Papi's Princess

by trbbk53

AU story: Stephanie's taken at a young age by a Venezuelan weapons dealer looking for revenge. Years later Stephanie is discovered by Ranger who is on a mission to take the Venezuelan down. Will he be able to save her and bring her home where she belongs? Babe HEA story.

9. Getting Help & Trouble for the Jimenez's

All the familiar characters belong to J.E. However the story line and original characters are mine. I don't own them and I'm not making any money from them, I'm just playing with them for a little bit.

Authors Note:

I decided to start moving this story along so I can get close to main pieces of the story.

FYI there is some violence and torture in the section that pertains to the Estefania and Osvaldo's section. That part will have ***** before and after so if it's not your cup of tea then please feel free to skip that part. I just feel that it's time to bring out the real Osavaldo and let that side of him have some fun .

Spanish conversations are italicized.

Trenton NJ- Finally Getting Help They Need

Frank tries harder and harder every year to get his family to celebrate Stephanie's birthday the same way as they did that first year since it was something that she would have liked. Valerie and Helen would complain that they didn't want to do it any more or that it was tiresome doing the same thing over and over again. Then Frank would get upset and remind them that this day was about Stephanie and not about what they wanted to do. At that point they would always reluctantly agree and pretend to have a good time for Frank's benefit, especially after what had happened after that first year.

Helen decided that while Frank was at work and Valerie was at school, she would go through Stephanie's room. She thought that it was time and that they could no longer just leave it alone as some type of memorial to her. She packed up all of her clothes and took them to the closest Salvation Army and just dumped them off. By the time Frank had come home her room was completely clean of anything that was a reminder of Stephanie. The only thing in there was a bed and a dresser.

After seeing that Frank looked at Helen and declared that she never really cared about Stephanie and stormed out of the house, he drove around for a while until he ended up at Pino's sitting at the bar and drinking. When the bartender told him that he was cutting him off and he was done, Frank started yelling and screaming at him and demanding another drink. The bartender who knew him, called Joe Juniak to come and pick him up. By the time Joe made it to the bar Frank was pretty much belligerent and completely drunk.

Joe walked up to him and said "Frank don't you think it's time to stop this? You've had enough. It's time to get you home."

Frank looked at him and snarled "I have no fucking home. That fucking bitch decided that she was going to go through Stephanie's room and clean it completely out. She took the clothes to the fucking Salvation Army. Then when Valerie came home from school she had her help finish getting rid of everything in it. There's nothing left of Stephanie in her own fucking room. She didn't even give me a chance to see if I wanted to keep anything, just threw it all out like it didn't mean anything and was fucking trash. Damn it, why couldn't she just ask me. You know yesterday was her birthday."

Joe said "Yes, I remembered. I lit a candle at the church for her."

Frank said "We went to the beach and had a great day yesterday celebrating it and then today it was like that bitch just wanted nothing to do with her anymore." He started crying and continued "How could she do that? How could she just throw it all away like it meant nothing to her? I'll never forget her but it's like she just wants to throw it all away. All the memories, all the love, she hated Stephanie anyway. Why did this have to happen? I feel so alone."

Joe replied "I know it's hard but maybe this is just her way of dealing with it. You need to sober up and talk to her. Let me take you home."

Frank said "No, I'm not going home and right now I hate her and never want to see her again."

Joe sighed and replied "You don't hate her, you love her and right now you're just mad and frustrated at her as anyone else in your position would be. Truthfully, I'm surprised it took her this long to do it. How about for tonight you stay at my house and sleep this off? Maybe it's not so wise for you to go home like this."

Frank just nodded his head. He got up and let Joe help him walk outside to the car. He opened the back door and climbed onto the seat and laid face down. By the time Joe made it to his house Frank was passed out. Joe pulled Frank out and threw him over his shoulder and carried him to the guest bedroom. He then walked into his bedroom, made the dreaded call and explained the situation to his Frank's wife. Joe telling her that he thought it would be best for Frank to stay with him until he was ready to go home.

