Mafially Yours

11

I took a deep breath and let it out. "And about the drug, I told you everything you need to know." I tilted my head and looked at her, confused and not sure what to say. I shook my head. Is this the same girl who came furious and confident enough to grab my arm and pull me out of the room? But she hated it. She hated not being able to say anything. Her left eyebrow was raised, and her eyes collected confidence once again. She scanned my clothes and crossed her arms.

"Actually, no, you didn't."

"Didn't what?"

"Explain the lab. All we did was get out of the room, and I asked you if my father had anything to do with this, but you told me nothing. And then the next second we heard boom boom, and you pushed me into the room and left." With her feet tapping the ground and her narrowed eyebrow, I couldn't take her seriously.

"Let's go sit," I held her upper arm to guide her to the couch, but she pulled her arm away.

"I can walk on my own."

I smirked and looked at her. She never failed to amuse me. "Fine, can we go sit?"

"Yes."

I followed her like a lost puppy. For the first time, I let someone yell at me and drag me along with them, as she did to me.

We went to sit, and she didn't let me go until she found out about everything. I told her everything. I told her that her father didn't have a company, and he was never a medical company owner like she always thought he was. But rather, this whole image was created to hide the illegal work we were doing. I told her that her father is one of the most famous and wanted gang leaders in this city. I told her how his medical degree helped him create a drug that doesn't affect the consumer negatively, and because of how good and healthy it was, it wasn't as expensive or dangerous as other drugs like TMD or LSD. And because it is cheaper than any other effective drug, it became very popular, and whoever tries it becomes our customer. I told her that because of how successful SP got, all the other drug deals got very angry at Brad. They all asked to collaborate with him, but he knew that he couldn't trust them; they would take his drug and mix it with other dangerous drugs to make it more effective and addictive, which is against what Brad wanted. I told her about Wolf, about what he did, and why he did the whole scene today. And how her father would have killed him if he were still alive—that he had the urge to mess with Brad's name and mix drugs with SP, then sell it as pure SP, which is, of course, more expensive too. I told her about how, through all this, she wanted to go on a trip. Knowing that Brad is in danger and that a lot of people want to kill him, I tried to make him cancel, but he didn't want to. I told her that we all told him that a lot of people were planning to end him, but he said that he had already promised her a trip.

And after all of what I told her, she stayed silent. She wasn't crying, but her eyes were watering. I wasn't sure if she was hurting because of the mention of her father, because of her insisting on going on that trip, which led to his death, or because she found out that her father is a gang leader and a drug dealer. I left her to her thoughts and sat there, watching her stillness, until she finally opened her mouth to talk.

"I don't want to stay here."

I barely heard her. Her voice was muffled and quiet. I shook my head, trying so much to understand what she was feeling and how it led to her deciding that her best decision was to leave the house.

"Elena," I called her, and her eyes slowly made their way to mine. She was broken. She was weak. I wanted to help her, but how can I help someone who is refusing my help? "I promised your father that no matter what, I will protect you, but I won't be able to protect you against your will. Before, I was forcing you to stay here because you didn't know how much danger you were in. Now you know everything, and you are an adult to decide what you want to do and what is good for you. It is your choice, Elena, to leave or to stay."

I looked at my watch and read 03:00 AM. I shook my head. "It's time to go to sleep now. You can make your decision tomorrow, okay?" I stood up, waiting for her to follow me, but she didn't. She looked up at me and softly said, "I need to sit here alone just a little bit." I nodded and walked to my room.

I laid in bed for hours. I couldn't get this Elena out of my head. Everything she did struck me. She was the first person who could yell at me without fearing what I could; she wasn't afraid to grab my arm and drag me out of the room that was full of men she barely knew. She wasn't afraid to point a gun at me to get what she wanted. She wasn't afraid to yell at a gang member. She knew she could die; wasn't she scared? The courage in her got me. Or was it trust in me? But all these thoughts about her were pushed to the back of my head when the blue, watery eyes filled my whole room. I let out a long breath. I knew she was crying in her room at that moment. I didn't need to hear her or see her to know how broken she was. I have never thought once about what it was to be a gang member; having many people work under his command and selling his own drugs sounded too normal and civil. I wasn't sure if I should feel bad for her or assure myself that this courageous girl would grow with us. I promised her father I would protect her no matter the consequences, but what if she refused? What if, the next morning, she decides to leave?

I hit my head. I shouldn't have left her alone with her thoughts. My own thoughts were killing me; I could never imagine her. I took a deep breath and jumped off my bed. I opened the door to meet laughter and yelling. When I looked at the seating area on my floor, I frowned. "What are you all doing here? Why aren't you chilling on your own floor?"

"You know, man, we like the view here," Damien said, pointing at the big window behind him. "Anyways, we knew that no one was sleeping on this floor, so why not stay here?"

"I told you that as long as Elena is in her room, I don't want anyone to be on this floor. I don't want her to feel uncomfortable."

"Huncho, chill, she's not in her room; she went for a walk," Fred said, and my heart dropped. I hurried to the room and pushed the door open to meet a quiet room. My eyes were quick to meet her necklace on the ground—the necklace her father got for her. I walked in and picked it up, caressing every letter of her name on it, letting the flashbacks of Brad showing it to me for the first time tell me that he will give it to her as soon as he is back home. I shook the thoughts out of my head, slid the necklace into my pocket, and stepped outside the room.

"Idiots!" I yelled as I rushed closer to the boys. They all stood up, worried and alarmed. "Didn't I tell her, do not let her out of your sight?"

"She said she was sad and needed some time alone in the backyard," with a worried and sorry voice, Sanchez informed me.

"Huncho, we're not her babysitters. She said she wanted to go, so she went." Damien pressed on my last nerve.

I shook my head, trying to catch my breath in between the fire that flew out of my two nostrils. I wanted to grab him by his neck and hang him higher than the chandelier in the ceiling, but I knew I had no time.

"You bunch of morons that a girl tricks you all, beats!" I yelled, then hastened down the stairs and outside to find her.