Hasta La Muerte // CNCO

Chapter Six

You plaster a smile onto your face as the bartender slides you the drinks, unaware of the men threatening you. You could still feel their grimy hands on you, slightly loosening their grip on you so they wouldn't raise red flags to the bartender. You took this chance to turn on your heels, finally facing the men that threatened and groped you. They looked down at you with dirty smirks on their faces, waiting to hear what you would say.

"Papasitos, let me tell you a little secret." You begin, flicking the hair from your face and setting the drink back down on the bar. They both still had their smirks, but this time they were intrigued by what you were about to tell them. In a swift movement, you grabbed the one that was closest to you and your knee found his groin, you could hear him stumble over his words because of the pain you caused. "Don't you dare ever fucking touch me again. And tell whoever sent you here to have the guts to say it to my face instead of sending his little minions." You whispered in his ears, pushing his body away from him and leaving the drinks behind as you went back with your friends.
"I need to talk to Richard. You and Liddya should go back to your place and wait there for Yashua. It's not safe here." You whisper to her. Tati was the only one of your friends that knew about your family business and that was only because she was family to you already. She nodded at your words as you quickly escaped the crowded club.
~
Half an hour later you found yourself storming down the hall and into Richard's office. As soon as you had pushed the doors open, Richard and Joel turned at you with their hands resting on their guns.
"Mana? What are you doing here? It's one in the morning." Richard questions, he knew by your outfit and the smell of alcohol that you had been enjoying a night out on the town. You didn't care about that though, you needed to know who was threatening you and why because they threatened the life of your family.
"Who the fuck is Paulo and Sergio?" You ask crossing your arms and looking expectantly at your brother.
"Why are you asking?"
"They told me to tell you that we're targets and should sleep with one eye open." You repeat to Richard. Joel took a step towards you as you finish your sentence, he knew what this meant for you, Richard, and the mob.
"They threatened you?" Joel asked.
"What the fuck?!" Richard explains, anger bursting out of him. They couldn't just threaten and green light his family and get away with it.
"Yes. I mean I can protect myself but I want to know who they are." You respond and turn back to Richard with demanding eyes. Richard let out a deep breath before his eyes met yours.
"No, you can't. If they threatened you, it was ordered by Santiago and he is out for our blood." Richard tells you as he runs a hand over his face. "There is a lot you missed when you left the mafia Y/N."
"What do you mean?" You ask this time you were confused because your brother usually ended up telling anything that could put you or his family in danger.
"Santiago controls the drug and gun flow from Colombia into Miami. But we control the drug, money, and guns flow from Mexico, Cuba, and Puerto Rico."
"So it's a war over control?" You ask and Richard nods. You shake your head knowing that Colombia had a lot of power as well, and now you were greenlit. "Okay well, obviously we need to do something for protection."
"I have an idea. But I don't know how much you'll like it," Joel begins. You turn your focus back to him and look at him expectantly.
"We'll need to push up the plans for you and Chris to get married. Chris can protect you, and you would help secure our process of switching and flipping money and drugs." Joel explains. You groan having forgotten everything with Chris. But there was nothing you could do now, it was out of your hands and you needed to do it for your safety and the business.
"Okay, so how will we do it?" Richard asks as all three of you sit down at his desk, ready to talk business.
"Well, we need their engagement to seem real. We need your coworkers and friends to witness it Y/N." Joel tells you and you nod your head.
You needed to make all of this seem as real as you possibly could, considering that this was all just a front for the illegal things you would be doing behind closed doors.
"Okay, so we'll have a party. My birthday is in 3 days, we can have it next weekend and Chris would surprise me with the proposal?" You suggest. This would be the perfect way to fool everyone that didn't know about the secret illegal things your family did.
"Okay, we need to start planning." Richard orders.
~
All of you sat gathered in Richard's living room. You sat between Richard and Chris, Tati sat on Yashua's lap, Erick and Joel stood alone while Zabdiel had an arm around his girlfriend's shoulder. Everyone that needed to be here to execute the plan you guys had come up with last night was here.
"So are you going to explain what's happening and why we're here at 5 in the morning?" Tati questioned as she looked around the room.
"Santiago threatened Y/N and me," Richard states, leaning forward and propping his elbows against his knees. You analyzed the reactions of the boys: Zabdiel furrowed his brows at the information because he knew what this meant for the mob, Erick crossed his arms, Yashua tightened his fists before you turned to Chris who just stared at you with concern in his eyes.
"What does this mean for the mob then?" Erick asks, he knew why Santiago threatened you but he was confused as to what the next step was.
"Well, our plans have moved up the timeline. Chris and I will be getting engaged next weekend at my birthday party." You begin to explain. "And we need you all to help, we're going to invite Paulo and Sergio so they can pass along the message to Santiago but we need to make this engagement as believable as possible."