Frank had actually stayed with Joe for 2 days, before Helen finally got worried enough and went over there. She explained to him how hard that this really had been for her and that she thought it was best for their family's peace of mind she needed to get it done while no one was home and while she hadn't able to get it done before Val got home. She didn't think that it had been a big deal that she helped her. She told him that while they had a great day celebrating her birthday that it was time to move on. He told her that while he didn't completely agree with her and how she had done things, he understood her thought process and ended up going back home. Occasionally they would still had the same argument but Frank never left the house and would just sit in his chair and ignore everything around him. The only other time he was attempted to leave was when Helen suggested that maybe they should try and have another baby. Frank had flipped out over that and then told her that would never happen. After that he kept his distance from her and moved some of his stuff to Stephanie's old room. Sometimes when Helen would try to get to close he would go sleep in there.

After that he just kind of fell into a pattern and would go to work, come home eat dinner and sit in his chair for the remainder of the evening. During dinner he would barely say a word and keep his head down and eat. Sometimes he would listen to his wife and daughter talk about their day and sometimes they would try to bring him into the conversations but he never would. He figured it was best to just sit there and be quiet rather than say something wrong and get into an argument.

This is what he did for a few years, until one day he walked into kitchen and saw Helen and Valerie sitting at the table and talking about what sounded like getting the entire city of Trenton involved with the 5 year anniversary of Stephanie's death. They wanted to make it some type of celebration and they were planning what needs to be done. It made Frank sick to hear them talk, to him it sounded like they were planning a huge party instead of a memorial. Frank just wanted to do something simple, kind of like what they did for her birthday but it didn't sound like that's what was going to happen.

Helen said "Frank, do you want to be involved with the planning for Stephanie's 5 year anniversary, with everyone that we want to invite we're looking at a least 200 people. We were talking about having a huge church service and then renting out the hall and having food and I want to see if the Tasty Pastry would make a cake."

Frank said "Cake what do we need cake for this isn't a party this is a memorial for the little girl that we lost. Why would you want to make this into some type of huge party that resembles one of Valerie's crazy birthday parties that you've started doing, which you know is way over the top?"

Helen said "Really Frank, we're celebrating her life. You know how much she loved cake so why wouldn't we want to have cake?" She walked over to him and tried to put her hand on his shoulder but he just backed away from her.

She winced and said "I wish you wouldn't act like that."

He replied "Why does there need to be a huge celebration, why can't it just be us and truthfully Helen I act like that because sometimes I think you care more about what the 'burg expects than you care about me. You don't care if I act like that here in the house, but the minute we are outside heaven forbid anyone knows we're unhappy and not perfect."

Helen looked like she had been slapped in the face and said "That's absurd, how could you even say that. Of course I care what you think or what we do or don't do. Why else would I be here?"

He looked at her in the eyes and said "Because you have nowhere else to go and it would look bad for you and disgrace you in front of your followers."

She said "That's not true. Yes sometimes I do want to keep up a certain appearance, but I do that for my family. I wanted to do this celebration to show everyone that we are united and that we are surviving this."

Frank shook his head and said "Don't you get it, we aren't surviving. The three of us are broken. I barely have anything to do with you and all you do is act like the world is fine and everything is perfect and poor Valerie, she just copies everything that you do, instead of being her own person. She never does anything without you. Aren't you tired of doing what everyone else expects you to do?" He stood in front of her and continued "and Helen you absolutely going to hate what I have to say next, but this family needs some serious help. It's been 5 years and we're all still hurting to the point it's killing us and it isn't going to stop until we can get counseling and before you say anything I don't give a damn about what the neighbors or anyone else thinks. Hell you don't even have to tell them, but we have to do this for ourselves in order to make our family whole again. Honestly I miss us and I don't want to act like this anymore. I'm tired of it all."

She nodded her head, she totally agreed with everything he said. What neither Frank nor Valerie knew was that she had taken to drinking during the day when they weren't home to get over the pain. There were times that she had tried to tell him but it never seemed like the right time. She figured now would be the best time to say something. Maybe if they were honest with each other they could finally start the real healing process.

