“Nah. I’m no one’s hero.Menos el tuyo.” He pulls out a pack of Marlboro Reds and holds it up to me.
Smoking has been a pastime of mine. More like that of the parasite inside me that romanticizes the idea of death. But the coward inside me can’t follow through, so things like smoking feel like a slow form of suicide. I shake my head, and he arches a brow.
“What’s the plan?” I ask coldly.
“Patience, sunshine. Patience.”
I turn my gaze to the passenger side window and look upat the layers of graffiti painted to a wall. Old names, symbols, and colors all mixed together, each a different story blending into one. My fingers itch for my sketch pad, but I don’t take it out. My art is personal to me, a diary of sorts, and I don’t want Cassiel to see the disturbing images of my life. Or even the odd sketches I’ve drawn of him.
“Why were you late today?” I ask him.
“You know I’m not the best person to ask for help, right?”
Of course.I know that better than anyone. The ways he’s hurt me are beyond what even he could have planned. We are a natural disaster waiting to happen.
“You know I’ll ask for something in return,” he says, observing me.
“And what the fuck do you want?”
My heart? I don’t have one of those. The truck is silent for a moment. When he clears his voice, his words come out dark and hollow.
“One day, Genesis, I’m going to crush every one of my enemies, and you’ll be there to watch it. You’ll stand next to me when I take over the empire that belongs to me.”
I let out a small laugh. He can’t be serious. I see myself with a small notebook tallying the deaths and sketching the destruction, but the look on his face is serious.
“You want me to be your witness to success?” I ask mockingly.
He shrugs, and I can’t help but feel there’s more to this plan he’s conjured. Knowing Cassiel, the price will be more than the reward, but that is my cost for freedom.
“Slow the fuck down,” I say harshly. Cassiel turns to me, laughing.
“You ask me for help, and now you want to dictate how I drive?”
“I asked you to take me to the Biondini brothers, not fucking kill me on the way there.”
Cassiel and I have this toxic way of arguing every time we have to be in each other’s presence. I’ll be the first to admit it’s addicting. Maybe my love language is violence.Mal de muchos, consuelo de tontos,my dad once told me. Maybe I find comfort in fighting with Cassiel. Maybe it’s the safest place I can be myself because he’s also on the same level of insanity.
There’s no denying we’re both mentally insane. I have the diagnosis, the court ordered conservatorship, and the scar running down his face to prove it. The same scar that he ironically wears with pride like a soldier wears a battle wound. He knows I’ll snap any minute—that I am prone to it. And yet he still agreed to take me to the Biondini brothers. To figure out what they had on my father so I could blackmail him into dropping the conservatorship Raquel placed on me.
Cassiel drives through the city and turns into the alley ofLa Verdis Italian Ristorante. I sigh in relief. I’m one step closer than I’ve ever been. Cassiel grabs a large AK-47 from the back of the truck and slings it over his shoulder.
“Oh, but I can’t bring any weapons.” I groan.
“The last time I gave you a weapon, sweetheart, you pointed it at my dick.”
“The last time I pointed a weapon at your dick, you were running your mouth, Cassiel. Just tell me where I’m going, and I can take care of myself.”
Cassiel doesn’t bother answering. He moves toward the metal staircase that drops to the basement door, and the closer I follow, the clearer the voices behind it become.
“Ignacio impregnated both women.”
My stomach flips. Is this one of the brothers?
I look at Cassiel. His jaw is tight, and his expression is unreadable. I press my ear to the door. Another voice rises, one I know instantly.
“I didn’t know she was pregnant,” my father says. His voice fades.
“And when you did find out? Tell her thatpart.” The voice continues, “Tell her about the night she went missing, how you didn’t see a tragedy, you saw an opportunity. You went to my grandfather, you pleaded your case, and you took Genesis away from us.”
