Chapter 15

“I FOUND THEM!!” A short, older man yelled as he ran into what once was Tommy Ryan’s office. Joseph Ryan was sitting at the desk with Justin, Tommy and JC; they were all discussing a drug delivery and who exactly was going to go and take care of it.

“Found who?” Tommy looked at the man strangely. “And who the fuck are you?”

“Tommy, this is Chris Kirkpatrick, he’s a Private Investigator that I hired.”

“Why would you hire a Private Investigator?” Justin asked and stood up straight, staring at the disheveled man before him.

“I hired him to find Esperanza Ciro and Natalia Fuentes. It’s about time you finally pinpointed them, Mr. Kirkpatrick.”

“I’m sorry, Sir.” Chris murmured and began searching through his bag, where he pulled out a bunch of pictures. Chris handed them to Justin who was the closest to him.

Justin looked through the pictures and smiled softly. The first were just candid pictures of Natalia and Hope, shopping, laughing and hanging out in some bar.

He couldn’t believe how long it’d been since he last saw her. It felt like yesterday since that faithful day that he had finally slept with her. Justin couldn’t believe how much he loved her; it was in the month he knew her that he had fell for her.

Justin flipped through the pictures until he came across one of Natalia and a guy. They were all over each other, hugging and laughing. Jealously began to build in his stomach as he looked over at Chris.

“Who is this?” He demanded, his hand clenching the picture.

“I believe it’s her boyfriend…they live together, along with Hope.” Chris said and Justin just clenched his fist with his anger boiling up.

How could she do that? How could she just move on and forget about him?! Justin couldn’t fathom how she could be such a cold-hearted bitch. The mobster flipped through the pictures, coming across a close up of his beloved Natalia. He studied the picture for a moment, running his fingertips across her face.

Justin had never seen her look so happy. She had this glow to her and she almost looked celestial. She was his angel and he knew he needed to get her back. He was happy at the fact that she still wore his necklace. It meant there was still hope; she still remembered him and she had to still love him.

Tommy stayed quiet, studying the pictures from behind Justin. There was Hope, the woman who had stolen his heart and run away with it.

If she only knew how sorry he was, and how much he would love to take away all the pain he caused her. He loved her and didn’t mean to act so cruel towards her.

He kicked himself for letting her go, but that wouldn’t happen again.

“It seems they both have been seeing other people… I spotted Hope and Natalia at a bar a few nights ago and I photographed Hope kissing what appears to be Natalia’s brother, Andrew.” Chris said and handed Tommy the pictures of Hope and Andrew’s intense make out session.

Tommy blinked a few times upon looking at the pictures. His heart had just been tore in half within a mere millisecond.

How could she kiss someone else? They were engaged!! They were going to be married!

Tears began to form in his brown eyes but he quickly wiped them away. He was a broken man.

“Well it seems that we need to take both of these men out. I’m just sorry that Justin wasn’t able to kill that bastard Andrew when he had the chance. That little bastard is starting to retaliate.”

“Retaliate?” JC questioned and Joseph rolled his eyes.

“Yes, it seems that Eduardo Diaz and his nephew Andrew Fuentes have decided to try and take us down. They’ve joined forces with the Lopez family, and since the incident with the fixed shipment, we aren’t on good terms with the Lopez family.”

“The Lopez family? Please…they’re nothing… the Ryan Empire stretches from the Americas to Europe. We can take them down easily.” Justin stated confidently, with JC agreeing with him.

“Don’t be fooled by the Lopez’s. They may look small, but they are quite powerful. We need to be cunning and calculative.” Joseph said and took the pictures from his son’s hands.

Tommy had been busy staring at the pictures of Hope that he hadn’t even bothered to listen to his father. He was too distraught.

“Cute girls… I don’t see what the big deal is about them though. You could find a million others just like them.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, father.” Tommy glared at his father; the pain was evident in every aspect of his being. “Hope is not like any other girl. She’s beautiful inside and out… she’s not like the many whores that you married!”

Joseph sat shocked as Tommy stormed out of the room. Justin and JC looked at each other while Chris merely stared down in fear.

“Pack your bags… bright and early tomorrow, we’re heading to New York City.”

**

It was about 11 on a Sunday afternoon and Joey had me come in to the bar to clean up this huge mess. There had been this big blow out the night before and the bar was a disaster. There was puke all over the walls of the bathroom and drinks spilled everywhere.

 Hope had bailed on me so I was stuck there cleaning it all up. I mean sure I was getting paid overtime but I think Joey was enjoying watching me clean up the mess. It was like he was saying; you won’t go out with me, so fuck you.

 I scrubbed the top of the bar with my trusty Windex All Purpose cleaner. It was disgusting how gross some people could be. There was gum and God knows what else all over the bar top.