So she opened her mouth and laid it all out there by saying "Frank, I need to be completely honest with you because I think you are right we need to get help and mostly me because I think I may have a drinking problem. I can't keep going on like this and I think that the best way to honor Stephanie would be to get our family help."

Valerie who had been watching this whole scene and with tears in her eyes walked over to Helen grabbed her hand and then reached out for Frank's as well. Frank quickly walked over and gave it to her and they just stood there like that for a few minutes. Valerie looked at both of her parents and said "I don't want a broken anymore, we'll never be the same but we need to be a family again and Daddy is right I miss us."

Helen and Frank decided at that moment that their family was more important than anything else and instead of having the huge remembrance that they were going to be plan, they would make arrangements to see a therapist and honor Stephanie's memory that way instead.

Puerto Cabello, Venezuela – Trouble for the Jimenez's

Osvaldo was sitting on the bench in the park watching his daughter play with her friends this had become a weekly occurrence one of the parents would take the kids to the park in the afternoon so they could hang out together, and this week was his turn to take them. As he was watching her he realized how much has changed in his life since Estefania come into his life 5 years ago. He still runs his business with precision but it's not always about work like it used to be. He's allowed himself to pass off more responsibility to his second in command and takes more time for vacations and just spending time with Estefania.

He knows because of what he does for a living that things aren't always easy and there have been times when his business was being threatened. In those times if she wants to go out then he just assigns more bodyguards to her, some she saw and some she didn't. She never complained and seemed like she didn't mind the additional guards. They explained during those times that some of the men didn't think it was fair that Tomas and Franco got to have all the fun hanging out with her so they wanted to join. It never lasted more than usually a week, but she accepted that explanation.

He wanted to throw her a party to celebrate the anniversary of her living with him but he was leery because he was starting to hear whispers that one of his biggest enemies was thinking about trying to take over one of his territories again. The last time this happened was right before Estefania came to live with him and it was bad. The Cortez family decided they wanted to move against him and it didn't fare well for them. He had to do things that he knows that would scare Estefania but in the end he kept his territory and got away with limited damage to his not only his people but also his merchandise. He was really hoping that it didn't come to a full blown war this time, because he didn't want to put her in the middle of that, but he would have no choice if it came to that. He has to defend what is his. He and his men are fully prepared for anything but now he had to think about what he would do with Estefania. He could hide her and protect her but he needed to think about what do to with her if the worst case scenario happens.

As he was contemplating this when his second in command Eric walked up to him and patted him on his shoulder. He saw Tomas and Franco in the distance closer to the kids and nodded to them. Then he sat down by Osvaldo and said "Osvaldo we have a problem." Osvaldo replied "I know, I'm trying to figure out what to do with her if this war starts, it's not going to be pretty bad and I don't want her in the middle of it."

Eric said "I agree. However, that's not your only concern right now. Word is also that the CICPC* is also looking into you, which isn't something we haven't gone through before but this time they are saying they have enough evidence against you to put you away."

Osvaldo sighed "Do you know what they have and what they are looking for?"

He replied "Looks like they've been given inside information on your latest acquisitions. We're determining if it was an inside job or if they are just on a fishing trip but it looks pretty serious. I think you might want to take her and disappear for a while until this goes away, maybe go to the island. It would be the safest place for you both and since no one knows about it but you and me. If you go there then you wouldn't need Tomas and Franco and they could help here. Plus it would be better for Estefania since we both know she hates being cooped up for too long."

Osvaldo nodded his head and said "How much time do I have and do you really think we need to leave?"

Eric said "Not much, and yes I would say that you need to leave and it should be done tonight. You need to let us handle the cleanup that needs to be done. I know that you like to be in control of it and what goes on but now you've got to think about that little girl over there and how much of this do you really want to expose her to. If you stay here then she will see the police searching every bit of your house including her room, and you know they will tear everything apart and destroy the rest of it looking for what they are hoping to find. "

Just then Eric's cell phone rang, he looked at the caller ID and then answered "What" and after a lot of uh huh's and yes's he hung up.

