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"He pretended to be Hector and asked for us to open the door. Joann thought it was him, but when she opened the door, a man with a ski mask pushed through and knocked her to the floor. I grabbed the gun and shot him in the arm, but he grabbed Joann. The coward used her as a shield so I couldn't shoot him again."
Dice starts to cry. I sit on the stool next to her and wrap my arm around her, holding her to me. I can feel her body shaking as she relives everything.
I can't stand this. I hate knowing my home was violated in such a way. That my woman was hurt, and my mother was shot within my walls. My sanctuary.
I rub her back while Raquel holds Dice's hand and coos to her, but Brian's voice cuts through mockingly, "Where's the princess that can talk some mad shit, hm?"
He elbows Hector, who laughs, "Yeah. Where'd the ninja go that put a grown man to the ground?"
Raquel's brows hit her hairline and I bite back a smile. As much as I want to tell them to shut the fuck up, they're right. Dice is way too strong to be breaking down.
Dice wipes her eyes and lifts her head, "Assholes."
"Aw, come on princess. Don't cry, get even." Brian says easily with a crooked smile slashed across his face.
To the world, Brian is jovial and charming, but I know better. Brian is full of fucked up and twisted thoughts. He's always in a battle with his demons, and he uses a joke or a smile to disarm others from seeing too much. From seeing the black spots that bleed from his soul.
I think Dice sees through the act, though.
She takes a deep breath before continuing, "The prick demanded me to put the gun down and when I didn't move fast enough, he shot Joann's hand. I freaked and dropped the gun and tried to get to her, but the guy grabbed me around the throat. I tried fighting him off, but he was able to drag me out of the door by my hair."
"Fuck!" Dice and her mother startle at my outburst, but Hector, Brian and I stare at each other. Nothing but deadly rage in our eyes. I don't need to say anything to them, they know exactly what we'll be doing tonight.
The barrels of Lye will need replenishing after tonight. The motherfucker will feel every burn of his body before he succumbs to death.
"How did you get away?" Raquel asks her daughter.
I have to put a shit ton of effort into reigning in my rage and smooth out my features. It's a feat to be sure, but when Dice takes my hand, squeezing it to calm me, I'm able to breathe again. The red tint ebbs and I loosen the grinding of my molars.
Dice doesn't speak though; she looks up at me waiting for me to signal that I'm okay. I nod at her and scrub a hand across my jaw.
Dice swallows and continues to tell us what happened, and I have absolutely no words for her strength.
Faced with death, Dice spit the blood from her mouth and stood back up. She traded punches with fate and changed its course. Dice is the strongest woman I know. Her strength rivals my own. Fuck that, she surpassed me.
I'm fucking proud of her. She doesn't need anyone straightening her crown for her, and she belongs to me.
"This is why I kept you a secret." Raquel's broken voice pulls me from my thoughts. I can't say I blame her, there are some things a parent has to do, even if it hurts.
"I think you did the right thing, Raquel. I'm pretty sure Julian would have wanted the same thing."
Miss Garza nods her head like she knows that too.
"After I found out I was pregnant, I went looking for him. I hadn't seen him in weeks and thought something bad had happened to him. One of Julian's nephews told me he was running and that I should stop asking questions. I asked him why he was running, and he said something about a blackout. I didn't know what that meant until later that night, the boy was found dead in an alley dumpster. I knew then I had to keep to myself and give Dice my last name."
Dice gasps and covers her mouth, horror in her eyes.
"Yes, Danny broke Familia code by ordering a blackout without the votes of his Generals... But Julian's children survived."
Raquel folds her lips inward and shakes her head sadly while Dice's head swivels to me, "Children?"
Hector stands and he rushes off to the elevator, probably getting the file we've built. Brian stands and grabs a wine bottle from the chiller, along with some glasses.
As he fills them, I tell Dice what I know, "Before I learned of the blackout put on the Cabello's, I had Hector dig and see if you had any living relatives on your father's side, and we came across a rumor. Before he and your mom started dating, he had a fling with a girl named Andrea Ibarra," Dice looks to her mother who nods and drinks deeply from the wineglass, "She became pregnant but ran off to Mexico before the baby was born."
Hector comes back in with the file in hand and drops it onto the table. I open the folder and pull out a photograph. A newspaper photo of Manuel Ibarra.
"That doesn't mean she was pregnant with my dad's child." Dice says with furrowed brows. I can tell she doesn't want to get her hopes up.
