Her voice was strained. She looked up at me with fire in her eyes. "Run."

Her eyes closed and the hand on my wrist went limp.

"No. No. Please." I cried softly. "Open your eyes."

I looked back at the fight behind me.

They were distracted.

I pressed one hand firmly against the wound and used the other to slowly drag her out of the room.

I almost had her to the front door when something hard and metal was pressed against the back of my head.

"Wait!" Valentina yelled.

"Oh, what could you possibly want now Mother?" The man behind me groaned and moved the weapon away.

"Rosa has works, dozens of notebooks of plans for The Cartel." Valentina exclaimed.

"Get to the point." The other man sighed.

"She wants to take over-."

"Yeah like that's going to happen." The man behind me laughed.

"She has plans, plans that would work. You kill Ana, you're killing Rosa or you're killing yourself."

"So why don't I just shoot this bitch then let Rosa bleed out." The gun pressed against my head again.

"Because if Rosa wants to take over The Cartel and has plans so she could, there's no telling what other information she has in her brain." The other man muttered.

"She'll never give you that information." The man behind me pushed my head forward.

"If we keep that one alive she might." Her father walked towards me.

He crouched down in front of me on the other side of Rosa. "You love her?"

I was at a loss for words. This felt like a trap.

If I lied, they might kill me. If I told the truth, they might kill me.

But I'd rather die saying I loved her.

I nodded my head slowly. I couldn't form one word.

He sighed. "And she loves you?"

I nodded again. That's what she told me.

He looked up at Valentina behind me. "Are you sure about this?"

I interrupted her before she could speak. "It doesn't matter how sure you are." I looked down at Rosa. "She needs help now. If you sit around and think about it, you won't have a choice."

I felt a sharp sting on my face.

He had slapped me.

Then he ordered Rafael to get Rosa to the car.

...

I slowly opened my eyes. The sun was rising.

I sat up in my bed.

My side burned.

How did I get here? What happened?

Then the memories hit me like a truck.

Did she get out?

Was she okay?

I looked around nobody was in the room.

The heart monitor got loud as my heart rate skyrocketed.

I tried to get up but nurses flooded into the room and told me to calm down.

"I need a phone!" I pleaded with them.

Tears fell down my face.

When they wouldn't let me go I fought them.

Eventually, they had to restrain me.

I sobbed into my pillow.

She was probably dead. It was all my fault.

If I wouldn't have made that stupid call weeks ago I would've been there. I wouldn't have driven over in a blind rage. They wouldn't have followed me.

I felt a hand on my face.

I looked up.

It was Mother. I let out another loud sob.

"Rosa, what's wrong?" She asked me in a calm voice.

Concern filled her eyes. I didn't cry often.

No, Rafael was the sensitive one.

"She's dead isn't she?" I sobbed.

She shook her head. "Ana? She's okay."

"You're lying!" I cried. "You're lying..."

She wiped my tears away. "Do you want me to get her?"

I nodded.

Rafael walked into the room.

I shot up. I wanted to choke him but the restraints held me back. "I heard you! You little bitch! You would've killed her."

He glared at me. "I wanted to. She's you're light and you're bringing this whole family down."

"I hope you amount to nothing in your puny life you worthless piece of shit!" I yelled at him. "You don't deserve anything. You don't deserve to be alive, mosquitos are more valuable than you!"

"Rosa!" Mother scolded me. "I know you're upset, and you are absolutely allowed to be, but we're in a public place, try and be civil." She walked out.

Rafael smiled at me. "Be civil Rosa." He mocked.

I laughed at him. "At least I didn't have to shoot my sister because I'm too weak to fight her off on my own. Hopefully, you find a strong woman or The Cartel will have no future."

His smile dropped. He looked down at the ground for a moment.

Then his eyes locked with mine. "At least I have that option."

I furrowed my brows. What could he mean? "What?"

"I really didn't mean to do any serious damage, I just shot where I could in the moment. If you continue this relationship with that woman, unless she has some seriously fucked genetics, your children won't really be yours." He smiled.

"I don't understand."

"I wasn't really listening, but I know I got a good shot on one of your reproductive organs. The doctor gave a number, I think it was two percent." He nodded to himself. "Yes, there's a two percent chance that you'd be able to carry a pregnancy to term with no complications."

I'd never really expressed the need for kids, but for some reason, this news hurt me more than most of the news I'd received in the previous weeks.

I wasn't planning on ever having children, but I was only 17.

I didn't want the choice taken from me. It should've been mine to make.

But I got hung up on what he had said earlier.

Your children won't really be yours.

That hurt more than anything.

What if Ana wanted them? Would she see it that way? Would she be their mom and I would just be the person who was always there? The strange girlfriend who they've known since birth but never really knew?

Rafael smiled again. "She's changed you. For the worse."

I turned and looked out the small window. "I don't think I can be changed for the worse."

"Don't get me wrong, I've never liked you, but you've always hidden your emotions. Now you're more readable than even she is."

I let out a small breath. "Forgive me for having feelings."

"It's not that you have them, it's that you show them." I jumped at my father's voice.

I looked at him. He was disappointed in me. "You want to be strong. You want to have power. I understand that, but you just don't have the skills. Hiding was all you had. Let that go and you'll become weak."

"Rafael had to shoot me to get me off. How am I weak?" I looked at him with confusion.

"Maybe you could take him then, but when he has trusted men who would die to protect him, it won't be so easy."

I smiled. "Yeah, like The Cartel is going to last that long."

I leaned back and looked out the window again. We were falling apart. Everyone knew it.

He dropped something on my lap. "With this, I think it's going to last a long time."

I laughed. "What could you possibly have-." I looked down at the folder in my lap.

It was my work.

My plans to take control.

How much did he know?

"Where did you find this?" I opened the folder.

"Your mother." He leaned against the doorframe.

I kept in my relief as a noticed what it really was. All the plans for when it already was mine.

Not how I would obtain it.

Sure. It was years of work, hours of meticulous planning, but it wasn't all to waste. I could still take control.

I flipped open the notebook that had started it all.

There was a page torn from a book that I didn't remember the title of. I remember getting it for my 13th birthday from my mother. I didn't like the book, but she had written 'to my future Spanish Drug Cartel leader' on the inside.

She had always believed me. She knew about all of my work. I trusted her with it.

So why did she betray me? Why did she give the work to Father?

"Why do you have these?" I looked up at him.

He smiled at me. "Well, after you lost consciousness, Rafael took it upon himself to finish the job, but your Mother stopped him for some reason. She claimed you had plans for The Cartel and that you would be useless if we killed your friend. So, we made a deal. You give me your works, and advice in the future, and you get to keep your girlfriend alive."

So she didn't betray after all. She knew how I felt about Ana.

Ana kept me alive. She kept me sane.

Mother protected her. Twice now.

I let out a shaky breath. "So when do we start?"

Father stood up. "As soon as you're healed."

He and Rafael left the room leaving me with nothing but my thoughts.

...
The amount of times that I'm reminding myself to find a c word for the title is insane.

I like this tho.

Almost forgot the heart.

<3