He looked at Osvaldo and said "We found out who the leak is and he's been detained and taken one of the safe houses now. It's someone who's new. You've never met him since he's just starting out at the bottom. The theory is that he wasn't happy being the peon and thought he deserved a higher position. He figured he'd make more money from rolling on you than continuing the job he was given. How do you want the men to proceed with him?"

Osvaldo growled "Tell no one to touch him until I get there. He's mine! He tried to bring harm to my family and that WILL NOT be tolerated." Then he looked over to where Estefania was at and yelled "Estefania come here." She got off of the swings noticing that he was using his no nonsense voice that told her he was in the mood to play or be questioned. He didn't use if very often when it came to her but she's heard him use it with other people so she quickly walked over to him. When she was in front of him, he said "We need to leave now, Franco will take your friends home and you and I will ride with Uncle Eric. I have some business that I need to attend to and you need to be at home while I do it."

She looked at him and said "OK Papi, can I at least tell them goodbye?" He nodded his head. He needed to speak to the leak to find out exactly what he said so he can decide quickly what to do. She wouldn't like having to leave but Eric was right there is no way he would let her go through what the police would do.

She walked over to her friends and explained to them that Franco would be giving them a ride home and that she was going to be riding with her Papi and Uncle Eric. Diego sensing something was going on said "Why can't I ride with you and have someone take me home later?" Estefania told him "Because Papi has some work that he needs to do and he wants me at home while he's taking care of it. I'll call you later OK, I promise." He replied "OK but if you don't call me by 7 then I'm sneaking out and coming to make sure you are OK." She nodded her head and gave him a hug and then walked back to where Osvaldo and Eric were.

Osvaldo noticed the hug they shared and then saw the look on Diego's face as she was walking away. He wasn't happy that he couldn't go with her. This would be something that Osvaldo would really have to keep an eye on, it was OK and cute when they were little but now it seems that as they get older the bond they share is getting stronger. He's also noticed that lately Diego's been more protective of her as well, other than his cousin he doesn't let any other boys near her. He hasn't gotten into a fight yet but it's only just a matter of time. He'll have to talk to Diego's parents about it especially since Diego has already approached him about wanting to be hired to be her bodyguard when he's old enough.

When they finally got into the car Osvaldo looked behind him to Estefania and said "Uncle Eric is going to drop you off and then he and I will be going out for a little bit. I want you to stay inside for the rest of the day, no going out on the grounds and DO NOT go to the beach. You and I may be taking a trip later today, so get with Maria to help you pack. Do you understand?" She looked at him with a surprised expression and nodded her head. He knew she wanted to ask more questions but he also made sure that he had used his no nonsense tone as she called it, so she wouldn't question him.

Before they got to the house she quietly said "Papi, do you know when you will be back and when we will have to go? Diego wanted me to call him tonight and if I don't he said he would come looking for me."

He replied "If we leave it will be some time tonight." And she knew at that point that was the end of the discussion.

They pulled up to the house and before the car could come to a complete stop Estefania jumped out and slammed the door shut, running into the house without saying a word to him.

Osvaldo knew she wasn't happy with him right now but he couldn't help it, he also thought if this is how she is at 9 then how would he be able to handle her teenage years. He remembers what he was like and it wasn't good. Which was one of the reasons she really didn't know what he did really did for a living, his father had showed him at a young age what he did which is why he was the way he was. He was determined not to show her that ugly side, he knew that one day she would find out because she was a curious child and wanted to know everything but he hoped that when she did that it would be a long time from now.

Eric had pulled away and started towards the safe house. It took them about 30 minutes to get there, this was one of the houses that was further away and under one of his alias's that no one but him and Eric knew about. He basically told Eric everything because he trusted him the most.

They got to the gate that guarded the house, Eric put in the code and the gates opened. He drove down the long driveway and pulled in front of the house all the lights were out but that was expected since they both knew that their visitor was being held in the garage. Instead of opening the garage door and possibly exposing anything they walked into the house and entered the garage door seeing the man in question sitting in the middle of the room tied to an armed chair, he was still clothed but his feet were bare and his arms were strapped to the arms of the chairs. He looked like he'd had already taken a couple of hits as both of his eyes already had bruises starting to show.

