Yet.
But from the moment he’d turned control of the company over to her, he’d had her watched, followed, without her knowing. Partly because he wanted to ensure her safety in the early days, and partly because he wanted to make sure she wouldn’t do something idiotic.
Like reach out to the Russian mafia, become embroiled in illegal activity, and risk everything he’d carefully built.
Miranda was ambitious, and that could be a useful trait in business. She wasn’t a child fresh out of college, either. She was nearly forty and highly focused on her work.
Personally, he’d planned to let Miguel’s cartel disintegrate organically—cannibalized by his remaining men and other cartels, the power vacuum naturally filled.
Except that hadn’t happened. It confused him at first, but now he understood why.
Miranda was behind it.
He would not have his decades of hard work risked by her impetuous actions. She’d never blatantly defied him before. Abundio needed all the details before making a decision.
The other unknown factor—what was her interest in following up on Manuel’s outlandish claims? He wondered if perhaps his daughter had more knowledge about Manuel’s fate than she said.
If so…
That might be an avenue worth pursuing.
Abundio was awake and waiting when Armando returned that evening. He played him the video that their people shot.
“Your orders, Sir?” Armando asked when it finished.
Abundio stared at the tablet screen for a long moment, the freeze-frame of Miranda sitting at the table and passing something to him.
“I never imagined she would betray me,” Abundio finally said.
“Sir?”
“Miranda. The only reason she would go behind my back and speak to the Russians is that she believes she can give them the cartel. But we know from her digital activities that she’s digging into Manuel’s activities. The two must be connected.”
“Your orders, sir?”
“Search her condo immediately, while she’s out of town. Secretly. Make sure nothing is left out of place. I want you there, personally supervising our best men. And have our computer expert do whatever’s necessary to her personal and work computers to find out what she is up to. Hack her work and personal phones. And I want cameras and listening devices planted in her condo immediately. And in her office at work. I want to know her every step.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh, and Armando?”
He turned. “Sir?”
“Keep this circle as small as possible,” Abundio ordered. “Only your most trusted. Even if it takes longer to accomplish.”
“Yes, sir.”
Once he was alone, Abundio turned to stare out the window.
Father, you made this look easy.
With a lot of hindsight, Abundio knew it was because their father was a ruthless bastard who had no conscience.
Which, despite what many of Abundio’s detractors might believe, he actually possessed.
Certainly, he had resorted to unsavory methods to achieve his ends, but he had not run a cartel.
He’d had ethics.
