CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
Nina had finished getting ready. That meeting with 19th Street was in two hours. They'd have to kill someone in two hours. Technically speaking, Oscar was going to kill Cuchillos. They had went back and forth with each other but Oscar seemed to had more reasons to pull it off. There was that and the fact that Nina still couldn't handle it even though she kept pushing she could.
The thought of it barely got her any sleep and the only thing that was keeping her at bay was Oscar.
Oscar was going out of his mind too. Besides keeping Nina company and handling business over the phone, he'd been asking around about his father. Turns out that Cuchillos made him take the fall back in the day to the point that she did him dirty. Cuchillos took it upon herself to make the Santos turn on him. It's because of her Oscar had to continue living in this shit show.
Maybe one of the reasons why Ray was ashamed of ever keeping in contact with his family was because of what Cuchillos did to him. But Oscar could only speculate on it. All he knew was that his family wouldn't be sacrificing for her anymore.
All in all they both had grievances against this bitch and they both just wanted her gone.
"What are you thinking about?" Oscar asked as he continued to pet Nina's hair. They were both in his room just cuddling for comfort. Their legs were entangled and Nina rested her head against Oscar's chest with her arms wrapped around his waist.
"That I'm going to my first ever Santos meeting," Nina chuckled sarcastically. "And the fact that we actually have to get rid of a person if we ever wanna make it out alive," she added and things took a darker and gloomier turn for the both of them.
"Did the kids ever find Lil' Ricky?" Nina asked thinking that maybe if they did, things could some how turn around. But she knew damn well that was too far of a long shot. Oscar shook his head.
"She's crazy for pulling them into this. What was she thinking sending kids to find someone who doesn't wanna be found?" Oscar said lowly. Of course he was beyond furious that his boss was crazy enough to involve kids into some vendetta.
"Stacey seems smart to know that kind of thing. So why would she try tying up loose ends by just making more loose ends?" Nina pointed out and Oscar kissed his teeth feeling his anger boil up with the idea. It took a few moments until Nina finally understood.
"She's getting rid of them all together isn't she?"
Nina looked at Oscar and all he could offer her in that moment was a look of remorse. It sunk into Nina's system slowly, of how fucking psychotic her aunt actually was. This was the kind of person they were going to be dealing with.
"She's fucking out of control. First she starts with my father, then she sends my brother and his friends into something they're not coming out of. Then it's you and your family," he practically growled for the likes of it. "All the more reason why we do what we gotta do later. All this shit has to stop."
Nina was connecting the dots even more. If everything goes wrong later and they don't get the job done, it's Oscar that's next and then it's her. Then their families. There was no point on stopping as long as Cuchillos came on top. They had to end this now.
"What does 19th Street say about working with the Santos for neutrality?" Nina found herself asking not wanting to focus on the negative side. But she really couldn't help it at this point. "Technically speaking you can talk to me about this stuff since I am a Santo now," she pointed out with a light laugh but Oscar wasn't really laughing.
"I offered them our connect and portions of our profit," Oscar sighed. "I said I was gonna treat them equally but Cuchillos didn't want that. She never wanted that with me either. She treats no one fairly or as an equal. There is no one above her. She's fucked up like that."
"What happens when we've handled it?" Nina asked as she began playing with his fingers. It's become a new habit now especially when one of them was stressed and to be honest Oscar liked it. He loved it how sometimes Nina would just intertwine her fingers with his. Her hands would feel so small in his and it felt like a perfect fit.
"Technically speaking you have to take charge of things now. Your relations put you in a higher place than me. You have a lot more power than me," Oscar explained watching their fingers together. His eyes fell to the ring he had given her and the necklace with the small cross. She never took them off.
"Can't I just hand my power over to you?" Nina pointed out. "I mean you've been their leader this entire time. Without her in the picture you could handle things the right way or the way you see fit. Because face it, Oscar, I don't shit about running a gang."
"We don't have to talk about these things now," Oscar answered. "We gotta worry about what's gonna go down later. We can't mess things up or else we're screwed," he added and all of that was just starting to settle in.
We're screwed.
Nina looked at him momentarily and unknowingly began memorizing his face. His eyebrows, his beautiful brown eyes and the way they shone bright when the light would hit him right. The tear drop tatoo. His nose, his mouth, his lips, his facial hair. She smiled thinking about that dimple every time that he smiled. She loved every part of him. His heart. His mind. His everything.
