Love, Family, & a Quarter Mile

Chapter 1

Let's start with a little back story my name is Reyna I grew up in Barstow, California until I was 14 when my mother died I moved to right outside Echo Park with my Mom's best friend and her daughter Letty Ortiz. Letty and I we were like sisters we grew up together and we were born 4 months apart. For as long as I can remember I've loved cars and racing my Mom taught me to drive at 13 and Letty too. Dominic and Mia Toretto lived up the block from Letty Dom being one of the best racers on the block and Letty always had a thing for him once we both turned 16 we started racing and running with Dom and his crew which included Jesse, Leon, and Vince. It wasn't long until Dom and Letty we're together. Then Momma Ortiz as I always called her dropped a bomb shell on my she told me who my father was Frank O'Conner who also fathered another kid I know from growing Brian O'Conner and I knew he never had anything to do with him either.  With Letty, Dom, and the crew I finally felt like I had a family and that I belonged some where.

In 2001 we started running heist on trucks along with racing that's how we made our money. We were doing well until Brian O'Conner showed up but under a different name I never told anyone about us being related but I did confront him about the name change because something seemed fishy at least to me. He said he changed his name he didn't want to to have our fathers name anymore. I then proceeded to tell him that I was his sister he would race with us sometimes and he seemed like a good fit for our team except the fact that Vince couldn't stand him. At this point Jesse and I were dating I had decided to start nursing school for my LPN and I was almost done with school I just wanted something to fall back on if I needed to. About 2 weeks after Brian rolled into town Johnny Tran one of our biggest competitors garage was raided. Which I found odd we were racing that night and Brian was there after we were done I followed him and found out he was a cop. So I waited for him to leave the police hide out and go back to where he had been staying. I confronted him again about the lying and the fact that he knew we were the ones running the heist and he was just using Mia and Dom until he could get the evidence against us. He told me he was trying everything he could to get the spot light off our team and on to someone else so maybe we could get by. I still didn't trust him but I said if one of us goes down don't think I won't hunt you done they are my family and we take care of each other. I didn't tell the others but I kept a very close eye on Brian I had been looking around for a new car I was ready to trade my '95 Toyota Supra I finally found a Mazda RX-7 so traded for it. To see what we were working with in the RX-7 or any other new car we race Dom no one on the team beside Letty has ever beaten Dom. I was a good race I still lost but it definitely did better than my Supra did. Jesse and I put in several hours of work in on it though just to make sure it was ready for Race Wars the following week. We also were dealing with Johnny Tran thinking we turned the police on him so we were watching our backs. Race wars was great as always until Jesse bet his Jetta when he raced Johnny Tran and then took off when he lost. Right after we left for another job Brain was there and watched us leave which confirmed his theory he revealed to Mia he was a cop and if they didn't come after us we would be hurt or killed by the drivers as they are arming themselves now. They were to late though the driver shot Vince and ran Letty off the road. Brian then had to reveal his true identity to get emergency care for Vince in a hurry. We all headed back home only to find no sign of Jesse Dom and I were fixing to leave to look for him when Brian showed up. He and Dom were in a screaming match when Jesse pulled up. He was apologizing to Dom and Mia and I were trying to get Jesse to come inside then my worst nightmare came true Johnny Tran and Lance drive by and start shooting hitting and killing Jesse. In that moment it was like time stopped I ran off the porch to Jesse. I held him in my arms and said "Jesse no you can't leave me stay with me. Dom and Brian go after Tran and Lance. Dom hit Lance with his car seriously injuring him and Brian shoots and kills Tran. Dom and Brian race one more time where Dom wrecks his Charger and to avoid his arrest as they hear the cops approaching Brain gives Dom the keys to his Supra saying "I owe a 10 second car" they both take off Dom in the Supra and Brian on foot.  Dom returns home where I'm still holding Jesse's lifeless body on the sidewalk. He comes to me and says " Reyna you can't stay out here holding him he is gone and that hurts all of us but nothing is going to change that" I looked at Dom and said with tears still streaming down my face " it wasn't suppose to be like this this wasn't suppose to happen not to Jesse" I sat there for a few more minutes before going into the house. Dom made the call to the funeral home. We were all there except Leon and Vince who were on their way home from the hospital. When they got there Dom called a meeting he said " we've lost a brother today but now we know tho cops are on to us after we say our last goodbye to Jesse we need to get out of LA." We said our goodbyes and buried Jesse 3 days after that. I felt lost with out Jesse and wasn't sure what to do and I wasnt sleeping every time I closed my eyes I saw his lifeless body. We had one last family barbecue Dom and Letty ha decided to go to the Dominican Republic, Vince and Leon were headed to South America and well I wasn't quite sure I just wanted to get behind the wheel and drive. Later that night I was sitting on the front porch and Dom joined me and said " you know your more than welcome to come with us to the DR" I said "I know but that doesn't seem like that's the right place for me I just want to drive until I can't anymore" he said " kid I know your hurting we all are but don't be afraid to talk to us and if you don't go with us please keep in touch" I said " I will and I think I'm going to head to the east coast for a while" Dom said " be safe out there" and handed me the keys to Jesse's Jetta. The next morning we all left very early I had decided to go to Miami since Jesse and I always talked about going there one day. I loaded the Jetta up put Jesse's picture on the dash board and hit the road.