Page 6 of Black Wave

“I had the means to protect you girls, and I thought I was doing the right thing, but…” she trails off and looks at my dad, who doesn’t appear in any better shape than her. Honestly, he seems worse, just sitting there looking utterly defeated.

Evie walks toward my mom. “What do you mean you had the resources to protect us, Mom?” I can’t help but notice the look of annoyance on Evie’s face, which is shocking, since she is always the voice of reason in this house, but something changed in her that night at the hospital–the worst night of her life. She left that hospital room determined never to be a victim again.

Mom looks over at my dad, and he nods. An unspoken permission is given as my mom begins telling us about her life growing up in Mexico, only a short distance from where we are now. I had suspicions, but Mom verifies everything I thought and remembered as a young girl visiting my family there.

I fondly remember spending time with my cousins and Uncle Andrés in Mexico. It seems like a lifetime ago. Because of my family’s corrupt business dealings with the cartel in the smallbordering towns of Matamoros, she kept us away from them. Despite the loss of contact, they were still her family. Although she moved to another country, she was only a few miles apart, separated by a literal wall. When I explained the situation to them, they were enraged at the monster that was Julian.

“Your grandfather was in the Mexican cartel. My brother, your Uncle Andrés, is now head of the organization.” She pauses, twisting her hands around her lap and contemplating her next words.

She looked at Dad briefly. “Your father and I thought it best once you girls started to get older, teenagers specifically, to remove you from that life. We saw things starting to happen, and I just wanted something different for you.

I met your father in college, and we married. I knew then that I had started separating from my family and needed to cut ties to deter you girls from the mafia life.”

“What made you decide this? Is that why we’ve never gone back, Mom?”

She glances down at the necklace I still wear religiously around my neck. The one given to me as a present for my twelfth birthday—a promise for a future date. A date that never happened. I touch it instinctively, and it clicks.

I finish the sentence I know she is going to say. “You didn’t want me to date Eduardo.” I feel a stab of anger that hits me straight in the heart.

“I didn’t want you to date Eduardo,” she confirms aloud. “I knew that you would be involved in the cartel life forever, and that wasn’t the life I wanted for you. I want you to have a normal life. One filled with a future where you aren’t in danger. It seems I failed you, regardless of wanting something different for you both. Despite wanting to keep you girls away, my family is now the only one to help and keep you safe. To keep us safe.”

“What happened to Eduardo, Mom?” I can’t help but wonder at the boy who wasn’t only my friend back then, but who had my heart too.

“I’m not too sure, Emma.” She sighs but continues rubbing her hand down her face in frustration. “Last I heard, he had moved to Houston and owned a nightclub and a couple of other businesses there.” She starts to pace.

“Well, it looks like he is a successful businessman then, huh?”

She scoffs. “Sure. Suppose you can call money laundering successful. Those businesses hide Eduardo’s family’s illegal activity, Emma. Don’t be a fool.”

I visibly flinch at her harsh words. Never has Mom used that tone with me, but since I’ve risked everyone's lives, this is the treatment I deserve. “You don’t know that for sure, Mom. They could be legit.” I feel protective of Eduardo. I try to make myself believe this. Believe in the boy who was so sweet and kind to me—the one who started to look at me differently that last year.

Evie stands and walks to my mom. “What about my assault? Did that have anything to do with the cartel?”

She speaks with a controlled tone, but her stance doesn’t portray the sound of her voice. Her fists clenched at her side and the tic of her jaw tells of the rage buried deep inside her about being a victim that night—something she swore never to become again.

“I’m not sure,” she says as she waves her hands back and forth through the air. “I do know that they are the ones who stopped the attack. The Good Samaritan that killed the man wasn’t a random act of kindness by a stranger, if you can call it that. It was one of my brother’s security details.”

“Oh my god,” we both say in unison, much like we commonly do, being twins. This time, we don’t find it amusing as we usually do. “I knew it,” Evie says. “It was too coincidental for a randomGood Samaritan to shoot the killer and then leave without a statement.” The fire in Evie’s eyes ignites, fueling a rage that resides in her, one she rarely lets anyone see.

I nod in agreement. “If that is true, then do they know about Julian? Are they watching me, too?” I start to get a glimmer of hope that maybe the situation isn’t that bad. Maybe there is hope after all, but my mom’s following words kill that sentiment.

“No. I blamed them for the attack on Evie. I thought it was because of our ties to the Mexican cartel that you were targeted. I asked them to back off, and they did.”

I slump in my chair, deflated at the thought that I’m alone. Evie clears her throat.

“What about Emma? Is Julian so invested in her because he knows about her ties to the cartel? I suspect his family is as corrupt as they come, and a union with them would be most beneficial in the political side of things.”

I shake my head back and forth quickly. “No. That can’t be right. Mom?” I look to her for confirmation, but I don’t get that either.

“I have my suspicions that that is the case, too, Evie. I don’t know, but he became so interested in Emma, and I just don’t know anymore. The fact that I couldn’t say anything about him being older because you were already eighteen when you started seeing him was bad enough.

“Before you can ask, no, there isn’t a reason for you girls being held back a year. That was strictly a decision your dad and I made about your age and progression that year. You guys were held back in kindergarten. We needed child care, and you guys just started a little before you were supposed to. It was easier if we all went to school together, instead of me working different hours than your father.”

Evie and I look at each other, relieved that there isn’t anything else. We aren’t missing any other information or truthsin our lives that now seem to have been turned upside down with the revelation about our past.

My dad finally speaks, which shocks us briefly because he has stayed quiet, letting our mom talk this whole time without interruption. “I think it’s time, honey, to call your brother.”

He stands up and walks over to me and Evie.

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