"Yeah." I looked down. "She is."

I heard Mariana's light footsteps approach us. "She's very pretty."

I smiled and looked up at Ana, her face was bright red.

"Thanks?" She mumbled.

"Rosa, you don't need to hide here. We're your family." Sofia smiled at me.

"Last time I checked so we're my father and my brother." I chuckled.

"We don't count them, they're stupid." Mariana smiled.

"You guys are more religious than they are, I was more worried about that."

Sofia scoffed. "They like to pick and choose what parts of the Bible they want to follow. They kill people but somehow you're the one going to Hell? Where do you draw the line?"

Mariana giggled. "There is no line, just random circles of the beliefs they want. It doesn't matter anyway, I choose to believe Leviticus was mistranslated."

I leaned forward. "How so?"

"It's a whole thing that I don't want to get into, but based on analogies and translations, many people in the Bible were probably gay and it's probably about pedophiles."

"Does Mother know?" I furrowed my brows.

"Valentina pioneered the entire thing." Sofia chuckled.

"Really? Why?"

Mariana gave me a pointed look. "Rosa, baby, she knew."

"What did she know?" I sorted through my brain but I found nothing.

"She knew that you were gay." Mariana looked at me like I was stupid.

My eyes went wide. "Since when?"

"Since like forever. You have never said anything about a boy like ever. You used to come home and talk on and on about girls."

"I did not." I tried to defend myself.

Then realization washed over me. My jaw dropped. "So that's why I always felt weird in the locker rooms."

"I hope you're joking." Sofia laughed.

"I'm not." I smiled sheepishly.

"Okay, we're not going to continue to look into that because I know you're smarter than that. Why are you here?" Sofia asked

Ana raised her eyebrows. "I'd like to know that too."

Mariana looked at me. "Please tell me you didn't bring your girlfriend into the woods and give her no idea of where she may be going."

I gave her another sheepish look. "That may be exactly what happened."

Mariana almost snorted. "Well then. I'll give you the rundown. I'm Mariana, one of Rosa's first cousins, behind me is Sofia, she's our grandmother."

She looked at me. "Has she met Val?"

"Yep." I nodded.

"Great." She smiled. "The weird guy you met outside is Valiente, we call him Val because it's short, however, if you forget someone's name you can just call them Val, it's part of our name somewhere."

Ana nodded. "I think I can remember that."

"Wonderful!" Mariana smiled. Then she turned her attention to me. "Have you been sleeping? You look terrible."

"Thanks." I glared at her.

"She hasn't been." Ana answered for me.

Sofia walked towards us with her arms crossed. "What have you gotten yourself into?"

I looked down. "Remember all of my plans?"

"Yes." Sofia and Mariana said in unison.

"So, Father caught me with Ana and Mother offered him my work for her life."

"I assume he needed more." Mariana grabbed my hand.

I nodded.

"So why are you here?" Sofia asked.

"I missed a deadline and I asked for more time, Father said no, and I yelled at him." I mumbled.

"You need protection." Mariana grabbed her phone.

"No." I looked up at Ana. "She needs protection. I could care less what happens to me."

Sofia and Mariana shared a look.

Sofia looked at me. "Were not going to throw you to the dogs, Rosa."

I sighed. "Fine, but she better be your priority."

Mariana smiled at me. "There are no priorities."

...

I had learned a lot since I got here.

Apparently, Valentina was forced into marrying Alonso, and it wasn't just because she was pretty.

Valentina was born a Ramirez, they were a large family and they were very wealthy.

They were also bounty hunters and Alonso hated them.

They knew loyalty only to themselves. They hid worked for and against The Cartel.

Alonso's father used them when he could and tried to ignore that they worked for other people, but Alonso wouldn't let it go.

When he first saw Valentina he liked her, but when he found out she was a Ramirez he knew he had to marry her.

Now they were only allowed to help The Cartel, or Valentina would pay for it.

Valentina didn't visit often. She only ever brought Rosa. I assume she was preparing Rosa for something like this.

Alonso and Rafael had never been here and they didn't even know it existed.

Mariana looked at me. "You got all that?"

I nodded. "Think so."

I looked at Rosa. She had fallen asleep, she was standing but at least she was getting some sleep.

I looked around. "Is there somewhere we can put her?"

Val picked her up and motioned for me to follow him.

He led me to a guest bedroom and set Rosa down on the bed. "You're welcome to come out and talk with us but I figured you'd want to stay here."

I nodded. "Thanks."

He gave me a warm smile and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

I pulled the covers over Rosa, she looked peaceful in her sleep.

I laid down beside her and studied her face. She always called me beautiful but never looked at herself.

She had been through hell and there was only more to come.

She didn't even know about Valentina yet. It wasn't my place to say anything and I wondered how she would tell her.

Her eyes opened slightly. "What happened?" She mumbled.

"You fell asleep," I whispered.

She moved to get up. I pushed her down. "It's okay, nobody's going to hurt you. Sleep."

"It's not me I'm worried about." She sat up. She was stronger than me even when she was sleep-deprived.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm safe."

She looked down at me. "You sure?"

"Positive, now come here." I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her down again.

She buried her face in my chest. It was different but I still loved it.

She moved her head and looked up at me. "Is this okay?"

I smiled at her. "Why wouldn't it be?"

She shrugged and hid her face again. "It's new, I just wanted to check."

"I think you care too much." I shook my head.

...
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