PRELUDE
ONE WEEK AGO
The air in Don Castillo’s private conference room was suffocating and unnaturally quiet, not because there was nothing to say but because no one wanted to be the first to speak.
A dozen men sat around the polished mahogany table, each one powerful enough to command an army, yet none of them dared disturb the silence.
At the head of the table sat Don Alejandro Castillo, the undisputed king of the Castillo empire.
He hadn’t spoken once since the meeting began. Instead, he listened
Financial reports, Territory updates, and Shipment schedules.
The quarterly briefings had concluded, but the real business was just beginning.
Yet the one report everyone dreaded remained untouched.
Victor leaned back in his chair, twirling a pen between his fingers.
“Now...for the part we’ve all been waiting for,” he murmured, his eyes locking onto Javier. “Any news on John?” “Little brother, do you have any updates on John’s whereabouts? Or is he still making a fool out of you?”
Javier met his brother’s gaze without flinching.
“My men are still tracking him.”
Victor chuckled.
“Still?”
The word echoed through the room.
“Six months, Javier.” He folded his hands on the table.“I’d almost forgotten what he looked like.”
A few men lowered their heads to hide their reactions.
Victor’s smile widened. “Should I step in? I can clean up your mess.”
Javier’s jaw tightened. “I don’t need your help.”
“No?” Victor shrugged. “Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like you do.”
Before another word could be exchanged...
A single tap echoed across the room. Don Castillo’s fingers had tapped against the tabletop.
Silence swallowed the room whole. Without looking at either of his sons, the Don finally spoke.
“Javier.”
“Yes, Father.”
“My money.”
Two words that were all.
Javier straightened. “I’m going to recover every dollar.”
“You have one week.” The Don slowly rose from his chair. “If, by then, my money hasn’t returned...”
His eyes settled on Javier.
“...Victor takes over.”
The threat settled in Javier’s chest.
As he reached the door, the Don stopped.
“And Javier...”
“Yes, Father?”
“Remind John why people fear the name, Castillo.”
Then he walked away.
The room emptied in silence.
Victor paused beside Havier just long enough to offer him a smug smile.
“I’ll have your office measured.”
Then he left.
...
Javier’s office was silent except for the sound of whiskey pouring into a crystal glass.
He didn’t drink it.
He simply stared at it.
Diego entered first, followed by two other men.
“The search teams are still coming up empty,” they reported
Javier remained silent.
One of the men cleared his throat.
“We’ve searched every safe house, every contact, every route out of the country.”
Nothing.
Not even a flicker of emotion crossed Javier’s face.
Instead, he asked one question.
“He has a family, right?”
The men exchanged glances.
“Yes, Boss.”
“A wife, a boy, and a girl”
Javier looked up.
The room seemed to grow colder. Javier slowly set the untouched whiskey back onto the desk.
“Find them.”
“Yes, Boss.” They nodded once before disappearing to carry out the order.
The office door clicked shut, and only Diego remained.
“I thought we agreed,” he said quietly, “that his family was off limits.”
Javier leaned back in his chair, rubbing a tired hand over his face.
“So did I.”
Diego frowned.
“I investigated them myself. John hasn’t been home in years. He sends money now and then, but there’s been almost no contact. They may not even know where he is.”
“I know.”
“Then why involve them?”
For the first time that evening, something dangerous flickered behind Javier’s eyes.
“When you looked into them was 6 months ago? What if he has contacted them recently?” Javier asked Diego, who didn’t have an answer
“My father gave me one week.”
His voice was barely above a whisper.
“If I fail...everything I’ve spent my life building goes to Victor. I can’t let that happen”
Silence.
“And you know what my father meant when he said to remind John who we are.”
Diego did.
“If John abandoned his family...” Javier said as he stood and buttoned his suit jacket, “...then he doesn’t deserve to have one.”
He walked toward the window overlooking the city.
“The moment John stole from me...”
His reflection stared back at him through the glass.
“...he signed his family’s life over to the Castillos.”
Outside, the city glittered beneath the night sky.
Somewhere among those millions of lights...
Noah was living the last ordinary week of his life.
He simply didn’t know it yet.
great introduction to the story