Chapter 1 Frank

• "Are you meaning to tell me that Gustavo isn't there? He isn't paid to lay around and take up space. Neither are you too. So, get to work, and fucking do what you're paid to do!"
• I slam my phone recklessly on my bed, not caring if the force broke it or not. I can't believe it. I'm just getting out of bed and the first thing that I get to hear is how incompetent people are for being paid their salaries on time to enable them to work well with large bonuses and are slacking at their jobs.
• At this point, it would have been much easier to hire a bunch of homeless hobos off the streets, train them in the art, and pay them half the price being wasted on these idiots. At least my yelling this morning will be worthwhile.
• Fuck! The day hasn't even started and I'm this irritated. I genuinely hope the rest of my day won't be filled with shit like this, thou it probably will, that’s just the way my life rolls.
• "Li! What's wrong baby?" The curious voice of my mom calls from the other side, and I wince slightly. I shouldn't have lost my cool like that.
• So not professional.
• "Nothing to worry your pretty head over, Ma. It's just some mishap at the bar. Nothing I can’t deal with." I say back to her. I know she's just a few seconds from opening my room door, and I don't need her worrying over my mood or it would dampen her day.
• "I'll be down in a few," I tell her, standing from my bed. "Why don't you go down and make me something sweet like you always do to help me have a great day."
• Just as I thought, she was a few minutes from opening my door but she pauses, "Li baby, don't let whatever it is get to you. It’ll ruin your day, kiddo.”
• I nod, even though she can't see me. Isn't my ma, the sweetest sweetheart? You probably won't agree with me because you don't know her much, but hearing her like this, I'm certain my day is going to go well. You might be asking yourself why a grown man is living with his mom. Well, that’s a story for another time.
• "I promise, Ma. Now I need to get ready for work."
• "Come downstairs when you're ready!" I hear footsteps, and it's not until I'm sure she's gone before I rush to my bathroom to get ready for the day.
• And I've got only thirty minutes to spare.
• Okay, so I know I said it was going to be a good day but what the fuck is happening?! Everything is going crazy!
• It was going well after I had my shower, got dressed, and had breakfast. But the moment I stepped out; it was like some switch had been turned on to let all bad things start up automatically.
• It started with a dead bird falling on me from nowhere. No blood or anything of that sort, just the poop it managed to smear on me as it was landing. I had to go back to change and take a shower which took valuable time away from me. Ten minutes, if I had to be exact.
• Getting into my sweet baby Margarita (my precious 1968 black Mustang), and already five minutes behind time, the shortest route to the bar was blocked due to an accident and I had to be subjected to having to manage my anger and irritation in the traffic which made me late by another thirty minutes.
• And what more rotten luck could I get on reaching the bar, I was greeted with the headlines carrying the picture of my dad and his latest eye candy caught in another scandal.
• I couldn't believe it.
• The nerve of the old man, claiming to be retired just to avoid having to deal with all the formalities yet subjecting my half-brothers to answer to him at his every need and call. Oh, that includes me getting rid of all evidence concerning the latest scandal he's involved in.
• He was ruthless enough to have all my savings and trust funds on hold. I know it's highly unbelievable right now, but he was able to successfully get me under his thumb because I got into a lot of shady things while growing up.
• Let me let you in on a little not-so-open secret, I'm the black sheep of the Dinero family. Family rules and whatnot, yeah, I don't follow ancestral procedures. I preferred to do things my own way, the way I wanted. My father saw that to his advantage and decided to use it.
• But he also knew I wouldn't be here taking his bullshit, and neither would he have been alive.
• I was willing to take the ground from beneath his feet, crush him to bits, and have him sink into a bottomless pit of despair. It's the least I could do after what he did to my mom and me.
• And to think I had the misfortune of having to be late to a meeting we've been trying to have with some investors for a year now.
• I took two deep breaths as I opened the door to the bar while trying to recite the mantra, I made for myself when things got a little bit crazy. However, as soon as I opened the door, everything flew out of my head and my anger came back in full force.
• My rough morning was stuck in my throat and all that could come out was a croak. There she is, in all her shameless glory. Maria Lucia Gonzales, a pain in my ass.
