Chapter 16 #2
Once everything was handled, Juan insisted on having us stay in Puerto Rico.
He wanted to prove that his country was worth a damn.
That was the last thing I wanted to do but however, I had to take the good and the bad when it came to his ass.
For the night he put me and Chance up in a nice hotel.
When we finally were alone for the first time I was able to process everything that had transpired.
While the change of behavior from Juan had me on my toes, it wasn’t the most concerning to me.
His words had me reading between the lines of what he was possibly trying to hint at.
I wondered if he’d put two and two together about us being related.
As bad as I wanted to ask Nina about it, I couldn’t because I didn’t want to jeopardize her cover being blown.
Shifting my mind from Rafi, I wondered what Juan had planned for tomorrow.
I planned to ask him more about the extremes he’d gone through to get to his position.
Hopefully he would slip up with some details about killing Javier.
Every time I was around him it took every ounce of my strength to keep shit copacetic, but he rubbed me wrong for the first time today.
A part of me hoped that Nina was wrong and that Juan didn’t have anything to do with it.
Clearly that wasn’t the case, and I needed to get him to tell as much as possible.
The sooner I got that information I’d be able to put his ass six feet under.
I’d been stripped of a life that could’ve included both of my parents because of the actions of some jealous ass individual.
Just the thought of that shit had caused all the patience I’d grown in prison to go out the door.
As a father the last thing I could ever picture myself doing is willingly being separated from my family.
I was still beating myself up about missing Nessa’s pregnancy with Nyla.
With the change in our dynamic, I hoped that I’d get the chance to put another baby in her and be a part of it.
There was never a question of whether I’d spend the rest of my life with Nessa, it was more so of when that chapter would begin.
As I lay awake in my bed at the hotel, Nessa was the only thing on my mind.
With her having the girls I’ve never had to be concerned in that aspect, but my favorite weighed heavy on me lately.
The money I was making was good hell actually great, but other aspects of my life were missing.
These last two months we’d had little to no face-to-face contact with me being so busy on top of respecting her boundaries.
I figured with the breakup from that lame ass nigga; she just needed to heal.
It still pissed me off how she said that nigga made her feel safe but not me.
Hell, the only person I could blame for that was myself because I’d given her every reason not to feel safe with me being locked up.
Nobody fully understands how prison affects the people that love the prisoner.
They battled with a lot on the outside, with continuing on without their loved ones being the main hurdle.
Not a day ever went by that I didn’t think of Nessa.
I could be eating the slop they called food and I’d wonder what she had to eat today.
I’d lay in that piece of shit they called bed and wonder if she was sleeping comfortably tonight.
And every time I handled business for the cartel I’d hope that my money helped ease the frustrations of everything she could be dealing with.The rabbit hole back into the past kept me until the sun rose, and when a knock at the door interrupted my peace, I jumped up.
There stood Juan and a few of his flunkies.
Chance stood behind me unannounced until I allowed Juan and his men access to our hotel.
Once inside Juan explained how he needed to speak with me, and Chance would go to the dock and make sure that our reup was all accounted for before it was loaded on the container ship.
I didn’t want us to split up but it made sense because I needed someone I trusted to account for all the bricks I’d paid for.
After explaining that to Chance we split up for the day after we left the hotel.
“You were talkin’ ‘bout extremes that were needed to get to where you are,” I began as we drove the streets of Puerto Rico. “What exact extremes did you have to go through?”
“Oh, you were actually listenin’ to me that time?” He scoffed as he continued to look out the windows. “And honestly my extremes were unthinkable when said aloud.”
“Extremes are meant to be just that extreme. So, I’m curious to know what you did in order to secure yo’ position. Not sayin’ that I want yo’ position but just tryna see why you wouldn’t think I’d be willin’ to cross the unthinkable line.”
“Well, that’s simple. Answer this if I’d asked you to kill yo’ right hand man would you do it to get to the level that I’m on?”
“What would be the reason for me to kill him?”
“I just said it: to get to the level that I’m on. So, would you do it?”
“Nawl we’d come up together.”
“Exactly. And that’s what separates you from me.”
“Wait, you had to do that?”
“You used the right word: had. I never wanted to cross the one person who’d not only showed me the ropes but protected me too.”
“Wait if they did all that why the fuck would you kill them?”
“Power duh. I wasn’t meant to take orders all my life and once I realized how I could change that I did what was needed to do just that.”
“So, who’d you cross? Yo’ own cousin?”
“Nope, my brother,” he nonchalantly shrugged.
“Welp, that muthafucka had to go,” I played into his confessional, happy that I’d recorded the whole conversation on my phone. “It takes some true balls to do the shit you did.”
“Yep, and I’d do it again if I ever had to. Nobody will ever get in the way of the empire I’d clawed my way to the top of.”