Show Me Chapter 5

Hey everyone! Hope you're all doing great! It's been a crazy week for me and my beta with school and job searching, but overall it was okay!

We are coming close to the Land of the Dead, probably in the next chapter or so. In the meantime, feel free to read, comment, recommend and enjoy this chapter!

Enrique's mouth dropped open and stayed open for a good long while. He knew that his mamá had a bit of a temper on her but for her and Gloria to receive death threats! Sitting down in a chair, Enrique simply asked, "Mamá? How long has this been going on?"

Elena shakily moved a piece of hair back from her face. "Since November, mijo. I honestly thought the notes would stop after what had happened to Miguel but it looks like it hasn't. And they're not from Lopez either."

From another room Berto walked in shakily, clutching his bandaged arm to his side. "Does Miguel know about this, Mamá?"

Shaking her head, Elena said, "He knows about the notes, but not what they contain."

Everyone was stunned. Death threats were a punishable offense in Santa Cecilia and as her children stood up in protest, Elena gestured them to sit down. "There is nothing we can do about it! These notes are coming from the U.S! And they're all in English!"

Gloria nodded in agreement as she handed one of the notes over to her brother. Over the course of the past week, she had been translating all these notes for her mother. Elena's English was not good enough to respond to these letters—not that anyone would have let her respond to them anyway. Enrique and Berto both knew that if the letters had come from Mexico, Elena would have hunted down the writer and given them a piece of her mind.

"English or not, Mamá, that's beside the point," Enrique pointed out, somewhat frustrated as he threw the note down on the table. "We need to find out who is sending these notes."

"It's probably someone like Lopez or close to Lopez," a soft voice spoke up. Jumping slightly, Enrique turned around to see a pajama-clad Miguel and Rosa, looking concerned as they noted their abuelita's facial expression.

Sighing in exasperation, Enrique went up to his son and niece. "How many times have we told you both not to eavesdrop? And why aren't you in bed? Tienes clase mañana!"

Hanging their heads slightly, Miguel said, "Lo siento Papá, but we were worried about Abuelita and Tía Gloria. We wanted to make sure that they were alright and to ask a few questions."

Rosa nodded affirmatively, adding, "We just want to make sure that everything is going okay, Tío Enrique. We had some thoughts of our own. What if there's someone who, um, is working for Lopez that's on Martinez's team or working for de la Cruz Productions while pretending to be on our side? Someone who lives in Santa Cecilia."

Enrique immediately considered the suggestion; having someone working for Lopez on de la Cruz Productions would definitely be a possibility. Martinez had mentioned that the man who caused the leak was no longer with the office but that the man had seemed reluctant to admit whom he was working for.

"True. That might be something to look at, Rosa." Enrique said. "I'll bring those points up with Señor Martinez and do a little bit of research on them. Maybe I'll look into it tonight."

"You can look into it later!" Elena concluded briskly. "It's after 10:00 and we all need to try and get some rest so we can be ready for tomorrow! You both have school tomorrow morning and you're giving a tour to los turistas, Glorita!"

With a "Sí, Mamá" or "Buenos noches, Abuelita," everyone headed to bed, feeling even more tired than ever before but satisfied that things were going in the right direction. But Enrique could feel that his mamá was definitely upset about something.

Franco was just about to fall asleep when Elena entered their bedroom, but upon her sitting down on the mattress, he stirred and woke up. Elena looked absolutely devastated; Franco had not seen her like this since Coco died.

"Lena, what's wrong?" he asked. "Qué ha pasado?"

Elena nearly burst into tears, but gathering her composure, she turned to face her husband. "I just wish that Miguel and Rosa don't have to go through this, Franco. They, but Miguelito especially, have been through enough this past year. And these death threats towards me and Gloria aren't going to stop."

Franco looked upset but gestured for his esposa to keep going. "What have these notes said?" Even though Franco was not a violent man by nature, he was absolutely livid that someone had the gall to threaten both his wife and only daughter. Gloria was, by nature, a daddy's girl and remained close to her papá, just like Victoria was with Julio. When Gloria had broken down in guilt for her role in Miguel running away on Día de los Muertos, Franco had comforted her.

"Gloria translated the note and it said that the world would be better off without me in it and that if we don't stop speaking out about de la Cruz, something bad would happen to someone in the family."

Shaking her head in frustration, Elena crumpled up the letter and threw it to the ground. Franco leaned over, smoothed the letter out and read its contains. Much to his sadness, the terrible things that Gloria translated were indeed true.

You damaged your grandson beyond belief. If you don't stop speaking out about de la Cruz, something bad will happen to your daughter. And then something will happen to your grandson. You have 31 days.

Franco knew that Elena would normally never get this rattled about a note, but he also knew that things were different now after everything that had happened in the past year. Because the note was in English, Elena couldn't respond or even confront the note writer. If anything, Franco knew that the note writer had probably written this note in English on purpose, knowing that Elena couldn't fully understand it but that the note writer had wanted her to feel threatened.

Silently patting his wife's shoulder, Franco simply asked, "How long has this been going on, Lena?"

Elena turned around, a fiery intensity glowing in her eyes. "Since December. At first, I thought it was from Lopez's nephew, but he doesn't speak any English. And Lopez and the mariachi that I hi-encountered are in jail."

Franco nodded, remembering how only a month ago, the mariachi's wife had confronted Elena at the market, screaming at her for ruining her family's life. This mariachi had been attacked by Elena when the ban was still active back in 2017 and as a result, his family had not let Elena forget it, despite her numerous apologies.

"His daughter kicked me in the shin and screamed that I hurt her papá, Franco," Elena reminded him. "And his wife still refuses to even look at me when I go to the Plaza, much write anything to me. She wouldn't write a note like this. Couldn't. Not in a million years."

Franco agreed with her and said, "Lopez probably threatened the man's family if he didn't cooperate with his request to spy on us."

Elena nodded, guilt taking over as she went about getting ready for bed. Even though it had been nearly two years since the ban was lifted, Elena's remorse was still evident. Especially since the guitar shop in town refused her service and even went as far as to advertise all the guitars as So Strong That Even Your Abuelita Can't Smash It! Enrique had nearly blown a gasket when that sign went up but the shop owner remained adamant: Elena Rivera would not be allowed inside the shop, only the other members of the family would be.

"Lena, let's go to bed," Franco murmured. "We can talk more about this in the morning."

Agreeing, Elena got into bed, her conflicted feelings about what had transpired earlier that evening still there.

"Do you think things will get better? Para nosotros?" Elena asked.

"I don't know, Lena," Franco answered. "I just don't know."