When We Met

CH 3 Rosaline

The motel room had become a hive of covert activity over the past few days. Laptops were spread out across every surface, encrypted communications humming back and forth. Fake IDs, passports, and other documentation were being meticulously forged by our underworld contacts as part of the plan to disappear.

I leaned over Matías's shoulder, watching as he corresponded with one of ourzhou's in the Dominican Republic who specialised in creating bulletproof identities for those needing to go into deep cover. On the screen was a digitally manufactured US passport identifying me as Rose Miller, 29 years old, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

"Rose Miller?" I raised an eyebrow at Matías, who was now going by the alias Alex Jones. "Really, Alex?"

He shrugged, keystroking furiously in response to the zhou's latest coded message. "It was the most common, non-distinctive American name available on short notice. You want to blend in over there, don't you?"

I sighed and nodded reluctantly. Rose Miller. It did have a blandly inconspicuous WASP ring to it. Perfect for keeping a low profile in London as we shifted to the next phase.

In the corner, Alejandro was on a scratchy phone line with his and Matías's distant tía who ran a restaraunt in the central London, near china town, thats what Alejandro said. She thought he was reaching out after years of silence to make amends and reconnect with the family he had shamefully cut ties with when he got involved with the cartels.

"Si, si tía... It has been too long," Alejandro murmured, putting on an air of contrition. "That is why Alex and his girlfriend Rosie wish to come stay with you for a while and get to know you again. We are so thankful you have a room to put us up while we get settled."

He nodded along as the aunt prattled on excitedly in response, the lies dripping so effortlessly from his lips. I shook my head. Even after all these years, it still amazed me how naturally deception came to people like us.

I turned my attention back to studying the details of my new American persona that would hopefully keep me off my uncle's mercenary teams' radars for a while. The dossier listed my purported history as an insurance claims adjuster from Tampa who had taken a foreign opportunity with a firm in London. My academic records, credit history, social media - all of it had been carefully manufactured to feed the illusion.

When Matías finally hung up, I raised an eyebrow. "Everything set?"

He nodded wearily. "Mercedes will have the authentic documents delivered by Friday. We'll need to lay low at that rodent motel on the edge of town until they arrive."

I gathered up the various fake persona files and began loading them into an encrypted drive for transport. In one week's time, I would be Rose Miller, average American civilian, headed for England's shores. Along with Alex Jones and the others, I would disappear into the London underworld and start the slow process of rebuilding my family's strength from the ashes.

I traced a finger over the high-quality forgeries, the new names and biographies that would become our entire reality. A small, grim smile crossed my lips as I imagined my uncle's forces frantically trying to pick up our trail, only to run into dead ends at every turn once we went ghosts.

Let them hunt. While they wasted time and resources, I would be raising the Familia from the grave right under their noses. Soon, the dragon would awaken, and we would burn Salvador's empire to the ground for his betrayal.

As I traced my finger over the high-quality forgeries detailing my new American persona as Rose Miller, a wave of melancholy washed over me. I knew this transformation into a bland, innocuous civilian was necessary to Stay hidden from my uncle's forces. But in the process, I couldn't help but feel like I would lose a part of myself I never even knew - the privileged upbringing as the cartel princess heir, the only daughter of the powerful and feared Don Pablo.

All the training from my father, all the grooming since birth to one day take over the reins of our vast criminal empire... it would all be packed away, buried under the guise of this ordinary insurance adjuster from Florida. The thought of denouncing that side of my identity, even temporarily, filled me with a surprising sense of loss and unease.

And yet, I knew that Rose Miller persona and all the new tradecraft that came with it would become essential tools for survival and ultimate revenge. All those skills of deception and violence imparted by my father and brothers from such a young age would now need to be dusted off and honed. I was thankful, at least, that I wouldn't be alone in this mission.

I glanced up at Matias and Alejandro, operating just a few feet away like the professional soldiers they were, preparing the rest of our materials for transport. To the outside world, they had no idea those two grizzled men were more like adoptive brothers to me than even my own late siblings.

When my father's cartel first expanded into Chile from England years ago, the two orphaned Londoners who would become my father's most feared scars were brought into our household as pathetic street toughs. They were raised alongside me, receiving the same rigorous training in intelligence, warfare, negotiation, and brutality to become the Familia's fiercest protectors.

As I watched them seamlessly swap coded communications and update our escape routes, I was reminded how fortunate I was to have them by my side through this latest lethal betrayal. While the rest of my biological family had been cut down, these two adopted brothers remained fierce in their loyalty - the only ones I could truly trust.

My mouth tightened into a grim line as I thought about how wrong I had been to ever consider my uncle Salvador a part of that trusted inner circle, despite his blood relation. I had naively hoped he would be the one to take me under his wing after my father passed, to groom me as the next leader of the cartel syndicate the way Don Pablo had promised. But I saw now that my father's paranoid warnings about my mother's side of the family being diablos had been right all along.

No, Salvador and his brood of snakes were not my true family, I realised with a hard finality. My brothers who never shared my blood were my only pack now in this world. And they would be the key to helping me survive, disappear, and enact the Familia's rise to vengeful power once more.

I closed the laptop, tucking away my new American persona until it was needed. When I re-emerged, it would not be as Rose Miller, but as the rebirth spirit of the dynasty - La Rosaline Dragón, fierce and unstoppable.