She didn't know what to do if she ever lost him.
With that she leans in and places a kiss on his lips. Oscar doesn't take a second to kiss her back. She inches upward a little and places her hand on the back of his head to deepen the kiss and Oscar did the same. "I love you. I love you, mi vida," she mumbled against his lips and in between kisses.
Hearing that he pulls away from her. "Nina," he said softly but she still tried to keep kissing him. "Baby, stop," he pleaded pulling away from her even more and Nina looked at him confused.
"Not like that, mi amor. Not like this," he shook his head in disapproval. "Don't kiss me like that. Don't tell me you love me like that. Like you're telling me goodbye. I don't want it."
Nina's gaze softened and her heart began to ache a little. "Oscar-"
"Nina, don't say it."
"I'm gonna say it, Oscar," she sat up to face him this time. "You said it yourself we can't fuck this up or else it's our asses on the line which also puts our family's lives on the line. We fuck this up we are done. But you said it yourself that Cuchillos is out of control so we can't really expect for things to go as planned," she repeated as a reminder to herself and to him.
"Oscar, I can't lose you," her voice cracked a little as she looked at him in the eye. "I'd rather have to live with the fact that I had to kill someone like her than lose you. You're stronger than me we both know that. I'm the emotional one who hates it when I feel so vulnerable. And at every moment where I feel so weak you were always there."
"If she gets to you, I don't know how I'm gonna live with myself. I love you all too much to just lose you over some vendetta. Over some crazy ass bitch lookin' to get laid," she joked as her eyes started to burn with tears. She was so sick of crying now but shit keeps happening.
"Yea, okay we all know she's not lookin' to get laid. My point is-"
"Mi amor, you're not gonna lose me," Oscar said softly placing his hand on her cheek as he leaned forward a little. "I've convinced myself that I've been in this life for too long that nothing can kill me," he tried joking but Nina only glared at him.
"Nina don't worry about me," he pleaded.
"I'm always gonna worry about you," she retaliated. "You're the leader of a gang you have a green light on you every single day. And I get that, and I know that you do your best to be safe and get it out alive but we're messing with your boss here. Some sadistic bitch who always makes sure that things go her way."
"For once this zeroes out your power, my power, your fucking loyalty," she pointed even more. "I know I'm not supposed to be focusing on these types of things it's just- Oscar, I love you so much and I just want that future we keep talking about. You deserve the future we keep talking about. All that shit can't happen if you aren't in it. You said that yourself."
Oscar slowly started to realize where all of this was coming from.
The way Nina and Tony ended on a bad note and little did she know that she was going to lose him after a fight they had amongst friends. It was all unfair to her and now that she knew that something could go wrong, she wouldn't shut up telling Oscar how much she loved him.
Without thinking Oscar just pulls her in for a kiss, it was desperate and it was needy. He had both of his hands on each side of her cheek wiping away her tears. They were drinking each other in like it was their last because if they were both being honest, they were both scared shitless. They didn't know how things were going to go down later. And just like what Oscar said, if they fucked things up they were screwed.
He pulls away and rests his forehead against hers. "I love you, Nina," he whispers to her. "No matter what happens later just know that I love you. I'm never gonna stop loving you," he says to her.
"We're gonna walk in there with Cuchillos and we're gonna make sure she's not walking out of there with us. This has to work. It's going to work," he forced. He'd have to keep repeating and praying that until shit actually went down because there was no way that he was going to say his goodbye to Nina.
Not today. Not ever.
Their sweet moment was cut short when they heard the front door open and close and they heard shuffling and voices in the living room. With them sort of being both on edge for the past few days they jump off the bed and grab hold of their guns. They carefully stalk their way towards the door keeping their guns at the steady and themselves in check.
In a swift movement, Oscar opens the door and they point their guns to whoever just entered into their home only to meet the voices of screaming young teenagers.
"Yo!! What the hell?!?! What the fuck?!?! Yo, It's just us!!!" the core four sounded off in unison backing up and putting their hands up in defense. Nina and Oscar sighed as they both tucked away their guns behind them.
"Hold up! Hold the fuck up!" Jamal exclaimed. "What the hell is Nina doing holding a gun?!?" he yelled gesturing to Nina who just tucked her gun behind her.
"Dude chill, her house just got shot up by 19th Street. She's on edge," Cesar explained.