Osvaldo walked up to him and the guy in question saw him and eyes widen and his skin paled knowing exactly who the man walking up to him was. Osvaldo stood in front of him and said "What is your name?" The man just sat there. Osvaldo slapped him across his face and said "I asked you what your name was."

The man still sat there and didn't say a word. Osvaldo losing patience he punched him in the nose. Everyone in the room could hear the crack, knowing that it was broken. The guy screamed and blood started dripping. Osvaldo bent down and looked him in his eye and said "Again, what is your name and do you know who I am."

The guy looked at him and finally said "My name is Cesar and yes I know you."

Osvaldo growled at him and said "And what do you do for me Cesar?"

Cesar replied snidely "I'm a runner." Osvaldo said "Did you not find that job to your liking?"

Cesar replied "No, I thought I deserved something better than that." Osvaldo asked "Why is that?"

Cesar told him "Well my cousin told me about this job and since he's close to you I figured that I would get a better job. Then I got the job I did, I complained to him. All that asshole said was I had to earn it and that I had to work my way up just like he did."

Osvaldo asked "Who is your cousin and please tell me why you think you are here now?"

At that point Cesar knew he was caught but he thought he was too smart for them so he tried answer by saying "My cousin is Tomas and I'm not sure why we are here. I was sitting in a restaurant when your goons here grabbed me and brought me here."

Osvaldo sneered "Interesting I wonder how he would feel about knowing what you did, and how you have now put his job and life in danger and I don't believe for a minute that you don't know why you are here. Eric I think you should call Tomas and see if he is available to come down here and have a chat with his cousin."

Eric said "Yes sir." He then picked up his phone and dialed it, after a couple of rings Eric started talking. After a few minutes he hung up. He looked at Osvaldo and then looked directly at Cesar and said "Tomas said that if this asshole thought that by going to the police would make him a richer man, then he's a bigger idiot than he thought and to please do what you feel needs to be done and he won't say a word. Osvaldo, he also wanted to apologize to you for bringing this piece of shit into your organization, his mama asked him to try to help him so he thought he was doing the right thing."

Osvaldo smiled at Cesar and said "So now how do you feel, know that your cousin has given me free rein to do to you whatever I want. The one thing that you need to understand is that you just didn't mess with me, you messed with the one thing that I cherish the most, my daughter. That is an unforgivable thing to do, which I imagine that you already figured that out by the look of you. My men are very protective of their little princess, especially Tomas since he's her bodyguard. "

When he said that Cesar pretty much knew his fate was decided unless he could work things in his favor. So he said "Mr. Jimenez I'm so sorry, I didn't know it would go like this. I didn't expect anyone to find out. I was approached by them and they said that if I help them they would give me anything I wanted. Please don't kill me."

Osvaldo held his hand out to one of the guys and they placed a hammer in it. He looked at Cesar and said "This is how this is going to work. I'm going to ask you questions and if I don't like the answer I'm going to start with your toes and work my way up to your fingers. Do you understand?" Cesar nodded his head. Osvaldo continued "Let's start with something simple, what did you tell the police?"

Cesar said "I didn't tell them much, since I don't know much." Crack and a scream were the only sounds that could be heard. No one was worried about him screaming because the garage was completely soundproof. Osvaldo glared at him and said "Not good enough. That was only your big left toe, now before I bust anything else, what did you tell them?"

