He stood at the kitchen door, catching her in her rush. "Isn't it a little early to be heading to class?" he inquired, observing her flurry of activity.
Breathlessly, Isabella responded, "Yes, but I need to stop by my mum's for a minute. She called and said someone dropped off a package for me."
A curious look on his face, Mark asked, "Did you order something? You could have used this address."
"No, I didn't… in fact, I'm unsure where the package is from," Isabella admitted, as she headed towards her room."But Mum says it was inscribed 'Urgent,' so I gotta check it."
Minutes later, Isabella reappeared, dressed and ready, her bag in hand. She planted a quick kiss on Mark's lips before hurrying towards the garage. "Lunch has been made, so don't forget to eat, ok?" she reminded him before disappearing.
While she drove to her mother's house in Boyle Heights, memories of her blissful weekend together with Mark flooded her mind. She would have loved to stay indoors with him all day long, but exams were getting closer which meant there were a lot of tests and assignments ahead of her in the coming days.
The weekend was the best she had in a while. She had woken up in his room later that Saturday night, unsure how she had got there. The next day Sunday, they had spent all day in bed watching a whole lot of Netflix. So when Monday came and everything went back to normal, she hated it.
She had jumped into her daily routine of chores and classes while he spent half the day in his office taking one video meeting after the other. Oh, the good times don't last long, she thought.
When Isabella stepped into her mother's cozy home in Boyle Heights, she was greeted by the familiar sight of her mother lounging on the couch, engrossed in yet another episode of her favorite soap opera. Maria Fernandez looked up as her daughter entered, offering a warm smile.
"Hey mami, where is Aunty Luciana?" Isabella inquired, her voice filled with curiosity.
"She's at Javier's… Camila had another baby," Maria replied, her tone tinged with a hint of amusement.
Isabella couldn't help but chuckle at the news. "Again? That's like baby number five, right?"
"Six, actually," her mother corrected with a laugh. "That girl needs to learn how to close her legs, I tell you."
Javier, her aunt Luciana's only son, and his wife Camila seemed to have made it their mission to populate Boyle Heights with little Mexican babies every couple of years.
"Mami, I can't stay long… Where is the package you said someone left for me?" Isabella asked, eager to retrieve the mysterious delivery.
"Check the shelf over there, mija. That's where I left it," Maria instructed, gesturing towards a nearby shelf.
Isabella followed her mother's directions and soon spotted the yellow folder with her name scrawled across it in bold letters. The word "urgent" was written in funny handwriting with a red sharpie, catching her attention.
With a curious tug, Isabella pulled the folder from the shelf, her heart pounding with anticipation. Who could have sent her such an urgent package, and what could be inside? As she tried to open it, she heard her mother call her name once more, breaking her concentration.
"Isabella," her mother began, her tone serious and filled with concern. Maria Fernandez rarely used her daughter's full name unless the matter was important. "Come here, mija. I need to ask you something."
Isabella dropped the folder on the dining table and walked towards her mother.
"Are you sure everything is alright at your job?". Her mother's question caught Isabella off guard, but she quickly reassured her. "Yes, mami… my job is great," Isabella replied, her voice calm but tinged with curiosity. "Why do you ask?"
Maria sighed, her worry evident in her expression. "I've been having the same dream over and over all week, Isabella. I can't shake this feeling, like someone may be trying to hurt you."
Isabella's heart skipped a beat at her mother's words. While some might have dismissed Maria's dreams as mere superstition, Isabella knew better. She and her mother had shared a bond for as long as she could remember, and Maria's premonitions had proven accurate on more than one occasion.
Her mother had dreamt it before her father was killed, she had dreamt it before her brother had died in a car accident and she had even seen the fall that led to her hip injury before it happened.
Though Isabella wanted to reassure her mother, she couldn't shake the nagging feeling of unease that settled in her stomach. "Mami, I swear to you… nothing is wrong at my job," Isabella insisted, her voice firm. "But I know what you're going to say, so I promise I'll be careful."
