Chapter 3

  “Noooo,” 17-year-old Taina moaned into her pillow. She cursed her alarm. “Shut the fuck up.”

  She threw her covers over her head, trying to block out the sun, only to have them pulled from her head.

  “Oh no, you don’t,” Taina heard her personal housekeeper say. “You won’t be late for another day of school. Your father chewed me out the last time your principal called home.”

  Taina smacked her lips.

  “Please, Stephanie,” Taina begged. “Just ten more minutes? I went to sleep late last night.”

  “Nope,” Stephanie said and made Taina sit up. “Whose fault was that, huh? How many times have I told you not to go to sleep late on a school night? I bet you didn’t even do your homework, did you? Isn’t that science project due today?”

  Stephanie continued fussing at Taina as she prepared the young girl’s clothes for the day. Taina tuned the short, plump woman out and stretched, yawning big. She stood up, forgetting what was in her lap until it fell to the ground, rolled over, and hit Stephanie’s white-laced shoe. Taina bit her lip and raised her eyebrows, hoping that Stephanie wouldn’t look down. She got no such luck. When Stephanie saw what had thumped against her foot, her hand flew to the apron covering her chest, and her nose twisted up.

  “Taina!”

  “Well, now you know why I was up so late.” Taina stifled a laugh as she motioned to her vibrator lying by Stephanie’s foot.

  She shrugged, and Stephanie just shook her head. She spoke, but her tongue got lost somewhere in turning her thoughts into actual words.

  “You’re having sex, Taina?” Stephanie asked Taina, already knowing what Denny would do if he discovered something like that.

  “No,” Taina said with an attitude. She rolled her eyes, grabbing the underwear that Stephanie had placed on her queen-size bed. “If I were, I wouldn’t have to put that thing on my middle finger at night and rub my own puss—”

  “My God, Taina!” Stephanie threw her arms Taina’s way, making a face. “Why must you talk like that?”

  “I’m just being honest. I haven’t gone all the way with a boy yet, but I’m 17. I have womanly needs now. I’m sure you remember what it’s like. At least I’m touching myself and not letting anyone else do it.”

  Taina smirked and went to the bathroom to shower. When she finished, she came back out clean and wearing her undergarments. Her body was fully defined, and her brunette hair hung to the middle of her back. After she applied lotion to her cream-colored skin, she put her long hair into a high ponytail. Once her hair was in place, she put on her school uniform: blue pants, a white-collared blouse, and a gray sweater that hung around her shoulders. The pants fit snugly around her waist, and her hips looked good.

  “Ohhh! Sí. My ass looks amazing in these pants.” She admired herself in the full-length mirror on her bedroom door.

  Stephanie scooted Taina out of the room and told her breakfast was on the table. She said that she needed to be out of the house by 7:00 and that a driver would be waiting outside. Taina hurried down the stairs and made her way to the kitchen. She heard her parents’ voices in there, so she stopped to listen.

  “You really need to learn how to control your anger, Denny,” Isabella told her husband. “Remember what happened with Chris?”

  Taina remembered far too well, and she heard her father grunt.

  “That is old news, my dear,” Denny said. “Chris has long since forgotten about that incident and has retained his position as my most trusted.”

  “Well, regardless of that, you need to get it intact. It’s starting to get out of control.”

  “My anger is how I keep control,” Denny responded, and Taina heard papers shake.

  She smiled, knowing her father was reading the newspaper and probably drinking coffee. She imagined her mother smiling at her father’s smart mouth like she always did and saying . . .

  “You get on my nerves,” Isabella said just as Taina thought it.

  “I’m a man. That’s what we do,” Denny said.

  Taina walked in on the two of them just as her father grabbed her mother for a playful hug. They were still laughing when they finally noticed their child’s presence. Denny sat wearing an all-black Versace suit that accented his muscular frame. His brown hair had a few gray streaks, but that didn’t detract from his youthful face. Many women sent lustful eyes Denny’s way, but he let everyone know that he only had eyes for one woman, and that was his wife. Denny checked the gold Rolex on his wrist and gave a faux gasp.

  “Who are you, and what have you done with my daughter?” Denny said, letting go of Isabella and picking up his newspaper again.

  Taina giggled and took her seat at the kitchen table. Although they had a dining room, her mother kept everyone out of it. Only on Sundays during Sunday dinner were people allowed to enter her sacred room. The kitchen area was spacious. Isabella had a vision for the whole house that she carried out effortlessly. All the appliances were stainless steel, and the cabinet doors were a deep mahogany. The color scheme included many bright colors because Isabella believed that subconsciously, bright colors made you happy. And since most people started their days in the kitchen, then they were bound to have a good day.

  “I’m the same me, Papi,” Taina said, staring down at the plate already made before her. “You can thank Stephanie. She forced me to get up.”

  “Good,” Denny said. “I’ve been thinking it feels like I rarely see you anymore. How about I take you shopping before I head to California this weekend?”

  Taina used her fork to scoot her bacon around the french toast on her plate. She knew her father would want a response, but she couldn’t give him the one he wanted.

