Fated to be a Mafian Queen

I Am Piedra

“Catalina? Catalina?” A voice called her but she was in a deep sleep that she thought was in her head. As she slowly opens her eyes, she sees a figure which makes her jolt in fear.

“Hey hey hey… it’s me, Catalina, relax my dear,” Paulo tells her as she slowly begins to see him more clearly, she was shocked at the place she found herself. It was a beautiful and cozy room.

“How–” she asked looking surprised.

“I guess you were really tired. I had to carry you here,” Paulo told her.

She had slept all the way there. It had been years since she had such sound sleep, in fact, she could not remember ever sleeping so soundly. This was a good sign that she was on the right track and in the right place. With a playful smile on her lips, she rested her head back on the pillow.

“You need to get up now, there is much to be done. You also need to have breakfast so you can be strong enough for the journey ahead,” Paulo told her nudging her to get up.

“Ok, Paulo. I’ll just freshen up and be out shortly,” she replied.

Minutes later, she steps out of the bedroom she had stayed in, but the house was quite big and she felt lost as she did not know where to go. She messages Paulo to let him know that she was standing outside her room and there are several doors and she did not know which one to open.

“There you are! I got your text. Hahaha…” Paulo said as he put his arms on her shoulder and leads her to the living room with people she had never seen before. She had seen one or more of the faces but she did not recollect.

She looked around at the massive home of Paulo, it was so beautiful. The furnishings were so exotic, they looked really expensive and the last time she saw a home this beautiful was 16 years ago. In her head, she wondered how Paulo could be so wealthy or was this not his place? As the thoughts were running through her head, Paulo interrupts her thoughts.

“Let’s get you something to eat and then you can meet the family afterwards,” Paulo told her as he gestured for her to go with him to the dining area.

“Your home is really beautiful, Paulo. I’m in awe,” she told him. He smiles and gestures for her to start eating. The table was filled with diverse kinds of food, fruits, juices and wine. As she ate, she felt a sense of ease being in that house and she did not know why. She felt the feeling she had was because she was on the right path.

After eating breakfast, one of the maids of the house directs her to the study where Paulo was waiting for her with two other men. She takes her seat in the chair Paulo had reserved for her.

“This is Sebastian and he is Juan. They will help you get settled in. Sebastian will help you get a job with one of the nightclubs as a waitress and Juan will provide you with a place to live just close to the nightclub.” Catalina nods to each of the men and they return the gesture.

Paulo had many strong connections in the underground world of the mafia and powerful individuals in high places in the biggest cartels. He had spent months gathering information that would help Catalina in her pursuit of retribution. He had meticulously planned Catalina’s arrival and all she would require to infiltrate the cartel and work her way up to justice.

He handed her an envelope containing various documents including a passport, driver’s license and a social security card. Paulo had left no stone unturned, everything was perfect, leaving no room for suspicion.

She opened the envelope to look at the papers in there. She found a passport and identity card that showed her name as Piedra Esteban. She smiled because she liked the name. In the envelope, there was a list of names that she did not know, but there were no pictures. There was also a list of businesses owned by the man behind the killing of her parents.

She looked through everything and then held up the list of names and began to call them out, “A. J. Aguilar, Francisco, Sergio, Juan, Hugo, Pedro. Who are these Paulo?” she asked curiously.

“Those are the people that were sent to kill your family that night. Although, A. J. Aguilar is the man who ordered the killing. He was your father’s close friend who also served your grandfather. I couldn’t gather much information about him, but I guess we will find out more as time goes on,” Paulo told her.

She nodded her head in agreement. Paulo had furnished her with the details he could get from his friends in the mafia and some of his powerful connections. Now with her new identity, she felt a bit safer on the journey because she was now in stealth mode, they would not see her coming and she would strike them when they do not expect.

“Here is your uniform, you will resume work at the A. J. Nightclub tomorrow evening, but you will meet me there at 8 am in the morning so I can introduce you to the manager. Sound good?” Sebastian asked her.

“Sounds good. Gracias Sebastian, this means a lot to me,” she replied.

