“Your moms is foul, yo,” Jay said, shaking her head. “Not only is she fucking her deceased husband’s cousin, but she done moved him up in the crib too. That ain’t right.”

  Taina silently agreed with her friend. Her mother had banished her from a home that was rightfully hers and turned her back on her. Chris had always promised to protect her, but his greed was causing him to do just the opposite. Deep down, Taina knew that Chris might not have really forgiven her father for the mistake he’d made years ago, and at that moment, she regretted saving his life.

  “Whoa,” Jay said. “She a freak, though. They’re fucking hard as shit on the balcony.”

  Taina gave Jay the side eye that said, “Really, bitch?”

  Then Taina put her binoculars back to her eyes to look at the scene taking place. Jay was right. Chris was tearing up Isabella. Taina’s heart wrenched with every delighted expression forming on her mother’s face. She was disgusted. Isabella had the face of a woman with no problems, still looking young and carefree. At first glance, you would never be able to tell that she was the type of woman to put a $200,000 reward on her own daughter’s head.

  “Hopefully, this puts both of them to sleep,” Taina said, looking at the clock in the minivan they were posted in. It read eleven thirty. “Almost showtime.”

  They began to load up, and as soon as the clock read eleven forty-five, they made a swift exit. Guns drawn, they ran with Taina covering the front and Jay in the back. Darkness cloaked them in the night. By the time they reached the gate, it was five minutes until midnight, and as Taina had said, the guard had already left his post.

  “Do you remember the code?” Jay asked Taina, who nodded her reply.

  She entered her father’s month and date of birth, but the final numbers were the year she was born. The doors clanked open, and the two girls ran as fast as they could through them.

  “To the back.” Taina pointed at Jay to go toward the basement window.

  Her body still ached, but her adrenaline was pumping so much that she barely felt the pain. They ducked and dodged the men patrolling the grounds until they finally reached the home stretch. Taina snatched Jay’s arm and pulled her behind a bush. The two girls ducked, and Taina eyed the rotating camera.

  “Damn,” Jay panted. “Your dad must have been loaded.”

  “He owned a Fortune 500 company, and he also owned shares in two more. Oh, and he was a kingpin,” Taina said.

  “Yup, he was loaded.”

  Taina finally got the rotation right in her head and turned to Jay.

  “I will go first because I know how to open the window. Don’t look anywhere else but at me when I’m through, OK? You must run the exact moment I tell you to.”

  When Jay told Taina that she understood, Taina waited for the perfect moment and then took off running as fast as she could. It took her three seconds to get to the window and three more to push it open and slide through. She landed hard on her knees and fell to her side. Quickly, she rose to her feet and pointed her gun around the laundry room. Of course, it was empty. She pushed a crate to the wall under the window when she was sure the coast was clear. Standing on it, she waved and got Jay’s attention.

  “You have six seconds,” she mouthed to Jay and did a countdown with three fingers while watching the camera. When the last finger came down, Jay took off running at the speed of an Olympic track star and slid through the window. Taina moved out of the way just in time, and Jay landed on her feet.

  “OK,” Jay said, dusting herself off. “The hard part is over.”

  “Follow me,” Taina whispered. “Their room is this way.”

  Taina had been right again. The only people roaming the hallways were a few housekeepers, and staying out of their way wasn’t too hard. Taina was taken back on memory lane when she smelled the scent of the house. Lavender. It had always been her mother’s favorite fragrance. The girls tiptoed up the stairs until they reached Isabella’s room. Their backs were to the wall, and they listened closely. They heard the shower running in the bathroom of the master bedroom. The location of one of their targets was known. Next, Taina heard the familiar sound of her laughter and knew that her mother was probably up watching reruns of Friends. Taina nodded her head to Jay. They had made both of their targets. Taina burst into the room, gun drawn, and flicked on the light switch.

  Isabella gasped and tried to scream, but Jay was too quick for her. She slapped her so hard that she fell out of bed.

  “Shut the fuck up,” Jay hissed and jammed her gun in Isabella’s face.