  “Papi, what’s the point in shopping when nobody will even see me in any of the beautiful things you buy me?” she said dully. “I still have tons of bags with clothes and jewelry that I haven’t even worn yet.”

  Denny sighed deeply, knowing that she was right. Growing up the only child of a drug kingpin couldn’t have been easy, and Denny sympathized with her for that. It probably didn’t make it any easier that he kept a tight hold on her, making it hard for Taina to create her own identity. School was the only getaway that she got, but even that wasn’t enough.

  Taina was convinced that her parents just didn’t understand her. Her thought process differed from theirs, and it annoyed her that they acted as if she didn’t know what was happening around her. She had seen firsthand what kind of man her father was at an early age. She knew what he was capable of. Every time Denny got free time, he thought that taking Taina shopping would make up for all the important events in her life that he had missed. But Taina felt obliged to let him know that he couldn’t buy her love. She also was annoyed that after all the time they’d spent together, she thought he’d learned by now that material things meant nothing to her. She wanted to see the world and do fun things like scuba diving and base jumping. To him, he thought they had a good relationship, but to Taina, they couldn’t have been on further ends of the totem pole.

  Taina looked to Isabella, who, instead of backing her up, placed her hand on Denny’s shoulder and threw daggers with her eyes at her daughter.

  “Don’t take that tone with your father, young lady. He works hard, and all he’s saying is that he wants to spend some time with you.”

  “I was just—”

  “Just what? Being ungrateful? Most girls with fathers like yours don’t even get to see them because they’re too busy.”

  “Fathers like what?” Taina shot back, irritated that her mother had used that moment to attack her. “Oh, you mean drug dealers? Murderers? And wow, finally, you speak. You’re like seventeen years too late, though.”

  Isabella’s hand flew to her chest like Stephanie’s, and her mouth kept opening and closing while she tried to find the words to say. On the other hand, Denny had placed his chin on his clasped knuckles. He peered into his daughter’s eyes and was almost surprised to see that they were empty . . . They reflected his perfectly. It alarmed him. He opened his mouth to say something, but Taina rolled her eyes hard and pushed away from the table.

  “Sit down,” Isabella said, but Taina didn’t listen and continued to put on her coat.

  “Sit down!”

  That time, the command came from Denny, and Taina heard the venom in his tone. She knew she best not try her luck with her father, so she dropped back down into the seat with a sigh.

  “You will listen to your mother,” he said.

  “You mean Stephanie?” Taina glared at her mother. “She’s upstairs.”

  Tears came to Isabella’s eyes at her daughter’s low blow.

  Denny looked as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but he only had himself to blame. He thought they had formed a good relationship, but it hit him then that a lot of work still needed to be done. He wanted to say so much to his daughter, but unfortunately, he didn’t have time. What he didn’t understand was that was the exact reason resentment was growing in his daughter’s heart.

  “I don’t have time for this right now,” Denny told Taina. “While I’m gone, you will obey everything your mother says. Is that understood?”

  “Yes,” Taina said through gritted teeth.

  “Good,” Denny said, smirking at her discomfort. “Now you are dismissed. There is a car waiting to take you to school. And roll those eyes of yours again, and I’ll show you one of the many ways I can gouge them out.”

  Taina took her leave, making sure to keep her eyes in place, and exited the house. She looked around her neighborhood; every house her eyes saw was her father’s. Before she was even born, Denny had bought a large piece of land. He had houses built from the ground up for his family and most trusted on that land. Around his land was a gate with a secured entrance, so in a way, he had created his own little community. What was better than being surrounded by people he loved and trusted?

  The sun was shining, and Taina walked toward the black Audi Q5 hybrid waiting to drive her to school. Before she got to the car, her driver, Thomas, was already holding her door open for her to get in.

  “Hello, princess,” Thomas said, smiling at Taina. “You look delightful this morning.”

  Taina muttered something rude under her breath, grabbing her door and slamming it shut. She rolled the middle console up so that she wouldn’t be forced into having a conversation. The day had just started, and she was already completely over it.

  Chapter 4

  The moment Thomas pulled up in front of Taina’s school, she pulled her hair out of the ponytail it was in and applied red lipstick to her lips. She shut the door behind her and quickly became a part of the large swarm of students all making their way up a set of stairs to the tall metal double doors of the school. Whipping her hair over her shoulder with her hand, she looked to the right and saw one of her father’s hired hands standing off the stairs watching her to make sure she entered the school safely. She looked to her left and saw the same thing. She groaned and put her head down, running up the remainder of the steps. Being the daughter of Denny Capello had its perks, but it also made it extremely difficult to live the life of an ordinary teenage girl.

  During the previous three years of schooling, Denny made one of his men shadow her to every class, while another sat outside the classroom daily. It was something the other kids talked badly about behind her back. Everyone thought she felt as if she were better than them, and that wasn’t the case at all. If only they knew how jealous she was of their everyday lives. That year, her senior year, Taina talked her father into laying off a little bit. Instead of having someone walk her to class every day like a baby, they could just patrol the whole school while she was there. She told him she was almost a grown woman and needed to find her own sense of independence. Also, it was hard to do that when everywhere she looked, she was reminded of who her father was, and so was everyone else. Taina had never made any real friends because everyone was skeptical of getting too close to her.

