Wrong side of the tracks

Chapter 1

"Leah get your bitch ass downstairs! I'm late for work" my darling mother screamed up the stairs
I could have you killed in an instant I chuckled at the thought. One phone call, that's all it would take. I wouldn't even need a reason. Instead of picking up my phone, I grabbed my back pack and threw it over my shoulder. Time to go to hell. I piled into the car with my mom and my three siblings, shay, Luke and Chrissy.
"You need a fucking attitude check missy, I could lose my job for being late! Believe it or not you need me to survive I am in control of you don't ever forget that!" She was totally losing it. Chrissy threw me an apologetic look and Luke rolled his eyes as mom continued her rant. I didn't pay attention to the rest of it, I had grown used to tuning out her bullshit. Finally the car pulled up to the curb and shay and Luke jumped out, they were still in middle school and I was in high school so mom had to drive me to a different school. About ten minutes later mom pulled up to my school, slowing down but not stopping, she kept rolling just fast enough that I couldn't jump out. Captive audience. Great. "I raised you better than this Leah, I expect respect! I don't like your attitude lately and you got a b- in math, are you giving up on your education now too?" Actually there was  a rather large shipment of crystal meth crossing the border from Mexico and I was obligated to be there, I didn't have time to study last week. Thanks though mom.
"Mom I'm really sorry, I slept late this morning that's all. It was an accident. I'll get my grades up, I promise mom"
"That's all I need to hear, now go to school. wouldn't want you to be late" she said mockingly
"Love you mom" I spat out bitterly
"You too, now get out of my car" I couldn't tell if she was joking or not so I just jumped out of the car as it came to a stop. Immediately I heard my name being called and I turned my head to see a group of guys smoking and laughing about Satan only knows what. After having a quick look over my shoulder to see if my mom was gone I walked over to them.
"What's up guys?" I slid my face into a charming smile and put my hands into the back pocket of my black skinny jeans.
"I just got my pay check, what can I get for $250" the taller one said sticking his hands into his pockets
"Depends where you wanna go" I smirked and a couple of the guys laughed "but seriously you're gonna have to go see tony, I don't deal anymore it's below my pay grade" I pulled out my work phone and texted tony to get these guys a deal, they seemed nice enough.
"Thanks Leah, you're the best, man"
"Whatever you say Jerry" I said, walking away from the group and into the main hallway of the school to my English class. The class ended pretty quickly just like every other class of the day. Before I knew it, the end of the day had come, and I waited in the parking lot for my mom to come get me. My personal phone buzzed in my back pocket and I answered, my mom was calling for some ungodly reason.
"Hey mom what's up?"
"Not much, I have to work late tonight so lacy is gonna come get you, she'll be a bit late"
"Okay bye mom" I paused "love you" I really just wanted to end the phone call
"Goodbye Leah, I'll see you tonight"
Damn it it just had to be lacy didn't it? Lacy was my moms kid from another relationship, she was four years older than me and she thought she was so cool because she smoked pot, she thought she was so bad. If only she knew. As I was thinking, lacy pulled up in her crappy, black car. It spluttered and lurched forward, tony glanced over from across the lot giving me a pained look, I rolled my eyes and slid into the seat next to lacy.
"Sup kiddo"
"Eh not much. How about you"
"Could be better, I'm stopping by a friends house to get some stuff real quick before we head home. Don't tell mom"
"You got it sis" and then I put in my ear buds to drown out her crappy music. A little bit later her car rolled to a stop in front of a house with brown grass and A screen door which stood ajar.
The sound of yelling spilled out onto the quiet cracked pavement of the sidewalk, slithering through the car window and assaulting my ears. Lacy was going to be awhile. I groaned internally and leaned my head back onto the seat. I didn't even have homework or anything to do.
Lacy left and marched into the unkempt house. Just then, the imperial march blared out of my phone and into the car, my work phone was ringing. Well at least I won't be bored, right? I put my hand into the backpack, fishing around for my phone, when I found it I saw that it was tony calling.
