<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gia sat in the smooth leather chair popping her gum, and fluttering her pocket knife.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Open… closed… open… closed</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was a tic that was driven by what everyone assumed by anxiety. Her eyes drifted to the floor to ceiling window, the beautiful blue Atlantic ocean and Miami beach just outside. She huffed and slouched back in the seat, dressed in barely there shorts, a bikini top and her favorite clunky boots. She looked at Ignacio and sighed, her emerald eyes watching him pace back and forth occasionally stopping to glare at her, and she would return the glare with flipping him off. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Yes, thank you, no you were right to call me I’ll handle it.” </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The two men behind, clad in their finest hugo boss suits stood within an arms length of Gia, she was stuck here. Fuck this was no fun for her, and really it’s all she cared about. Popping her gum, loud, she slumped back into the seat, her thighs moving side to side, coming together and apart as she waited. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not looking back at the door as she heard someone come in the clack of those fucking heels were more than enough for her to go off of. Lyla mother fucking Perez, the psychotic serial killing, drug cartel matriarch, coke head, crazy ass short bitch walked over to Ignacio, and stared up at him with a scowl on her face. Gia was familiar with that scowl, she had inherited it from her, her dear old mom. </span></p>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-37cd6723-7fff-8c2a-d9be-544b9d2558b7" style="font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“He’s clearly on the phone mother.” Gia drew out the words, stating the obvious.</span></p>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lyla’s fierce hazel eyes landed on Gia, and the girl sat up and stopped popping her gum. The short blond didn’t run La Familia and command the respect of several cartel leaders without knowing how to shut someone up with a simple look. “Si, y cuando él termine, nosotros vamos a hablar que es su problema y que van a ser. Me intendes?” Lyla’s words held a special sort of venom, she didn’t need to scream or yell. It was the softness that brought a fear that could make someone piss themselves. </span></p>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Si.” Gia snarled</span></p>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Si, que?”</span></p>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Si Senora.” Gia replied meekly. </span></p>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She thought this would be a simple issue, how many times had her parents used connections, money, and drugs to get themselves out of hot water? And so what, she crashed her father’s Maserati into an apartment complex, no one died at her hands. Could either of the self-righteous pair do the same? Nope. How many nights had she heard them arguing because one of her mother’s projects was yet again linked to someone high up on the food chain and that they would need to call in favors to rectify this. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gia had already handled it, she made sure to get enough cash out and pay off anyone who was affected by it. But no, the side bitch at the police station called her father the moment she caught wind and here she was. Listening to her father reassure his flavor of the week that she was a good little narc, and ‘Papi’ wasn’t mad. Rolling her eyes Gia couldn’t wait till he was done with her and handed the bitch to Lyla to play with. She hoped it was disembowelment this time.</span></p>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ignacio hung the call up and sat down in the high back chair raking his fingers through his hair. The aggravation he felt was readable all over his body, Gia slumped lower into her seat, she stopped popping the gum, but she didn’t stop fluttering the knife. It killed her when he was disappointed in her, Lyla she could give a flying fuck less how she felt, psychopaths don’t get to judge but Ignasio was the parent she was closest to. His opinion was the one that bore the most weight. She knew if push came to shove her father would choose her over everything. Her mother may love her, but her true loves were blood lust and blow. Both of which, Gia knew, she’d sell her daughter to the highest bidder for. Sometimes Gia wondered if the goons who watched every single move she made were protecting from the outside world or really her dear old mom. </span></p>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ignacio sighed sitting back in the chair as Lyla sat on the armrest, with his arm coiled around her waist. With a nod to the guards, the twin brutes walked out, Gia watched out the side of her eye before looking back to her parents. Her father cleared his throat, Gia felt the shiver of dread zip through her spine, he was serious and this wasn’t going to end well. “Mi vida, we have a problem, and it’s getting worse. You have no respect for how things are done, and what consequences are. And I understand, su madre y yo lo dejan a ser que tu quieres. Pero Gia, you realize that crash ended up costing me several hundreds of thousands of dollars. Princessa, I know you have always been told that you will never have to worry about making ends meet, but you have no idea how hard life is on life term me querida.” </span></p>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The look of pain in her father’s eyes cut through her. She felt it deep in her gut, it made her ill to know she caused him this much upset. And what he said to her next changed everything for Gia. “Su madre y yo, decided you need a hard lesson. “ </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lyla hopped off the armrest and in her soft melodic tone, she explained Gia’s approaching future. “When I was getting too out of control and taking things for granted, Tio Julio y Tio Juan sent me to Crael. It was a terrible place, I had no protection. I was shot, I was stabbed, I got arrested. It was a wake up call mijita. And I think you need a wake up call too. So I called your Uncle Kozzy and he’s going to pick you up from the airport when you arrive in Hathian.”</span></p>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“FUCK THAT SHIT!” The knife fell to the floor as Gia stood up and screamed. “You’re going to send me to some glorified glory hole of a town to learn the hard knox from Uncle Kozzy! Fuck that!” She looked to her father pleading. “Papi, te entiendes que ella quiere no? She wants me to go there so she has a reason to see her true fucking love that Ipos cunt she’s always going off about when he’s fuckin’ high I mea-” </span></p>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The slap across Gia’s face burned white hot, Lyla looked up at her daughter snarling. But it was her father’s voice that cut her down. “Ya basta! Contra! Sit your fucking asses down the both of you. Gia, you're going to Hathian tonight!” He threw out a debit card onto the desk, “Tome, that’s your new debit card, it has enough to get you started.” </span></p>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gia looked at the desk holding her cheek, her eyes shimmering with tears. “Papi, por favor, lo siento, pero listen to me.”</span></p>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ignacio held up his hand, shutting her down as he shook his head, Lyal coming to lay her hands on his shoulders in support. “No guards, no penthouse apartment, you will get a real job and learn to take care of yourself. I can’t offer you that here mi vida. Tu ere mi corazón, and this scares me more than you will ever understand, but if you are to inherit all that we have built, then we have to make you see what we have hidden you from your whole life.” Ignasio watched his only child bend down to pick up the butterfly knife off the floor, and take the debit card from the desk. She said nothing to her parents as she headed to the door, to go pack her things. Ignasio called out “Gia, te quero.” </span></p>
 
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gia opened the door and looked at the pair, her emerald eyes cold as ice. With the venom she learned from her mother she said smoothly without a flicker of emotion. “Make sure you and your bitch are off my throne when I get back.” She made sure her mother locked eyes with her as before she walked out. “And don’t worry, if I see your precious beloved, I’ll make sure he’s calling out my name by the time I’m done with him.” She saw the fury it sparked in her Lyla and walked out the door. </span></p>