My Worst Enemy

Chapter 5.-

The silence of the room was only interrupted by her loud grunt and the thuds of her fists hitting the big red bag full of sand and grains hanging from the ceiling by a big and strong chain. Her feet were moving lightly, making little jumps while her body was gracefully turning around, swinging from side to side, to avoid being hit by the bag that was attacking her back at each blow.

She was sweating by gallons and her knuckles were hurting badly, but she just couldn't shake the anger that was eating her insides. Usually, after spending one hour or so hitting the red defenseless bag, she would feel better and move on, but this time, she was in for at least two hours and she felt even angrier than when she started. But the worst feeling she wanted to get rid of, even more than the anger, was the guilt.

She was feeling so guilty and ashamed for letting her father down. She had promised him to take care of business and had worked very hard to gain his confidence. And yet, she had betrayed him so badly. Everything was so perfect. When two and half years ago, he had announced that he wanted to run in the elections to be mayor of the city and that she would be in charge, she was stunned. Of course, she knew that he had to step out of the spotlight sooner or later, but she always thought that he would choose one of her male cousins to replace him or even his right hand man.

In this country, women had to fight twice harder than men to prove themselves and she knew that her father always regretted not having a son. But at that moment, she had felt that all of her efforts had been worthwhile. She had worked very hard, almost killing herself to be better, smarter and faster than any other man she had met. And she had succeeded in being the absolute best. Not even her cousins or friends could get at her level. But physical strength and ability were nothing if you still had a heart that allowed feelings. And feelings, make you weak.

So she made sure that her heart was at the right place, only beating for her close family members and just a small handful of friends. As a child, she was very sensitive, a true romantic, always had her head in the clouds and cried watching 'The sound of music.' She knew all the words by heart and wished that one day her parents and sisters could get together and put on a song-and-dance show. But when she was eighteen, she got a glance at the real man her father was and how cruel he could be and her life had never been the same. She could still remember the night when she lost her soul, like it was just yesterday.

She always knew her father was doing exportation. She never was sure what and she never really asked. She had everything she ever wanted and that was enough for her. How her parents provided her the life she had, wasn't any of her concern. She was spoiled, happy and that's all that mattered. But one hot night of July, she had decided accompany her father to one of his business trips. She had just finished high school and had made plans to go to College in California. It was her last night before her departure and she and her boyfriend wanted to spend the night alone. So what better opportunity than to go to Jacmel and be with him on the beautiful beaches?

The wind was slowly blowing the branches of the coconut trees, bringing the heat down and the waves crashing on the beach made a wonderful and romantic background music that she and her boyfriend danced on and made love to. They were lazily sleeping on the sand, letting the waves caress their naked bodies when a loud noise on the side of the beach, deep in the trees, woke her up. She looked at her boyfriend sleeping next to her and laid back down and nesting her head in the crook of his neck, thinking that it had just been a dream or even her imagination at work.

But when just a couple seconds later she heard the scream again, she really paid attention and this time, clearly understood her father's nickname being yelled and asked mercy from. Everybody called him "Patron" and she was sure that there couldn't be two people in the area they'd called like that nor would be at the same place at the same time.

She bit her lip, thinking about wakening her sleepy boyfriend but for some reason, decided not to. She got dressed in her pink bikini, wrapped herself with a cloth and headed to the direction she heard her father's name being yelled. As she got closer, the noise became louder and she stopped, her heart beating, an eerie feeling turning her blood to ice. But her feet continued anyway and at just a few meters away, helped by the silver light of the full moon, she saw her father holding a gun to the head of a man who was crying and begging him for his life.

Andryse put a hand on her mouth, trying to shut her cries while her eyes were stuck at the scene happening in front of her. Jack, one of her father's friends, who were always with him, hit the man on his back with a sharp metal and the man screamed again in pain. Tears started flowing from her eyes and she wanted to run to her father, asking him the reason why he was torturing to the poor man and beg him to stop. But before she could do anything, her father raised the gun again and coldly shot the man. The gun didn't make any noise but Andryse could clearly see the flesh and blood fly off his head one second before his body fell lifeless on the floor.

No sounds came out of her frozen body and stunned mind. She just remembered falling on her knees and kept on watching her father who quietly gave the gun back to his best friend and wiped his hand on an handkerchief as if he had just killed a fly on a wall. Her eyes followed them until they left the woods in the other direction and only then did she walk back to where she was. Her boyfriend was still quietly sleeping, oblivious to the nightmare she had just witnessed and turned her into a new person. She walked straight into the ocean and let the waves cover her head and only went back up when she felt her lungs burning. She was baptized, reborn into a new person with a new sense of life.

She never told her mother what she saw and found an excuse to cancel her plans to go to California despite the older woman' screams of rage, and stayed home watching every move her father made. He couldn't refuse her anything, so she cajoled him often into taking her on his trips with him and little by little he sensed her interest to get fully involved. But she was a girl and he never let her in the details or allowed her to go on his late secret meetings.

