Bad Blood

Present-day.

   Stella met with him at the garden where he sat with Mia who sat still and picked at anything that moved. 

"I heard you were looking for me"

"Yes, I have a lot of questions." Her eyes lowered

Max swallowed gesturing her to sit which she refused. He sighed

"You have a lot of explaining to do"

He knew this was going to happen sooner or later.

"I wished I could've explained this sooner but_"

"Jefe"

Stella turned to look at the bald man behind her, he was about 6 feet tall and very hefty.

"What is it?"

"It's important, remember that little errand you sent me?"

"What errand?" He quirked an eyebrow.

Stella watched him begin to rise from his chair holding Mia who squirmed swinging her legs 

"I won't take long," He told her and handed Mia over, she held her staring at Gustavo who gestured him forward and accompanied him.

Stella exhaled, what were they on about?

   Max sat back on his chair when Gustavo pulled out three files. It was concerning the bentonite clay heist.

"Jefe, these are Sereno Jimenez, Carlos and Jose Hernandez. Sereno is the real mastermind behind this operation, he has a masters degree in computer engineering and he's been known to have hacked into the most secure companies in South America.

The Hernandez brothers have prison records for petty theft, burglary too"

"It seems like they needed an upgrade" Max said sotto voce, looking through their profile.

"After some intimidation, we were able to extract information from the men. They have no connection whatsoever to Alvarez but we're just looking for the good pay"

"Hmm"

"They did confess the person who hooked them up claimed to have known Alvarez. But can't be identified because he was working under a code name"

"What is it?" Max sat up 

"Toro" Bull "He escaped with the others and sadly a few barrels of bentonite clay"

"I thought the experts said if someone were to hack the security systems, they would know"

"Jimenez has a masters, he would know these things, his records are solid evidence"

"I know but I work with the best," he said

"We'll pin him down, whoever this Bull is and put Alvarez in his place"

  Stella looked out the window at the view, the sun painted the sky and the treetops with its rays, it never got old. she turned when she thought she heard the door open.

"Max"

 He walked in, hands in his pockets

"What is it, Stella?"

She pushed a button that caused the curtains to close. He called her by the first name she realized.

"You own this place"

"I do," He said, knowing this would come up eventually.

"I'm glad to see you're thriving in such a short time, Max" the way she emphasized "Max" made him swallow.

"It was my father's" 

Stunned "You never mentioned your dad"

"No, I didn't" he muttered.

"And your mom"

"She died years ago." 

"And your dad?"

He raked his hair.

"He was still alive back then"

"I see, I guess it wasn't important that I would at least get to know him first before we got married but no"

"I'm sorry alright_"

"You....lied to me" her voice filled with raw emotion

"I know, he would never approve"

"He would never approve" she echoed "Why is that?"

"Because you're a gringa"

"Oh, I see and if I did get to see him, this whole marriage would have never happened?"

"Yes"

"What about you, did you suddenly realise I was a gringa too? That it was time to go home and take over the family business?"

"No_yes, I had to go because he was dying, I had to be there"

Her hands dropped to her sides "What?"

His eyes were calculating 

"Don't think, come right out and say it" 

"He died of lung cancer and I have the death certificate to prove it. Stage five"

She was silent for a moment "I'm sorry for your loss" It all happened a year ago and she thought.

"Well I wished you would've just told me"

Stella_"

"You didn't bother to pick up and explain this to me."

"I'm sorry"

"I get it, family comes first and I'm just an outsider. I guess Mia's next in line right?" She folded her arms.

"You don't know that" He stepped forward.

"No, it's true, this is all about Mia and when she passes onto solid food, I'll be flying back to America where I belong, while you're training her into a proper lady who's going into real estate soon enough"

His jaw tightened. "I brought Mia here because she's my responsibility"

"I understand,"

"Stella"

...

   There was another report of an attack on the new warehouse, this time they ran short of bentonite clay, no bentonite, no white wine.

The police looked into it and all the evidence was traced to Alvarez.

~Barcelona

Hugo broke into a cold sweat when a troupe of policemen barged into his house.

"Hands up where I can see them, now!"

"What's going on here?" He asked when a cop handcuffed him and prodded him to move. Max came in, Hugo's eyes rounded.

"You"

"Yes, this is the last face you're going to see when you die in prison" he whispered to him.

"Abuelo!" Lupita cried, a cop stopped her from getting to him.

"Leave my grandpa alone!" Her face turned red. Max 

"Lupita, I've done nothing wrong, unhand me!"

"Abuelo!"

Max knelt in front of her, stroking her golden hair and she pulled back.

