That day ended with no further incident. After dinner, Rodney retired to his bedroom as his mother argued with one of the women in the house. That was the only thing he hated about his mother. She was always getting involved in arguments and fights. Rodney had witnessed way too many to count. She had fought at least once with every woman in the neighbourhood mostly because of her ability to stir and spread gossip. It was why she had lost so many clients and barely got any money in.

Rodney had never been in a bathtub full of warm water. Being in one felt like heaven, the warm water surrounding his whole body. At his neighbourhood, the showers barely worked. If you needed hot water, you had to boil water and put in a bucket. He enjoyed using hot water but it would never be around his body all at once like in the bathtub. He could fall asleep in that thing. When he finally came out, he dried his body and wrapped it around the body.

There was knock on his door. He went and opened. There was a man standing there with a box in his hand. It was one of the kidnappers. “Here’s your new iPhone, complete with a line that has already been registered and paid for. You can start using it now.”

Rodney tilted his head. “Let me guess, spyware has already been installed.”

“No, but I can take it back if you want.”

Rodney snatched the box from the man’s hands. “Thank you,” he said and closed the door.

Yeah he could take it. His phone was so old that it barely did anything other than dialling and receiving calls. Now he could finally enjoy the things everyone talked about. YouTube, F******k etc. He opened the box and pulled out a sleek phone. Just when he thought life couldn’t get better, it did.

Rodney opened the phone and logged in to his old F******k account. A photo of Kali and Grange, the neighbourhood bad boy. Just like that his happiness vanished. Putting the phone away, he covered himself and waited for sleep. There was nothing he hated more than the fact that he was still affected by her actions. He wanted to forget that she existed.

The net morning he joined the family for breakfast. No one had bothered with introductions until a little girl spoke up.

“Brother, tell me about your life.” A little girl spoke up, staring at Rodney.

“I’m your brother?” Rodney asked, panicked. He stole a glance at the lady who had tried to seduce him. His father’s wife?

“He doesn’t want to be your brother,” his sister Maria said.

“No, it’s not like that. It’s just no one has told me. I don’t know anyone’s names and how we are related.”

“I will introduce you to everyone.”

“Lyra, eat your food.” The woman said. She was wearing a conservative dress that morning.

Rodney glanced at his mother who was stuffing food into her mouth like she had not eaten in years. He blushed and turned away, hoping no one would pay attention to her because it was embarrassing.

“My name is Lyra and I’m five years old. I will start from the end of the table. That is my mother. Her name is Liliana and she is an administrative assistant. Next to her is uncle Octavio. Next is my sister Emilia. The next are aunt Jessica and uncle Markos.”

I had not seen the middle aged couple before. When Lyra mentioned their names they smiled.

“It’s nice to meet you, Rodney.” The woman said.

Another woman joined us at the table.

“That is Perry, my father’s nurse. She is very kind and strict. And that is your mother and you Rodney. Other people live here but they’re not around right now”

“Thank you so much for introducing everyone to me. Now that I know who everyone is, my life will be easier.”

Lyra and Rodney continued chatting as they ate. Rodney was sure the sweet little girl was going to be his only friend in that house along with the nice couple because everyone else acted as if he was unwelcome.

He wondered if they were sad because of possible completion or because he could potentially save someone they wanted to get rid of. He had no idea what bad things his father did but it seemed like everyone was against him. Maybe Rodney was the only hope for the man.

When breakfast was done, Rodney invited his mother for a walk outside. He was dying to know who his father was and why everyone was against him. It had to be serious for his mother to hide him.

“I made many mistakes, son.” Sara told her son. “I was reckless and got involved with the wrong crowd. Everyone was talking about him, how he was awesome and a monster in bed.”

“That’s disgusting mum, I don’t want to know the dirty details.”

“All the girls wanted a taste- sorry, wanted him. He always came to the restaurant I worked in and after several attempts I finally caught his attention. It was supposed to be an adventure, all for fun but I was the unlucky one who got pregnant. I swear I was on birth control. Everyone knew he was not a very straight person, a criminal but that didn’t stop us.

When I got pregnant, I skipped town because I wasn’t sure what to do. I lived with my aunt who convinced me not to abort the baby. I was about to return when I heard of a shootout which had left his parents dead. I feared, everything about his life came out. I didn’t want that life for you and so I stayed until I had the baby. Stayed for half a year. Then I came back and settled like nothing had happened. He had moved so I thought that was the last I had seen him until he showed up, and told me his men had been watching you. He tracked all women he had been with, even managed to get their children’s DNA through their friends.”

DNA

Rodney remembered the time kali called him, saying she was scared. He went and slept over at her place. He woke up to see putting in his mouth, she said his mouth had been open and she thought an insect had gone in so she was trying to remove it. Rodney had been very embarrassed.

“B!tch,” he said.

“What?” his mother said. “Yoursdad’s behaviour has now rubbed off on you. You’re calling your own mother a b!tch.”

“Don’t be dramatic. I was referring to Kali. She is the one who took my DNA.”

“It’s alright. He would have found someone else eventually, someone who wouldn’t have been so nice.”

“So my father is a drug lord,” I said.

“Not just any drug lord. Alberto Roco, the second most wanted drug lord by FBI, CIA, ICE and The Federal Government of Mexico.”

“That is Alberto Roco?”

“Yes, he has had a little plastic surgery done.”

Rodney had heard of Alberto Roco in the news but never paid much attention. Since he was half Latino, he hated that people like Alberto gave Latinos a bad name.

Rodney was more than disappointed. His father was one of the most despicable in the world, who killed with remorse and forced people to do their dirty work.

“This is what you should have led with. We can’t stay here.”

He had been tempted to buy drugs or deal them so he could make easy money but always said no. How could he love the person who kept the drug trade going? Alberto Roco’s body count was way too high.

Rodney’s head felt heavy and he paced around his mother who was silently holding her hands together as if in prayer. Her eyes were closed.

Rodney didn’t want to look at his mother so he walked away from her. She had only one job. Choose a good father for her offspring and she went straight for the most despicable one. At this point, Rodney wouldn’t have minded if his father was some poor, unknown man. He would still be better than one of the most wanted criminals of the century.

Now he had been dragged to the kind of life he never wanted. Every time something good happened to Rodney, it came with the bad. Now he understood why everyone hated his father. Why should he save a man who killed mercilessly and didn’t care about the lives of other people?

Now more than ever, Rodney knew he had to get away from there and go as far as possible with his mother. He was not going to be the one who saved Alberto Roco, a man who deserved nothing but death.

Rodney heard footsteps and turned only to see the devil himself. Alberto Roco took large measured strides, flanked on the sides by men as strong as himself.

“Stay away from me you despicable criminal,” Rodney said.

His father raised a brow. “Come on son. You and I are going somewhere.”

“No, you’re not taking my son anywhere.” Sara said.

The man laughed. “Says who?”

“Are you coming willingly or not?” The man pulled out a gun and pointed it at Rodney’s mother.

“Leave my mother out of this,” Alberto said. “I’ll come with you.”

As he followed his father and the men, ignoring his mother’s wails. He felt like a lamb headed to the slaughterhouse.