Cesar took a scared breath and started telling his story. He said "I told them that I was a peon runner and didn't know anything. They must have known I was new because they basically said that was fine and that usually the runners are the ones who know the most. I tried to tell them that I wasn't interested but they just kept pushing every day for 2 weeks. I really tried to stay away from them but it was really hard because every day they would offer me more and more. Then one day I just gave in, my family had just finished yelling at me about being more responsible and why couldn't I be more like Tomas who seemed to have his life together. So when they approached me again I agreed and they said if I would give them information they would give me 635 bolivar (Venezuela's currency which equals out to $100 in US money) for each piece of information that I passed on to them. They also promised that after everything went down that I would only have to serve 6 months in prison and I'd be a free man, absolved of any wrong doing. So that's what I did, at first I started giving them stuff that I thought wouldn't be important, but they didn't like that and kept getting pushier and pushier until one day when I was handed an envelope to deliver to someone. I looked at it and it was a document that I guess was for a buyer of yours, because when I told them about it they got all excited and started talking about how they now had you."

After hearing what he said everyone could feel the anger start to roll over Osvaldo, Eric knowing that his friends temper was on the verge of showing itself interjected and asked "What was it that you told them that got them so excited?"

Cesar said "The document had a message on it that said you had acquired an interesting piece from China and wanted to know if they were interested in checking it out. It was too big to ship assembled and you didn't want to break it down without knowing if they wanted it and to contact him if they wanted to come and see it. After I told them that, they started talking and getting really excited and seemed to have some type of idea of what it was about. After that they stopped coming up to me every day, as a matter of fact I hadn't heard from them in almost 2 weeks until today. I was passed a note that said 48 hours, that was my cue that I had that much time before they were going to move in."

Both Osvaldo and Eric said "Shit" at the same time. Eric said "Osvaldo man, you've got to get out of here and take care of what we talked about." Osvaldo shook his head no and in a menacing voice said "NO, everyone needs to leave this room for 30 minutes after that then I'll leave."

Eric said "There is no way I'm leaving you in here by yourself with him, you've already smashed his toe and given him a broken nose which is still bleeding. You can't do anything else that would make him bloody. You don't want to have to explain to her why there is blood on you or why you had to change clothes. You know her she'll notice shit like that. I know you want to hurt him so I'll make a deal with you, I'll make everyone else leave but I stay and you have 15 minutes and you can only use what you have in your hand now. Someone will call the house and let them know what needs to be done to get ready since there isn't much time."

Osvaldo grunted and said "Fine I'll take 15 minutes." Eric nodded to the others and said "Do you understand everything that needs to be done?" They all nodded and Eric continued "Then leave us and get it done."

Everyone left and Osvaldo thought about walking over to the table that had all of the tools and making a show about looking them over but he looked back at Cesar, he knew that Eric was right and that it would be the cleanest thing that he could use. So he figured he'd follow through with his original threat and proceeded to alternate between smashing his toes and fingers and then smashed both of his knees. By that time Cesar had already shit and pissed himself and was screaming from the pain. Osvaldo knew that he wanted to do more damage but before he couldn't control himself he needed to get out of there.

After doing the only damage he could do Osvaldo turned to Eric and said "I'm done. I need to leave." Eric nodded and they proceeded to walk out of the door into the house. Tomas had shown up and looked at Osvaldo "Is he still alive?" Osvaldo said "Yes, I couldn't do what I wanted because as Eric here explained I couldn't get any blood on me. We both know how she is." Tomas nodded and laughed then got serious and said "I'll make sure it's done and no one will miss him trust me."

With that Osvaldo and Eric walked out of the house and got in to the car to go home leaving Cesar in the hands of his cousin. After seeing his cousin with two black eyes, a broken nose and smashed fingers, knees and toes. Tomas decided to walk over to the table with all the tools and pick up the pliers, the punch blade knife. As he walked back over to Cesar with those items in his hands Cesar's eyes got wider and said to Tomas "Please don't do this, what will the family think?"

Tomas gave him an evil smile and said "First of all you betrayed me and threatened the life of the little girl that I am sworn to protect with my life and your actions put her in danger which therefore put me and our family in danger. So I have no reason to have any mercy for your life and as far as the family is concerned they don't care either. So now I get to do to you whatever I want. So here's the question I have for you, do you want to know what I'm going to do to you or do you just want me to do it and get it over with or the other option is I tell you what I'm doing as I'm doing it?"

Cesar said "Just get it over with at this point I know I'm not going to make it out of this garage alive."