  “Is it money you want?” Isabella’s eyes were huge. She was terrified. “There’s a safe in the closet. Take it all.”

  “Shut the fuck up,” Jay whispered again.

  That time, the blow she landed on Isabella’s face drew blood. Although Isabella and Chris hadn’t done anything personally to Jay, they may as well have. Taina was one of the most genuine people she had ever encountered in her life, and the fact that these people were trying to break her already broken soul pissed her off.

  “Jay,” Taina said. “The bathroom.”

  Taina nodded toward the bathroom, signaling Jay to grab Chris from the shower. She then turned her attention back to her mother, who still couldn’t recognize her. Taina grabbed her by her hair and pulled her to the center of the large bedroom.

  “W-who are you?” Isabella cried. “What do you want?”

  “You to die,” Taina said and removed her hood.

  Isabella gasped, and if she had been terrified before, the feeling now tripled. She recognized her daughter instantly, but it was like staring into the face of a ghost. Taina was the last person she expected to see, and the sadness that had filled her eyes the time Isabella had last seen her was replaced with rage. Isabella knew Taina wasn’t there to tell her how much she missed her.

  “You are not welcome here,” Isabella exclaimed.

  “I kind of got that message when you never came to see me in the facility. I also got it when you wouldn’t let me back to my home,” Taina said, hitting her with the butt of her gun. “How can you be so cruel? You even sent someone to kill me.”

  “And clearly, the little ingrate that killed your father failed at it.”

  “You’re my mother!” Taina kicked Isabella in her ribs. “Do you know what I’ve been through? When Marisol and Papi died, I didn’t want to live anymore. I needed you, and you couldn’t even love me. You never loved me.”

  “I never wanted to be a mother. But Denny wanted a child. Every time I looked at you, I saw the mistake I made.” Isabelle shrugged despite the gun in her face. “You weren’t my daughter. You were my burden, and you still are. If I had known I wouldn’t have access to my money, I would have let you die when Stephanie found you overdosed.”

  Her words stung, and Taina bit back her tears. She didn’t have a mother. She had a monster.

  “I’m sorry I caused you so much discomfort, but that’s over now. Goodbye, Isabella.”

  Isabella tried to lunge for the gun in Taina’s hand, but it was too late. The gun went off, and the bullet caught her square in the forehead. Taina watched her fall to the ground and felt a single tear fall down her face. She was officially an orphan . . . a very rich one.

  “Baby?”

  Taina turned and saw Chris being brought from the bathroom, wearing only a pair of boxers. Jay’s gun was on the back of his head.

  He had seen Taina shoot his woman, and rage filled him like a helium balloon. He started to charge toward her, but two guns aimed at his head abruptly stopped him.

  “Taina, what have you done?” Chris demanded, looking at Isabella’s dead body. “Oh, no. What have you done?”

  “I only did to her what you both were trying to do to me.”

  “Your father taught me long ago how easy it is to get rid of family when business calls for it. And business calls for it now. I should have known that bastard wouldn’t be able to get the job done. I guess I’ll have to do it myself.”

  “No, you won’t. What you’re going to do is step down. My father’s fortune is mine. And so is his empire.”

  “Ha, little girl. You know nothing about running this business. They will eat you alive.” The way he spoke, Taina barely recognized him.

  She’d heard that money changed people, but she never thought that Chris would be one of those people. He laughed at the way she was looking at him.

  “Cat got your tongue, little cousin?”

  “What happened to you, Chris? You promised to protect me.”

  “Your biggest mistake was saving me that night,” Chris told her. “Your second mistake was coming in here and forgetting that I, like your father, was raised on the battlefield.”

  Jay didn’t know what hit her when Chris moved with the speed of a man two times younger than him. He grabbed her wrist and made her drop her weapon. Her arm was straight, and Chris hit her bone upward at the elbow.

  “Aww!” Jay screamed when her bone cracked.

