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ONE
Rio leaves the police station after a surprisingly short-lived bust by the Secret Service, both hands in his coat pocket and a beanie adorning his head as he walks up to a black SUV. After all that went down that night, he’s not surprised to find his brother-cousin Nick in the car to pick him up, having given Mick the time off to gloat on his own tonight. Rio can take the punch; he’s already been slam-dunked by his girl, or well, the woman who he thought had chosen him and her extraordinary life over the feds. He figures he’s been surprised in more ways than one.
“Just like good old times,” Nick says soon as Rio enters the car and closes the door after him, the door slamming harder than he’d liked, still needing to keep his cool and see this through. Rio could hear the mock coming from his cousin’ tone. Rio locks his jaw, staring out the window as the car engine hums.
“Thought you’d keep me in longer, keep the city safe.” Rio says, fighting the urge to hit the smug look off his cousin’s face as he watches him in response. He wills himself against it though, figured his Nick bailed him out for a reason.
“You owe me, brother.” Nick says, glancing an expectant look at Rio.
“Add it to my tab.” Rio says, dismissively, and Nick simply nods in response, letting a moment pass between them.
“You hungry? Grandma made macaroni tonight.” Nick smiles brightly, changing the subject like this was just another day in the park for him, walk away clean. Rio nods once in response, just to get them the hell out of there. He soon relaxes his shoulders when he thinks about his grandmother, already smelling his grandma’s homecooked dinner.
The car ride home allows a moment to let Rio’s mind drift off into nothingness as they pass through the suburbs.
Rio has had his fair share of betrayal, by his own family, but never like this. The rage he felt in his gut, made him want to grab for the gun in his hidden compartment and do the unthinkable, get rid of his rotten egg, like he’s been taught to do in situations like this. Instead, he felt his chest ache with pain, anger, and most of all disappointment, in himself, in the opportunities he’d imagined would make her happy, too. But she bailed out, had too much to lose, she would say, too much to give up to choose him.
Beth, Elizabeth, had intrigued him, made him curious to venture with an unlikely new business partner. It’s not like he forced her per see, call it a friendly persuasion into a more organized crime. Her way was sloppy but it worked; they’d never suspect a lily-white woman from the suburbs washing cash- it was brilliant, hiding in plain sight. He wasn’t sure about her unstable sister who could only get her into more trouble, or her friend who’s color of her skin were prone to racial profiling in itself, just like himself, but figures her husband who worked for law enforcement would pull some strings and bail her out anyways, should their adventure go haywire.
The suburbs were not his usual line of business but he got around, made a few acquaintances through Rhea’s friends who were mostly moms of his son’s classmates. He briefly remembered that one time he had a fling with one who caught his eyes a few times, who only lived a few blocks away from where he used to live with Rhea and Marcus but it didn’t last. He and Rhea had already separated by then, after Rhea learned of his true nature as a crime boss and had treated him differently, like he suddenly wasn’t going to take care of their son, his school supplies, baseball and art classes, the house, their bills. Rio never stopped taking care of them, much to Rhea’s chagrin but eventually she came to accept the money and finally moved on. Marcus stayed in his life under the condition that he’d always provide for him, no matter what. Rhea was everything Rio had hoped for as the mother of his child and more; she was sweet, considerate and was clear-headed. She made him feel seen; like he was worth something and envisioned spending their lives together on the long run. He never stopped searching to warrant that same feeling of being desired, until Elizabeth Boland came into his life and made his life even more fucked up then it already was.
On the surface Beth was nothing short of ordinary; a wife, mother and standup citizen who wanted more from her life than was given to her. He saw her at her lowest, when she showed up in her robe, her face bare as she stared up into his face in earnest, lingering on his final decision. Rio felt a sense of relief when she caved into doing this with him, having chosen him to teach her, and he wasn’t obligated to, he wanted to. He saw Beth’s potential, the driving force behind the decisions she made which made him gain much more respect for her and had high hopes for their business. He thought that in some ways, they were more alike than he thought.
It was exactly the type of attention that he craved after years of searching for that feeling of being in charge, making business feel like fun again and watching in enjoyment as Beth succumbed to his every whim, wrapping her around his fingers until the lightest touch made her whisper his name under her breath, her chest heaving frantically when they’d get into an argument. He could see the fear in her eyes as she bit back her remarks at him, but what grew behind it was even more fascinating; a deep-seated burning of lust that he could sense resurfacing through their body heat as the distance they once knew disappeared, her dilated pupils that stared back at him, her areola swelling painfully against her bra while Rio traced his thumb across them in circles, making her jump back to distance herself from the moment as she regained her composure. Beth, he had come to learn, was everything but ordinary.
