Tiago Cartel: Dahlias Story

Welcome to Chicago

With the wind blowing soft, the night was still young, and nobody is around to witness anything. It is the perfect time to do something out of sight and never get caught. One of Diego Santiago, head of the Tiago Cartel, sits on top of the Juwer Building waiting for the owner of the building previously owned by the Tiago Cartel. Her nerves are calm and she is waiting for the right moment to make her move as she watches the door intently.

She sees movement and looks into her scope. From what she seen, Santiago would be just as surprised as her. She reached for her phone and called Santiago so he could determine her next move with the information given. She could understand why Santiago didn't know this information. He wasn't the type to ask questions, he more of the get-it-done type.

"It's a woman." She said when he picked up the phone. She wasn't surprised by his lengthy pause.

"What's she doing?" He asked. She put her head back up to the scope.

"She sitting with a young lady on the front step." She replied, watched the woman through the scope. He paused for a second.

"Just stay on the phone with me until something happ-"

"Someone is picking the young girl up. She's getting up, she's in her car now." She said cutting him off. He paused again.

"Come back Mariana. I'll figure something out." He replied before hanging up.

"Hey, we are closed" Dahlia said before turning around to see who walked into the building. There were still things for her to do such as: scrub and paint the walls, put furniture in there, utilities, and make it her own. The building was two stories and an extra big space on the second story. All about the same size. For the first story, when you first walk in, she was determined to make it a reception room. She'd talk to her bestfriend about this for years and the time was finally coming where she was walking in it. She thought about the conversations she'd had with her bestfriend, about her being the receptionist. Dahlia knew her bestfriend had been through things and she would be able to empathize with woman who came through those double bulletproof doors.

"The person who sold you this building did not own this building. The official owner of the building is able to reimburse you for your money and time." Mariana replied. Dahlia turned her body quickly and shot Mariana a look. It didn't sit right with Mariana because she was hot tempered but she let it go. She didn't want this to go left if it could go peacefully.

"And who is this other owner?" Dahlia asked.

"I'm not able to say." Mariana replied.

"Well, you tell them to come see me. Now if you'd excuse me, I have to lock this place up. Thank you for stopping by though. Maybe y'all could help me paint." Dahlia replied. Mariana kept her chuckle in because it was business, but she liked Dahlias spark. Her comebacks. Her smartness.

"If that's what you want." Mariana said shrugging. She turned and went through the exit. Mariana knew nobody seen her boss. He put things in place and expected everyone to do their jobs. Nobody seen him unless he wanted to be seen.

While Mariana headed back to talk to her boss, Dahlia packed up her things, locked the building up, and headed to her car.

"It's nice what you doing in there." Dahlia turned to see a man sitting on the side of the other building with a white styrofoam to go container.

"Thank you." She replied with a smile. She started to get in the car but couldn't help but to think about what Mariana said to her.

"Do you happen to know about the old owner? Or co-owner. Did he own this building?" Dahlia asked.

She went over to the man and before he could reply she noticed his container was empty.

"Why do you have an empty container?" She asked.

The man answered didn't answer her question.

"Well, why are you sitting out here?" She asked.

"This is the only place I find peace." He replied.

"Well let's get you something in that container. I haven't eaten yet so we can both sit and eat." Dahlia said while walking over to him.

He got up and started to walk with her to the restaurant across the street. She noticed that the people looked at him as if he was just some gum they'd stepped on outside on the sidewalk. 

"Is that all for you ma'am or would you like to order something else?" The woman asked. Dahlia noticed her attitude towards the man and ignored it but it still bothered her.

"I'm not the only one standing in front of you, you can speak to him." Dahlia said with a smile. The woman turned her head to the man, Dahlia could tell that the woman was fed up.

"What can I get for you Frankie?" She asked.

"Frankie." Dahlia thought.

When they got their food, Dahlia and Frankie went to sit back in front of the building. She pulled her skirt down a bit more then sat down and crossed her legs.

"Are you nobody's favorite around here?" Dahlia asked.

"I used to work for the old owner. The man that sold you this place. I did little handy work around the place. He was into a lot of things nobody else around here knew, or they suspected but nobody could prove anything so they just gossiped about it." He took a bite of his food.

"He got in too deep. Deep enough where he wasn't even able to pay me sometimes but I'd still do things for him. Mainly because I felt bad, you know"

He took another bite.

"To answer your question. He got in too deep and basically the place was legally his, but it belonged to someone else. They just used his legit business to do their dirty business. When he got a taste of exactly who he was under, he panicked and sold the place. I'm not sure who he met but they freaked him out pretty bad. The people look at me like that because they think I was apart of it too."

"Why haven't you told them you're not?" Dahlia asked.

"It's not my job to alter peoples opinions on me. If I got into the habit of doing that it would make my life a whole lot harder." Frankie answered. They stopped talking for a minute and started eating their food.

"So, you know the woman who walked into here today when everyone left?" Dahlia with a mouthful of food.

"Mariana." He said. But, Dahlia noticed he said her name in a Spanish accent.

"She's Hispanic?" Dahlia asked, but she figured that by the way she looked.

"Puerto Rican." Frankie nodded.

"Oh." Dahlia responded.

"Yeah." Frankie sighed.

The started eating again, the silence got really heavy and they both were thinking the same thing. Dahlia took a deep breath.

"Well, i ain't going to let nobody run me out of here." Dahlia said with a smile attempting to light up the mood. Frankie didn't respond, she figured that he was done talking. That he wanted to helped but being social wasn't exactly his strong suit.

"You need a ride home?" She asked.

"No. My car is over there." Frankie pointed to a black Range Rover with tinted windows. Dahlia looked at him with a shocked look.

"That is a beautiful car." She said with her face lit up.

"You are a great woman. Until next time Ms. Dahlia." Frankie said getting up. She smiled. She knew he'd picked her name up from the host at the restaurant.

"Until tomorrow, if you want a job again." This made him turn around and she could feel his excitement even with the nonchalant body language.

"9am sharp. I have everything you need to get started." He started to walk backwards and turned around to get into his car. He didn't say anything but Dahlia noticed his countenance change.

She looked back at the building and took a deep breath.

"Well Dahlia. Welcome to Chicago."