  Taina tried to get a clear shot, but she didn’t have one without hitting Jay first. Chris head-butted Jay, knocking her out cold, and then threw her into Taina. When Jay fell on the ground, Chris charged Taina.

  “You made this easy for me, Taina,” Chris said, grabbing her by her neck and kicking her gun away from her hand. “You came straight to me.”

  Chris spun her around and put her into a neck lock. Taina tried to say something to him, but she couldn’t. Her hands flew to his muscular arms, and she clawed his arms. Her eyes fell on Jay, regretting that she had even let her join the mission. She reached for her friend’s still body.

  “I’m going to kill her,” Chris whispered in her ears, and Taina felt the moistness from his breath. He squeezed a little harder, and she gasped, trying to get air, but her airway was completely shut.

  “Right after I kill you. I never planned any of this to happen. You are my little cousin, and I loved you like a daughter, but you see, I have my own daughter now. She has your old room. I have responsibilities, and honestly, this is how Denny Capello can truly repay me for what he did to me all those years ago.”

  Everything around Taina began fading away, and she knew she was losing her grip on life. Her eyes shut, and she was about to succumb to death, until she heard Chris grunt in pain behind her and his grip on her loosened.

  “Get off of her!”

  Taina collapsed on her side and gasped for breath. Her throat felt like it was on fire, and she swallowed blood, but her lungs were happy to be filled once again. Taina rolled on her back and felt a gentle hand touch her face tenderly.

  “Oh, Taina, I knew I heard your voice,” Stephanie said, turning her back on Chris and kneeling beside Taina. “I thought you’d never come home.”

  In her hand, she was holding a bloody broken vase. Behind her, Taina saw Chris struggling back to his feet. Taina tried to warn Stephanie, but it was too late. Chris sent one of his fists crashing into the side of her face. He hit her a few more times before standing up straight. Taina looked around and saw that she was within arm’s reach of the gun that Jay had dropped.

  “I never liked that bitch,” Chris grunted and went to finish off Taina.

  “And the feeling is mutual,” Taina said, holding the gun.

  When Chris realized his mistake, he lunged at Taina just like Isabella had, but she was too quick for him. She shot him in his chest. Chris looked down at the wound with disbelief and gripped his chest. But instead of falling, he went after Taina once more, so she shot again. Then again . . . and again.

  “Aaghhhh!” she yelled until she had emptied the entire magazine into his body.

  Finally, Chris dropped to his knees, and blood gushed out of every bullet hole. He reached for Taina one last time before he fell forward on his face, dead. Taina kicked him for good measure. When she was sure he was dead, she dropped back down to the ground, barely able to hold herself up. She crawled over to Jay and gently shook her.

  “Jay, please don’t be dead,” Taina said and then looked over her shoulder at Stephanie, who was groaning and holding her head.

  “That son of a bitch hit me.”

  Taina was just happy that she was alive. She nudged Jay, and that time, she moved. Jay moaned and opened her eyes slowly. The first thing she saw was Taina’s smiling face.

  “Whoa,” she said. “You don’t look so good.”

  “Neither do you, bitch.” Taina looked at Jay’s arm and knew she needed medical attention.

  She didn’t have to wait long because before she knew it, the bedroom was invaded by men in suits. Their guns were drawn and pointed at everyone in the room. One of them recognized Taina instantly. Her resemblance to Denny was uncanny. He lowered his weapon and hurried to her side.

  “Princess.” He called her what all of Denny’s soldiers called her, and she knew she was safe. “Are you OK? What happened?”

  “Yes, I’m fine,” Taina lied. “But my friend needs medical attention. Cousin Chris and my mother tried to kill us.”

  “You don’t look fine,” he said, softly touching her face. “I knew something wasn’t right about her when she didn’t bring you back home.”

  The man looked back at the others and used two fingers to point at Isabella and Chris’s bodies. “Get them out of here. The rightful heir to the empire is home. Somebody call nine-one-one.”

