“I know, but if I want them to trust me, I need to give them a reason. I wish I’d had time to tell you first. This was not how I wanted my history revealed. I hope that afterward, you’ll still want to know me.”
Malco lifted his hand to her cheek and cupped it briefly, allowing her to see his vulnerability. “We all have our secrets, Frida, and mine aren’t pretty either. I won’t judge you—ever.” She felt relief at his words.
“Thank you.”
When the now full room was quiet, she faced the young people, a room full of fear, and broken promises where there should only be hope and a desire for life.
“My name is Frida Montalvo, but that’s not the name I was born with.” She felt every set of eyes on her. “I was born Ana Maria Garroyo.” Frida waited for the hush to die down, and her eyes cut to Malco, who had gone statue still. Her heart hammered in her head as his eyes met hers, and she saw shock and a level of hatred she wouldn’t have believed possible from him. He hid it instantly, but his jaw worked hard to contain his feelings. She battled the disappointment and faced the now enthralled teens.
“My father was the leader of the Dead Kings out in LA. He ruled with an iron fist, not just his men or his members, but his family too. He was a cruel, evil man who only cared about his drugs and his guns. He used kids to sell his drugs, and their parents allowed it because they worked for him on a different level, or they feared for their lives.” Frida didn’t dare look at Malco; she didn’t want to see his hatred again.
“My sister was two years older than me. She was beautiful and kind, and she fell in love with a boy the same age as her. The boy was involved with a rival gang, and when my father found out, he had them both beaten. He allowed his most senior men to take turns with my sister, and then he had them both killed.” The clattering of a chair sounded beside her as Malco stood abruptly, a look of anguish on his face before he turned and stalked from the room. Frida hadn’t come this far to bail out now, though, so she stayed and finished her story. “I wasn’t brave or courageous, but I was angry and heartbroken, and I used that anger and heartbreak to get away. I took as much evidence as I could, and I ran. I changed my name, and I studied, and eventually, I brought my father’s entire operation down until nothing was left. So, you see, I do understand gangs and what it takes to escape them and how easy it is to succumb to the life they offer. I know something is going on in our beautiful part of the world and I’ll stop it, but I can’t do it alone. I need your help.”
“Were you scared?” This from Aston. Frida nodded. “I was terrified, and I felt guilty. Despite what he had done, he was the man who had given me life, but he was also the one who had taken the only person I loved and killed her for falling in love.”
The room was silent for a beat, and she saw the pride on Ward’s face as he stood across the room, his large arms crossed over his chest. It pleased her, but it wasn’t his pride she wanted. It was the pride of the man who had run out of there after looking at her with hate and contempt in his eyes.
Chapter Ten
The discussion with the kids went on for quite some time. The more she spoke, the more they relaxed and started asking questions. They were an amazing bunch, and from the little they revealed, their lives and experiences were similar to her own in many ways, but the difference was this center and Ward, who shone like a beacon of hope to them all. And Malco, as they all talked about him with great affection and respect. He came several times a week to teach self-defense techniques or train them how to box.
Aston was one of his pupils and she could see his excitement that Malco was considering organizing a match between local boxing schools. Danie and Aston kept particularly close to her. They started talking about an increasing pressure in the neighborhood that extended to the city from what she could understand. Frida found it difficult not to push and pry more information from them, but she remembered that trust hadn’t come easily for her back then, and that applied to these kids.
Where was Malco? She looked around and couldn’t see him.
Once the kids were sidetracked by a game of pool, she went to find Ward. “Do you know where Malco went?”
Ward looked at his feet for a moment, and it was weird seeing this mountain of a man uncomfortable. “He left. One of the Alliance guys has just arrived to drive you back.”
As she opened her mouth, James appeared in her line of vision, with a blazing smile and flirty wink. “Your carriage awaits when you’re ready, my beautiful princess.”
Without answering James, and knowing she wouldn’t be able to get much from Ward by how hard he clenched his jaw, she went outside and followed the Alliance agent to a pick-up truck.
James chattered away during the drive, but Frida had trouble getting the expression on Malco’s face as he’d stormed off out of her mind. He’d told her that nothing she could say would change his opinion of her. It twisted her insides, and all she wanted was to find Malco and ask him why. She wasn’t the kind of woman to tap dance around an issue, but it was the first time someone’s opinion of her, especially a man’s,
