Antonio

"It should be the other way. First, pay and then you'd get to say?"

Valentina's murmurings rippled through the dark and cold dungeon as she talked to the man hanging upside down. He monitored her every move through his bloodshot eyes - a predator playing with its prey.

Alejandro cleared his throat and walked up to my side. His bridged eyebrows and lowered tone emitted the state of concern he had towards our newest member. My eyes were trained on the hung man to bother pacifying my brother.

"Why is she here?" Al whispered but it was still loud enough to be registered by Valentina, whose head snapped backwards before turning around to focus on her victim.

"Because she asked for it," I said, without divulging any more details of our deal. "And I wanted her to be a part of this."

Our deal was beneficial for both of us. Valentina was happy with the way things were panning out. She was involved in the matters, only men held before and in turn, I would be able to help satisfy Maria of her grandmother's calling.

"But woman..." Al interfered. My hand waved across, cutting the air and his words. He nodded reluctantly, a deeper sigh followed moments later.

Although my loyal brother was not in agreement, he walked back with me to be a spectator of Valentina's resistance to blood and gore. Though Val made her deal, she still had to prove her ability to stomach the violence. Only then would she be made a part of the crew. I was yet to witness if she could bite back her bile when scarlet sprayed her face, mangled bodies fell in her sight.

I knew it was only a matter of seconds before her pretence would falter upon hearing the victim's painful laments to be set free of the burden called life.

"There once was a spider that climbed a tree." Valentina sang to the man, kneeling to his hung level. Al and I gazed at each other before turning to her. "It fell down, it tumbled and it went eee."

The black, sharp-edged blade she danced between her fingers pierced through the man's torso. Very little to bleed him out profusely, the wound did much worse. Drip him dry. His sobs, those gurgled pleadings diffused into the surroundings.

Alejandro swayed on his feet. This was entertaining for him. He has never met a woman who was quick with the knife and loved torturing people before actually cutting their lifelines short. The man begged for mercy, narrated stories about his younger son and youngest daughter. He called onto the maternal instincts he hoped to find in his torturer. It only made Val enjoy it further.

That smirk only grew deeper, taunting for more.

Mercy wasn't an option for the man we'd captured. After all, he was being punished for his disloyalty. Our crucial information was leaked to our enemies across the borders. The Spaniards were encircling the shallow waters, looking for anything to take us down.

This man, Federico - our once loyal manager, was quick to change sides when the minty green of money bedazzled him. Little did he know, Moralez had eyes everywhere.

The cooler surroundings of the dungeon, of the putrefied, pungent stench and the echoes which played as surround sounds from our traitors, put me in the mood for fun. Normally, I would have beaten up the man to confession by now, Alejandro to finish the rest. But with Valentina's involvement, things were deviating from their normal course.

It had become livelier. Interesting.

She continued her song while her blade slit and pierced through the man.

"The spider fell over, it was sucked back. He was desperate under this attack." With one forceful move, she jabbed her black metal friend into his throat. Her knife placement was accurate. He gargled air, moaned in pain.

"You know what's coming next, don't you, Federico?" Val sat beside him, cupping his red, sweat-induced face before anchoring his hair to stabilize the hanging entity.

Federico was inches away from death herself. She smiled at him, singing him a lullaby to sleep forever. Her expressions never wavered, she didn't show any remorse, didn't reveal any inhibition. The trained hound that was Valentina, wasn't bothered by blood or the man's cry for mercy.

"Now, now. Don't you cry. We have so much to do, Fedo. So much to do with your little children too." Her fingers roamed and pressed onto the already existing cuts in his skin. The red spot on his pale shirt deepened in color, widened in area.

"Please... Please... I'll tell you everything." His voice echoed as he tried to endure the torture which Valentina seemed to love.

When I gave her the nod, she knelt back towards the man, an almost dead animal ready to be sold in the market. Her voice soothed over his face and he closed his eyes to suffer the ordeal which never came. Minutes later, he snapped his eyes open.

Valentina smiled down at him, patting his cheeks with the care of a mother. His neck twisted, he groaned in pain, heaved up signs of nausea.

"Tell me," she whispered. "Who asked for the Moralez information, Fedo? Then, it'll all be over soon."

As if played into a state of trance, the man spoke, devoid of any pain or emotion. As if her voice was the medicine he required to be hallucinated. "Salazar..." His breath hitched in his chest. Heaving for air through his punctured lungs, his teeth whistled in the air. "The head of Spain - Santos Salazar."

Valentina held out her hand. My feet moved towards her without my consent. My extended hand reached to her unknowingly, ready to take her outstretched arm and hold her steady as she stood up, straightening. Her eyes travelled towards Alejandro who carried a smirk on his face.

I had never seen Alejandro smile or smirk in a long time. But today, after watching Valentina's work, he seemed impressed.

"You or me?" she asked, knowing the rules. Her blade danced between my brother and her body, awaiting confirmation.

