His Promise: The Mafia’s Babies by C. Tamika novel Chapter 324

Chapter 324

Elena

“Tiago?” I lowered my voice as I was headed for the gates.

“Ti-”

I could barely finish my sentence as a hand had already covered my mouth. “Not so loud!” Tiago whispered in my ear as he pulled me to the back.

Seconds later, he finally removed his hand from my lips. I created a distance between us and looked at his face. “T-Tiago.” I smiled awkwardly, still unsure about why he would force me out of my house in the middle of the night.

If anything, he seemed even worse than he did before. I shamelessly observed the bags and dark circles around his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. What did he even want from me?

“S-so, I’m leaving tomorrow,” Tiago spoke after a silence. I blinked my eyes a few times, unsure of what to do. “Yes, I know.”

“So why did you want to see me?” I asked, “Do you want me to get Ma-”

“No!”

I flinched at Tiago’s cold tone. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you…not again.” He took a breath. That’s right. This wasn’t the first time.

I carefully moved my hand to Tiago’s check and looked into his eyes, showing him he could trust me. “It’s okay. I’m here to help.” I nodded desperately.

“I know, and I trust you-that’s why I came to you,” Tiago said.

“Do you want to tell me something?”

Tiago’s eyes turned big as he shook his head. “Is Marvin inside?” He asked in a hurry.

“Yes.”

“Is he alone?”

“No. He’s with Lucas and Panther-”

Tiago stepped back, lowering his head. “He can’t be here. He can’t be here!” He paced back and forth. He slammed his fist against his forehead and released a frustrated sigh. “This was a bad idea. What am I doing?” He muttered. “He’s going to hurt me.”

“Tiago, who can’t be here?” I pushed for answers. “Is it about Marvin?”

“No.”

“Lucas?”

“No.”

“

Tiago stopped in his steps and shot me an angry look. “It’s Victor, isn’t it?” I asked. “Why can’t you just give me a name and tell me what this is about?”

I waited for an answer. “I-I remember you telling me something about you doing something Marvin can never know?”

“Is someone in the house threatening you?”

Tiago gulped, meaning I was finally getting somewhere. “All I did was follow instructions. I never meant to kill him.” He broke down. Kill him?

“Tiago, kill who?”

“That agent.” He blurted. My mind went blank as my thoughts went to Maddens, and it all started to make sense. Marvin claimed he went to prison for something he didn’t do. Was he protecting Tiago?

“What are you talking about?” I asked, stunned.

Tiago looked embarrassed. “That thing Marvin went to prison for. I didn’t mean to do it. It’s all my fault- but I swear, I had no choice!”

So, it was Tiago? Tiago killed Stevie Maddens. How was I supposed to feel about all of this?

“Because Victor made you do it?” I concluded. Even though he pulled the trigger, I wanted to believe Tiago wasn’t entirely at fault, and I knew that man couldn’t be trusted from the start. He just had this vibe, which I didn’t like. He was stuck up and rude.

“No, not Victor,” Tiago spoke to my surprise.

“We’re talking about Panther.”

Panther?

I felt my legs go numb as I could not process his words. This wasn’t true. Tiago wasn’t in his right state of mind and blamed everyone he could think of.

How could Panther be the bad guy? He was the one who accepted me with open arms. He wasn’t that smart. but his kind personality had always made up for it.

Tiago cleared his throat. “He told me that Marvin would take the fall for me, and I could take over the family business.” He said. “The only thing he wanted was for me to hand it over to Cisco once he turned eighteen.”

“Tiago…”

“He wanted to help Karina and his son-Cisco is Panther’s in case you didn’t know, and I just wanted to matter for once,” Tiago stated. It was no secret Marvin was not only favored by Linda but Mario as well. Even then, I could still not understand how one could sabotage his brother.

Tiago scoffed. “That fucking agent was a corrupt, manipulating ass anyway-but I never meant to kill him!” He spoke. “I just shot him where Panther told me to.”

Maddens was corrupt? Who would’ve known the same man who once had a mental breakdown over stolen candy could be corrupt?

Would my dad have known? Was that the reason why Maddens’ death hit him even harder?

What did it even matter? It wasn’t even important at the moment.

Panther wanted to get rid of Marvin, and by the looks of it-for a very long time.

“I didn’t expect for my dad to pull every string to get Marvin out of prison or for him to frame the Hernandez for my mistake.” Tiago continued. “I never meant for Anya to get hurt…not her.”

My thoughts went to poor Anya, who didn’t have anything to do with this. I didn’t have anything to do with this either, so I was still confused as to why he would even share this with me.

“Who knows this?”

“No one.” Tiago shook his head. “Marvin can’t know…not yet.”

“W-why?” I asked, confused. “Then why did you tell me?”