Juan hands her a smaller envelope which contained the address of her new place and the contact of the facility manager. Things were moving faster and much smoother than she had imagined. She thanked him for his help.

“You need to get some rest, Mija. you have a long day tomorrow. Also, Javier had called while you were asleep,” Paulo told her.

She gets out of her seat and shook hands with Sebastian, but Juan denied her a handshake and instead proceeded to hug her. His smell was strangely familiar, but anyone could use that perfume, so she brushed the thought aside and excused herself leaving the men to continue with their discussions.

As she enters her room, she stood in front of the mirror and studied her new persona. She had a new name, a new face, a new backstory and for a moment, she could not believe she was on this journey, ready to take on this perilous challenge.

She took another look at the identity documents and said, “I am Piedra!” saying those words made her feel a renewed confidence and strength, she could do it, she had prepared for it and now the time had come. With her new identity, she would soon become a waitress at the club of her parents’ murderer, her blood boiled at the thought of meeting him.

The next morning, she went to the club as Sebastian had instructed her and she was introduced to the manager who gave her a brief orientation before handing her over to one o the girls who had been there much longer than Catalina. Her name was Mia. She gave Catalina all the information she needed to get started and promised to work with her to make her work there a smooth one.

About a week after resuming work at the nightclub, Catalina nervously entered the club to resume work as she had done for the last few days. The air was filled with a mixture of anticipation and tension, she looked around the club, it was vibrant as usual.

“Hey Piedra, are you ok? Come come! We have some top people here, so you have to be careful, okay?” Mia told her. Catalina became curious, she wanted to know who they were and why Mia was so jittery.

“Okay, Mami. Where are they?” Catalina asked curiously.

“Over there. Take this to them. Careful, Piedra, you don’t want to get on their wrong side,” Mia told her in a concerned tone.

Catalina wanted to get on their wrong side, she wanted that desperately. She hated them. As she made her way through the crowd, she caught glimpses of the men, she placed their drinks on the table and proceeded to live, but not before one of the men grabbed her hand. She turned around and asked him if he needed anything.

“You are new here…” he said drunkenly. She released herself from his hold. “You should be at home, you are obviously drunk,” she whispered in his ear. He was surprised and upset, but as he stood up to hit her, one of his friends ordered him to be seated. She walked away with her fists clenched in anger.

One of the men signalled Mia to come to them. They discussed a bit and she called Catalina. Wondering what the issue was, she obliged.

“This is Piedra, she is new here,” Mia explained to the men. They nodded and gestured for both of them to get going. Just as they turned to walk away, the drunk man slaps the butt of Mia and this upsets Catalina who takes a bottle on the table and smashes the man’s head with it. Mia screams and tries to stop her, but she would not listen.

The screams and one of his friends slaps Catalina. She punches him and a fight breaks out, chairs flew, glasses shattered and there was chaos in the club. The security guards took the men out of the club. She was super pumped up that even as the security took the men out, she did not stop hitting them and they had to carry her inside.

As she sat inside the manager’s office waiting for him, she realized that this was a slip-up that could endanger her mission and she regretted her actions. She had let her emotions get the best of her and she must deal with the consequences.

Prior to this, she had delivered impeccable service to customers and done her job diligently, but all that was destroyed in 10 minutes of loss of control. She hated herself and wished for time to go back. Mia sat beside looking at her with a mixture of anger and gratitude.

Sitting across from him, she could sense his disappointment through his stern demeanor and she hated herself the more. He warned them about the consequences of the incident and emphasized that Mia should have kept Catalina under control.

While the manager was speaking with them, he got a call and both Catalina and Mia could tell that it was not good news. As he dropped the phone, he informed them that they would have to go to the head office because one of the top men had been in the club when the incident happened and he wanted to meet with them the following morning. He dismissed them.

Catalina apologized to Mia for risking her job and losing control like that. They returned to the club to finish their shift. She could hardly get any sleep as she prepared for the encounter the following day. Her mind raced with uncertainties and lots of questions amidst which she fell asleep.