"It's okay"

"My grandpa's not a bad man," She said in Spanish.

"I'm sorry, little girl"

"I don't understand, why are they taking my grandpa?"

"Because he did something very bad and he needs to pay for it"

"Liar, you're the bad man!"

She stepped on his foot and ran off. Max stood up and drew in his breath as the pain died down, the sole on her shoe must be made of metal.

Days later 

  Hugo insisted he had nothing to do with the heist. Max sat across from him in the empty room except for the table and chairs.

With the light hanging above them, he could finally see the man who killed his mother. He was ageing and he had a lean body frame, there was nothing left on his crown except for the grey ones around his head. 

Finally, his eyes met Max's cold ones.

"Did you hire those men to steal gallons of bentonite from me?"

"You look just like your father"

"Answer the question" 

"I told you, I don't know what you're talking about, this is all a big mistake"

Max stayed calm but pulled out a picture of his mother "Do you know this woman?"

His eyes flickered which meant he recognized her

 "I want to see my granddaughter, I want a lawyer"

"She's not your granddaughter, she's a foster kid" What put it in this man's head to adopt a child at this age?

"You won't understand"

"Try me" Max settled on his chair.

"I love her very much and I don't know what she would think of me after all the embarrassment you've put me through. I guess you two are the same huh? like father, like son"

Max clenched his jaw "How would you know that?"

"Because we share the same blood, Alejandro is my brother"

                                 ****

    Lupita was under child protection services and would be put under proper foster care when the case was under wraps. 

   Max was paced about when a maid came into his study, he frowned.

"Que?"

"It's a woman, she insisted that she wants to see you right away, it's very important"

Stella? he spoke at first thought. Everyone seemed to have something important to say.

"Who is she?"

"Miss Angelica Fuentes" She nodded.

"Angelica?"

It aroused his curiosity what was she doing here?

    Angelica sat back across from him in the garden, her hair was cut short, with heavy makeup and she was wearing a leather jacket, with jeans and heels. 

Stella was strolling around the place, while Amelia, the housekeeper showed her around, apparently, Max was some kind of feudal lord and having a manor was rare so it attracted visitors and guests. 

She also found out he manufactured wine personally. 

"Gracias" she nodded

"De nada" Amelia smiled and toyed with Mia's cheeks then left. She rolled the stroller to where she found Max and a very attractive woman sat across from him with her hand on his.

   Max turned to look at her and pulled his hand away when he discovered that Stella was watching them.

"Stella_"

Angelica looked behind her to find out who it was.

"I apologize, such bad timing"

Stella rolled the stroller away, Max was about to get up when Angelica pulled him down.

"Max, this is important"

He looked in Stella's direction then at her hesitant.

"Do you think she heard us?" She asked

"I don't know," he said "What is it, you wanted to tell me?"

She licked her lips "That other day you were at the pub, the first time we met"

"Yeah, one year's not a long time" He rubbed his chin.

"I know, you look so much like him" She tilted her head.

"What?"

"Back then, I said I did things I regret"

"How does that have to do with me?" He quirked an eyebrow.

"I was with your dad, years back" 

Max sat up, she looked ashamed 

"I mean...we got intimate, he got me all these nice things, he's the reason why I got that pub in the first place"

He kept calm, if he interrupted her, she would stop talking.

"We met downtown and he was very kind to me, I had a deadbeat job as a waitress and he offered to help me with my financial problems.

I let my desperation get in the way"

She wiped her eyes "He said he wanted our relationship to remain a secret, I even met your mother once at a store, she was nice to me and I felt guilty, I didn't think it was fair to do these things right under her nose.

"I told him we couldn't do this anymore and..."

"What?" He asked "Spit it out, Angelica"

"He told me everything was going to be fine, he said nothing bad would happen, oh hell"

She started to speak in riddles. Till he cupped her face 

"Stay calm, I promise you, you won't get in trouble"

"He_he killed her, he killed Marianna" She sobbed.

"What?!"

"I was there, I saw it happen when he shot her in the head, she was bleeding, she was dying and I just stood there.

Someone was watching, it was a man, they were about the same age and he threatened to rat him out"

"Who was he?"

"I don't know, he has a bald spot, he's very lean with grey eyes and Alejandro called him... Hugo"

He raked his hair in frustration "Say it's not so"

"It is" She pulled out receipts of things purchased in his name, his signature "It's been eating me alive, when I found out you were his son, I had to_talk"

"Why now?"

"He threatened me, he told me not to say a word or he'll kill me"

"Alejandro threatened you?" He looked worried when his eyebrows grew closer together

She nodded dabbing her cheeks dry

"Yes, he and someone else..."