 Thankfully, Joey let me play music. I had my trusty Queen of the Damned soundtrack playing, my favorite song off the soundtrack, “Slept So Long” by Jay Gordon filled the room and I continued to work, singing along to the music.

 “Walking, waiting, alone without a care, hoping, and hating the things that I can’t bear.” I roughly scrubbed at the bar with a brillo pad and ruined the hot pink manicure I had just gotten the day before. “Did you think its cool, to walk right up, to take my life and fuck it up! Well did you? I HATE YOU!”

 Yeah, I really can’t sing for shit but I like to pretend I can. Anyway, I was really embarrassed when I looked up and saw some men standing in the doorway of the bar.

 I adjusted my black shorts in which my ass hung out of and called for Joey. Hell, I figured this was a good time for my lunch break so I grabbed my cd out of the cd player just as the song finished.

 “Mr. Fatone, I’m taking my break now. I’ll be back soon.” I headed out the door to my car without another word.

 It was weird, because it felt like those men in the bar were staring at me. I mean I barely looked at them, but you know when you can feel someone staring at you? Yeah I got that.

 I had been getting that feeling a lot and it was creepy. It was like everywhere I went someone was watching me.

 But anyway, I got into my car, that feeling still present, and sped away, just wanting to get away as fast as I could. I decided to go harass Ricky at work, plus the bastard ate for free.

**

 Justin, Joseph and JC walked into the bar to the sound of “Slept So Long.” Justin stopped in his tracks as he saw his angel reduced to do manual labor in some dingy bar.

 He heard her voice for the first time in months as she sang along to the song and his heart jumped. God, she was stunning. Everything about her was beautiful. The way her body moved, the way her eyes sparkled, the way her perfect lips pouted as she sang. Natalia even had an innocence about her that drove him crazy.

Justin just wanted to take care of her.

But when she finally noticed them standing there, she looked right through him. Of course Justin knew this wasn’t the right time to talk to her, but he was still hurt.

 He heard her stop and call her employer and not once looked at them again. She just walked out of the bar and headed on her break, brushing past him and driving his senses crazy.

 The auburn haired man turned and watched her walk out, mainly staring at her ass that hung out of her tiny shorts. He couldn’t help but to think of the many things he wanted to do to his love.

 It had been so long since he was with a woman. After she left he tried to move on and slept with anyone he could, but it wasn’t the same. It was just sex with all those women. With Natalia, it was different, she gave him this feeling in his stomach and he knew he couldn’t let her go.

 Justin looked back at the owner of the bar; he was dressed in a blue superman shirt and a pair of jeans. He looked far from professional.

 “She’s gorgeous isn’t she?” The owner said and licked his lips as Natalia disappeared from sight. “I’ve been dying to fuck her.”

 “Watch your mouth.” Justin growled at the man. He was ready to lunge at him but JC made sure to keep his hand on his shoulder.

 “Whatever… My name is Joey Fatone… How can I help you gentlemen?”

 “My name is Joseph Ryan… I have a very easy business proposition for you, Mr. Fatone.”

 “Really?” Joey crossed his arms and sat on his bar stool. “You have my attention… have a seat.”

 Joseph sat next to Joey with a smile creeping across his face. JC and Justin just leaned against the bar and watched.

 “I need to know everything you know about Esperanza Ciro and Natalia Fuentes.” Joseph pulled out a wad of 100-dollar bills from his pocket, and showed them to Joey.

 “Excuse me?” Joey raised an eyebrow at the peculiar Irish man before him.

 “All of this will be yours if you can answer a few simple questions.”

 “Alright…”

 “Where do they live?”

 “Uhm… on 7th avenue and like Ford Street. But why do you need to know where they live?” 

 “We’re old friends and we want to surprise them.” JC answered quickly. “But listen, we’re asking the questions here and you’re getting the money, so just shut up.”

 Joey just nodded, he was obviously worried about these men in suits who were asking questions about his two best waitresses, but he figured they were FBI. Could Hope and Natalia be into crime? Maybe prostitution… Ohhh… he liked that prospect.

 “So tell me about the boy Natalia’s dating?” Justin asked, his hand tightly clutching the side of the bar.

 “Who Ricky? I think he’s flaming but I saw them all over each other the other night.”

 “Ricky What?” Justin’s eyes were practically popping out of his head.

 “Ricky Seaver… I think. Yeah. He works for Tommy Hilfiger.” Joey nodded and took a sip of some water. “I think Hope is seeing Natalia’s brother. It’s nothing serious as of yet. God I feel like a gossip queen.”

 “Don’t. You just helped us very much, Mr. Fatone. Thank you for your time.” Joseph placed the wad of hundreds down on the counter and looked at Justin and JC. “Come on boys, we have a lot of work to do and we need to find Tommy.”

 The three men walked out of the bar, only God knew what they were planning next.