꒰ END OF A CHAPTER ꒱

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

❝ 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐈𝐓? ❞

"¿Qué?" Estella sat up on the bed barely waking up after that painful hit from the man named Calderoni. She glanced at Miguel Ángel comprehending that Calderoni must have accepted the bribe since they weren't in a jail cell and were instead free once again.

"He took the bribe no?" Estella asked rubbing the side of my head feeling a large bump. Calderoni had hit her very hard, and she felt rage towards him but a little glad that he accepted whatever bribe Miguel had offered him.

"Yes, it worked." He nodded his head lighting up a cigarette. Her eyes landed on him again wondering what his question had been the moment she had woken up.

"What did you ask when I woke up? Something about would I have done it?" Estella curiously questioned standing up to drink a cold glass of water. He went quiet unsure if he should ask her this question since it involved questioning her trust.

"Well, Benjamín and Isabella made you a deal right?" He looked at her as she nearly spits out her drink. She pondered about how he would know this information if she hadn't told him.

"Yes, they did. How did you know that?" Estella lifted an eyebrow sitting back down on the bed concerned that he might think she had hidden this information from him as a way to betray him.

"Azul he told me everything yesterday. That's why tomorrow we need to intrude their little meeting in Ensenada to show them that I still run this business." He exclaimed with annoyance in his voice. Estella noticed that he was reasonably mad that some of his business partners were planning to change shit without him included.

"Look Miguel if you thought I was planning against you you've been mistaken. I was going to inform you, but you were too busy. Isabella offered me the deal, but I said no and I'm not going to lie and say it wasn't a practical one either." She clarified with eye contact. It was impossible to know whether or not he believed her but again she had no reason to lie especially during this moment.

"Bueno." He sighed standing up, but Estella wanted to continue to talk about this situation.

"What's going to happen tomorrow with Isabella?" She asked nervous that he would do something to punish her friend. Isabella was the one who had decided to put forward the whole idea to Benjamín and Estella knew she wouldn't be let off the hook after this. It was practically a betray against him. However, Estella didn't want her to get hurt since she cared for Isabella as a friend even though they were constantly at odds now.

"Nothing too harsh. I don't trust her anymore, so I don't think she should be apart of this business." He shrugged leaning against the door. Estella looked away at the window and thought this was both good and bad. Good, because it wasn't a drastic punishment for her disobedience but bad since she would have to be entirely let go from the business. She always felt comfortable knowing there was another determined young woman in the cartel all the other women implicated with it were just wives of the men. Estella felt like she could relate to Isabella on some level and now that would be gone.

"Is that fine?" He pinched his eyebrows seeing Estella's disappointed facial expression.

"I'm going to bring up one thing that Isabella had told me at the warehouse where I heard everything. She had some valid points and Isabella is smart and strong and you know that. One point she brought up was that with you I'll always be left out of the cartel to be some kind of housewife and I understand you want to protect me but if you think I'm going to stay home all day and watch you work then you're wrong Miguel. And don't you think I forgot about how you lied to me at the meeting." Estella scoffed intimidating Miguel he knew that she hadn't been this confrontational for a long time and now that she was he knew that she was serious about this.

"Okay, we can discuss this situation when we have time. Have a good night Estella you need some rest for Ensenada tomorrow." He slowly shut the door thinking about if she would ever possibly leave him if he didn't allow her to be active in this cartel. He knew she preferred being independent and be able to earn her own money but getting her involved meant more danger and not to mention the possibility of betrayal. Isabella had practically betrayed him, and he didn't know if Estella would ever do the same to him when there was money involved. When money and power were involved, it tended to be more powerful than love and that was a frightening feeling.

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"You're going all out to intrude their meeting aren't you?" Estella raised an eyebrow as Miguel had the military to raid the spot where the meeting would be taking place. Miguel Ángel laughed and nodded his head, knowing this was a little extreme, but he wanted them to understand the message on who was boss around here.

"Yes, it's important they know that they can't change shit in my business." Miguel Ángel said with an urgent tone. Estella nodded her head approving of his statement. She couldn't wait to see their faces once Miguel Ángel walked in to disrupt their meeting on so-called "changing for the future."

"¿Y Don Neto?" Estella glimpsed at him knowing that Don Neto had been arrested earlier that day at a beach with several of his men. Miguel's manner seemed to change hearing her mention his friend's name.

"He's been arrested you already know that." He mumbled not in the mood to discuss this situation. Estella was suspicious of the circumstances of his arrest and decided to push this question more despite Miguel not wanting to speak about it.

"Miguel, what exactly was the offer you gave Calderoni? I know it wasn't money since before I shut my eyes he kept refusing to take the money and you never told me so I'm just curious now." Estella squinted her eyes interested to know if he would lie to her. She didn't care that much about Neto since she didn't know him all that well but from what she could see he seemed to be intelligent and even helped Miguel at times with advice.

"Why do you want to know? If anything you should only be happy that we're not in a damn jail cell." He unknowingly raised his voice instantly apologizing for it once he realized it. Miguel Ángel didn't want to say that he had decided to give up Neto's location to Calderoni since he was afraid that she might start to see him as being some backstabbing man that didn't care about his friends or others.

