Chapter 15 - The Ghost of the Past
Victor took the phone from Arthur, pressing it to his ear without saying a word.
"I see you still fight like a stray dog, Victor," a smooth, heavily accented voice echoed through the speaker.
Victor’s grip on the phone tightened so hard his knuckles turned entirely white.
"Mateo," Victor breathed, a name he hadn't spoken in fifteen years.
Harper watched as Victor's usually impenetrable armor seemed to crack for a fraction of a second.
"El Fantasma now," Mateo corrected with a dark chuckle.
"I run the entire western syndicate, and you have something that belongs to me."
"Marcus's debt is paid in blood, Mateo," Victor responded, his voice dropping to a lethal octave.
"I don't want the old man's money," Mateo replied.
"I want the East Coast shipping ports you just stole from Declan."
"Hand over the keys to the eastern empire, and the girl and her pathetic father live."
Victor hung up the phone, tossing it onto the metal table.
Harper stood up, stepping close to him.
"Who is he?" she asked softly.
Victor looked at the concrete floor for a long moment before answering.
"Before I built my empire, I was an orphan on the streets of Juarez," Victor confessed.
"Mateo and I ran together, surviving by any means necessary."
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"He betrayed our crew for power, and I left him for dead."
"He didn't die, and now he wants my kingdom as revenge."
