CHAPTER 22: TELLING MARCUS ABOUT HIS MOM

Gina POV

“Who was that guy?” I ask Luke as he turns around. “That was Carlos Santoro. The assassin and he’s on our most wanted list.” Luke says. “What happened back there? You looked like you were frozen?” Luke asks me. “Because I saw all of the ghosts of the people that he’s killed.” I say as I look around. There is no one there but us. Not even the ghosts but I guess they will show themselves to me again. That guy gave me the creeps.
“Oh.” Luke says. “Jip and trust there were a lot of them.” I say as I walk back. Captain Baldwin finds us by the stairs again. “The journalist are outside. Someone took a video of you shooting those two guys in the foyer.” Captain Baldwin says. “Shit.” I say. “They want to meet you. They are calling you Tomb Raider.” Captain Baldwin says.
“I don’t do interviews so no.” I reply. “Alright. I’ll tell them.” Captain Baldwin says as he turns around. “I could take the car around back and meet you there? You know so you could skip the paparazzi.” Luke says. “No it’s fine. I’ll take a taxi.” He nods and then leaves to go and fetch the car.
I manage to walk into the Hotel’s kitchen to use their backdoor, I guess with all the chaos going on around here no one noticed me going into the kitchen. As I get out of the backdoor I turn and walk around the corner.
I decide to call Pavlo first. I want info on Carlos first before I go after him. “Hi Pavlo I need you to get me more info on a guy named Carlos Santoro.” I say as he picks up the phone. “Carlos Santoro? Why are you asking about him?” Pavlo asks him. “Because he just tried to kill Tatiana and Dax. And he also told me that he knew my father.” I reply.
“Okay I’ll see what I can find and then I’ll let you know.” Pavlo replies. “Thanks Pavlo.” I say as I hang up the phone. I was just about to call Mateo’s phone when someone puts their hand on my shoulder. I grab the guy’s hand and I twist it around as I turn around to see who is touching me. “Whoa Boss it’s only me.” Dax says. “Sorry I thought you were an attacker.” I say as I release his hand.
‘”Damn you have a tight grip. Remind me never to mess with you.” Dax says as he rubs his wrist. “My dad taught me well.” I say. “Where’s Tatiana and that other guy?” Dax asks me. “I was just about to call them when you interrupted.” I say just as my phone rings. I look at it and I see that it is Mateo calling me.
“Mateo I was just about to call you. Where are you guys?” I ask. And then I remember that I have to tell Marcus about Veronica being back in town.
Marcus POV
After Mateo and Gina left, I thought about getting straight to work and I wrote down all of the goals that I wanted to do with the company as soon as this trial is over with. My first goal is to start from scratch and get myself some new investors and maybe with time I could get back the investors my dad had before he died. Some of them stopped doing business with us because of Armando.

I swear if I find that guy then I’m going to kill him myself. And if I wasn’t so drugged up and drunk all the time then I would have noticed what he was doing all along. At around 3pm there’s a knock on my front door. I go to open it and Mateo walks in with none other than Tatiana. And she looks scared. She keeps looking out of the front door. “Hey what’s going on? Where’s Gina?” I ask Mateo as I look at him. “After we went to see all of the families of Lawrence Smith’s victims, Gina wanted to stop by the Freemont Hotel to check up on Tatiana and that’s when these going started showing up wanting to kill Tatiana so Gina told me to get her out of there.” Mateo says as he looks at Tatiana.

“Someone wants to kill you?” I ask her. “Yes. My soon to be ex-husband.” She replies and I give her a look. “It’s a long story.” She says. “I didn’t know what to do so I brought her here.” Mateo says. “And where is Gina?” I ask Mateo as we walk into the living room. He takes the remote and switches on the tv. The Freemont Hotel is on the news and we see Gina shooting at some of the guys. Someone must have taken a video of it. “Those were the guys that were after us.” Tatiana says as she sits down on the couch.

“Is that your husband that is trying to get up off the ground?” Mateo asks her as he points to the tv screen. “Yes that’s him.” She replies. “No offense but he’s a piece of shit.” Mateo says.

“None taken. And you’re right. He’s done much worse things to me.” She says. Tatiana looks pretty shaken up about this whole ordeal. “I’ll go and get you some water.” Mateo says to Tatiana before he walks out towards the kitchen.
A few minutes later Mateo walks back in with a glass of water and he hands it to Tatiana. “I’m going to try and get a hold of Gina.” Mateo says as he takes out his phone. He calls a Gina’s number and she answers so he puts it on speaker phone. “Mateo I was just about to call you. Where are you guys?” She asks. “They’re at my house Gina.” I reply. “Okay we’re almost done here and then we’ll leave.” Gina says. “Did the cops manage to catch Tatiana’s husband?” Mateo asks.

“Yes we did. How’s Tatiana?” Gina says. “I’m fine Gina.” Tatiana says as she drinks her water. “Good. I’ll see you guys in a bit.” Gina says before she hangs up. “Thank God she’s alright.” Tatiana says.
I kneel down in front of her and I take her hands in mine. “You can tell me what happened if you want to.” I say as I look at her. “Only of you tell me why you’re wearing that?” She says as she looks at my ankle monitor.
“Deal.” I say. Tatiana and I sit down next to each other and we catch up like old friends. What am I talking about? She is an old friend of mine.