"Because we're in a relationship together and you told me you wouldn't lie. You know I've heard and seen worse from you and I've learned to recognize your mannerism when you're lying. You gave him up, no? Like you did with Rafa?" Estella inquired seeing that they were getting close to their arrival in Ensenada. Miguel Ángel stared at her and nodded his head realizing she was too smart to recognize when he was lying now, so there would be no point to lie to her anymore.

"I gave him up to Calderoni and some tapes from the American agent's interrogation for the exchange of my freedom and his safety it's not like I wanted to give him up but what is done is done now. So you can say it was necessary to do this." He further explained looking out the window at the beautiful beaches. Estella appreciated his honesty but still got an unusual feeling every time Miguel mentioned the DEA agent that had recently been tortured and killed. It's not like she had anything to do with it but the thought of him made her feel sick and she didn't even want to envision his last moments of life. Violence was the part she hated the most out of the cartel but knew she needed to prepare herself since she would be seeing lots of it.

"Do you think they will take the arrests personally?" Miguel Ángel asked the question that had been heavy on his mind. He knew that Neto had been a good advice-giver and now with him gone he didn't know what or who to rely on when it came to advice on certain decisions with the cartel. Estella sighed imagining herself in Rafa and Neto's place if she would have ever been given up by Miguel she would never forgive him it would be impossible so why wouldn't Rafa and Neto feel the exact way?

"They probably won't if I'm being completely honest. I know I wouldn't it's not like you did something insignificant to them this is prison Miguel think about it. Nobody would be okay with the person who gave them up to the police." She responded seeing Miguel's face change once again. He seemed startled by this but knew she was right, but he wasn't planning on visiting them in prison anytime soon so he still had time to think this all through. Before he could respond to her explanation the driver notified him that they had officially arrived at the place where everybody had gathered to meet.

"Are you ready to make your dramatic entrance?" Estella laughed hearing the sounds of helicopters and military men running around shouting orders to one another.

"Yes with you by my side." He chuckled lifting his brownish colored sunglasses. Estella beamed gently holding his arm and looked up to see the men in the military begin to shout orders for the people to get down. She thought this was all a bit dramatic but didn't mind it knowing it would be worth it once she saw everyone's aghast faces realizing their private meeting had been exposed and ruined.

The couple stepped into the area where this was all happening and saw everybody gathered around in awe seeing the two. Everybody had thought that Miguel and Estella as well would be thrown into a jail cell but this was, of course, not the case. Estella struggled to hold back a grin knowing they had not been anticipating this and she noted how stunned and furious Isabella seemed to be especially by the sight of Estella's presence.

"Surprise surprise." Estella murmured letting go of Miguel's hand once they stood in front of Benjamín who had been leading the private meeting before they disrupted it. Miguel placed a hand on his hip staring directly at Benjamín who didn't bother to say a word. Estella frowned at Benjamín knowing he had been the one who had organized this meeting and was the one discussing changing things in this business.

"Benjamín." Miguel Ángel stepped closer to him. Estella waited for something to happen not sure what to expect. It was silent and during this brief moment of silence, Estella glanced at Isabella who did not appear to be pleasured to see her and looked as if she could lash out at her at any moment. Her entire plan would be destroyed now, and she felt deceived and stunned and had been confident that Estella would go along with her plan instead of picking to be with Miguel Ángel.

"Miguel Ángel. Estella." Benjamín respectively nodded his head at the two of them and seemed to have an uneasy look on his face. Estella then saw how Isabella now stood up to confront her.

"You lied." Isabella crossed her arms anger prevalent in her voice. Estella scoffed upset by this remark. She had never lied to Isabella and that one thing she knew 100 percent.

"I never lied to you, Isabella. I never told you I was up for this insane plan. I warned you not to go through with this and you know that. You're an intelligent woman Isabella, and I didn't want to have to go along with this but you knew that Miguel would eventually find out. He's not an idiot." Estella argued trying her best to be as quiet not needing to alert the others. She didn't want to seem immature for arguing it would only make her look unprofessional and right now she needed to look as mature as possible to the others to prove she wasn't some foolish rich girl.

"Yes, I know that I am very smart. You however aren't by making this choice you could have had an imperial future with me but now what? I'm really disappointed in you what happened to sticking together as being the only women in a man's business?" Isabella genuinely felt wronged by Estella and that made her feel very guilty but she knew that this decision was better for her.

"I understand that Isabella and I wished for that too since you're my friend. But I warned you not to do this and you didn't listen and now look where this ended. I hope you understand my reasoning for my decision and possibly forgive me because you have been an incredible friend to me truly. I'm sorry things turned out this way." Estella sincerely apologized seeing that it was the only decent thing to do now.

"You'll be back and maybe in the future, you will consider doing business with me. Trust me, Estella, and I'll repeat this a million times until it gets to your damn head. It will never work with Miguel Ángel and when it doesn't there will be nothing for you except helping me. So I'll see you then." Isabella sneered.