Tony was my right hand man, I trust him more than anything. Even though I can take care of myself and I really don't need anyone, he's kinda like an overprotective brother. Technically I'm the one in charge. I'm the one who everyone's afraid of, I coordinate shipments and dealers. I protect our gangs territory, but it didn't start out that way. The old leader, Andy, didn't think very highly of drugs. Instead he marketed people. Specifically young girls. That's how I got caught up in this, of course he never kidnapped girls, that would be too suspicious. He relied on black mail to control us so while I remained with my parents I couldn't go to the cops. instead I had to do every disgusting thing I was ordered to do until the time came when I could move past it. Eventually I killed my way to the top and tony was by my side, tony was there when I took my revenge on Andy and he's been with me ever since. I smiled at all the good memories and answered.
"Hey tony what's up?"
"Nothing much boss, there's a shipment coming up from the border though, Emilio wants to see you"
"I didn't schedule anything with Emilio's guys until next month"
"The meeting was moved to this month"
"Well why the fuck wasn't I notified?!"
"I'm sorry man, jack and Alex fucked it up" damn it! I can't trust them with anything can I? It's a Monday and they've already caused problems that will take me weeks to fix.
"Where are they now?"
"HQ"
"Tell Vic to kick their asses"
"On it"
"Okay, now, back to shipment when is it and where is it?"
"Danielle's bakery off 7th at 11:30"
"I'll be at HQ by 6, I wanna take a swing at jack"
"See ya then" tony said cheerfully. I set my work phone down and picked up my personal phone to call my mom. She answered on the third ring.
"Hey mom, how's work?"
"Pretty good, how was the drive home?"
"Oh it was good, can I go to a friends house to study? I'll probably stay the night."
"Sure, who?"
"Um" I wracked my brain for a name that she would believe "Jenna" it kind of sounded like a question
"Ooooh the McDougal girl?"
"Yeah mom"
"You know she is so pretty , I wish you were more like her" my mom started babbling
"Ok bye mom thanks" I cut her off and hung up the phone after she said goodbye.
Just as I put the phone down, lacy ran out of the house holding a brown paper bag. Of course, my work phone rang just as she opened the door, of fucking course it did. I glanced at caller the caller I.D. and sighed, I had to take it, it was one of Emilio's guys. Probably calling to confirm the shipment.
"Hello?" I said, ignoring lacys look of confusion
"Leah, it's been a while" Emilio dragged out his words a lot, like every word tasted sweet and he didn' want to let it go just yet. If I had been anyone else, I would consider it an honor to speak to Emilio directly, he didn't like to lower his standards by speaking to the low men on the totem pole. Dealers, hookers, low level hit men, even some leaders were denied the right to speak to him.
And yet there I was.
A teenage girl.
On the phone with a notoriously vicious drug lord, talking like equals. Old friends. That voice at the back of my head reminded me that I am speaking to him like an equal because I am one. I have a reputation worse than his in some ways.
"Emilio! How have you been?" I asked cheerfully, trying to shrug off the stare lacy was giving me
"I've been great, just called to confirm the shipment tonight, we settled on 15 grand, right?"
"Yeah, just like always"
"Hey, you got any contacts in Arizona? I need to expand my horizons if ya know what I mean, more territory"
"Yeah I'll get you guys in touch, just cut me in 20 percent"
"Sounds good, you sound kinda tense. Is someone with you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because I have news that your really not going to like" his voice dropped a little bit, taking on that threatening edge that it did whenever he was in front of his guys
"Oh really?" I smirked even though he couldn't see it.
"I know about your girlfriend" five words. That's all it took, then shit got serious. Emilio was a cool guy but I didn't trust him. I couldn't afford to. The fact that he knew about my girlfriend was dangerous.
"What is that supposed to mean? Am I supposed to be afraid? Are you throwing away our profitable partnership?" I questioned "have you forgotten the last time someone tried to take advantage of me?" I asked, referring to Andy. I had decapitated him and sent it to One of the other gang leaders as a way of telling everyone that I was in charge.