"Aren't we all on edge lately?" Ruby muttered bitterly looking to the ground.
"That wasn't 19th Street," Nina began.
"Well then who else would it be?" Monse raised her eyebrow in question. The last thing they wanted was to deal with another gang.
"I'll let you take a wild guess," Nina said sarcastically looking at the four of them. Suddenly Jamal's eyes went wide, no doubt he and his other friends were at their wits end as it is.
"No! No!" Jamal started yelling. "You gotta be fucking kidding me! Don't tell me this jank ass bitch of a gang boss is messing with you too," he practically pleaded. As Nina stayed quiet with her eyes shifting to the floor it only confirmed Jamals's suspicion.
The remaining three looked at each other confused wondering how on earth Nina was dragged into this mess. Little did they even know that she was in deeper shit than they thought.
"Wait a goddamn minute," Ruby said shaking his head. "Cuchillos is after you too? Did she shoot up your house to get to V and the twins?" he rambled in panic automatically thinking about his family and Jasmine. The knife incident the other night got to him so bad, seeing a similar yet worse case with Nina was even more triggering.
Oscar sighed running a hand over his mouth. "I think we all might want to sit down and talk about this. We're all on edge about the same fucking person, but I think we owe each other and explanation about what the fuck is going on."
Knowing that the kids had come to Oscar knowing that their investigation was leading nowhere meant they were aware about how fucked they were. Them seeing Nina here and thinking that she too was on edge about the same thing gave them a hint of panic as they couldn't think about how things could've possibly gone wrong.
The teens began to explain their side about how Cuchillos made them go on a manhunt for some vendetta and that she planned to kill them just because she could. Something that Nina and Oscar had already figured out not too long ago. It was only a matter of time when they agreed on taking her life for the sake of theirs as well. Again, nothing really new to them.
"Nina and I will handle things. We're meeting up with 19th Street with Cuchillos in two hours. We're getting the job done right there," Oscar explained looking at the kids. Nina had yet to tell them the truth but she did Oscar do the talking in the mean time.
"Handled? What do you mean handled?" Jamal raised and they started bantering about what the plan was. Oscar had even laid out the truth about Cuchillos doing their father dirty back in the day. He'd even mentioned the shot up house and how Nina's life was on the line as well. In that moment, they all agreed on one thing— no one else was gonna die except Cuchillos.
"Wait, I'm still confused. How is Nina somehow involved in all of this?" Monse pointed out. Nina just looked at Oscar and nodded meaning that he has to do all the talking.
Oscar sighed. "Cuchillos is Nina's tía."
"WHAT?!?" they all said in confusion once more.
"How the hell did that happen?" Monse raised as the four teens looked to Nina who sighed and began explaining everything that she could in that moment.
She'd laid everything out, from her mom and Stacey being sisters and them running with the Santos back in the day. To her random visits and the whole that went down at the hospital and the dinner to her jumping Nina to joining the Santos. She also had to explain that the reason why Cuchillos shot up the house was a means of precaution for Nina to accept becoming a Santo or else.
"Why was she that desperate for you to get jumped in?" Cesar furrowed his eyebrows. He never picture Nina being a Santo. She was too good to be a Santo. She deserved so much more than to be jumped into a gang.
"Cos that bitch be bonkers," Jamal and Ruby muttered under their breath.
"Uhm no there's actually more to it," Nina sighed running a hand through her hair and sighing once again. "Because apparently, Lil' Ricky is my biological father."
The four of them freaked out once more. But none of them was having it worse than Jamal.
"Are you freaking kidding me?" he exclaimed standing up. "You were the main lead all along. Did you know where he is all along??? No way is that freaking true! Bitch Imma need to see some fucking receipts. No way you Lil' Ricky's daughter."
Nina closed her eyes and sighed. All this explaining was never really gonna end until all this shit blows over. Just as Jamal asked, Nina pulled out the DNA results on her phone. The copy of the letters she took on her phone as well as the pictures she now owned. Then there was that postcard Chivo gave her not too long ago. While showing them all of that she explained where and how she found out about it. The talk with Cuchillos, Jasmine, and even Rosé.
It took awhile but eventually they understood that Nina wasn't lying. The distressed look on her face said it all and Oscar tried comforting her in that moment but Nina insisted that she was fine.