  She refused to graduate high school without getting any of its classic effects, so she vowed that her senior year would be different, and so far, it had been. She had a group of friends that she clicked with and was having a good year. Her grades were very important since it was the middle of the school year, or so her mother said. But Taina knew, just like her mother, that she wouldn’t have to work a day in her life if she didn’t want to. She was sure that she was only in school because the law required her to be there. Taina wasn’t a bad kid, but since school was the only time she got a little bit of freedom, she took advantage of it. She often skipped class to hang out with her friends and do other things she had no business doing.

  Taina walked into her first class, English, and shined her perfect teeth at her close friend, Marisol, who she spotted right away in the back of the classroom. Marisol was sitting beside an empty desk, and Taina knew she was saving it for her. Marisol was a petite, pretty girl. She had fire-red hair cut into a bob that was longer on the right side of her face. Her emerald-green eyes set the mood in any room she entered, and her high cheekbones demanded the attention of everyone within a looking distance. Although she wasn’t shapely like Taina, she had her own look going for her.

  Taina started to make her way to the back of the classroom when a whisper stopped her. She looked to her right and saw one of the girls, Selena Ramos, who had hated her since she started attending school there. She lived right outside Denny’s gated community with her family and always thought Taina had an uppity attitude. Taina blew her a kiss and kept walking.

  “What’s up, bitch?” Taina greeted Marisol and plopped down in the seat next to her.

  “Hey, girl. Why didn’t you call me back last night?” Marisol inquired.

  Taina thought back to the events of the night before and smirked. “I had some business to handle,” she said with a sly smile, and Marisol burst out laughing.

  “Oh my God, girl,” Marisol said, wiping the tears from her eyes. “You are nasty. You need to get some dick and stop playing with yourself. Literally.”

  Taina laughed too.

  “It’s not exactly that easy. You know who my father is.” Taina gave Marisol a knowing look. “He would kill me and whatever ingrate stuck his little penis in me.”

  “Taina!” Marisol laughed again. That time, it made the teacher look their way.

  “Are you ladies done talking so can I begin my lesson? Unless one of you wants to come up here and teach the class instead?”

  “Sorry, Mrs. Ross,” Marisol said. “You can continue.”

  Mrs. Ross’s eyes remained on Taina, and she continued to glare at her. Already knowing where her teacher’s dislike for her stemmed from, Taina jerked her neck in disrespect and rolled her eyes.

  “Is there a problem, Mrs. Ross?” Taina asked. “Em already said we were done talking. You can teach now.”

  Mrs. Ross curled her lip, and suddenly, the whole class got quiet. She walked to the back of the class until she was directly in front of Taina.

  “Listen here, young lady,” she said to the young girl, “I don’t care who your father is outside of this classroom, but while you are here, you won’t receive any special treatment. Do you understand me?”

  Taina looked at Mrs. Ross like she was a joke.

  “Do you understand?” Mrs. Ross raised her voice.

  “Am I supposed to say, ‘Yes, ma’am’?” Taina snapped back. “Because if that’s the response you’re hoping for, you’re sadly mistaken. You may teach the class, though.”

  “Get out of my classroom now,” Mrs. Ross yelled and pointed at the door, offended by Taina’s audacity.

  “Again?” Marisol said. “She didn’t even do nothing.”

  “It’s cool, Em,” Taina, who hadn’t even gotten settled in her seat, stood up and said. “I know what this is really about.” She threw her book bag over her shoulder and got in Mrs. Ross’s face. “This bitch has had it out for me since the first day of school. What? Are you still mad that my father fucked you and then stopped returning your calls?”

  Mrs. Ross gasped and looked at Taina like she wanted to smack the smug look from her pretty little face.

  “Damn,” Taina taunted. “I hit a nerve, huh? My mother told me all about you. Why do you think that whenever you get the principal to call home about me, she doesn’t do shit about it? Because she knows that you are just a bitter-ass woman who married a man you didn’t love because the man you wanted married someone else. Get out of my way.”

  Taina left Mrs. Ross standing there stunned and moved past her. On her way out of the classroom, Selena stuck her foot out in the aisle to be funny. Taina saw it just in time and shot Selena a mean look.

  “Bitch, don’t get fucked up,” Selena sneered at her rival. “Your father isn’t here to protect you now.”

  Taina finally had had enough of Selena’s smart mouth. She slapped her so hard that a red hand imprint immediately formed on her cheek. But Taina didn’t stop there. She threw her book bag off her back and commenced beating Selena’s face. The whole class had gathered around the two girls, and Mrs. Ross scrambled to call security. A few of Selena’s friends saw her getting the life beat out of her and tried to intervene. One grabbed Taina’s hair while the other tried to get in a few hits. Marisol wasn’t having any of that.