"No, you cannot afford to love in this business. I have your girlfriend, I will dispose of her tonight it is in everyone's best interest that you join as another branch of my territory, or you could fight and lose. Your move."
"Emilio, you are going to die tonight"
"I look forward to it, old friend" I hung up on him and called tony
"Emilio has Lynn, go get his daughter ash, we need a bargaining chip"
"Leah? What is happening?"
"I just got off the phone with Emilio, he has Lynn we need to get ash before the deal tonight" I looked down at my hands "I'm going to kill everyone he loves" yet again I turned off my phone and turned back to lacy. Asking her to drop me off at HQ which was a large warehouse on the wrong side of town. The place was overflowing with my guys who were mostly in their teens and unlike most of the gangs in the region, we had a large amount of girls working with us.
"I know what you're gonna do, Leah. I'm going to be there tonight. Standing behind Emilio. With a gun pointed at your face. If it comes to it, I will choose Emilio over you but I'll try not to kill you"
"Thank you lacy it means a lot" and then I got up and left the car. I knew lacy was one of Emilio's crew but I didn't think she'd be so open about it, knowing that I'm now her enemy. Soon to be her superior, once I take over Emilio's territory.
I walked into the warehouse and glanced around, the first floor was bustling with people. Cleaning guns, loading guns, counting out money, weighing various substances to be sold, you know just the dealer things. On the far side of the floor there were stairs leading up to the second floor. There were several rooms here, my personal overnight room for when I needed to work, holding cells, torture cells, and even a vault for money that had yet to be funneled into off shore accounts.
I glanced into one of the rooms to see Vic beating the shit out of jack and Alex and I peeked my head in.
"Hey Vic, later tonight tony is gonna bring in a girl named ash, she's got red and black hair and she's Emilio's daughter. I need you to kill her after I call you, okay?"
"Are we really starting shit with Emilio's crew? I mean is it really necessary?" Normally I would have someone brutally beaten for that but the Fuentes brothers (Vic and mike) were almost as high on my command as tony was. They were highly valued and I really did look to them for input on my decisions.
"He has someone I care about, what if he had Kellin? How would you respond?" Kellin was Vic's boyfriend, they had been together for almost three years now and I am proud to say that I had a huge part in getting them together.
"He has Lynn!?" I nodded, taking a pair of brass knuckles off the wall and hitting jack as hard as I could. A minute later I collected myself and walked out, waving goodbye to Vic. I went to my personal room, awaiting Tony's news that he had collected the daughter of my enemy, Ashley Costello.
Tony did not disappoint, as usual he did exactly as I had asked and delivered the girl to one of the spare torture rooms. He immediately came to my room to notify me that she was in H.Q. I now found myself sitting in front of the girl as she looked at me with wide, brown eyes.
"Let me guess, my dear father has taken something very special from you, you just want revenge it's only business blah blah blah. Let's cut the bullshit here, my dads a dick and you have problems lets get this over with. Yeah?" She sure was a talker huh?
"You've got quite the mouth on you huh?"
"You know it biatch" she smirked at me and I kind of wanted to kill her right now
"You're lucky your dad has my girlfriend, you'd already be dead otherwise" that quieted her down a bit and I smirked. I hit her across the face and she cried out, bending over as far as she could with her hands zip tied behind her back. "Your gonna die tonight, Darlin" I whispered in her ear as I walked out. I passed Vic in the hall and remembered that I had asked him to kill ash later.
"Oh hey Vic, that girl is in the third room on the left, get mike and Jaime and watch her while I go get ready for the meeting. I'm gonna call you guys when it's time to kill her if that's okay"
"No problem, I'll get the guys and get in there" he said eagerly
I walked to my personal room and brushed my hair, exchanged my flannel with a leather jacket, cleaned my gun, and checked the time 10:00. I headed downstairs, got my group ready and started laying out the plan.
If Emilio cooperated and returned Lynn to me, we would return ash unharmed.
