Crimson affairs (Hiatus)

Chapter 2

It isn't as easy as the movies make it seem. Running an operation like mine. I don't run one big happy family; I run a business and a very messy one at that.

"You ain't like your papi! He never made my mom sell for his boys! You come in our neighborhood and start overcharging an old lady? eres escoria arrogante caliente! es lo que eres!" she escalated into a furious Spanish tirade. We were in my night office by the courthouse. I never met the woman before, but she clearly didn't care for being formal. I sat behind my desk and watched the petite brunette flail her arms in the air. If this had happened during the day, I would have let her continue venting her frustration.

Instead, I pick the glass paperweight off my desk and chuck it right past her angry little head. I get out my chair so fast it falls over, and I shout, "This is my office! Who the hell do you think you're talking to! Talk shit like that with me again, and I'll have you shipped out in a bloody cardboard box!" that loud fury of hers turned into quiet fear really quick. She took a seat in the chair opposite me while I picked mine off the floor. "Now, tell me what your problem is. Slowly."

~

My list of family members may be extensive, but not any more than the typical Hispanic family. The only way I can operate on the level I do, is by hiring lackeys and flunkeys to do the grunt work. They make the delivery runs and collect the dues, but they do it in the Cortez family name. It's the only way I can exert taxes on the entire city regularly.

The crew from 78th street's taking advantage of my last name and authority. They started increasing the tax and collecting more often. Of course, shit like that is bound to happen when you leave a bunch of grunts with too much time on their hands. It turns out that my boys on 78th went after some poor families too, and made them sell old jewelry to pay up.

If some punks want to rob an old lady across the street, that's none of my business. But when they go using the Cortez name, and having young Mexican women busting into my place, that's another story. That's why I'm in a van headed downtown.

I make my way to the library an hour before closing. It's the usual meeting place when a true Cortez comes to this part of town. The area's nice and quiet because the library is old and outdated. A high-roofed building made of old bricks and cement patches. When I enter the room with Joshua and Conner, all eyes turn to me. I nod at the librarian, and she starts shutting everything down. "Library's closing early tonight!" she calls out softly.

"Everyone get out!" my voice echoes through the old building, and people start scrambling. Within seconds, my crew and I are the only ones standing in the library. Next, come a handful of minority teenagers that were hiding in the back rooms. They walk like street urchins with their pants around their legs, and I have half a mind to whip them just so they learn to use a belt. "Boys, have a seat."

We pick a long table, and my twin hands stand behind my chair. I don't bother with pulling my gun out around kids like these.

"Who here thinks I'm stupid?" I ask, breaking the silence. I turn my head slightly to look each one of the grunts in the eye. A few of them are older than the rest, but they're all between 16 and 25. They nervously glance at each other, and no one dares to meet my stare. "No one? None of you think I'm stupid?" I ask again softly. Again, no one responds. So, I slam my fist against the table and raise my voice, "Then what the hell did you think would happen!? You go looting from old ladies under my bloody name! You start raising taxes in my bloody town! You drag my family name into your petty shit! You do all that, and think I'm not going to notice!?" I don't try to stay calm. At times like these, it's best to show some aggression.

They stay silent and stare down at the table as if they're waiting for my rampage to end. It actually surprises me when one of them works up the nerve to speak. "We don' need you anymore..."

Another one pipes up, "Maybe we just don' care what you say." One by one, they start looking back up and growing bold.

A scrawny black kid growls, "Who need your raggedy ass fam anyways." All five of them at the table start taking turns standing up for themselves. "We earned that cash, fair and stare."

"I ain't giving all that money to some primp mama's boi." I take a seat and rest my hands on my lap.

"So, you're all sure about this? There isn't any going back after you cross that line with me. you've got a few seconds to check yourselves and take all that back." I watch all of their faces harden as they work up their courage to stand up to me. Two of them actually pull out the handguns they were given. I decided that was more than enough of an answer. "Josh, Con, table," I respond simply.

My handymen don't waste a second. The two buff bodyguards instantly step forward and grab the edge of the table. They flip it up in one swift motion, and I jump out of my seat. The table raises up into the air, and the street trash scrambles to move out of the way and stand up. It takes them too long and my gun is already in my hand by the time I'm on my feet. I flip the safety and fire three shots right off the bat. My first two bullets tear into the largest grunt's legs, and he goes down just as my third bullet hits the kid next to him. Conner pulls out a Glock and fires four shots into the small African American kid. Half of the shots miss, but it takes him down just fine. Joshua rams into the table like and uses it as a battering ram.

The grunt behind the table doesn't move out of the way fast enough, and Josh literally runs him over. I twist and fire a shot into the last one standing, and it grazes the side of his ribs. My heart skips a beat when I see what was in his hand before I shot him.

"Grenade!" I shout and take a shot at the small black explosive in the grunt's hand. The bullet hits the metal shell, and the grenade flies out of his grip. There's no time to watch and see what happens as I throw myself in the opposite direction. Half a second later, the bomb goes off, and an explosive shockwave rips through my body. I crash into a bookshelf and fall straight through a wall of books.

My body feels numb at first, and a wild ringing fills my ears as I try to stand. Where the hell did a kid like that get a grenade? Books tumble out of shelves, and the light of sprouting flames spread across the room. When I finally get to my feet, I see what was on the other side of the bookshelf I crashed through.

It was the lady in white. I stared at her in shock, and she casually glanced up from her book to watch me. I had just assumed everyone cleared out of the library when I told them to. She caught my attention completely, and I wasn't about to hide my curiosity. Her hair fell behind her shoulders in beautiful raven-black waves, and her skin was a dark olive shade. Just like the last time I ran into her, she wore a frilly white top and a dull silver skirt that went passed her knees. In the brief moment she looked at me, I got a glimpse of unbelievable green eyes. everything about her appearance made her seem like she was carved straight from a painter's imagination.

She looked away from me in the direction of the growing flames. The fire was spreading quickly, and for a moment she looked scared. Then all at once, she sighed, and her expression softened. "You've gone and ruined a library older than my sister. Is this just what happens to the places you visit?" she asked as she closed her book and headed for the exit. She was about to pull another vanishing act after having the last word. That is not something I can approve.

"Who the hell are you?" Still shaken from the blast, I grabbed her arm. Her other hand dashed into her bag and the next second was filled with pain and surprise as she tased me. My body started spasming, and I fell back to the floor. Everything seemed to fade in and out of focus as the heat continued to engulf the room. One of my twin hands lifted me over his shoulder and pulled me out of the library. Next, I was in the back seat of my van as the twins drove me home. They wouldn't take me anywhere near a hospital at night, but that was fine.

I must have blacked out during the ride, because next thing I knew, a pillow was placed under my head and a blanket over me. I fell asleep that night with the resolution that the matter was closed. It went terribly, but there have been tougher nights than this one. People thought it was easy to be head of the Spanish mafia just because of a few movies. Truth is, getting blown off your feet by an upstart group of stupid grunts and tased by a mysterious woman in the same night can really take the icing off that cake. Tomorrow morning, I'll go back to being Jupiter Cortez, and give Mr. Crimson a break.

So this chapter was shortened from the original read. I figured I shouldn't let a single chapter take more than 2k words, so that's why it might feel a bit rushed. But what do I know, leave a comment and tell me what you think. Should I let chapters be as long as they need to be, or was this one just fine as it is :)