His Promise: The Mafia’s Babies by C. Tamika

Chapter 325

“So, how do you really feel about Lucas?” Marvin asked. It was morning, but I hadn’t managed to close a single eye. The news about Panther hit me hard, and it was still so much to take in.

Why did it have to be him?

“He’s okay, I guess,” I observed Marvin as he made his way to the bathroom. I jumped out of bed with only one thought in mind. I had to find that key.

“He is, isn’t he?” Marvin spoke as I made my way to his drawer. I had to keep him busy so that he wouldn’t notice anything. Instead of just asking him for the key, I decided to do this the hard way.

Asking him for the key would also mean I had to tell him why I needed it. I knew Marvin would eventually find out the truth about me, but as crazy as it sounded-I wasn’t ready to let go of our fairytale. Not yet.

“I thought I would end up hating him, with him being a detective and all-but he seems okay to me,” Marvin spoke.

“Yeah?” I questioned, sticking my hand into his drawer. Where would he even leave something like that? Think, Elena.

“What are you doing today?” Marvin led the conversation.

“Nothing much,” I said, regretting it immediately. I had to keep him busy, and I could not come off as too suspicious. “So, what are you doing out there?” I giggled. “Do you have diarrhea?”

“No?” Marvin laughed. “I’m doing my hair.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m allowed to do my hair?” Marvin commented. “I have lunch with someone important today- and I want to look good for her.”

Although I knew he was joking, those words still felt uncomfortable. The thought of seeing Marvin with someone else pained me-but the thing which made it even worse was knowing that we didn’t have that much time left. I should spend time with him, but instead, I decided to play detective again.

Even then, I didn’t regret my decision because it was all for him.

“You seem a bit off. Are you oka-”

“Can I join?” I blurted, closing my eyes. I wasn’t interested in his business meetings, but I had yet to find the key, and I needed to distract him.

Jjoin?

I closed the drawer and turned to look at his watch storage. Anyone else would’ve not been as dramatic and just asked for the key, but Marvin was intelligent and would definitely force some sort of explanation out of me

“Yes, you don’t want me to?”

“It’s not that,” Marvin spoke. “It’s nothing special. I’m just dropping off Tiago.”

I picked up the nicest watch and found the item I was looking for. Anya’s necklace. It belonged to Anya, so of course, he was treating it with the respect it deserved.

“Oh, never mind.” I declined Marvin’s offer.

“I didn’t say you couldn’t co-” Marvin walked out of the bathroom and stopped in his steps, watching me go through his watches. I got caught in broad daylight.

“What are you doing?” He laughed nervously. I cleared my throat and balled my fist so that he couldn’t see the necklace. “Cleaning?”

Marvin stepped closer. “Cleaning?” He frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” I got up from the floor.

“Because it seems to me like you’re taking all my stuff, so you can sell it and leave me here to rot.” Marvin joked around. I took a relieved breath and laughed along.

“You got me.”

I felt terrible for deceiving Marvin like this, but I couldn’t let him find out. Not yet.

The last thing I needed was for him to call me a liar or for him to confront Panther.

After learning the truth, I was pretty sure Panther was a psychopath. Who knew what he would do next?

I ran into Marvin’s arms and rested my head against his chest. “Come on. I’ll walk you out!” I pushed my hand behind his back and led him out of the room.

“And now you’re also kicking me out of my house?” Marvin furrowed. “You’re doing all of this so you can invite Lucas, aren’t you?” He guessed. “I knew the two of you hit it off pretty well yesterday.”

Even though Marvin was supposed to sound sincere, I could still hear the hint of confidence in his voice. As if he believed I wouldn’t leave him, and it made me feel even more guilty.

We were happy, we were perfect for each other-but who knew when all of this would end?

“I just want you to make more illegal cash so you can buy me more designer bags.”

“Not all of our money is illegal.” Marvin barely whispered. I hadn’t thought about how my words could affect him, but those were the unfortunate cons of growing up with George Torres as father.

Even illegal money turned legal is still illegal. That was his mindset.

“I know,” I reassured him.

“Should we go out for dinner tonight?” Marvin changed the subject. After everything, I could use a nice dinner

“Where?”