Maria didn't look entirely convinced, but she didn't press the matter further. Instead, she turned her attention back to the TV, the soap opera playing in the background.
Realizing she had overstayed her visit, Isabella kissed her mother goodbye, grabbed the folder from the shelf, and hurried out the door. She had a long drive ahead of her to campus, and she couldn't afford to miss today's test in class.
As she drove, her mother's words lingered in her mind, a reminder to stay vigilant in the face of potential danger. she wondered who it might be that could be thinking of arming her.
She had no decent social life, so besides her old friends from Antonio's, she had no other friends. Could it be Mark? The man was battling his own problems so that seemed like a ridiculous idea.
Then her mind went to Vincent. She hadn't done anything to him, so if the threat was from him, then it had to be those guys who were after him, maybe they thought of her as his accomplice. She wasn't sure if they could have seen the plate number of the truck that day she picked Vincent up. Isabella couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to Vincent than met the eye, and the thought sent a chill down her spine.
Arriving at the campus, Isabella parked the truck and hurried to her class, her mind still preoccupied with her mother's warning. She left the folder in the dashboard safe as she got down and locked the truck. She couldn't wait to open it and put an end to the suspense, but right now she needed no more distractions until she was done with today's class.
As she settled into her seat, her suspicions turned out to be right. They had a surprise test waiting for them so she found herself pushing aside her worries for the time being. But even as she scribbled answers onto the exam paper, her thoughts kept drifting back to the yellow folder waiting for her, its secrets begging to be revealed.
After what felt like an eternity, she was done with both classes for the day and Isabella wasted no time in rushing back to her car. With trembling hands, she tore open the folder unsure of what to expect inside. The folder had felt light so she had been expecting maybe a letter or some paper or sort and she wasn't too far off.
Inside she found pictures that had been printed in white A4 papers. The pictures were in color so it was easy for her to recognize Mark almost immediately. He looked younger in the picture and she guessed he could not have been over twenty-five. There were two other guys in the picture with him that she couldn't quite place. They looked familiar but somehow she couldn't place their face.
After trying to figure out where she knew the other two guys in the picture unsuccessfully for a while, she put the folder aside and started the ignition. She wondered why the package was sent to her and what the pictures were meant for. She figured it would be best if she showed Mark the pictures when she got home.
Just as she was leaving Santa Monica, a nagging feeling that had been creeping into the back of her mind suddenly hit her. She slammed on the brake as she parked the truck on the roadside. Please, God, let me be wrong. She prayed as she took her phone and with the printed pictures in her other hand, she googled "The Ramirez brothers".
Isabella clicked on the first image on the search page, her heart beating so fast she could hardly hear anything else. With trembling hands, she zoomed in on the image, silently praying for some mistake, some explanation that would make everything okay.
But there was no mistake. The faces in the photograph matched those in the printed images she held in her hands. Her phone and the papers went clattering down to the floor of the truck as Isabella buried her face in her hands, trying to process what she was seeing. Why? What was Mark doing with the Ramirez brothers? It didn't make sense. He couldn't be involved with them. He just couldn't.
The Ramirez brothers were known cartel leaders. They ran one of the biggest drug trafficking rings in the coastal part of Mexico from La Paz to Tijuana for many years, and even though she was still young when they were in business, she was aware of how dangerous they were.
With a sense of urgency, she gathered herself, determined to confront Mark and get to the bottom of this. She needed answers, and she needed them now.
Turning on the ignition, she stepped hard on the gas pedal, swerving back onto the road without a second thought. The only thing on her mind was finding Mark and demanding an explanation.
When she arrived at the compound, she parked in front of the house, too impatient to make her way to the garage. Grabbing her phone and the papers from the floor of the car, she rushed inside, her heart pounding with anticipation and anxiety.
Mark was in the sitting room, engrossed in an episode of "The Heirs," her favorite show that she had introduced him to. His smile faltered when he saw her enter, sensing immediately that something was wrong.
Without any of the usual pleasantries, Isabella thrust the papers at him, her voice trembling as she demanded, "Mark, I need an explanation… and I need it now."