Hasta la Muerte | Armando Aretas

My Father

It's like everything went silent, the only sound ringing through my head was the TV broadcaster informing the public that my father, Enrique Castro, was finally brought down and captured in the city of Miami by Miami Police. As tears started going down my face, in shock , I quickly realize what this meant.

I'm in danger
My mom is in danger and
My dad is gone.

As those last three words ring in my head , I start to yell for my mother as I go look to find her. " Mama! Mama! Donde estas!" ( Mom! Mom! Where are you")

I go downstairs to the kitchen as I see my beautiful mother holding a phone that is also repeating what I just heard. "Enrique Castro, the head of the Carivache Cartel is finally put behind bars as police race to find out more details to bring down others involved" the broadcaster stated.

As my mother turns around, I see her face full of agony, tears starting to stream down her face as she drops to her knees. I race to hold her and be by her side as she yells my father's name out loud. I try to get the courage to speak clearly with the hurt in my voice.

After 2 attempts, the words came out as soft as a whisper. " mama necesitamos que irnos" (mom we need to go) She wasn't moving so therefore I repeated it louder knowing we have no time to waste because I know police will be raiding our house in minutes.

I quickly run outside with my mother as I encounter the head of my cartel combat team. " dile a todos que se mantengan discretos por un momento, yo no se que va pasar" (tell everyone to lay low for a bit, I don't know what's going to happen" I said as I looked down.

With the amount of training my father had and knowledge of how to get around, no one knew, well surely not me that my father would ever be captured. He trained me for every scenario except this one and I already felt like I'm letting down my people. " si señora" (yes ma'am) he said.

I get into my car with my mother and started driving. Where? I don't even know but I just need to leave this location. Midway, a ring from my mom's phone takes me out of my thoughts.

As she answers and puts it on speaker, the voice rings a bell. "hola Valeria, escuche de lo que paso a Enrique, nos vemos en el hotel a abandonado plaza"(hello Valeria, I heard about Enrique, meet me in the abandoned hotel plaza)

I send my mother a reassuring look as I put a name to the voice. Benito Aretas. Armando's father. I tell my mother to get rid of her phone as I get rid of mine, knowing the police are going to do their best to find us, especially me with the amount of blood I have on my hands.

As we arrive, I observe multiple cars parked outside the warehouse. Before getting out of my car, I grab a gun from the glove compartment. I know it's Armando's father but the two lessons my father has always taught me were never to trust anyone and always have a defensible weapon by your side.

I lock hands with my mom as we approach the door. I give it three knocks and say "Hasta la muerta" meaning till death. It's a phrase that our cartel made up with the Arteas family due to our protective alliance.

The doors open and I see a bunch of men who started escorting us to a room. "Están adentro" (they are inside) one of them says. I nod and enter, to my surprise I see Armando Aretas, and next to him his father. I run up to Armando and engulf him in a hug.

"Hola hermosa"(hello beautiful) he whispers, "hola mando." I say back. We stayed in the hug knowing it's probably going to be the only comfort I am going to experience in a while. "Como estas?" (How are you) Armando asks while we break the hug. " well I'm never going to see my dad again so I'm doing good" I said back with a little sarcasm.

Armando chuckled as he look towards my mom and greeted her. While he greeted her , I went to greet his father. "Hola Benito, gusto verlo, gracias por llamarnos" (Hi Benito, good to see you, thank you for calling us) I said appreciating that at least I have some type of guidance through this whole situation.

Benito has been my father's best friend since they entered the business. Unfortunately, when someone in the cartel is captured, we can't do anything about it for years to not raise suspicion or we have to treat it like it's nothing, it's part of the lifestyle. We aren't even allowed to visit or call them if they are in prison since calls can be tracked. It's truly like if my father died.

Benito tells my mother and I to sit at the table in front of us. "Look you guys are safe pero necesitan estar bajo de el cartel de Aretas. (but you need to be under the Aretas Cartel) The Carivache Cartel will be a target for the next years. Podemos darle un trabajo a tu hija aquí y protegerte, pero no podemos garantizarle a todo tu cartel un trabajo aquí." (We can give your daughter a job here and protect you, but we can't guarantee your entire cartel a job here.) Benito says to my mother.

I look at my mother with a devastating look. Our cartel is built on the motto of protection. Even though what we do is wrong, we give jobs to people in need, for our community to survive with what this earth gives us. I am truly letting my people down.

Armando notices the look on my face and tells me it's the only way that my mother and I survive this. We both agree as we just imagine our future lives now. "Come with us, Camila your with me, your mom can go with my dad" Armando tells me. "Where are we going?" I said concerned. " You guys will have to stay with us until you're out of the radar, we just want to keep you guys safe" Armando says as he rest his hand on mine. I smile back to him.

Armando and I relationship is a bit weird. We grew close over time because we really only have had each other. Sounds cliche but Armando didn't grow up with his mother. His father was there for him but he was also the head of the business.

And friends? well theres not much to make when your whole life is basically based on illegal activity. Trust is what revolves in our friendship because we literally have to watch each other's backs to not have a bullet at our heads already.

Romantically though? Its been hard. Armando and I are well aware of each other's feelings but dating would be like a sin in the cartel world. Our parents have taught us that in this world, there is no love because once the outsiders find out, a significant other is used as a weakness. How is it a weakness you may ask?

Basically the enemy capturing either one to use as bait or making a tradeoff to benefit from. It's literally chaos written all over it. My father has always told me that back then, cartel leaders actually respected their enemy's significant others but now, anything is used as a weakness. Therefore Armando and I know it can never really happen but that doesn't ruin the love we have for each other.

Armando and I get into his car. We wait till Benito and my mother leave. Armando knows how special my mom is, she's the reason I'm still mentally sane. I will do anything to protect her. As he drove, we sat in silence but it was a comfortable silence. As we arrive, I look at the house and then look back to Armando knowing that my dad being captured might change multiple lives

But will it change for the better or for the worse ?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey yall, omg my goal was lowkey 4k but since it's a starter, I didn't want to rant on so I left it at 1k work count!

I'm not gonna lie, after I watched love island, I have nth to do. I have been thinking about this storyline for awhile so might as well start on it, now that I have time😭.

Anyways I hope yall enjoy this chapter, it was more of an introduction to why Camila is the way she is, and why Armando and Camila rely on each other at times. Next chapter will be based on months or years after this chapter. Anyways yall let me know any suggestions or tell me also any feedback, it would be helpful.

Next chapter maybe tmmr????

Bye nowww MWAH💗