Al loved to kill at the very end. Seeking permission before doing the deed, she won him over. Her game was obvious to me but not so much to Al, who smiled and nodded at her.

She got his blessing!

It took Agustin a whole year before Al let him partake in his kill. She did it in one attempt.

"Itsy bitsy spider," Val's voice lulled the man who sighed as if it was sleep that came to his rescue. A swift move over the side of his strained neck and the man gurgled blood through his mouth and neck. "Aorta... that's the thing that carries blood to the heart," she told the dying man, which artery was severed. "For your loyalty to the Moralez, you are given a painless death."

I moved back, holding onto the back of a rusty chair, expecting her game to be over.

I was wrong.

"For your infidelity," she shoved three fingers into the slit on his neck which made the moaning man scream out. "You are delivered pain."

My view was hindered but the gurgling, the screaming and the choking confirmed my earlier notion.

She wasn't a weakling but a lethal being.

The man's voice simmered before dying down. The echoes replayed it a few more times before accepting his fate.

When Valentina turned to my side, I saw her crème dress sprayed with blood. Carefully, she wiped her blade at the hem. Watching her play with her victims was like witnessing a predator make a kill. But unlike a predator, Valentina wasn't swift. She relished her time with them.

I needed no confirmation, this wasn't her first kill. I looked over the man whose motionless body swayed side to side. Her slit was perfect. Placement, perfect. Angle, perfect. Val was a grim reaper who knew where to pierce, how to take a life without an ounce of mercy.

"Who trained you?" The question escaped my mouth although I convinced myself, I wasn't interested in her life. Lie.

I was curious to know about the life she hid from all of us. Nobody had informed me, the Ramirez heiress preferred blades.

While I had an affinity for the gun and Alejandro for his fist, the question that revolved in my mind was simple - How much did I underestimate Valentine?

Val's gaze landed on me. "Ohh. Here and there." Her arms danced in the air. "Action movies..."

Like I was born yesterday.

I didn't press any further. Her new fan, Alejandro, passed her a clean towel to wipe away the scarlet drops sprayed across her face. He even talked to her - something that was yet another rarity in this house.

Once we walked back inside the mansion, Agustin walked over to us, eyes stuck on Val's blood-covered dress. His jaws remained unhinged for a while before he managed to speak. "Can't you both stop with the bloody torture?"

Maria walked in before anyone could protest. She was quicker than Agustin to abuse both me and Alejandro, pulling Valentina towards the nearest closet. Maria's anger, her finger-pointing, and raging abuses never affected me. Hence, her voice travelled to Alejandro who defended himself.

"Val wanted to come." He held up his hands in surrender.

With eyes bulging out and ready to plop off, Maria stood stagnant at her place. Her reaction was hypocritical. After all, our mother did partake her fair share of kills before the gunslinger decided to retire it for a bib. Since Maria left, those who took over the cartel shunned women to work the dirty groundwork. Women were allowed in business but only the white and the clean ones that we portray for the world.

Valentina was the exception. She didn't want a cozy office and a casino to command. She wanted pain and torture.

With a fierce look, Maria scanned Valentina's blood-soaked dress. Her new daughter's nod of acceptance made Maria mutter abuses and walk away.

"Oh, dios ayúdame." *God, help me* Yelling at the three of us, Maria disappeared into the kitchen. Only her feeble voice emerged. "Mis hijos llevan deseo de muerte." *My sons carry death wish*

"Maria," I called her out but she didn't respond.

At that very moment, that very second, everything seemed fine. All of us chuckled at our mother's annoyance. For a brief second, the household atmosphere felt normal. Like things hadn't gone wrong. Terribly wrong.

Turning to me, Valentina hooked her eyebrow with a sly smile dancing across her face. She didn't require a reminder to keep up her end of the bargain. It only took a text to get Gabriel to her room. Val was more than willing to do all that for me.

An heir in return for a seat in business.

A man in return for a lie that we were happily married.

Gabriel was loyal, never questioning his master's request. He was faithful to Moralez like all his forefathers. I knew he would never bring up the deal I struck with Val.

~

Alejandro was the one to ask the obvious question. "Are you letting Gabriel goto-?"

My nod was enough for him. After all, we had an unsaid rule. 'Never question the other's life.'

Agustin moved in his chair, huffing out air. He seemed too eager to break the rule. With a hoarse voice, my younger sibling flew up from his chair. "Why are you letting Gabriel-"

"She asked for him... Not you." I felt his anger radiate over to me.

"What do we do about the Santos Salazar?" Alejandro was the one to diffuse the situation, changing the topic. "He needs to go."

I knew exactly what needed to be done. Santos Salazar was a big fish in an ocean, who assumed the whole kingdom was his. With a few successful coups on our neighbors, he rose to power after his father's demise.

Little wins got in his head. He thought he could win over us too.

Tilting my head, I answered Alejandro, "Lo vamos a visitar." *Let's visit him*

~

Babies

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Love

S