Chapter Sixteen
Yesnia
My nerves ran high. Four hours ago, Axel Crews dropped me off with a promise to come for me should I need him. It was all too much to process. We never discussed my father. I never honestly cared to ask. My childhood never felt lacking in any way. I was loved. I had a stable home where for the most part my mother and I were safe. Occasionally, my uncle Maricio got out of line striking my mother, but he never touched me. Even when he was upset, angered, or frustrated, he always gentled himself for me or my mother sent me away to keep me safe. My mother was a pillar of strength that kept close tabs on me. She was everything a mom should have been and so much more. She was my very best friend.
At the time, I didn’t feel like I would need Axel or an escape.
Now, I am tempted to make the call. My nerves are too much.
Javier Almanza was my father.
A man who was feared by many and loved by none, was my father. The man my Tio, my uncle, said was the devil himself was my dad. I couldn’t handle it. Every trait I was taught to fear in a human being was tied to him. Lying, cheating, stealing, killing, there was a story about Javier Almanza to go with it. He had not a drop of goodness inside him. And he was my father. His blood ran through my veins. The other half of my DNA came from a monster.
Not only did I look just like him, so there was no denying he was related to me, I felt him. I felt him connected to me from the moment I laid eyes on him.
Walking through the door to his home, my mother apologized for keeping us apart. But I saw the fear in her eyes. The pain was deep, but mostly she was afraid.
My mother was never afraid.
Mari Belle Luisa Dominguez was stronger than anyone. She was a superhero. When my uncle would go into his fits of rage at her, she would tell me to run. I would hide in the closet and listen to her take hit after hit. His flesh smacked against hers. She never once cried out, she never let one tear shed. Even with the bruises, she would look at me later and tell me never to fear a man. No matter how hard he hits you, no matter the words he said, you never gave him your fear.
For fear was as powerful as love.
To have your emotions she believed was to have you, and you never let a man have all of you for they would all fail you and break your heart.
She knew it well. And now it made sense, for Javier Almanza was her heartbreak.
Javier asked me to stay in this room while he had time to speak with my mother. That was hours ago. Bravely, I went to the door and turned the knob.
It opened.
I wasn’t trapped.
This surprised me.
This was a powerful man who controlled so much, but he left me to freely roam his home. Things didn’t make sense. I wandered the halls of the place. It was large. The place was bland and void of memories like most family homes of this size. While the colors on the walls were a shade of taupe, they didn’t have pictures or decorations. The entire place felt empty.
I wondered if this was what the man was like—void.
Room to room, hallway after hallway I couldn’t find anyone. Not my mother, not this man who was my father, or even a person cleaning the place.
Going down stairs, I heard a laugh and followed the sound. Nervously, I followed the sound. I should have gone back. I knew it, but I couldn’t make myself turn around. I reached a closed door where it sounded like someone was talking but no one was replying. Walking into the room, I saw my uncle chained to a wall. Closing the door behind me I tried to access the situation. He was talking to himself like a madman.
The gasp escaped me as the shock took over and my uncle looked up to meet my eyes.
“Yesnia, help me, you have to help your uncle.”
Looking around, I saw a key hanging on a wall where I rushed to my uncle and release the chains holding him. He hugged me close like I was his lifeline.
“Tio, what is going on? Javier Almanza says he’s my father. Mom said it was true. She’s so sad.” I let the words tumble out wishing for answers.
I didn’t have enough time with my mom because Javier said he had questions of his own for my mother to answer. I wanted my mom, but my uncle was here so maybe he would help.
I was wrong.
He laughed in my face as I stood still in fear.
Before I could ask him anything else, the door behind me opened. Maricio turned me around in his arms, but held me in place with his arm firmly around my belly. From the table beside us, he grabbed a gun and held it to my head.
I looked in front of me to see my mother and Javier Almanza watching helplessly.
“What the fuck?” Javi said to Maricio. “I fuckin’ left that shit here. Critical mistake,” Javi muttered to himself more than anyone in the room. “Off my fucking game, dammit.”
“It’s time to tell Yesnia the truth.” My uncle spoke with his breath coming down on my neck hot.
My heart rate rose, my chest hurt, and every breath felt like my last.
“We lied to you so many times, sweet Yesnia.” He told me proudly.
My body trembled as the fear consumed me. My world was crumbling into ash around me and my uncle seemed to take pleasure in it.
