Page 86 of Her Passionate Hero

“Come on upstairs,” LL motioned to Hunter. “Lorenzo, help Martin.”

“What should I do?”

“Take him to the hospital, for God’s sake, what the hell do you think you should do?” LL shook his head and motioned Hunter to follow him up to his office.

“Do you have the information I want?” Hunter asked.

“No, I have the information you need,” LL responded.

“Sit.”

“I’ll stand.” Hunter stood next to the door.

“Suit yourself. Want a drink?” LL asked as he poured himself a scotch.

“Cut the crap and tell me what you think I need to hear.”

“San Marcos has a hard-on for Aliana.”

“Great, thanks for pointing out the obvious, I think I’ll leave now.” Hunter turned to open the door.

“Hold up. It’s not because he thinks she’s extracting his whores. It’s because of how she’s turned his son against him. Hell, he knows his kid did it. He’s just telling his men it’s her.”

Hunter turned back to stare directly at LL. “How do you know this?”

“I have someone on the inside.”

“I thought you said he wasn’t telling his men.”

“Who said my person is a man?” LL grinned. “Look, he knows exactly what his kid is doing, and he’s proud as hell. Thinks he’s showing guts and initiative, he’s just putting his efforts in the wrong direction.”

Hunter turned back to look at LL. “What does he want with Aliana?”

“He’s told his men to pick her up because he wants to know where the bitches are hiding, but that’s not it at all. He intends to use her as a hostage to keep Nicolas in line.”

“That’s crazy. How long does he intend to keep her? Twenty fucking years?”

“His thinking is as soon as Nicolas starts seeing how good life can be side-by-side with his old man, he’ll change his tune, then he can off your girl. The final blow will be to have Nicolas off Aliana. He has big plans for his boy, and she’s fucked them up.”

“The man is insane. Has he met his son?”

“Sure he has,” LL laughed. “He thinks rainbows shoot out of his ass. He wants him to rule beside him.”

“If he thinks so goddamn highly of him, why’d he throw him away, why didn’t he raise him, himself?”

“Nicolas’ mom died in childbirth. San Marcos had her sister raise the kid. Hell, he was fifteen when the kid was born.”

That meant that Ana Garcia was Nicolas’ aunt and Mateo was his cousin. Okay, Hunter could buy this.

“I still don’t get why San Marcos doesn’t just tell Nicolas to stop his shit. Why get Aliana involved?”

“As much as San Marcos thinks his son is God’s gift, he knows his son worships your Aliana. He knows that the only way to get Nicolas to come to heel is to use the bitch as leverage.”

“LL, don’t call her a bitch again, are we clear?” Hunter flavored his tone with ice.

LL held up his hands. “No disrespect.”

“So why did he try to kill her if he had this grand plan to use her as leverage?”