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In the distance, a door creaks open and I’m suddenly snapped back to reality. The pistol tucked behind my belt rubs against my back and I whip it out to make sure it’s loaded.
Fully.
Uncertainty fades away and an angry determination takes it over. I may not have any answers right now, but I’m in the right place to get them. This Mendoza fucker is going to sing, I’ll make sure of that.
5
Catalina
I know something is wrong the second I step inside.
Despite Juan’s towering presence, the room just feels empty.
“Where is he?” I whisper, too scared to ask any louder. The answer is already clear. This happens once in a while, and each time it’s so devastating that I risk falling apart.
“It wasn’t safe,” Juan answers, his voice strong and calm. If I looked him in the eyes right now, I’d be able to see the sympathy he holds for me, but I don’t want sympathy, I want Oscar.
“Why not, what’s happening?” My heart races like a heavy stone tumbling down the side of a mountain. Every second plunges me further down into the abyss. I just risked everything... for nothing.
“Don’t worry,” Juan says, placing a reassuring palm on my shoulder. “It has nothing to do with Oscar. There’s just some trouble brewing in the underworld, usual stuff. Someone is picking off Dante’s men. So, he’s increased patrols to enforce curfew, and that made it too dangerous to bring Oscar here tonight.”
“Then why did you bring me?” I ask, desperately sad.
Juan brushes past me and makes a beeline for the liquor cabinet at the far side of the room. The way he sulks over makes me feel bad for snapping—I know he has a good heart; I know he’s just trying to help; I know I shouldn’t be upset at him, but these tears need to be directed somewhere, and we’re the only two people here. “I’m sorry...” I start to apologize, before Juan cuts me off.
“I didn’t know this area would be so tightly watched,” he says, pouring himself a glass of amber liquid. “Which is weird, because usually I’m on top of this stuff... Something big is coming, Catalina... and I have no idea what it is.”
The dread in Juan’s voice nearly pushes me into the floor... before a pinprick of hope explodes through a tiny hole in my heart. “Could it be Angel!?” I ask, hardly daring to wish, but barely able to contain it.
Juan sighs. “I don’t know... I don’t know.”
It’s hard to tell what Juan is thinking. Is he hoping for Angel’s return, too, or does he fear it?
“I feel a storm coming,” the older man says, pounding back his booze like it’s water.
“What does that mean for me and Oscar?” I ask. My voice is just as unsteady as my nerves, but that pinprick of hope hasn’t vanished just yet. It’s the longest something so light has been able to escape from my heart in a very long time.
Juan considers my question carefully.
“... Does it mean we can finally make a run for it?” I ask before he can answer. It’s a question I’ve been holding off on. For the past two years, the answer has always been a hard no, and each no grows more painful than the last. For Juan, it’s always too dangerous, too risky, too impossible... but if things are changing? If ther
e’s a storm coming, could we make a run for it under the cover of the rain?
Before Juan can answer, a harsh buzz cuts through our tense silence. He quickly reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cellphone. I watch intently as he answers.
“What?”
The voice on the other end of the line is muffled, but I can make out bits and pieces of what they’re saying. Usually, I wouldn’t eavesdrop, but right now, I’m looking for anything to distract myself from the absence of my baby.
“Someone got to Mendoza... No security footage... He might have talked... Just thought I’d warn you.” That’s all I can make out before Juan hangs up.
“Who’s Mendoza?” I ask.
To my surprise, Juan doesn’t hesitate to answer. “One of Dante’s top men—he’s not like the street toughs that have been vanishing recently. They found his body downtown, in his swanky penthouse suite...”
He seems to be thinking out loud, but I don’t stop him. The further I can throw myself into his mystery, the less I have to think about my baby boy sleeping alone tonight.
“Does that mean someone’s trying to take down Dante?”