Plain sandy walls. Crisscross rusty steel bars prevent the inmates from coming out. The dirty smell of urine pollutes my nose. It wrinkled in disgust as I sent cautious glances towards the inmates leaning against their bars. My bodyguard opens the iron door, escorting my way to the final cell.
"Gato."
My cousin rises from his grey-colored bed, dropping the book in his hands on the floor. His lips curls up, cold with a faint hint of sinister as his hands rest on the cell lock. Behind my bulky security guard, the Warden trudge through with the keys in hand.
"Get this cabrón to open the fucking door already!" Gato cracks his neck, eyeing the Warden like meat.
I stuck my hand up to silence my cousin. "Gato tranquilo." I bob my head towards the lock, permitting the Warden.
With trembling hands, he forces the key in the hole, blubbering from our attention. A muscle clenches in my jaw when the key falls from his quivering grip. He hastily glances to his left, a general human intuition when one is experiencing fear. The glimpse of fear in his eyes arouse my ego. Once retrieving the key, he thrusts it through once more only to receive a glob of spit on his face from Gato.
Gato's sweet gesture caused the Warden to scamper in fear.
"Hijo de puta." I groan, opening the jail cell myself. "I said to remain calm Gato. Do you have to disrespect my orders?"
(Motherfucker.)
Gato clicks his tongue. "El hijo de puta estaba tomando demasiado tiempo. You don't have to stare at blank walls all day."
(The son of a bitch was taking too long.)
"I'm working on it, Gato."
His brows knot together. "Are you? Ya han pasado dos semanas."
(It has already been two weeks.)
I drag my tongue across the seam of my lips. "You got busted for being a stupid cabrón. What ran through your mind to walk around the city's streets with ten kilos of coke on you?"
He threw his head back, laughing. "Jefe, I was making bank for you. About to fuck some good pussy too. Now I got nothing."
"Don't worry," I smirk, squeezing his shoulder. "I brought Raquel with me. She's in the bathroom getting ready."
Gato flashes an eerie grin while rubbing his hands together. "Did you really drag your ass down here to escort my wife to me?"
"You caught me." Pulling a cigarette from my pocket, I sneer. "I had a few questions to ask about that night. Was there any suspicious activity before the police caught you? It's easier to go after the carbón if you reduce the options."
My cousin cracks his knuckles. "I ran into Omar from the Villalobos cartel. He wasn't exactly pleased to hear we broke the treaty and was selling in his territory. Hijo de puta."
He spits to his left, away from me. "Jefe, I want to be the one to shoot a bullet in his head and fuck his whore of a wife afterward."
In my twenty-one years of living, I had never witnessed my cousin do a good deed. When I was an adolescent, he tried to taint my purity by giving me a kilo of coke to sell. It didn't go well. My papa wasn't a forgiving man, but Gato had the privilege of being his favorite nephew. That's the only reason he still walked around, though it didn't stop my papa from putting him in a hospital.
I cringe, flicking the lighter on to ignite my cig. "You're my capo, and it's my responsibility to show the other cartels what happens if they jugan juegos conmigo."
(Play games with me.)
Laughter ripple from Gato's chest. "Jeje, no offense, but you don't have a good rep out there. Ellos te llaman coño! No one fears you. The other cartels think you're nino, not a man. It's been three months since you became Jefe and I haven't seen you beat the shit out of anyone who turned their back on us."
(They call you a pussy.)
Leaning back, I rest my forearm on the windowsill and focus my gaze on the cigarette I rolled between my fingers. The anger simmers in my stomach. It burns in my throat, in my chest, and disfigures my vision with a red fog.
"Gato, you might be my capo, but keep yourself in check. Not everyone is a hothead like you. The Morterero cartel is in my manos now. I appreciate it if you don't question my leadership."
"You can't touch me," Gato notes under his breath, humming. "You're too soft. Ander was a ruthless leader. He wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty if it meant saving his familia. You're a pussy, a downgrade from Ander."
The red midst impairs my vision as I crushed the cigarette between my fingers. Not only has Gato disrespected me, but my brother as well. My movements are precise. I don't jump in action before thinking everything through clearly. A bachelor's degree in college brought a new wave of knowledge most other Jefe never achieved. For my personal interest, I didn't want to harm Gato.
