Chapter Fifteen
“Ah, there’s my little flower.”
She turned to Hector. God, she had to give the best acting of her life.
“Uncle, what is going on?” she yelled. “Why did you have to take Nia?”
Hector laughed. “It was the only way to get to you.”
She tried to look confused. “Why couldn’t you have called me? Or if you had called the building, they would have patched you through.”
Hector’s eyes narrowed. “What the fuck happened to your face?”
She sent Rat a scathing look and rubbed her shoulder. “Rat punched me. He hurt my arm and pulled my hair, too.”
“The puta tried to kick me.”
Hector growled. “I told you to bring her to me, and I wanted no bruises. Her eye is already swelling shut,” he yelled the last word.
Hector took a gun out of the back of his pants and put a hole in the middle of Rat’s forehead.
Both women cringed away and screamed. Nia tried to make herself as small as possible, and Sienna had her hands over her mouth in shock. Jesus, Hector was losing it.
She swallowed her fear. Her mother told her never to show fear because people like Hector fed off it.
“Damn, Uncle. I told him you’d be mad, but hell…” she said and chuckled.
Hector looked confused for a second and then smiled. “You always were a tough girl.”
“The neighborhood makes you tough, sí?”
“Sí, it does. But you had me, too.”
“Oh, I know that. You were always so good to Mom and me. She would tell me how wonderful it was for you to take care of your brother’s family. You must have loved him a lot.”
“Ah, is that what she told you?”
Sienna tried to look confused. “Yes.”
“How did she say my brother died?”
“Gang shooting.”
“Ah,” Hector said and nodded. “So, you still think I’m your uncle?”
“You’re kind of freaking me out.”
He laughed. “I’m no more your uncle than Joey here.”
“You’re not my uncle?”
“Fuck, no.”
“Your brother wasn’t my father?”
“I didn’t have a fucking brother. It was a story your mom made up.”
“Why would she do that?” Sienna railed.
“Because she knew of my interest in you, but I told her she couldn’t say anything. She knew what would happen if she did. I guess you started asking questions about me when I visited, so she made up the story.”
“I’m still confused. Interest in me? How?”
“You’re going to be my woman.”
She made her eyes widen. “Like in a girlfriend?”
He laughed. “As in a wife. You are going to give me many children.”
“Wait,” she said and held up her hand. “Don’t I get a say in this?”
He shook his head. “I’ve decided you were mine from the age of eleven, when you started getting pretty.”
“So, we’re going back to the neighborhood?”
“No, we’ve joined with another gang. Ours got burned out of the lifestyle,” he said and then laughed hysterically. Even Joey smiled.
She hoped to hell she didn’t cringe at his humor. “I don’t know why that’s funny.”