“Your Abeula didn’t die when your mamá was eight.” I looked to my mom while Uncle Maricio continued. I was trying to read her reaction to sort out if what he said was the truth. “She was actually fifteen. The man you have known as Abeulo was Paco an associate of your father’s and mine. He loved your mother, wanted her for his own. But your mama she only loved your father and you.”
“Maricio,” my mother pled with her brother. “Please turn her loose. You can have me. I’ll get you out of here safely, but please not Yesnia.”
“Oh I will get out of here. Yesnia will make sure of that. I told you Mari, I told you she was the key to everything.” He laughed. “I told you from the day your belly grew with her she was the key to it all. How true it is twenty years later. Yesnia is the power of my life and death.”
Javi stood with his face trained on my uncle but didn’t make a move. He was calculating, assessing. The power that radiated off of him was intimidating.
“Lift your glasses,” Maricio told Javi to which he complied.
The scar that ran the length of his face danced like a snake in my mind as Javi continued this battle of wills with my uncle. “I will end you, Maricio.”
“I know you will.” My uncle said calmly making my fear escalate.
“Let her go, I will release you from the property. I will give you a two day head start to get underground even. Your death will come eventually Maricio, but if you release her, I will give a chance to escape.”
“What to find me again?”
Javi nodded. “You will forever look over your shoulder for me like you have for the last twenty years.” He shrugged. “I am a man of many things, but a liar I am not. I will kill you Maricio. I will kill you for taking Mari from me. I will kill you for the years I lost with my daughter. I will kill you for the trust I gave you and you betrayed. Mark my words, Maricio you will die by my hands. Now release my daughter and I will let you go on like we have for all this time. Harm one hair on her head and I end you now.”
“Make the call,” Maricio ordered. “Make the call to Aurelio that gets the word out I am untouchable. Make the call. Then Yesnia and I walk away from here.”
Javi studied me. His single eye glued to my stare like he was making me an unspoken promise. I tried to read him. I tried to have this faith in him that he could save me. Except I didn’t know Javier Almanza. What I did know was my uncle was crazy. And he wouldn’t hesitate to use me until he felt his life was no longer in danger. Javier looked to Maricio next like he was judging.
“Yesnia, what a beautiful name.” Javi began talking to me ignoring my uncle. If this was going to be my first bonding moment with my father than I was going to absorb it all like a sponge. “I learned as a boy that life came in like taking breathes. Some were short, some were long. Some were light, some were heavy. Today you are my breath. Tomorrow you are my life. I may not know you, but my heart knows you. I may not have had you all this time, but I have been with you. On my word Yesnia, Maricio will pay for what he has done to you and to our familia.”
Tears ran down my cheeks. My father was a profoundly deep man that I didn’t know but I truly felt.
He moved to the side clearing a path to the door. He lifted his phone. With a few clipped sentences my uncle was given his demands. The metal of the gun pressed to my temple.
As we made our way to the door I was stumbling as my mother’s sobs ran through my ears.
“I love you, Yesnia. My strength, my gypsy, and my heart.” My mother wailed as Javi wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close while his gaze never left me.
“Te quiero, hija mia.” Javier told me he loved me, his daughter. “Maricio, you may leave freely and not a man or woman here will stop you or bring you harm. Release her.” Javi ordered, but Maricio didn’t comply.
Slowly, he led me upstairs and out of the house. We made it to a car out front. After opening the door to see keys, he shoved me away from his body.
The shot was fired. I heard the sound before I felt the fire in my back. I grabbed my abdomen as the pain was so intense. Liquid covered my hands, warm liquid of my blood as it poured out of me.
My mother screamed, and my father Javier Almanza rushed to me just as I fell to the concrete beneath me.
“No,” I heard him cry out.
Every breath hurt. I heard myself making this awful sounds on every inhale.
My father’s words played in my head.Life came in like taking breathes. Some were short, some were long. Some were light, some were heavy. Today you are my breath. Tomorrow you are my life. I may not know you, but my heart knows you.
My heart knew him.
My father was not the enemy. Everything I thought was real was all a lie. Everything I had every been told was a fabrication. Even the people I thought were family were nothing but another pawn in an elaborate game my uncle played against my father.
My father.
My heart craved the connection. My mind, my soul wanted more time.
Each breath became more painful than the last. Everything was a blur and I couldn’t make out the words spoken around me. I fought to stay alert, to stay awake, but the darkness won. It took over and I couldn’t fight it anymore. I laid dying in the driveway with a single realization—my father, Javier Almanza was not the villain here after all.