"Perhaps you're right, but I would rather take my chances. I mean you were the one who told me I should go for Miguel Ángel and I understand he lied to you at the meeting he lied to me as well don't forget that part. However, I've told him multiple times that I'm not going to let it go. So don't think I'm going to allow Miguel Ángel to control my life like some puppet." Estella replied with a grin on her face. Isabella harshly stared at her practically laughing from this discussion until Miguel interrupted their slight argument.

"Come on no need to argue." Miguel walked up to Estella politely asking her to sit down. Estella sat down next to Isabella and noticed how nervous she was knowing that he would not be pleased with her choice and would likely ask her to leave. "Isabella. You look nice. Aren't you going to say hi?" Isabella reluctantly stood up shooting a disrespectful grimace at Estella while doing so. Miguel then proceeded to give Isabella a small peck on her cheek and slightly hugged her.

"But if you'll excuse us, there's business to be discussed." Miguel Ángel said. Isabella was immediately humiliated by this and rushed to grab her purse. She gave one last hurt look to Estella who felt guilt for allowing this to happen to her friend but understood this was business like Miguel Ángel had said many times before. You had to do certain things that you didn't like doing which was another part Estella didn't enjoy that much about this cartel. She watched her former friend walk away leaving her as the only woman in this room and felt a bit unnerved by this realization. It would be like this now, and that was unusual to think about.

"As you can see my issues with the government are resolved. It was just a misunderstanding." Miguel Ángel began pacing around the men who listened carefully to his explanation. Estella was also listening wondering what he would say since she hadn't exactly asked him what he would touch on in this meeting and instead found it more intriguing to hear from him like this.

"I've secured their cooperation. They're my partners again. Which, of course, I'm glad to share with you. That's what old friends are for, right. Remember when we brought the plazas together to sell weed? We were so small then. But... my ideas were new. No one saw it coming. And we grew fast. Along the way, we lost good men. Neto. Rafa. I'll carry them in my heart, always." He proceeded walking around glancing at everyone as he did so including Acosta, Ramón, Amado, Benjamín, and even Estella. She sat back in his chair and crossed her legs knowing that Miguel had purposely given up Neto and Rafa but she wouldn't ever dare tell anyone that crucial piece of information and kept her mouth shut and ears wide open.

"I hope you never forget them or the lessons they left us. Because when we lose our way, things get thrown off balance. The fuck-ups start...We do stupid shit, right?" Miguel Ángel glimpsed at Estella and smiled. Although her "kidnapping" should have been a hardship to their reputation as a cartel, it instead brought something promising for him and Estella was delighted that he thought that way. She knew that her life would completely change when joining this but now she was sitting here listening to a man she happened to be in a relationship with and loved to explain everything that would go on in the cartel for the future. It was astonishing but in a way she enjoyed it.

"They called us, "La Familia." Because we started off so small. But now, with the arrangements I've made with the government. I'm more powerful than any trafficker in the history of México. Today, we become "La Federación." And you all are welcome. Thank for your trust. That's all then. Oh, wait a second. Benjamín you were saying something, right?" Miguel glared at Benjamín. Estella stared at Ramón and Benjamín nearly laughing from their reaction. This had been the number one thing she had wished to see ever since they had attempted to hurt Ana and now that Benjamín realized he couldn't say much anymore to Miguel he simply replied with a "no."

"Okay. You can go now, gentlemen." He excused everyone to leave of course except Estella and watched everyone leave the meeting area. Estella looked at every man leave waiting for it to become completely clear so she could speak to Miguel in private but one person stayed behind and that was Amado. She swallowed the gulp in her throat knowing that he was the nephew of Don Neto and was probably disappointed by his uncle's recent arrest.

"Too bad what happened to my uncle." Amado said glancing both at Miguel Ángel and Estella. She looked off at the calm beach and didn't want to make it seem like she was hiding something and knew that Miguel would be able to lie his way through this one again.

"It is. We'll miss him right Estella?" Miguel Ángel gazed at Estella who turned her attention back to the conversation and Amado positioning herself in her seat.

"Yes, he will be very missed, Amado." She kindly smiled at Amado who nodded his head and looked off into the sky cleaning off his glasses. She knew that he was suspicious of Miguel and perhaps already knew that Miguel had given up his uncle for his safety.

"We'll miss him a lot. Welcome back." Amado placed on his glasses shaking Miguel's hand and nodded his head to Estella who returned the respectful gesture. He soon left leaving the meeting area quiet the couple having not much to say after all of this.

"The view is marvelous no?" Estella mumbled standing up and walking over to the ledge. She stared at the water and appreciated the sounds of the waves hitting the shore. It felt refreshing and relaxing at least for this short moment.

"Yes, it's very nice." Miguel followed her and stood next to her taking a look at the lovely beach. The two were silent various thoughts running through their heads. Estella placed a strand of her hair behind her ear and looked at Miguel sensing that he was deep into thought about something.

"What are you thinking about?" Estella asked worried that he was thinking negatively about something. He shrugged adjusting his glasses.

"About what happened." He merely answered not giving any detailed information to Estella. She made an uncertain face not understanding what he meant by