Some debts are paid for with cash, the payment for this one was blood...
Her past was a mystery, even to her friends, or those who thought they were her friends, and that's just how she liked it. There was something about the outside world she hated, but there were so many options to choose from that she couldn't place her finger on what was wrong; until she was meant to collaborate with the CIA on a wanted man on the far side of the country. He's on the top ten most wanted men, and has been running wild since committing a killing spree years prior, now he's controlling most of the city, even though the resident wouldn't recognize it. Something like that only happened in movies. They didn't even know what real life was, the death, rejection, and revenge driven life that most of the agents in CIRA lived; if the world knew, they wouldn't be able to handle the truth.
She could barely handle the truth when she laid eyes on her father, her past, her secrets, walking around alive and well. Anger was the first emotion, and the need for revenge came soon after. He ruined her life, made it hell, and now she would do the same to him. To her this was real life, this was her family, and she was sent to put an end to it. Family; that was always the problem.
"With his death I nearly met mine. Till revenge told me to behead the King."
Cameron Martinez, an unnoticed girl who lives in Chicago which seems to be Gang Headquarters for the most dangerous gangsters in America.
Her oldest brother, Leon, used to be one of them and died because of it, shot in an alley late at night, alone. Leon supported the Martinez family with his earnings from being a gang member while their mother bought dope. With Leon gone, Cameron and her six siblings have rough times financially. She can do one of three things.
1. Join Leon's old gang, the Chicago Kings.
2. Be a stripper like her mother
3. Become a thief
Since the first two don't remotely please her, Cameron went with the third choice. But she doesn't steal petty things such as wallets, T.Vs or anything so cheap.
She decides to take from those who took the most precious thing from her; the gangs that haunt the streets and terrorize Chicago's citizens. Cameron goes around emptying the pockets of gangsters, stealing the dirty money they don't deserve. Yes, she realizes how dangerous and dumb this is, but she won't let her family starve.
People will eventually see Cameron Martinez as a vigilante heroine, but it was never she who did those kind acts. She can't understand how they could think remarkably high of her when she merely wants to put food on the table.
*
Robbing gangs isn't smart, at all. When the Chicago Kings hear of Cam's doings, they get worried and paranoid. If one insignificant little girl has the balls to steal from them, what will stop everyone else?
When Angel Montez, CK enforcer and Leon's best friend gets the command to kill the Vigilante Heroine he has a clear order. One he fully intended to follow through with. What he didn't plan was being interested in her or that she's the younger sister of the dear friend he lost. Now Angel must pick his own destiny instead of following another.
COVER CREDIT TO @AbagailJones
#382 in Teen Fiction