Finding Forgiveness

“You gonna let a chica beat you like that?” he asked the man practically shaking with the gun at his head. “Don’t be such as? pucha.” I haven’t done Spanish since high school so I honestly had no idea what he said but Guillermo rolled his eyes.

“Hey bitch,” he said looking at me. “Show us your tits and we’ll let you go no trouble.”

“You aren’t in a position to ask for shit like that right now, Guillermo,” I said looking from the gun at his head to the gun at his friend’s head.

“You couldn’t hurt a fly,” he replied with a smirk. “Neither could Romano. You’re both white as fuck.”

With that, for a split second Luca moved the gun from Guillermo’s head and pointed it at the foot of the man who had been holding me.

The bang sounded and a loud cry was let out before Luca had the gun back on Guillermo’s head.

“Will you take us seriously now or do we need to show you again?” I asked pushing the gun into the man’s mouth as he whimpered. “Wouldn’t be the first man I’ve killed. Might not be the last.”

Guillermo remained quiet which I took as a no.

“Unload your guns,” I ordered the rest of them.

They complied and dropped the contents of their weapons on the floor.

“Now chuck them as far as you can,” I said still holding the gun at their friend’s head.

“You just gonna let a girl boss you around?” Guillermo said.

I held the man tighter, causing him to whimper and they all threw their guns. I gave Guillermo a sardonic smile before releasing the man and walking to the car.

“This could have been so much easier,” I said as Luca released him from the headlock but kept pointing the gun at him as he made his way to the car too.

“See you next month, Guillermo,” he said before getting in the car and speeding away.

“You fucking showed them!” Luca exclaimed putting his hand on my shoulder. “Badass mother fucker!”

“Yeah, and you almost got us killed,” I scolded. “What the fuck was that? I thought you were ‘friendly’ with them?”

“I was. But they’re like little kids. As soon as you say no to them they hate you,” he replied. “And what the hell do? I do with this,” he asked waving the gun as he drove as fast as the car would go.

“Keep it,” I replied taking it out his hand and shoving it in the glove box. “It might be useful.”

A message for the real world: This book is merely for the purposes of entertainment, but I will say this:

I understand that the supposed ‘drug and violence’ culture that is often associated with Latin America is, for the most part, a misguided stereotype of the peaceful people that live there. I by no means intend to offend anyone with the themes of this book and I am also aware that there is a lot of political controversy over this topic right now (Donald and the giant wall) and I certainly am not trying to reinforce prejudice opinions and stereotypes that have already been harmful to society. I love my readers and I want you to enjoy this book with light hearts, so if you find anything a more serious underlying issue that connects this story to your real world, it is important that you do let me know so that I can work to amend whatever it is you are concerned about.

Thank you,

Ehellie x

“You fucking shot him in the foot,” I said about half an hour later. “He’s not gonna be able to walk for months.”

“They weren’t taking us seriously,” Luca replied.

“How do you even know how to use a gun?” I asked.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, Ells,” he told me.

“Couldn’t you have shot Guillermo?” I asked. “He was clearly the leader.”

“You don’t fuck around with Guillermo unless you want death.”

“Says the one that held him in a headlock with a gun to his head,” I muttered.

“That’s justifiable. He had you.”

“So now what?” I asked looking out into the empty desert.

“We go to Miami. Drop of the shipment and then I’ll take you to the airport,” he said.

“Are you not coming with me?” I asked.

“I have to go back to Mexico,” he told me.

“Why? It’s dangerous,” I said.

“We pissed Guillermo off and he’s not just gonna let it go,” he explained. ” I can’t go back to him after this unless I can get approval from the boss.”

“Luca-” I began disheartened that he wasn’t going to come with me to Paris.

“I’m sorry Els but duty calls. I’ve got to do this for the pack and then I promise I’ll meet you in Paris.”

“Why can’t I come with you?” I asked.

“Because if you thought Guillermo was bad, you do not want to meet the boss,” he said. “And I can’t risk your life again.”

“Luca-” I began again.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“It is not up for discussion. You’re getting on a plane to Paris. And I’m going to deal with this shit,” he said in a deeper tone to usual.

I leant back on my seat before pausing for a moment.

“It’s my life Luca. I will decide whether I want to risk it or not,” I said. “This sounds incredibly dangerous. But I could do with an adventure.”

“No, you need to go somewhere peaceful and grieve Connor.”

“I’m starting to think that quiet and reflection is not what I need,” I replied. “Time away from Leo? Yes. Time to be depressed and watch over and over the images in my mind? No.”

Luca sighed, “I forgot for a moment that you can’t be told what to do.”

I gave him a sweet smile and he sighed defeatedly.

I looked down at my hands which I could just about see from a combination of the glow from stars and the moon and lights of the dashboard.

“You know he left me a letter. Connor. Just in case he died. I found it in his room when I went to get his things and in it, he told me not to be sad for too long and to live my life. This is honouring his wishes. He also told me to forgive Leo. I can’t do that just yet but I will one day,” I said twiddling my thumbs.

“Hold on. He died fighting against your mate and trying to kill him but his dying wish was for you to forgive him?” Luca questioned looking away from the road a second to give me an eyebrow raised look.

“He just wants me to be happy. He denied it but he knew that however bad of a man Leo can be, he is still my mate and I can’t help loving him and I can’t be happy without him.”