"Which is why Mariana and Tati are here. You three need to plan this party and who to invite, as well as protecting each other. Santiago was bold to threaten Y/N in person and we know he's capable of hurting our loved ones." Richard orders. You shift your gaze from him to Tati who just nodded at him before your eyes found Zabdiel girlfriend who you assumed was Mariana. She softly smiled at you because she knew that this was a dangerous situation for all of you.
"Well as your event planner, I got this. We just need to meet up later tonight to figure out the details." Mariana tells both you and Tati.
"Mariana will help plan the party and the wedding since she is our event planner," Richard adds on. You nod at his words and smile at Mariana.
Once Richard and Joel were done explaining the role of everyone they all began to disperse, ready to go back to their homes to catch those extra hours of sleep. Neither you nor Joel and Richard had gotten the chance to sleep, how could you after that threat?
"Vamos, te llevaré a casa para que duermas." You hear Chris tell you, his hand found its way towards yours and he gently wrapped it around yours. You let out a sigh and nod your head, you knew this conversation needed to happen especially now that it's set in stone for you to be married. You stood up and allowed Chris to guide you back to his car, his hand only leaving yours to open the door for you.
"Can I take you back to my place?" Chris asks you as he turns on the engine and you nod at his question. You were scared to talk because when you got back to his place, you would need to look him in the eye as you lied to him. You could feel his warm hand envelops your again, giving it a gentle squeeze as he kept his eyes on the road.
The entire twenty-minute ride back to his place was only filled with the sound of Latin music playing on the radio. You had never been to his place before, it was always him going to yours so he placed a hand on the small of your back and guided you up the stone steps to the front door. Chris stepped in front of you to swiftly unlock the door and push it open. You quietly thanked him and let him close the door behind you.
"My room is down the hall and to the right. I'm just going to make us some tea first." Chris tells you waiting for you to say something before you both parted ways. You managed to find your way to his room, the bed was undone and you knew it was because he was asleep when Richard called him, and you spotted the framed pictures he had of his family sitting on the dresser. You looked at them for a minute noting the wide smile he had with his mom and grandma as well as pictures with his dad and younger siblings. You sighed and turned around, setting your stuff down on his bedside table and sitting on the edge of the bed.
Chris waited for the kettle to boil enough water for the both of you, his hands playing with the string as he allowed the tea to steep. His mind was everywhere from the fact that he had to propose in a week, he didn't even know what you meant last week, and now it was his job to protect you because you had been green-lit by Santiago. He sighed and grabbed the two hot mugs before slowly making his way back to his room.
He saw you sitting on the edge of his bed, your eyes were focused on your hands. He cleared his throat to let you know that he was there before handing you the hot cup of tea as he placed himself on the other side of the bed next to you. The windows were almost as big as the wall and you could see the light blue shade begin to peek up with the rising sun.
"We need to talk." You whisper and look over at Chris. His honey eyes we already on you and he nodded at your words.
"Let me get you some clothes first," He told you taking your mug and his and setting it down on the dresser, he quickly rummaged through a drawer before pulling out a comfortable black shirt and handing it to you.
"Can you help me unzip the dress?" You asked as you stood up, Chris nodded before he spun you around, his warm hand unzipping the dress and letting it fall to your feet. You pulled the shirt over yourself and let it fall around you before the both of you sat back on the bed, your left leg crossed on the bed so you could face Chris.
"So?" Chris awkwardly begins.
"I'm sorry for the past week. Look Chris if I'm being honest, I'm just scared." You tell him. You looked at him and lied through your teeth. "I'm scared to be a mom."
"Por qué?" He asks and wraps one warm hand around your smaller one. You took in a deep breath before deciding what you were going to say next.
"It's just something scary and my mother wasn't always the best to me. I'm just scared to be like that with our kids," You say. Partially lying but also telling the truth. Chris squeezed your hand and pulled you closer to him.
"I get it. But we'll all be here if we do have kids. And you'll be an amazing mother, I've seen the way you are with Aaliyah." Chris whispers. He removes his hand from yours and wraps his arms around yours, pulling you closer as the both of you fall back into the bed.
"I hope."
And soon Christopher fell asleep with his arms around you as you lay there looking at the ceiling. You felt the guilt engulf you, you were lying to him and you knew you were going to do anything to prevent having a kid as long as you could, you couldn't put them in danger or the life of being related to the mafia. You lost a majority of your family when you left the mob and you couldn't have a child if you knew they would suffer the same fate. You needed this marriage for the safety of you and your family, and you would do anything for them, including lying to your future husband.