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Juan laughs. I can feel my brows furrow in confusion. This doesn’t seem like the time to be laughing.
“There are about a million different factions trying to take down Dante at any given moment, and there have been ever since he blew up that block with the hospital on it... but whoever is killing his men right now is going about it the wrong way. Dante doesn’t give a shit about the people who work for him. Mendoza may have been more important to the organization than the local patrollers who enforce curfew, but he’s no big loss... though, he might have been able to tell his interrogator where some more important people are...”
“People are trying to take Dante down?” My shriveled-up heart pumps up a little at that revelation, before quickly being overcome by a searing fear. “I thought he was too powerful to fall? You said he was too powerful to fall!” I’m suddenly in a panic. What happens to me if another battle breaks out? What happens to Oscar if the city is set on fire? I heard about what Dante did to that hospital... with all those people inside...
“He’s not going anywhere,” Juan assures me. “No one has the resources to properly challenge him, and everybody knows it. Dante has terrorized his way into the political sphere. He either has dirt on, or a hostage from, nearly every important member of the government and military.”
“Is he more powerful than Angel was?” I don’t know why I ask it, but the question slips out of me like a wet stone.
Juan hesitates before answering. “Angel never wanted to get involved with politics. He hated the formality of it all...”
“... But he was trying to buy up legitimate property, wasn’t he?”
Juan nods. “He was, but business is different from politics. Business is a safe bet; politics is more volatile.”
“How?”
Juan pours himself another glass and draws the amber liquid up to his lips. “Well, during reasonable times, a building should stand for as long as whoever owns it wants it to.” He takes a slow sip of his drink. “In politics, no one owns anything. During reasonable times, the people vote for who they want to represent them. The people in charge usually don’t get to decide how long they stand for, and if they don’t get out of the way when they’re asked, they risk being toppled.”
“We aren’t living during reasonable times,” I mumble, my heart breaking in real time. Angel was playing it safe, and it all backfired for him.
“No, we aren’t. There’s an election coming up, but Dante’s doing his best to meddle in it. He can’t risk staying out of politics at this point, because if his candidates lose, he’s fucked. His businesses are all openly corrupt, and the second he shows even the slightest bit of weakness, his house of cards will come crumbling down on him. There’s no going legitimate for Dante; his only hope is to delegitimatize everything else.”
“How did he get so powerful so fast?”
Juan sighs, his eyes wandering off to some sad memory. “Cruelty,” he whispers. “Unfiltered cruelty... and some outside help.”
Nausea swirls around in my gut as Juan and I wallow in silence. We both know how powerless we are against Dante’s brutality, and we both know that it’s because we actually care about people other than ourselves. Maybe, if we were willing to free ourselves from love, we’d be able to topple the savage giant, but I know that neither of us could ever do such a thing. I wouldn’t give up my baby boy even if it meant putting a bullet through Dante’s thick skull.
... I’m not willing to give up on Angel so easily either.
So, we’re trapped.
“Do you want to head back now or do you want to spend some more time here?” Juan eventually asks, when his glass has been emptied.
It doesn’t take me long to make up my mind. As much as I hate being locked up in Dante’s mansion, every second I spend outside of those walls is a second that could come back to haunt me later. “I better head back.”
“Would you like me to escort you?”
The safety of having Juan by my side is tempting, but I know the last thing I need right now is company. Two sets of footsteps are always louder than one, plus I’d like some space to think. “I think I’d rather go alone.”
Juan nods and we share a quick look before I take a deep breath and head back out into the darkness.
The walk back is always longer.
Usually, it’s also lighter—the soft warm touch of my baby boy lingers on my skin long after I leave him—but this time, I spent my little slice of freedom alone, learning of just how unstoppable my captor has become.
Juan said he sensed that a storm was coming; for some reason, I feel the same thing. The air is thick and humid and every step I take feels like a trek through the ocean floor. Something has got to break and I can only hope that it’s not me.
In the distance, the light of the mansion seeps through the jungle trees, and for a split-second, I seriously consider turning around and making my final run for it. It hardly matters how far I’d get, just the act alone would give me some sense of control. But a sense of control is nothing compared to my sense of duty. I can’t leave Oscar alone in this world. Sure, Lady looks after him during the day, and Juan makes sure he’s safe, but there’s nothing like true family, true love.
I know what it’s like to lose both, and I wouldn’t wish it on anybody, let alone my baby boy. Oscar is my tether, for better or for worse, and his light gives me just enough strength to keep going.
A deep breath of jungle air rids me of my escape fantasies, and I trod back to my cage like a well-tamed tiger. This whole night was a complete bust. To think, I was so excited when I found that coded message beneath my false floorboard... I should have known better. High hopes get cut down far too easily these days, and I feel about a foot shorter every time I dare to stand on my tiptoes.
It’s almost not worth it.
Almost...