When she finally learned that all his business was revolved around drugs, she immediately asked him to be part of it. But he just laughed and told her that a woman's place was in the kitchen and the bedroom. She got so mad that she almost drove herself crazy and spent the following hours thinking of a plan to prove to him that she could handle it and everything that came along with it.

She went back to his office located in the east side of the house and asked him to follow her outside. She brought him in the back of the house where she took her own dog that she had owned ever since she was just a little girl, put him in a bag and beat him to death under her father's watchful and quiet eyes. When the dog finally died after crying for so long, she looked at him, with tears in her eyes but also a fierce determination. Her father had left without saying a word but she smiled, seeing the respectful and proud stare shining in his eyes.

Andryse shook her head as if to erase the memory and threw a hard punch into the bag. Yes, that innocent, romantic little girl had died the day she saw her father kill a man. And no one had never been able to bring her back... until yesterday.

"Merde!" she yelled furiously, hitting the bag rapidly with her two fists.

"What is it that's bothering you Chiquita?"

Andryse turned around to see her father standing behind her, his hands behind his back. He had spoken to her in Spanish and his hazel eyes were piercing through her skull. She licked her dry lips and wiped the sweat that was covering her face.

"Hi daddy." she answered, panting, her heart beating very fast.

Patron walked up to her and looked at the boxing bag then back at her again. "Don't you think the bag has had enough?" he asked again, a smile at the corner of his lips.

She snickered and held the bag with both hands. "That's my old friend, it can take it."

"And why are you hitting it so hard, so late at night?"

Andryse licked her lips again, urging herself to keep calm. "Jet lag. The trips to and from California took a toll on me."

Her father nodded, quietly looking straight in her eyes. "I see." He simply said. He looked at the bag again, slowly balancing on his chain and added. "Well, I hope you'll have enough energy left for tomorrow. I need you next to me."

"I wouldn't be anywhere else daddy." She smiled tenderly.

"Good. And when is that shipment coming?"

"Tomorrow night. Port six. I'm taking the girls and Carlo's group with me."

Patron nodded in approbation and took a step closer to her, cupping her head with both hands.

"Andou… you've made me so proud of you." He said with tenderness in her voice. "I have to admit that I always regretted not having a son, but you have proven to me so many times that you are worth ten sons. I don't say this often, but I love you Chiquita."

Andryse swallowed as she felt her throat close up. "I love you too daddy."

He kissed her sweetly on the forehead and walked away. Andryse quietly took a deep breath, happy not to have to face him anymore and faced the bag again. But froze, her heart beating hard again when she heard her father's question.

"You never told me how it ended with Colt. I assume he's been taken care of?"

Her eyes fluttered for a second before turning around to look at him, but he wasn't even looking at her with his back turned to her and Andryse breathed inward, fear crawling up her skin. He had switched to English which meant that it was all business now and their sweet and tender father/daughter moment was over. She raised her chin and steadied her voice. "Of course Colt's been taking care of."

He stood still a for moment, bobbed his head before finally exited through the door. Andryse let out a big sigh of relief and closed her eyes again. She hated lying to him. Although it wasn't entirely a lie, was it? Colt wasn't dead but she had given orders to have eyes on him every second and to take him down at any chances he'd take to come anywhere near her father. So that counts as 'taking care of him'... right? She sighed again feeling suddenly tired and took off her boxing gloves before heading to her room to take a shower and finally get some sleep.

But it was way too short and she felt her skull throb when she had to wake up just a few hours later to accompany her father on his campaign. She didn't care much about politics but she had to put on a shy smile and be the very cute and nice girl everybody believed her to be and adored. Her mother, sisters and she, had to give the perfect portrait of a united family and show the country how much of a good husband and father Patron was. She put on a long white flowery cotton dress and buried her head under a large green straw sun hat that covered her eyes.

Andryse sat next to her mother in the front row with her sisters in the back and smiled, nodded and applauded every time her father would make a good point in his speech. It was really hot but the crowd was very excited, cheering as loud as it could, promising their votes to the man they believed was the most qualified one for the job. Hidden behind big round Anviators, her eyes ran on the mass in front of her and felt her heart miss a beat when she saw him, standing all the way in the back, a baseball hat and his sunglasses on. She cussed between her teeth and turned her head to her friends standing a few feet away from her.

Carol Mousset and Shelley Evens had been her best friends since grammar school. They knew absolutely everything about each other and would jump in front of a bullet for each other. After deciding to get on the family business, they had immediately jumped in with her. And although Andryse was the leader and was the one giving orders, she knew when to shut up and disappear to let them do their thing. Between the three of them, Carol was the quieter and more serious one and always tried to reason first while Shelly liked to act impulsively. Shelley was very brutal and generally acted upon her instincts and was always sure that they always right.