Tomas nodded and said "As you wish." and then proceeded put the pliers in his pocket as he pulled out a lighter. He lit the lighter and held it over the punch knife heating it up. He slowly put the knife on his right arm and let it burn into his skin. At that moment Cesar started screaming. Tomas brought the blade up and then looked over to some of the men and said "Somebody give me a sock or a rag to stuff in his mouth and some tape to keep it there." He was handed a dirty oil rag and some duct tape. Tomas then balled up the rag and forced Cesar's mouth open and stuffed the rag in it and placed the duct tape over his mouth and pressed it down so it would stick really well.

Then he said "Are you done now?" Cesar slowly moved his head up and down and Tomas said "Good."

Then he heated the knife again and started to burn the section of the skin he already worked. You could smell the burning skin as he removed it. Then he took the sharp end of the knife and punched the charred spot. You could hear the muffled screams of Cesar. Tomas then handed the punch blade to someone else and took the pliers and started peeling back the burnt skin. Then reached for the punch knife and then started digging into the open wound after he had made a complete hole in his arm. Tomas reached over to left arm and took the knife and stabbed his left hand, putting a hole in that as he maneuvered the blade around making the hole bigger and bigger. He knew that he could do more damage to him but he thought at that moment he had more pressing matters to attend to, wanting to get back before Osvaldo and Estefania left. So he pulled his Glock out and aimed it at Cesar's head. Cesar who was already worn out looked at his cousin and started pleading for his life with his eyes.

Tomas looked at him and said "Your life is no longer worth living. You have disgraced our family so now I'm going to end it for you." He fired the gun and shot him right in the left eye. The shot blew his eye completely out and went through his brain and out the back of his head, killing him instantly. He left the garage and ran out to his car. He opened the trunk and quickly changed shirts, so he would no longer have blood on him he took the wet ones and wiped himself down. He got in driver's seat and speed his way back to the Jimenez's house.

Meanwhile, Osvaldo and Eric were pulling up to the house and noticed that Estefania was sitting on the top of the step. As soon as the car came to a complete stop she stood up and ran over to Osvaldo's door. When he opened it she reached in and hugged him tightly and quickly said "I'm so sorry for getting mad at you, Tomas explained to me that we have to leave and that don't know for how long because right now things might be bad for you. I don't want you to cause you anymore stress so I'll do whatever you want. I'm so sorry."

Osvaldo was surprised by her actions and with what she was saying, he looked at her and said "My dear princess, what are you talking about?"

She replied "Right before Tomas left he told me that there were bad people who were out to get you and that they wanted to harm you and to put you in a horrible place away from everyone. I don't want anything bad to ever happen to you and I want to go where ever you go, it doesn't matter how long we have to be gone. I know it's not important to you but I made sure I called Diego, I didn't tell him that Tomas told me I just said we were going on vacation and that we don't know how long we'll be gone. He knew I was leaving stuff out and not telling him everything. He started questioning me trying to get me to say something but I didn't tell him anything. I know he wasn't happy but he can just get over that because you are more important to me than he is."

Osvaldo smiled and hugged her and said "I appreciate it princess, and you are right we need to leave. Now I will tell you where we are going. You see we own a private island where there is nothing around it but water, and the only ones going are going to be you and I."

She said "Really? Maria must have known because she made sure that both of us were packed and it's all sitting by the front door waiting for us."

He walked with her up the stairs and into the house, when they stepped into the foyer he saw all their bags were there and ready to go. Eric walked up behind them and said "I can get the plane ready and waiting for you to go. Seeing that you both are already packed I would say that as soon as you say your goodbyes to whoever we can go."

Estefania ran up to her room and looked around and yelled for Maria. She came out of her room and they hugged and said that they would see each other soon. She found Franco and did the same with him.

As they were going down the driveway, Tomas was pulling in. Eric made eye contact with him to see if he was OK for them to stop. Tomas slightly looked down then nodded his head. Eric came to a sudden stop and then pointed at Tomas's car. Estefania saw what he was pointing at, she opened her car door and ran over to Tomas. He opened his door to say to hug her when she stopped and pointed to his neck where there was a red dot on it. She raised her eyebrows in question before saying "You have a small red dot on your neck, is that blood? Are you bleeding?"

