Success, Opulence and Power Hebru Young (ebook reader online .txt) 📖

kind of day it had been, and I needed to unwind. Brandon left the bottle, a half-filled glass of club soda, and a slice of lemon on the left corner of my desk. I poured the Gładka Królewska then loaded up the Mellow-317—I needed a view that would help me relax. I sat at my desk for half an hour, taking slow sips of my drink as I contemplated everything that needed to be done about the trial and the business.

Chapter 19

Business Plan

Where: Guillermo’s Cabana; North Walnut Grove, Miami

When: 0730 hours, Friday, February 10, 2012

Currency: US dollar

Edwardo, mulling over his actions from the previous day, decided, that just like his father, he too was going to shield Anna and Isabel from the inner workings of his business with the cartel. There was no point compounding an already devastating situation in the loss of Guillermo. Edwardo’s plan was to make sure Anna and Isabel were happy and sorted out financially. He planned on speaking to his friends Christopher and Alexander during school lunch break about the drugs he had inherited from the Guillermo and Zorro fallout. Edwardo and Anna woke up early to set up for the day’s business at the restaurant. Afterward, he would head to school. It would be his first day back, and he knew a lot of his fellow students would have questions about his father’s shooting. Edwardo had already made up his mind: he wasn’t going to talk about the situation.

“Well, Mom, all sorted out now. I’ve taken the meat from the freezer, all the potatoes, peppers, onions, and spinach have been washed. Is there anything else you would like me to do before I leave for school?” Edwardo asked.

“No, son, you’re all done here. Hey, listen to me, you are a good boy and I love you so much,” Anna said.

“I know, Mom…” Edwardo replied.

“No—listen. This thing with the cartel, you understand that as your parents we should have protected you from this. We shouldn’t have gotten into this business. I love you, and as your mother, I will continue to worry about you for as long as I live. I want you to be very, very careful from now on. These people are dangerous, so you need to be smart. I am here to give you guidance whenever you need it, okay?” Anna said.

“Okay, Mom, but don’t worry too much about it, I have a good feeling that everything will be fine. I’m worried about you, though. Are you going to be okay?” Edwardo asked.

“I miss your father so much, but I will be strong, we will get through this together as a family,” Anna replied.

“How is Isabel? She hasn’t really said much about it,” Edwardo asked.

“Your father’s death has been really difficult for her to deal with. I spoke to her this morning, though. She plans on going in to work at 11 a.m.,” Anna said.

“She’ll be okay?” Edwardo asked.

“Yes, I’m sure that she will be fine. We will always remember your father, but we will all be okay eventually,” Anna said.

“All right, Mom, say hi for me when Isabel wakes up. I have to go now, but I will come straight back after school,” Edwardo said.

“Okay, you have a nice day, son. I love you.”

“Love you, mom.”

Anna was putting on a brave face. The truth was that she was hurting on the inside. Edwardo seemed to be dealing well with everything. The reality was, he had no option. He didn’t have the luxury of dwelling too much on the pain he’d felt days after the murder. He needed to focus on taking care of the family and doing everything he could to keep the cartel happy. Hector Gallegos would be taking him under his wing, and so Edwardo was going to do everything he could to gain his trust.

As he stepped off the school bus with Christopher and Alexander, he saw it was just another school day. There were other students getting out of other school buses, some students being dropped off by their parents, and others chaining their bikes to the bike racks.

“Guys, I have something to talk to you about. It’s really important. We will talk at lunch today, in our usual spot. The good thing is that no one sits near there, so no one will hear what I have to say,” Edwardo said.

“Hey Dom, what' on your mind?” Alex asked.

“Don’t worry Alex, we’ll get to it when we get to it. I will explain everything at lunchtime,” Edwardo replied.

All the kids in school called Edwardo “Eddie.” They all thought his name was Edward. When his parents applied for his social security number shortly after his birth, his name had been misspelled, leaving off the last letter. His parents hadn’t even noticed until years later when they applied for his state ID and noticed that it read Edward. At the time, they didn’t want to address the issue, because they were still illegal immigrants. Complaining about the spelling of their son’s name might have jeopardized their own residency status, so they just left things as they were. As if the Edwardo-Edward-Eddie fiasco wasn’t confusing enough, Alex and Chris called him Dom, short for Dominguez.

Throughout the morning, students and teachers offered their condolences to Eddie. He responded politely but didn’t say much else. The girls especially seemed to be very empathetic; they kept asking if there was anything they could do. The buzzer for the first period sounded, and the students dispersed to their classrooms. Eddie’s first period was algebra, a subject he excelled in. He made As and Bs in all subjects—he understood the importance of a good education and made sure he kept his head in his books. This made Anna happy, because she knew some of the other kids from the neighbourhood did not have the same focus as her