He was my older cousin, after all.
But if I just let him go unscathed, it would show other associates they could walk all over me. If I wanted to get my family back on top of the food chain, I had to have everyone fear me. Even if it meant going against my morals. Church existed for a reason, to beg for forgiveness.
"Take care of him, Edgar." I straighten the cuffs of my tuxedo, peering a quick glance at an amused Gato.
He laughs. "Can't even face me yourself. Pussy."
I clench my teeth together. "I don't waste my time with tonos like you. Asegurate de que aprende la leccion."
(Make sure he learns his lesson.)
Edgar bobs his head. "Got it, Jefe."
My hands grow clammy as I make my way to the door. Gato's agonizing screams drown the resounding crack out. My stomach dips, and I close my eyes in defeat, but I only hesitate for a second because of the savior's voice.
But I am a Jefe now.
This is my life now.
My knees dig into the wooden bench as I beg Santa Maria for her forgiveness. The cultivated, piece-together stain glass image of Jesus Christ with his hands leaping forward like he wanted a hug. Our mass ended thirty minutes ago, but my path to forgiveness had only just begun. My eyes crack open as the screeching door plugs into the silences, slicing my concentration.
"Jefe, are we still going to have the meeting about distribution?" Mateo strode through the aisle, reeking of weed.
I crane my neck towards my brawny cousin, hovering behind me with clenched teeth. "Do you think it was a smart idea to confront me after smoking a joint? Number one-- never get high on your own supply."
From our major familia, Mateo is my closest ally. He's been in the game since before my brother's reign. Governing a cartel wasn't something I had expected to be thrown into, so I immensely valued his opinions.
Mateo cracks a lopsided grin. "But I didn't use it from our supplier. I brought it off Noah from the Mendez family."
My eyes narrow. "How's that any better? You're helping make their routes more accessible."
My cousin's hands pounce my shoulders, squeezing them. "Aligerar primo. You're ten years younger than me, but this stress isn't helping you. When was the last time you went to a club?"
(Relax cousin.)
"Jesus, Mateo." I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I don't have time for shit like that. My father is breathing down my neck to come up with a strategy, so our family stops being the laughingstock."
An earthy, herbal, potent aroma wafts to my nose. Crackling paper penetrates the quiet as my frustration bubbles over.
Mateo elbows my ribcage. "Here." A freshly rolled joint stood in his hand. "You need to lighten up, primo. Business has been the only thing on your mind since you were promoted."
I roll my eyes, pushing away his joint. "How can it not be when I became Jefe at the worst time? My brother's death caused all of our distributors to back off. We're back to square one. If things don't change soon. I'm fucked."
"Do you mind?" Mateo asks, hovering his lighter over the joint.
I nod. "If you can't respect me then I can't expect you to respect Santa Maria."
He stifles a chuckle. "Should I ask her too, then?" He lifts the blunt to Virgin Mary. "Do you want a hit? No. Okay, so can I take a hit? Yes. Why, thank you!" Mateo rolls his eyes before taking a long, swift huff.
"That shit reeks." I scrunch up my nose.
Mateo blew the air in my face. "You're telling me you never smoked in college? What did you do for fun?"
"I studied."
Most men in cartels valued doing the basics; drinking, smoking, and fucking. Mateo is one of them. It is the way of life in our enterprise, but I wasn't fully exposed to the horrors of it. My mama fought tooth and nail with my papa to keep one of his sons isolated.
To remain pure.
However, the situation shifted, and my chaste soul trudged the fine line.
"Studied?" He arches his shaggy eyebrows. "Our familia is fucked. There's no hope with a delicate flower like you." He mocks, squeezing my cheek between his knuckles. An annoying ploy he's done since I was a child.
An entertained grin lit up my face. "I'm not a delicate flower. Gato got the beating of a lifetime for saying the same shit to me earlier." I smirk. "Don't mess with me."
Mateo explodes into laughter. "I hope you acted tougher in front of him because this is embarrassing. Did you take any of my lessons to heart?"