If he resisted we would put ash on the phone, if he still refused then he would get to listen helplessly while his daughter was killed. After Vic killed ash, I would kill Emilio. At that point we would have a full blown gang war between the most powerful gangs in the region.
I would either be the most powerful girl in the region or I would be dead in less than two months.  That's basically how my life was going at this point. I decided to get everyone in the van instead of thinking about the fact that I might die tonight. It was unacceptable for someone like me to show fear.
Ten minutes after leaving HQ we had arrived at Danielle's bakery and it was 11:25 which was basically when everyone got there, of course Emilio was already there but he's always early to these things.
Danielle's bakery, as you may guess, was owned by a woman named Danielle and was a regular meeting place for gang activity in this area for a couple of reasons. One being that it had a basement which was frequently used for private meetings like tonight's meeting would be, another reason being that it had no security cameras and no residents in the area. No one would be calling the cops.
All my guys/girls got out of the van and we headed towards the building in complete silence. Tony was walking to the right of me and a girl named Haley was walking to the left of me. She was another one of my trusted advisors, she was really good at judging all the possible outcomes of little seemingly pointless actions and she was usually right in her guess. We walked to the rear of the bidding to find eight of Emilio's guys standing behind none other than the Emilio himself. He was short with cropped black hair and tattoos over every inch of his body. He was in his mid thirties and still looked like he was 20.
"Hello Leah it is nice to see you"
"Truly delightful" I spat back at him
"Shall we?" He said, gesturing to the door to the basement behind him. I nodded to tony and Haley and we stepped into the basement behind Emilio. I was not surprised to find that lacy was one of the trusted people he brought with him into the meeting when the rest of our guys stayed outside. I gave her a cold look and I notice her giving me the once over. Her eyes stopped when she saw the gun in its holster on my hip. She looked shocked to see her little sister with a gun. It almost made me smile but I remembered that Lynn was gone and I kept my composure.
"Have you considered my offer?" He asked with mock politeness as he sat down at the table lined with eight chairs, motioning for me to follow suite
"No. But I have a proposal" I said as I leaned over the table
"I'd love to hear"
"Give back Lynn and your daughter lives"
"Your kidding, right? Do you seriously expect me to believe that you have my daughter?"
"Tony, why don't you put her on the phone"
"You got it boss" he said while calling Vic's number, within thirty seconds, Ashley's voice crackled through the phone
"Daddy? What's happening?" She had put on her innocent voice and Emilio was totally buying it. I almost wanted to laugh. His eyes got wide and his tanned skin was pale.
"Everything's going to be okay, I promise daddy's gonna make it okay" he looked distressed and I was proud of myself. If all else failed I had managed to truly scare one of the most ruthless gang leaders around. "What do you need?" He asked directing his words at me now.
"I need you to give me Lynn and give up all of your territory. Surrender to my gang and you can live with your family"
"I can't" he looked like he was going to be sick and I almost laughed. He is always so in control of himself but now I'm threatening his family and damn he doesn't like it.
"And why is that Emilio?"
"Yeah dad what is happening?!" Ashley was really getting on my nerves.
"Lynn is dead, I had her killed. It's too late" Emilio may as well have slit his daughters throat himself when he said those words.
"You there Vic?"
"Yeah boss"
"Slit her throat"
"No, you guys come on I didn't do anything it's my dad!" She screamed "daddy help me Vic no! I didn't kill her! It's not my fault!" Ash was now begging for her life and it was kinda hilarious because she was cut off by the sound of blood gurgling from her throat as she slowly died.
I watched Emilio crumble in front of me and when I put my gun to his forehead he didn't struggle he just looked up at me as I pulled the trigger.
There was blood everywhere, the worst of it was on the wall behind him, but there was a good amount on my jacket. Some stray splatters of Crimson blood had landed on my face and hands.
"Haley, tell the guys outside to clean up this mess. I'm going upstairs to wash my hands"
"You got it boss" she smiled and did exactly as I said, just like everyone did.