Everyone froze knowing who's it was but wondering how to answer the question as well as thinking that she really misses nothing. After a couple of seconds Tomas said "No I'm not bleeding, but I was helping someone that was and it must have gotten on me. But they are OK now and all taken care of, you don't have to worry about them." The others listened to his response and got what he was saying about Cesar being dead.

Estefania shrugged her shoulders and said "You're such a wonderful person for helping them, that's one of the reasons why I love you. I don't know if you heard but Papi and I have to leave. I'm sad that I won't get to see you all for a while and I'm really going to miss you. But I can't let Papi down and I have to be strong for him and do what he asks."

Tomas leaned his head down and kissed her forehead and said "I love you and will miss you too. You're being a good daughter by following your father's wishes. Now stay out of trouble while you're gone and behave yourself for him and promise me that when you get back that you'll give me one day to have you all to myself."

She nodded her head and kissed his cheek and said "I promise."

With that she walked away from his car and got back in her car and shut the door, she turn her head and she smiled at him. Tomas looked up a little and saw Osvaldo sitting next to her, they caught each other's eye and Osvaldo mouthed to him "Thank you."

Tomas smiled and just nodded his head. He was sorry that his cousin did what he did and now because of it he was losing part of his family for a little while. He was going to miss that little girl like crazy. He knew that they all would, which will only motivate them do get whatever needed to be done quicker so their light can come back home soon. With that thought running through his head he watched as their car pulled out of the driveway and turn onto the street. Restarting his car he drove up to the house so they could figure out a plan to make this go away.

Eric drove to the airport and straight up to the plane it was a Cessna 310. He helped the staff load the luggage and the supplies they would need on the plane and then gave Osvaldo a manly hug and told him "We will get this taken care of quickly and get you back home soon. I promise." Osvaldo thanked him and hugged him back.

Then Eric turned to Estefania and picked her up, he didn't care that she was getting bigger he just needed to hold her for a few minutes. He whispered in her ear "I'm going to miss you my sweetheart and I want you to be good for your Papi OK." She laughed and said "I'm going to miss you too and why does everyone keep telling me to begood for him. I will tell you the same thing I told Tomas I promise I'll be good for him." He laughed and pulled her in for a tighter hug and then leaned her back so he could see her eyes and said "Good, now I know how you hate flying and this plane is a little smaller than the others so I left a little something for on the back seat."

She said "What did you leave for me?" but he just shook his head, she knew he wouldn't tell her. She leaned in gave him one more big hug and kiss then got down and walked over to Osvaldo and took his hand. Together they climbed up the stairs of the plane and into the cabin, before the door could close Eric saw Estefania walk over to the doorway and stand in front of it holding a huge white stuffed dog that had tan spots. Estefania knew that it was a Mucuchie*, because it was the exact type of dog that she's been trying convince Osvaldo to buy her. She was looking at Eric when he pointed to the neck. She looked down at it and saw that around the neck of the stuffed dog was a collar that had Eric's, Tomas's and Franco's names engraved on it. Hanging from it was a tag that said no matter what we'll always be here to protect you. She blew him a kiss as Osvaldo waved to Eric told Estefania it was time to go. She climbed in the co-pilots chair with her dog on her lap. Osvaldo closed the door and climbed into the pilot's chair making sure that everything was working correctly.

A few minutes later the plane took off down the runway and then lifted off into the sky.

*Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas – Venezuela's largest national police agency, responsible for criminal investigations and forensic services.

*Mucuchies or Venezuelan Sheepdog is a dog breed from Venezuela. They have a short coat with feathering along their limbs. The coat color is either white or white with splashes of colors such as honey or tan, or shades of black and gray. The Mucuchies is a very active breed. It is brave, trainable, affectionate, intelligent and trustworthy with those they know, but will act as a guard dog with intruders.