Rio had been living under his brothers’ shadow for as long as he could remember, Nick always one step ahead of him. He had no choice but to follow, what else was he going to do? His brother kept tabs on him throughout his teenage years. He befriended Mick, coincidentally almost sharing his cousin’ name, and later learned that Nick had sent him to keep an eye on my brother, as Mick recounted, while Rio looked unamused but smirked when he finally gained the upper hand, something his brother would’ve never seen coming; an ally he had found in Mick, who could keep tabs the same his cousin was keeping on him, and work independently to move weight on his own, keeping some percentages to himself while he paid off Nick’s tab. He’ll always resent him for taking away his chances of a ‘normal’ life.
In hindsight, he realized living a normal life would make his grandma Rosa more unhappy than she already was, being divorced and taking care of most of her grandchildren. He gave her an advantage in life that Nick only wished he could provide, which wouldn’t surprise him being the cause of most of his envy towards Rio. It gave him something to gloat about himself.
TWO
Rio shows up to her grandmother’s weekend dinner in the afternoon and spots Nick setting the table. It takes Nick a minute to realize Rio’s beside him placing the plates before he throws a smile in his direction.
“How’d you manage to strike a beautiful woman like her?” Nick says after a moment, “I mean, you got the looks and all but she doesn’t seem like the type to randomly just ran into you in the supermarket and decided to go on a date with, especially not to ruin her image as the pretty housewife.” Rio could only grimace in response, before shrugging his shoulders, putting the cutlery in place. “Who says she ain’t got a type?” He said while glancing him a knowing smile. Nick watches him slowly in response, eyeing him carefully while he sets the glass of homemade lemonade on the table and leans down closer to him.
“Friendly advice,” Nick says after a beat. “Stay away from her. She’s more than you can handle.”
“You would know, huh cous’?” Rio says, prompting his chin in his hand. “You still mad about the girl who left you for me?”
“Come on cousin, I’m just trying to protect you.” Rio says, throwing both hands in the air.
“Brother,” Nick corrects him.
“Whatever makes you sleep better at night,” Rio retorts, and turned to call after his grandma who was calling for him inside the house.
THREE
Mick gives Rio a disapproving look. “Such a self-sacrificing family, no wonder you two get along.”
“What?” Rio says, rounding the pool table to take his shot.
“Is it worth it, hermano?” Mick raises his hand to take the stick from Rio to take his turn. “you took a bullet for her, killed and F.B.I agent for her, then that girl at the shop…”
“Now who’s idea was that, huh? He told me we don’t handle violence with violence but when he does it…” Rio interjects, interluding that Nick had been the one pulling all the strings and this too would go away. Rio would put out the dirty laundry, like he always had.
Mick raises his hand, stopping Rio short.
“Just hear this. Is she really worth it? After all Nick put you through, Nick won’t-”
“Be your problem anymore, yeah?” Rio finishes, giving Mick a onceover taking his turn in the game.
“You sure about that? Once he start snooping around, you don’t want him to pull that stunt he did last time when he set you up.”
“Will be his last,” Rio simply says, ignoring the subject. Rio then carefully considers Mick’s concern and maybe he should slow down, keep a low profile and stay the hell away from her but his heart tells a different tale and he’s done quite done with her yet, more than he’s willing to admit out loud, much to himself.
“I got it handled, worry about our next drop, yeah?”
Mick nods sternly, pulling his phone from his pocket.
“Who’s on the come up?”
“Her baby sister,” Mick deadpans, as he types into his phone.
“Careful, she’s a handful.” Rio scoffs. They both chuckle at the thought.
“Oh, I know her type. She’ll come around.” Mick says.
Rio nods, pursing his lips into an amused grin.
FOUR
“Mi hijo, she’s married.” Rosa cues, grabbing Rio’s chin and grimaces at his stubble. She points a finger at his face. “We need to get you shaved.”
“I’m fine, ma. I like it.” Rio says simply, although he likes the attention she gets from his grandma. He’s always been her favorite, much to Nick’s chagrin.
“Still, you don’t want to get your heart broken or disappointed since she is commited to her family.”
“That’s not what this is, abuela.” Rio says, convincing himself that it wasn’t exactly what it looked like, introducing your girl to the family over dinner, showing her another side of himself and hoping that his family would accept her. She was lucky that they did, and even so, it wouldn’t change anything. Beth was going to stay Beth, putting herself first, keep up with her façade of a family, protecting her girls at all cost, struggling to intertwine her normal and criminal life. Soon, she would realize that both need to be kept separate.
“Then what is it, angelito?” Rosa coos, rubbing his shoulder affectionately. He relaxes his shoulder to her touch, missing being at her familial home.
“She’s helping to pay off my debt after my setback. She owes me, ma.” Rio confesses, biting the inside of his lip as he waits for his grandma’s reaction. He can tell he struck a nerve, her eyes still reading pain when he had told her what happened, not when, or how, but had confirmed it was her with a simple nod her direction that she was the one.
“Now why would you bring your nemesis to your family home?” Rosa tone turned serious, as it was a trick question and he already knew the answer.
“Because like my grandma always told me, keep your friends close, y estar mas cerca de tu enemiga.”
They shared a knowing smile.