  When the ambulances arrived, the men helped Stephanie, Taina, and Jay down the stairs to receive medical attention. Jay was put on a stretcher because of her arm, and Taina requested to ride with her. She didn’t want them to be separated. She didn’t hear the answer to her response because she suddenly heard a voice yelling at her. From where she was on the circular driveway in front of the house, Taina looked toward the gate, where she saw a very pregnant Mila and Frank waving at them, trying to get their attention.

  “Tainaaaa!” Mila yelled. “Jay!”

  Taina looked at her security and told them it was OK to let them through. Mila gave the man guarding the gate a dirty look.

  “I told you I know her!” Mila huffed and moved fast for a pregnant woman until she reached the ambulance her friends were in. “I knew you were lying. I knew it. That’s why I’m glad I put tracking on your cell phones.”

  Mila noticed Taina’s bruised body and face, and then she saw Jay’s broken arm. “What the fuck happened?”

  “Let’s just say,”—Taina grabbed Jay’s hand and blew Stephanie a kiss before they shut the door to the ambulance she was in—“everyone who has ever wronged me got what they deserved.”

  Mila looked from Taina to Jay. “Let’s just say that you both have me fucked up,” she exclaimed and then got the paramedic’s attention. “Umm, I will be riding in this ambulance with these women, and I believe they are ready to go. Just let me tell my fiancé to meet me at the hospital.”

  Frank, who had been standing behind her, had already heard everything. He kissed her on the cheek and helped her up the back of the truck so that she could sit next to her friends. The paramedic shut the door, and each girl sat on one of Jay’s sides.

  “Now, what happened?”

  “Fuck that,” Jay said, staring at Mila like she had laser vision. “When the fuck did you tap our phones?”

  “Girl,”—Mila waved her hands—“I did that months ago. I don’t know what I would do without you two. So last night, when you two were acting all weird and shit, I just kind of checked up on you and found out that you guys had lied to me. Why didn’t you call me? I could have helped. But now look at you. Jay got a broken arm, and Taina’s face is all fucked up. I can’t believe you two.”

  “Calm down,” Taina said soothingly. “You’re going to upset my babies and go into early labor, and I really don’t want to hear Frank’s mouth.”

  “I’m cool, I’m cool,” Mila said. “Now, tell me what happened.”

  “I’ll tell you the whole story later. But for now, just know my mother turned out to be the Wicked Witch of the West. She hated me, and she showed me tonight.”

  “Wow, Taina,” Mila said. “Your own mom?”

  “Yeah,” Taina said. “Crazy thing is I don’t feel anything. The woman who saved our lives was more like a mother to me than my real mom. When I pulled the trigger, it felt like I was killing a total stranger.”

  Mila nodded her understanding.

  “So . . . does that mean this is over? Once and for all?” Mila asked them and looked at Jay. “You don’t have crazy assassins coming after you, do you? And, Taina, you don’t have anybody else trying to steal your inheritance, right?”

  Mila grabbed Jay’s good hand and reached for one of Taina’s. “While we were waiting outside of the gate, I heard gunshots. I didn’t know what was happening, but I was scared I would lose you both. You two are my family now. Without you, I have no strength, love, or motivation.”

  “Somebody take the mic, please,” Jay groaned, but Taina saw the tears welling up in her eyes.

  “No, for real, Jay,” Mila cried.

  Taina knew how she felt. She had no family either, just them. Everybody else she had loved at one point was dead. The things they had gone through and the evils they’d witnessed were the glue that kept them bonded. In their friendship, you would find true love and loyalty, things families bonded by blood didn’t always have.

  “I know, Mila.” Jay sniffled slightly. “I love you both too. Very much.”

  Taina kissed Jay on the forehead. “Thank you for being my ride or die tonight. For a moment there, I thought we were both dead.”

  “Yeah, I know. But you don’t have to thank me,” Jay said. “For you two, I’ll ride to the end of the world and back.”

  “I mean, I would have been ride or die too if somebody would have picked up the phone and called me.”

  “We know,” Taina and Jay said in unison, knowing that Mila would never let them live that night down.