Page 36 of Rage & Paradise
“You think that, don’t you? I can see the tension between the two of you. Hell, everyone can see the tension.”
“He hates me.”
“There’s a thin line between love and hate, and right now I think Oro is on the opposite side. He’s fighting what he feels for you. The same way you are fighting what you feel for him. I promise once you just let whatever is happening between you two happen, things will get better.”
I want to believe her. I want to believe that Oro sees me as more than just some broken piece of his past, but I just can’t.
I shake the thoughts from my head. “What are you doing over here anyway? Shouldn’t you be at the party yourself?”
“Ah, one of my sisters was missing. I had to come make sure you were okay.” She smiles at me.
“Sisters? You don’t even know me that well.”
“True, but that doesn’t make you any less family. The minute you stepped through those doors, you became one of us. We fight and protect our family. I’m starting to see that you’ve never had anyone do that for you before.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“That’s a shame. You better get used to it. You’re not going to be rid of us for a long while.” She shrugs and comes to sit next to me.
This is what I was looking for with Sina. What I thought she would be for me. A sister, family that I never had.
I know it's going to be a long while until I'm able to trust but I'm happy that I'm going to be able to start here. Start with Coca and the rest of the women here. To the outside person it would seem as if this was more of the same, more of what I grew up with, but it couldn't be further from that.
Here I have a choice.
SEVENTEEN
Oro
The sun is setting on the horizon as the group of us, in perfect formation, head straight for the location Pooh was able to find.
Sina has a few different houses that she uses to run her underhanded business out of, but this one seems to come up more often than not.
I spoke with Mr. Nieves’ wife. It took her a few minutes to trust that I was trying to get information for the right reasons, but when I explained to her that I thought her husband had been wrongfully imprisoned and that we were looking for proof, she was more than happy to tell me everything that she knew.
Apparently, Sina had wanted Mr. Nieves to use his port connections to help her smuggle in some women without the authorities finding out. When he wouldn’t, that’s when all the drugs found a home in his store. The more I learn about Sina, the more I can’t wait to get her off my streets.
“Stay sharp.” I hear Vado’s voice cut in through the speaker attached to my helmet.
He decided that we would go to Sina’s territory. Hopefully we can catch her by surprise and she won’t have any muscle to push back against us.
Seconds later we come to a stop in front of a small, seemingly normal house. The outside is painted a bright blue color and the shutters are lime green. The house fits in with the rest of the town, nothing that would cause anyone to think that anything sinister is happening just inside.
We know different.
The crew of us park our bikes right in front.
AZ and Digger do a quick scan of the street just to make sure we are not walking into some type of trap.
“Está tranquilo,” Digger utters as he walks by me and Lobo.
“Let’s keep it that way,” Lobo replies.
All together, the group of us walks up the stairs and huddles around the front door.
Vado grabs hold of the doorknob, and using only a little bit of force, he manages to break the lock.
I keep my eyes on the street, making sure no one comes up behind us. No one is coming in this direction, but I see several people looking up at us, as if they are waiting to see what we are going to do.