"I did!" I remark.
"Okay." He places two fingers in the air for a pause as he inhales a puff. "Did you give him the beating, or was it, Edgar?"
I gulp. "Edgar."
Mateo flashes a look of disapproval. "What did I tell you?" He smacks the back of my head. "You have to grow some balls, Asier. Your life isn't a teen rom-com anymore. You're in this shit whether you like it or not and if you don't grab it by the balls... You won't last much longer. You will follow your brother."
My neck nearly snaps at the mention of my brother. "Ander's death was a totally different story! Someone is covering up the truth, and I'm going to be the one to crack it."
"Don't start with your bullshit conspiracy theories again, Asiel," Mateo grumbles, throwing his blunt to the floor. "Ander did what he did. If you don't man up, you're going to follow his lead, or worse, someone else will."
My jaw ticks. "It's not true. He wouldn't have done it." I clench and unclench my fist as irritation flares. "Ander agreed with Mama. He didn't want me to go anywhere near this world."
"Asiel!" Mateo barks.
My eyes narrow as his hands grip my collared shirt, cutting a bit of my airway. Realization dawns on his face. His grips loosen as his gaze darts towards the church doors. If another witnessed his attempt at harming his Jefe, he would be in the hospital.
Too bad the rumors are true.
Mateo scratches his face. "I'm sorry, Jefe. My anger got the best of me. Sometimes I forget we aren't just friends anymore."
I chuckle lightly. "You don't have to worry. Edgar isn't here. I can't retaliate, even if I wanted to."
He smooths the wrinkles of my suit. "Asiel, none of us will ever understand why Ander did what he did. We weren't in his mind. The only thing we can do is accept and move forward. But the cartel can't move forward if you won't."
"It just doesn't make sense." I lay my back against the seat, staring at the plain white ceiling.
Mateo expels a breath of frustration. "Alright. I have a mission for you."
My eyebrows furrow. "What?"
"Here." He yanks another blunt from his suit pocket. "Tonight, you take a hit of this. Relax. Go to a bar, club, or a fucking park and find yourself a bitch to fuck. You have too much pent-up anger for a young man, so go find a cunt who's stupid enough to fuck you."
My face sours. "I-I don't know... I'm not looking for a girlfriend."
"Please," Mateo scoffed. "I said to go put your dick in a woman. Never did I say to waste your time courting these girls. You have to be ruthless, Asiel. That's what turns these cunts on."
"So you want me to be a dick?"
He snaps his fingers. "Exactly. See, you get my lessons! Just never put them to work, but tonight you will."
I hesitantly take the joint. "I'll think about it..."
"Great!" He jerks up, glancing at his watch. "The meeting is in ten minutes, so I'll let you finish your prayer to Virgin Mary. Make sure to mention the things you're going to do tonight."
"Alright..." I draw out.
His feet screeches against the vinyl composition tiles. "Jefe, I forgot there was a package left in your office. I brought it and left it on the first bench."
Rolling my neck back and forth, I got up from the kneeling bench. "Who's it from?"
"It didn't have a return address," he reply.
"Okay." I jostle through the tight benches. "Just leave it there, Mateo. Thank you. I'll be out soon."
Once the doors shut, I stride over to the final pew, taking notice of the plain-square cardboard box. Gnawing at my teeth, I yank the tape and the box opens up. Unlike the outside, the components inside are anything but plain. My fingers graze against the black wax with wings engraved on it, holding the letter sealed.
I toss it aside for a second to focus on the beautiful, designed black mask. Intricate fine design associated with swirls is on both sides of the mask. A slip of lace attached to the area where my nose rests. Skepticism penetrates my thoughts as I grab the tossed letter.
My stomach bubbles over with nerves as I read, "Diablo's Parasido."
Welcome guys!!! What's your first impression of Asiel isn't he just an innocent smol bean... It's like watching a mafia man in their childhood before the darkness came and changed them... What about Gato or Mateo? Any thoughts on them?
The next chapter we're going to meet Mika, really excited about that she's something for sure! I'm sure the views on her will be split but she's awesome to write!!
Thank you guys and I appreciate every comment, vote!! Thank you!