"Jasmine and Rosé," Jamal hissed. "All this time they knew! They knew that something was up and that Nina was involved and they didn't tell us shit!"
"Oh my God, Jamal! Quit it with the whole leader thing!" Monse snapped. "We're all in a freaking shit hole either way and it's all because of Cuchillos!" she said crossing her arms over her chest.
"Wait, if you're her niece and Lil' Ricky is your dad so doesn't that make you-"
"Another heir to the Santos," Cesar finished for Ruby and Nina just nodded. "That's why she wants you dead too because Lil' Ricky's your dad and the only thing left standing in her way of power is you?" he asked and the four of them looked at Nina as her eyes widened.
"WAIT! HANG ON!" She exclaimed causing the teens to jump. "Can we rewind a second and just FREEZE! Kill me? I thought she was just planning to kill my family as leverage to join the Santos?" she rambled feeling her body grow stiff.
Nina glanced over to Oscar who was suddenly frozen in his place. His eyes were dark as he found it weird that what Cesar suggested made more sense. With what happened to his own father, her going after Nina specifically wasn't a surprise.
"I-I-I mean, I anticipated that thought if Oscar and I weren't going to able to handle things or if I ever refused to become a Santo. But then giving me a place to ruin my life and then get rid of me after?" Nina continued to ramble on before placing a hand over her mouth in her fear.
Either way, we're already dead.
"Who else knows about this?" Ruby asked looking at the two of them.
"I was the first to find out, I mean besides Nina," Oscar answered. "Then Cuchillos made Nina do some demonstration in one of our stash houses in front of a few of the Santos. And with what happened with Nina's house we had to tell Victoria and Brian about it."
"Where are Victoria and Brian?" Monse asked.
"Safe," Nina answered shortly. "But they aren't in Brentwood considering that Cuchillos' men had to follow them out of there and into Freeridge. That bitch fucking crazy," she added with a scoff.
"Oh my God," Ruby said out of nowhere. "She's out to get Nina too. That's why she was so desperate of jumping her into the Santos. She knew you were Lil' Ricky's daughter all along. Since she's out to get him, that puts a green light over your head too," he pointed out.
Nina nodded slowly. "I just can't believe she had me waste bullets and beat up two guys for that stupid ass demonstration only to find out that she wants me dead in the end."
"She did that to find out about your strengths and weaknesses," Oscar replied looking at Nina. "It makes sense. She knew what you could do but she wanted to see it for herself so she knew how to take you out," hearing himself say that left a bitter taste in his mouth. It was starting to settle in that his boss was actually out to kill everyone who meant dear to him.
"Damn, I would've loved to see Nina kick ass though. Y'all saw what she did to those Prophet$ in the bodega right?" Jamal brought up and Monse instantly smacked his arm. "Sorry," Jamal apologized looking at Nina who only nodded a reply.
"What do you guys suggest we do then?" Cesar asked looking at the two of them. Nina left Oscar to do the talking as she was slipping into another daze. All of this was starting to give her a headache, she will never understand how Oscar could handle all this stress.
"Go somewhere you'll be seen, like a mall," Oscar replied while Jamal made a comment of it being a dying industry. "Stay on your phones but don't call me or Nina."
"Then how will we know when you guys have got things handled?" Ruby asked leaning forward and Oscar picked up his phone from the table.
"I'll hit up Cesar," Oscar answered glancing over his brother. Nina frowned a little knowing that the two of them still weren't cool with the whole father thing. Oscar began to walk away and Nina took his arm.
"Where you going?" Nina asked him softly looking into his eyes.
"Out for a smoke," Oscar answered simply and Nina clicked her tongue in disapproval. Oscar mustered a chuckle. "You still hate it when I smoke?" he smirked and Nina just shook her head with disapproval.
"I need a drink," she said glancing at her phone and sighed with disbelief. "We got one hour," she pointed out and all Oscar did was nod as he headed outside.
Nina grabbed a bottle of forties from the fridge and went into Oscar's room. In an hour things were going to change and she only prayed that they weren't going to screw things up. Nina couldn't help but think to herself in that moment about everything, Victoria, the twins, Cesar, his friends, Oscar. She was doing this for them and for herself. It just had to he done now.
"The kids are gone," Oscar said walking into his room after a little while seeing Nina just laying flat on his bed with the bottle on the floor. "Have you just been staring at the ceiling this entire time?" he asked with his eyes falling to the half empty bottle of beer.
