Prolog

"Don't screw up, Jas." My grandfather's low voice echoed from our mutually connected calls. "We're screwed if this mission fails, and I'm not sure you'll survive."

Perfect, Abuelo. That's very motivating.

I closed my eyes, the wind blowing my hair loose. "I know. I'm trying." I said. "And I'll remind you that I never agreed to get into this game."

'Tis already done," he replied calmly as if it wasn't him who forced me right at the senior high school graduation ceremony. "This has to be done. I'll be at Blooms tomorrow at two in the afternoon. You have to be there."

"What about Papa, Mama and my brothers?"

"Your family still thinks you're on campus. If you don't mess up, our mission won't be exposed," he said.

I hoped they would somehow find out what Grandpa had ordered me to do. Only they could stop my his ambition to control the Mexican cartel, which is why I had to be stuck in Juarez for six months.

"Understood," I said, and then he disconnected our call.

I stared ahead, at the neighborhood that had become the place where I survived and ran things, and then I stared at the darkened screen of my old cell phone and looked around the shabby apartment complex where I had lived for six months in Juarez.

A place so far from Madelin, my home.

I put my phone in my pants pocket and left the balcony to re-enter the living room of the modest flat, which had three small bedrooms, two bathrooms, a small kitchen, and a TV room crammed with a television, Maya's sofa, our bookshelf, and a glass cabinet containing Bianca's beer collection.

I grabbed my thick jacket and a small, worn gray cross-body bag and turned off the room lights, leaving only a small butter lamp on the wall to keep it from getting too dark.

Sighing roughly, I prepared myself, who was never ready to do this. My life was always hanging in front of my eyes, waiting for someone to cut it down. Any risk when I left this place was always high, and I couldn't even run away from it.

My power-obsessive Abuelo needs me, and if I refuse, I will hold the consequences he gave me until he dies.

His end will come at a very long time. For I have heard that sinful people are left in prison on earth, and God gives them an abundance of life to do mischief upon the earth. But perhaps I will be the one to end his fun. His life was in my hands, and I waited for that power to pull the trigger and kill him.

Imprisoning that thought, I opened the door and walked out into the dark, deserted hallway. This was a far cry from the lifestyle I had acquired in the United States and Colombia. But now, I was forced to experience all that, which made me realize that many people lack opportunities and are forced to be hardened to survive. That is, they will do anything to get a peso or two.  Anything that can keep them alive.

In this city, I know that they can even do brutal things and that nothing consumes their souls but money.

Here, crime can be anything. Darkness is familiar, and crime is increasing by the second.

If I were still a weak woman, I would need guarding, but I was never weak. My family took care of me since childhood, but I'm not that kind of spoiled girl. I can take care of myself.

The night became a black veil that covered the city. The streets seem deserted, filled only by the low whispers of a group of men smoking at an alley intersection. In other corners, there were one or two beggars who didn't hesitate to chase after reluctant pedestrians. This scene was nothing new to the locals, and I was used to it.

Avoiding the commotion was easy enough. Just give a few cents, and don't return the cat-calling from the jerks there. They wouldn't shut up if I retaliated, and I didn't want to dirty my hands with blood. Just one criminal act, and they'd suspect me. That's a risk I won't take.

I pulled up to a large pub in the city, sighing softly as I saw several men gathered on the front lawn of the Pub. The Pub was crowded because it was the weekend, and I knew tonight I would definitely be working late.

"Hey, Chica. Tell Bianca to wear that sexy bikini at twelve. We'll be waiting for her and leave a big tip."

I gave a sharp glance at Giorgino Lopez who was smiling broadly, showing his pierced canines. Without answering, I went inside the Pub to start my night shift.

The night will be long. There were still two or three months left to get out of here, complete the mission without a trace, without chaos, and damage the cartel network from within.

I could do it. It wouldn't be much of a mess.