up beside me with my men following closely behind him. "My balls are sweating Niagara Falls. Should have worn shorts today."

"Same." I wipe a drop of sweat that tickled the side of my head as I watch a young man in a fitted tailored suit stride towards me with two men behind him.