"Maybe," Nina mumbled a response. She lets out a loud sigh before sitting up and looking at him. The both of them could feel how nervous they both were. "You okay?" she asked.
Oscar couldn't answer. Cesar had accused him for choosing the Santos over his own family. Cesar wasn't wrong and Oscar could tell that his little brother was slightly mad over that fact. After the whole thing with Ray, Oscar couldn't blame his brother for being mad at him. He'd now have to prove himself to Cesar and make that promise of protecting him.
Nina got up and walked over to Oscar who was in deep thought. "Can I have a hug?" she asked him softly. Oscar sighed and offered her a weak smile before wrapping his arms around her waist as she linked her around his neck.
"How are you feeling?" she asked in a whisper burying her face into his neck.
"Nervous, angry, confused, amongst other things," he answered honestly. "You?" he asked.
"I'm fucking terrified," she whispered back. Everything seemed to rewind in the back of her head. The events the past few days leading up to this moment. Putting the lives of her family in danger. Cesar's words ringing true.
All this violence. All of this leading up to death. A death that was out of anyone's control. How can one not be terrified?
"Hey, look at me," Oscar said softly pulling away to look her in her eyes. Her fear was nothing more but evident in that moment as they drew nearer to a pivotal moment that would determine their fate.
"Nothing is going to happen to you. I'm going to make sure that nothing will happen to you, to V, the twins, anybody else. We're gonna be fine, I'm going to make sure of it," he promised placing a hand to her cheek wiping away a stray tear that had fallen. Then his phone buzzed and he instantly pulls it out of his pocket.
"She's here," he said reading the notification on his screen.
Nina's heart started thundering in her chest and Oscar noticed how she suddenly just lost of focus. He couldn't blame her for being nervous because he was outright terrified too. "Everything is going to be okay," he forced to remind the both of them.
Everything had to go according to plan. It just has to.
"Do or die time I guess," Nina forced out softly flashing a tight lipped smile. She places a kiss on his hand as well before they recompose themselves. They walk out of the house praying silently that things were going to end here.
Cuchillos had picked the both of them up and they were off to the 19th Street trap house that was near of what used to be Prophet$ territory. Nina rode behind Captain Cortez who was in the passenger seat and right next to her tía while Oscar was seated right behind her next to Officer Hammel.
Nina and Oscar were both nervous as fuck and they both had to mask that up to not seem suspicious. They were silent during the car ride as Cuchillos tapped away on her phone. Oscar kept trying to look at Nina, if he could only tell her that everything was going to be okay. But not long later they had arrived and Nina opened up the door but Cuchillos placed a hand on her arm to prevent her from stepping out of the car.
"Let Spooky go first, mija. I'd like to talk to you in private before we head in," Cuchillos said not even looking up from her phone. Nina just nodded and sat back in her seat. Oscar sighed as he stood up and tried to get out of the car. They looked at each other for a moment and Nina felt her heart pounding.
She couldn't help but think that something bad was going to happen.
Oscar gave her an assuring glance and stepped out of the car shutting the door behind him but Cuchillos had instructed to roll the car window down. As he began to walk toward the trap house, Cuchillos called out to him.
"Spooky!" Oscar turned to face them. "Don't start without me," she said and Oscar just nodded. Soon after the window was being rolled up once more as Nina watched him enter the house. Suddenly she felt a hand on her arm once more.
"Nina, I'd just like to say that I really do appreciate you taking all of this into consideration. I feel proud having you next to me as a Santo," Cuchillos began and Nina flashed a small smile at her as she nodded.
"Which only makes this part a little bit more painful for me."
Nina furrowed her eyebrows but before knew it a bag was placed over her head. "OSCAR!!!"
She yelled out his name in panic. The doors were locked and all of a sudden she was bound to where she sat. In the middle of all her cries for help she feels a searing pain on the side of her neck causing her to flinch. She tried fighting the weight that was dawning on her body but the more she did the more her body grew heavy.
The next thing she knew was that she blacked out with nothing but remembering the sound of screeching tires.
---
OKAY CLEARLY THAT WAS MORE THAN A FEW HOURS. Clearly I have commitment issues lolololol. But this chapter needed some tuning and yup here we are with a cliffhanger :)))
More to come don't worry but in the mean time...
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