• "What are you doing here?" I'm nearly screaming in rage. Just seeing her sitting there with that sly smile on her face makes my skin prick with irritation. I can't believe I nearly got married to that woman.
• "Frank." How did I fall for that drawl? Just hearing my name out of her mouth has my veins popping out in annoyance, and the hair on my skin rises with irritation.
• "I believe this is supposed to be a business meeting. Why don't you sit down so we can talk business? Time is money they say." Red lips tip up, and I have the small urge to flick them.
• "Where is Señior Romano?" I ask, looking around the bar, hoping to see the old man's familiar face. "This meeting was supposed to be with him."
• "He wasn't feeling well you see, so I had to come instead. Why don't we drop all this negativity and put our heads together to make a successful deal? What do you say, Eli?" Noticing how all eyes in the bar were focused on me, I realized I had to put my pride and anger aside for the sake of my success.
• "Sorry for my rudeness," I say through gritted teeth. "Didn’t mean to keep you all waiting. I need to use the bathroom if you all don't mind. I'll have the bartender give you the samples we're supposed to be talking about, you can start with sampling. If you have any questions, ask Antonio, he will be more than happy to provide the answers you need. I'll be back in a few minutes." I left before she or the men she came with could react.
• It took all my willpower to try to sound sane. I can't let my rage take over my actions just because of this deal. It's very important to the growth and success of my bar and I can't let the presence of one of the people I hate in my life, ruin all I've been planning for months now.
• Okay, I know it was crazy of me to act the way I did. But I guess Señior Romano's guys were very understanding of the fact that Maria and I have some nasty history. I imagined I was going to walk out and meet an empty bar, but they were all still seated going over the samples with Antonio.
• Two hours later it looked like something good was finally coming out of my day. We were shaking hands in anticipation of a good signing and letting me know they'd get in touch soon.
• I still couldn't help the nagging feeling at the back of my mind. Maria is definitely up to something, so I must do whatever it takes to be on Señior Romano's good side, and also that I had to avoid anything that had to do with this deal and let Antonio handle it from now on.
• Later that afternoon, I had nearly gotten into a fight with the guys at the warehouse because some goods I'd been expecting were broken, apparently, they let a newbie handle some packs, and a good number of my glasses were broken.
• What got me pissed the most was how they tried to sneak it in amongst others so I wouldn't notice and have them pay for damages. Fucking psychos trying to rip me off, the nerve of them to think I'll let them get away with this while also having the nerve to look me in the eyes while pretending to be shocked.
• Not falling for that shit, I asked to see the guy in charge, and they dared to lie about his whereabouts. Clearly, they had no idea he was one of the contacts I had on speed dial.
• The shocked and scared look on their faces, when they realized who I was talking to, meant nothing to me as I was fighting so hard not to punch in the face of the guy who lied to me. Seemingly, they were newbies placed in charge of offloading and reloading. And the guy in charge, Ron, was begging me not to sue. It was too late as I had already made up my mind to have my lawyer visit them and I let him know they would be paying heavily, and I was no longer going to require their services after that.
• I really couldn't take any more shit from anyone anymore. I did that a lot while growing up and it took a lot of shit in silence which made me long so desperately for a place of release and peace. That led to me getting involved in many shady things and having to take more shitty things in return. I'm not doing that anymore. Not for anyone, I'm not.
• Getting into the bar after my shitty day, I see that the bar is full, and business is booming. That was some sort of comfort to this day. I had to work out this anger in some way, so I took a run after leaving everything to Antonio to deal with. That includes getting in touch with my lawyer and filing a lawsuit against the warehouse.
• I always do that when I need to clear my head, I work out at the gym, run, have sex, or do Yoga at home. As this is the only option, I'm taking it. Starting with a light sprint, and my ear pods plugged in, I take a very familiar route which is one of the longest I usually take.
• Thirty minutes in and I'm running fully at this point. Not caring what's going on around me or who I pass on the road. Just me and my thoughts, deeply wondering if I was cursed by someone? I'm not about to give in to whatever the hell is happening to my day, I'm clocking out early and going to meet my ma, she'll make this all better.
• That was when I decided to take an abrupt turn and head back. I didn't see the bundle of speed coming behind me and I slammed into something or someone or rather whatever it was slammed into me and we both came tumbling to the ground.