“I don’t know, you choose.”

“I’ll let you know when you get back.” I smiled at Marvm. He was a busy person, but even then-he was

still making an effort. I might as well enjoy our time together while I still could. “How about we go roller skating or to a karaoke bar?”

“Roller skating?” Marvin scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“What do I look like, five?”

I mimicked him and pushed his shoulder, completely forgetting that he had to keep up his so-called tough guy act. While I was lucky to have Alex in my life, who taught me how to be a kid-Marvin had no

one.

Growing up in the Castillo household seemed like a nightmare.

“We can take Cisco if you’re so worried about other people’s opinions.” I made fun of him.

“I’m not worried about others’ opinions. I just don’t want to be seen in public with you.” Marvin blushed.

I poked his cheek. “Very funny.”

“I don’t know if Cisco wants to go. He’s always glued to that gaming device of his.” Marvin said, coming up with every excuse not to go.

“Well, he’s a kid.” I shrugged. “You’re also glued to your job-so you can’t complain.”

“True.” Marvin agreed. He smiled as she went into deep thoughts. “Anya used to be glued to that music box of hers. No one was ever allowed to touch that thing.”

“What box?” I wondered. Hearing him speak about Anya calmed my heart because she was a topic he had been trying to avoid.

“The one Tiago gave you to keep an eye on,” Marvin explained. I almost stumbled backward as I slowly put two and two together.

The key and the music box. The two belonged together

“Anyway, I should get going.” Marvin leaned in for a kiss. “I love you.”

He caressed my cheek and stared into my eyes, waiting for me to say something in return-but all I could think of was Anya’s music box. He led me right to the evidence without even knowing it.

“Lena?”

“Y-yeah, love you too.” I sighed, trying to appear as normal as possible.

“Hah, thanks for your kind words,” Marvin spoke sarcastically. “I could really feel your sincerity there!”

It felt as if my feet were glued to the ground until the very second Marvin drove off. I didn’t know how fast to run back to the room-so I could continue my mission.

After locking the door behind me, I reached for the music box under my bed and pulled out the key. I didn’t have any time to waste. Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

Unlike Marvin, I wasn’t that much of a believer, but that didn’t stop me from pointing the box and the key to the sky. “Please, god, don’t make this any harder than it has to be.” I closed my eyes, praying to the lord.

I held my breath as I opened the music box and connected the keyhole with the small object in my hands.

Happiness could not even describe my feeling as the box had opened, revealing a USB stick. It was just as Tiago had told me.

“Okay, so Tiago isn’t completely crazy,” I whispered, feeling conflicted. If he was right about this, that could also mean he was right about Panther. How would Marvin take that news?

I grabbed the stick and opened my laptop. I didn’t care about what I would find, but I was desperate. I was desperate to find anything which could clear Marvin’s name-and believe it or not-also Tiago’s, so dad could leave the Castillo’s alone.

Whether he pulled the trigger or not, someone had used him while he was vulnerable, and that was not fair.

I plugged in the stick.

USB device not recognised.

After reading those words, I was seconds away from throwing my laptop on the floor. This had to be a joke. This was a joke, right?

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

The evidence was right in front of me, but I couldn’t use it. No matter how many times I tried plugging it in, the message had not changed. I could not see the file

After doing hours of research, I had accepted that even the internet couldn’t help me with this one. I was back to square one, with no knowledge about the stick’s contents and no idea of who could help me further.

I couldn’t run to Alex because he would run to dad. I couldn’t run to dad because he would run to the authorities-which would mean I would not be able to protect Tiago.

Rona? She didn’t have anything to do with this, and I didn’t feel like involving her either.

Lucas? Castillo or not, he was still a detective. He told me he only had one goal, and that was to get to know his family-so I wouldn’t take that away from him.

If one person knew what to do, it would be Victoria…..

She was a well-connected lawyer-who would undeniably know a guy. I was almost embarrassed to ask for her help after the way I had treated her, but she left me no choice.

She was the one who made me choose between love and friendship, and I chose love.

To Victoria:

Don’t you think it’s time for a reunion?