Tatiana tells me everything that happened to her after high school including her husband Toby. She tells Mateo and I how he abused her and how she finally got in touch with Gina after all these years. I look at Mateo and he looks like he’s angry. Angry like he’s about to punch a hole through a wall. “Can I use your bathroom?” Tatiana asks me. “Yes. It’s just down that hall.” I say as I point to a closed door down the hall. She gets up and walks to the bathroom.

“Dude what’s wrong with you?” I ask him. “I’m so pissed at the piece of shit husband of hers. That’s what wrong with me.” Mateo says to me. “You look like you want to punch a hole through his head.” I say. “Yes because how could he treat a beautiful woman like that?” Mateo asks me. “You’re attracted to her aren’t you?” I ask her just as we hear the bathroom door go open and Tatiana walks out. He just nods his head at me.

“Gina will be here any minute. Can I get you something to eat?” I ask Tatiana. “Yes please.” She says as she sits down. “I’ll be right back.” I say before I turn around to walk to the kitchen. I get to work and I make Tatiana a burrito as I know that she likes burritos. I take it to her and I hear laughter coming from the living room. Mateo is sitting next to Tatiana and he has his phone in his hands. “What are you guys doing?” I ask him. “Oh I’m just showing her how goofy you looked in college.” He says as he smiled at me.

“If you really want to see goofy then you should see his childhood pictures.” I say to Tatiana as I point to Mateo. But before he can answer me, someone knocks on the front door. “That must be Gina.” I say as I turn around and walk to the front door. I open it and there’s this guy standing there. “Uh Hi.” I say as I look at him. He looks like a body guard because of his huge arms making me feel intimidated. “Hey Marcus.” I hear Gina say from behind the guy.

“Oops sorry. I didn’t see you standing there.” The man says as he turns around and gets out of Gina’s way. “Marcus this is Dax. He’s one of my guys.” Gina says and I looked relieved. “Oh don’t look so scared Marcus. Dax is one of the good guys.” Gina says as she wraps her arms around me. “I knew he was one of the good guys.” I say because I don’t want this guy to punch me. “Uh huh.” Gina says as she smiles at me. “Where’s Tatiana and Mateo?” She asks me. “They are in the living room.” I reply as I take her hand and lead her inside. Dax is walking behind us with a bag in his hand.

“Oh thank God you guys are alright.” Tatiana says as she runs to Gina and she hugs her. “You don’t have to worry about him anymore. He won’t hurt you ever again.” Gina says as she looks at Tatiana. “I’m just worried that he’ll be out in the next few days.” Tatiana says. “The best thing that I can do for you now is to get you another place to stay.” Gina says.

“She can stay with me? I don’t mind.” Mateo says. “Really? Even if it’s only for a few days?” Tatiana says. “Yeah. My place is very secure. There’s security everywhere.” Mateo says. “Thank you.” Tatiana says.
“Dude your place is like a fortress. A squirrel will also struggle to get in there.” Marcus says as he wraps his arms around me.
“You don’t mind taking Dax in as well. I mean he’s her assigned bodyguard.” Gina says.
“Yeah he can come too.” Mateo replies.
“Oh before I forget. Can we use your printer? I need to print the form that the judge sent me this morning. It’s for exhuming of your father’s body.” Mateo says as he looks at Marcus. “Yeah sure go right ahead.” Marcus says. Mateo nods and then he leaves for my office.

Gina’s phone starts ringing. “I have to take this. I’ll be back just now.” She says as she picks up the phone and walks out of the room.
I can hear everything she says over there.
“Pavlo hi. Could you find anything on that guy?” Gina asks him over the phone. “Okay well can you keep looking please.” She says. “Thank you.” She says before she hangs up the phone. Mateo comes walking back out of my office with a paper in his hand. “Here’s the paper. Those guys will be there at 7:30 am.” Mateo says as he hands Gina the paper. “I’ll be there.” Gina says as she takes the paper.

“Are you guys ready to go?” Mateo asks as he looks at Tatiana and Dax. “Yes.” They answer him in unison. The three of them then leave out by the front door and I go and close it. I walk back into the living room and I see that Gina is on her phone going through some videos on her phone.

“What are you watching baby?” I say as I kiss her on her forehead. “Just the video that Pavlo took of Lawrence and those two masked people.” She says as she pauses the video. “So that’s where I saw it.” She says. “Saw what baby?” I ask her.

“Marcus I have to tell you something.” She says. “Okay.” I look at her confused. “I saw your mother at the precinct this morning.” Gina says. “What? She’s back in LA?” I ask her. “Yes. I think that she wanted to seduce Captain Baldwin because he was shouting at her to get out and never come back. But that’s not all.” Gina says. “I think that she’s the woman in this video. She had the same tattoo on her wrist like this one.” Gina says as she enlarges the paused image on the screen.

“Are you saying that my mother is working with the people that tried to have Mateo and I killed?” I ask her.

“Yes and I think that she was also working with them when they had your father killed.” She says.