The Fuentes Family

23

Alex

I drop the envelope of money in front of Mamá and she stops writing whatever she's doing and looks at it.

"Two thousand."

She looks up at me with concern. "I don't want it."

"You need it."

"No, Alejandro. I have enough money in the bank to last a lifetime, and i'm working hard."

"You work too much. And if you have enough money, good, because i'm not doing this anymore?"

Her eyes light up. "You're not?"

"No. I need to fix everything."

She smiles. "You miss Amelia, don't you?" I sigh, turning around to walk away. "Alex, wait." Mom stands up, coming over and hugging me. I hesitate, surprised, before hugging her back. "Yasmin has told me all about what happened. I know how upset you are."

Something about this moment is tugging at my heart, making me want to burst into tears like you'd do when you're a kid and something upsets you. "I don't want to mess her up in all this."

"I know, but you deserve better than that. You deserve to be happy and be with the girl who makes you feel like the luckiest boy in the world."

That's the thing, I don't know if I do deserve that.

+++

"Ready?"

"No."

"It'll be fine. Jules is recording everything. Turn that thing on," Enrico points at my shirt, and I lift it up and switch the wire on my chest on. I take a deep breath, and Enrico nods at me, and I nod back, then we get out of his car.

The sky is dark, just the light from inside the warehouse lighting up Caligari's face, making him look even more sinister. It's like something you'd see in a horror movie, and it's making me nervous. I wonder if my Dad ever got scared. He never showed it if he did; he always seemed bulletproof.

"Your brother want a job?" Cal says, standing at the entrance to the warehouse. He nods over to Enrico and one of the guys with him comes over and begins to search Enrico.

"Hands off, you piece of shit," he pushes the guy back which makes him mad. This isn't part of the plan, Enrico.

"Something to hide?" Cal questions suspiciously.

"Yeah, a bomb. It's right here in my pants." Enrico rolls his eyes.

"What do you want?"

"Drugs," I say before Enrico can.

"Well, you came to the right place. We got a lot of that. Alex, you didn't need to come. I have a lot of guys here today." I know you do.

Enrico walks inside the warehouse. "Don't let him force you to shoot anyone like he did Dad," I call out, making all of the workers stare at me.

Caligari eyes me suspiciously. "I don't know what you're talking about, Fuentes."

This fucker. He's on to me. "Don't play games. It's fine; i'm over it now. My Dad still pulled the trigger right? Even though you held a gun to his head and forced him to – it's still his fault."