My life was kinda messed up and by kinda I mean a lot. I was born into this world Cecelia Willow Maguire but when I was five years old I became Cecelia Willow Cortez. The story of my early life was like straight out of a movie or some book. I never really knew my birth parents but it wasn't long before I knew what happened to them, my parents meet through a coworker of my moms and a former roommate of my dads. My mom had been married before when she was 18 years old when she was pregnant with my older sister but she left my sisters dad because she was tired of being caught up his family business. My dad was a police officer and they lived a relatively happy life together. One night my dad was called out as part of the SWAT team to do a drug bust and it was important that he be there since he knew the details of the operation and the people involved. He was killed in a gunfight that night and my mother was so torn up over his death and in a way being the cause of it ended up killing herself out of grief.
You would have never known how deeply rooted my sisters family was inside the largest and most powerful cartel in the southern United States. They ruled the roost. After the death of both my birth parents neither of their families wanted to take me in: my fathers family said it was because of how much I looked like him and they couldn't deal with the constant reminder of their only son who was now lost to them, plus they never approved of his marrying my mother since she had been married before and given birth to another mans child. Now my mothers family being staunchly religious said her suicide as one of the biggest sins she could've made, also along with thinking she should've stayed with her first husband, and they saw me as a child of sin and didn't want anything to do with me.
My sister is about 10 years older than me but despite our age difference, among many of our other differences, we had a very close relationship. With no one else in the world to take me my sisters dad adopted me as his own child. Growing up in that household was not that you expected for the head of the Southern Kings cartel, we grew up happy in a normal house in a small city in Texas. I was spoiled beyond imagination as was my sister and her brothers. But we were all taught that we had a job, my new brothers had been taught from the start on how to run the business my sister and I had different roles. My sister was everything you wanted in a cartel wife, she was insanely beautiful and she could hold her own in a fight; covered in tattoos with her long black hair she was kinda intimidating especially since she was as tall as the average man and let me tell you, she knew how to use her looks as a weapon.
I on the other hand was her opposite in many ways but that worked to our advantage. I was only 5'5" with golden blonde hair and blue eyes that sometimes liked to appear gray. My attitude was as strong as hers but I had a different role, I was always the sweet and innocent one, my nickname from a young age had always been "peqeuño santo" or "little saint". They sent me to the best public school in our city and they always encouraged me to study hard and be involved in my school.Throughout high school I was among the "good kids" all of us in the AP classes band and actively involved in our churches. When I graduated high school I went to the university in the city we lived in and studied as a psychology major.
I was always meant to be the distraction. Both my sister and I were a sort of pawns, our family had tried arranging my sister into relationships with others who would help grow our business but it never worked out, those men couldn't handle my sister but a we still gained something, the birth of her two sons.
Being the distraction during business deals or important meetings I was there as a bargaining chip, my family would offer to give me in marriage or even just as arm candy for an evening for our associates but if we were making a deal whoever we were making it with usually ended up dead before the night was over. I was happy with my job, my family would never actually put me in a situation if they though they couldn't handle it or that I would be in to much danger.
Once I finished my bachelors degree our family sent my sister, my youngest nephew and I to Austin under the pretense of me getting my masters degree in psychology at the University of Texas.
Now to the present time.
I loved the house my sister and I lived in with my youngest nephew Cash, my sister would help with making connections and smuggling while I did my studies. After as short time down there Joel Pimentel, the heir to the Western Kings whose main stronghold was California, became my fiancee. Our families struck up an agreement for us to get married so we could combine or strengths and resources. Joel often stayed in the house with us, a sort of protection you could say and we quickly became great friends. Neither of us saw the other romantically but we were dedicated to our families.
"Hey babes I've got a meeting tonight so I'll be gone until sometime in the early morning" my sister called as she walked into my room with Cash following behind her. "Tía Cece I sleep with you tonight" Cash said as he ran to my bed and stuck his arms up as I picked him up and swung him onto the bed with me. "Joel is downstair if you need anything".
"Thanks sis, be careful tonight".
"Always am babes".
Soon after reading Cash one of his favorite books we fell asleep, his little arm stretched across my stomach. I don't know how long we had been asleep when I heard my bedroom door slam open and a pair of hands drag me out of the bed while another figure grabbed Cash in a more gentle manner since he somehow stayed asleep. "Who do we have here" the voice above me sneered as he shook me "I didn't know they had a nanny here".
"I am not a nan-" "I know who she is the other voice said "she's the adopted Cortez, she's the one the decided to marry off to that Joel guy".
"Ah I remember now, well if we take both the girl and the child we'll get double the money, especially if the Westerns want their future daughter-in-law back" he smirked down at me.
"JOEL HEL-" I screamed before the man holding me could cover my mouth. "Your lover boy is dead" he chuckled in my ear as he dragged me down the stairs past the bloody bodies scattered in the living room and outside into a lark black SUV and threw me in the back while the man who had been holding Cash brought him to me and placed the sleeping child in my arms before climbing in.
I scooted as far away as I could before the man put his hands up in surrender "No need to be afraid princesa, my name is Richard and the other gentleman is Johnathan".
"Who are you and what do you want with my nephew and I" I questioned.
"Well we are apart of the Latin America cartels, Johnathans younger brother runs the Ecuadorian cartel and lets just day he was not happy about the last deal cut between your families cartel and his so...."
"Ransom".
"Yeah basically. Although we had only planned to take the little one but when we saw Joel there and knew of his engagementl to you we told Chris you were there he decided and decided we should take you as well". We sat in silence for the rest of the drive to a personal airport. They quickly pulled us out of the vehicle and escorted us onto the private jet. After I had settled Cash on one of the little couches on the plane I sat down and Richard sat next to me "Chris may seem kinda intimidating when you first meet him but I have a feeling you can stand up to him" he smiled gently at me. I gave a small smile back as I looked to the three year old asleep on the couch. "Just promise me one thing" I whispered but Richard still heard me "Sí Princesa?" "No matter what happens to me promise me that he will be safe". "Of course, I have a young girl around his age and she means the world to me. I will help get him back home safely or if I can't I will take him in until I can". I could only nod at his words as the tears fell from my eyes and I fell asleep on his shoulder.
So this book was inspired by my best friend @deniseasonrisawho wrote these amazing books called Kidnapped about all your favorite CNCO boys💕. I also have two other books called Terms of Peace and Forging Alliances so please go check those out.
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