DIRTY MONEY

| part two

Daddy Issues...

Because of the distance from the fabric shop to her home, it took Bianca a little longer to pick up Dorinda. Her aunt was fine and didn't curse her out, but she did ask what took her so long. She made up some excuse about how a client was being difficult, and then traffic was a bitch.

Dorinda believed it because Bianca sat on her hands to avoid her fingers scratching at her top lip. If Dorinda had seen her touch her lip at all, she would have known her niece was lying. Bianca wouldn't have known what to say that would justify her lying in the first place.

After riding around with her aunt for a little bit, Bianca was dropped back off at home. She took her time exiting the car, but as soon as she entered the building, Bianca hurried up the stairs to check if the package was still where she had left it.

When she returned to her apartment for a brief moment earlier, she made a plan to push the box under her bed. She knew it'd fit, and it'd be a good place to hide it so Ruth wouldn't ask questions either, but upon entering, Bianca could hear her roommate's footsteps.

Panic rushed through her, and she crept over towards the kitchen. Rather than causing her mind to blank, her anxiety led her to place the box under a cabinet in the kitchen. She knocked over some cleaning products, but she moved fast.

She carefully shut the cabinet and pretended to have been tying her shoe when her roommate called out to her. She was able to play it off and told Ruth she had to head back out to get Dorinda.

It was clear that Ruth had not picked up on what Bianca was doing because she didn't call her frantic, and Bianca was able to see Alvaro's package right where she put it. She had no idea what was inside of this box, but she had a few ideas of her own, and each screamed illegal.

It was now somewhere around ten p.m., and Bianca was getting ready to lay down in bed after her shower. She was on a phone call with Hilda and had been for the last twenty minutes, the conversation filled with laughter and gossip.

Bianca was close to becoming comfortable in her bed when she heard a knock at her door. She didn't have the opportunity to ignore it and let Ruth answer because she had yet to return home from hanging with a friend.

Bianca thought maybe it was her, and she had left her keys again. So, announcing to Hilda that she would be a bit distracted halted their conversation.

"Damn, imagine if it's a serial killer behind ya door, and this is it?" Hilda asked as she popped some popcorn into her mouth, chewing loudly into the phone.

With a smack of the lips and putting her feet into her slippers, Bianca says, "if I get slaughtered, I'm giving them ya address so you could be next," hearing another knock at her door, she started to make her way out of her room and yelled out, "I'm coming!"

"But how will you talk with blood comin' outta ya mouth?" Hilda asked with a smirk, "so, technically, I'll be safe."

Bianca saw how she had a point, "I'll just haunt your ass instead," she said as she picked up her pace, making it to the living room.

"You'll be a sexy ghost, though, so I don't think it'll be scary," she said with her mouth full, "I'll purposely summon you."

She smiled, "don't make me blush now."

When Bianca made it, she stood on her tippy toes to look out the peephole, pressing her hand against the door. Hilda's words began to sound muffled as Bianca's eyes caught sight of who was knocking at her door.

It was Alvaro, and the sight of him made her vision go out of focus. She wasn't expecting to see him at all today, busy getting a visual of him because of the memories from their random run-in three days ago.