And right now, she was pretty pissed with Andryse for not going along with her plans to kill Troy Colt. So when she saw her friend's signal and followed her stare to see him standing in the crowd as if it was the most natural thing to do, she gritted her teeth and closed her fists, furious at his audacity. She exchanged a look with Carol and they both quickly walked up to Colt who didn't even turn to look at them when they surrounded him from both sides.

"I don't remember we sent you an invitation."

Troy didn't move nor did anything to show the blond woman that he heard him. He felt the hard contact of a gun against his back but kept his stare straight ahead, fixed on Andryse. Her eyes were hidden behind big sunglasses but he was sure that she was looking at them. He turned his head slightly on the blond when he felt the pressure of the gun harden against him.

"Get the hell outta here."

The blond woman sneered between her teeth again, just loud enough for him to hear, but he knew they wouldn't do anything in front of such a big crowd. Just like he couldn't do anything either. Neither one of them wanted to draw too much attention. But he barely could suffer them. He raised his eyes again to look at the woman sitting on the podium and signed to her.

"Tell them to go away or they're dead."

He saw Andryse's jaw clench and she slowly picked up a phone from her bag.

"Did you hear what she said? Get lost." His face was still void of any expressions when the dark-skinned one rudely pushed him. He lowered his head fixing his hat and when he brought it back up, they were gone and four police officers had replaced them completely surrounding him now.

"Go away man or you will be visiting the presidential suite of our jail tonight." The one standing in front of him whispered in a cold voice but with a very strong accent, holding his baton in front of his face. Troy laughed quietly and tilted his head to the left to look at Andryse and applauded to her while bobbing his head in admiration. She not only called his bluff but proved him that she had many other cards up her sleeves to play.

Andryse sat quietly, looking at the scene, a fake smile on her lips. When she saw him applauding, she touched the side of her hat and bobbed her head as well then watched him as he left, escorted by the police officers. He was walking quietly, his hands buried in his blue jeans pockets like he had no care in the world. Her anger came back full force but she quickly forced another smile as she stood up applauding her father who was done with his speech. Her face was aching for forcing her muscles so hard to smile and look happy, taking picture after picture, shaking one hand after the other and saying nice words she didn't feel.

When she finally sat down at one of the banquet tables set under a big tent, she removed her hat, letting her hair fall down on her shoulders and her eyes went over the crowd looking for her friends. She saw them at a corner, each talking to some guy and she closed her eyes sighing, deciding to leave them alone. She massaged her temples slowly, wishing that she could just get away. And to say that later she will have to drive more than fifty miles to go pick up a delivery scheduled in the middle of the night.

"Champagne, Miss Montez?"

Without even looking up, Andryse put out her hand and startled when she felt her wrist held by a strong hand. Who dared holding her like that? She abruptly turned her head and felt her breath cut short when she saw a smiling Troy Colt standing behind her. She quickly removed her wrist from his hand, rubbing it as she felt it suddenly burning like it was on fire. Troy walked quietly around the table and sat in front of her, putting a flute full of the bubbly beverage down.

She raised her eyes to look at him again and felt like slapping him to wipe the insolent smile he was still carrying. But she couldn't help noticing how handsome he looked. Somehow, he had managed to change into some black dress pants and a white shirt covered by a black jacket. He wasn't wearing his sunglasses this time and she felt herself mesmerized by the intense look in his sea-like irises. The burning sun and hot weather had already colored his skin of a soft natural tan, making him look like he was glowing. Fuck, how can a man be so fucking handsome?

"You're welcome." His voice was very calm but it just irritated her more, forcing her out of the dazed state. This was not the time to feel attracted to this dangerous man. She scolded herself, made an effort to stop the pitter-patter motion of her heart and she furiously kicked his leg under the table making him grunt then chuckle amusingly. "Is that the way you threat your guests?".

"You are not a guest here." She spat between her teeth. "Get… out."

He smiled again and brought the flute to his lips, taking a sip and replaced it on the white cloth covering the table before looking straight at her. "What if I don't want to?" His eyes slid to her right hand tightly holding the steak knife handle that was on the table and quickly added. "I'd think twice if I were you. We both know that you don't want to draw attention to us." He bobbed his head to a point behind Andryse's right shoulder. "Especially, your father's."

"Sometimes it's necessary." She whispered quietly, her fingers tightening on the knife.

He leaned on the table closer to her and whispered with playfulness. "What do you think your father would say if he found out you didn't kill me?"

"What makes you think he doesn't know?"

He nodded, the smirk sill visible. "Right. I guess I'll ask him then."

"You get two feet near him and I swear this knife will be buried in your heart." Andryse sneered with anger and menacingly picked up the knife from the table.

"Oh, I won't have to go near him." He answered in a satisfied tone, his smile widening. His eyes suddenly switched again behind her shoulder and he whispered even lower than before. "He's standing right behind you."