“Your father just wants to spoil you for your birthday. Don’t ask so many questions.” Her mother patted her cheek, and she tried to hide the pain that went through her at the rebuke.
Never enough.
She shuffled out the door and into the car where her father was now waiting. He drove them down the long-paved road to the gate and turned right away from town.
Silence filled the car, each second of it filling her with nerves that were slowly making her sick.
Something was wrong.
“You know that you are important to this family, Winter,” her father said after a while glancing toward her before turning back to watch the road. “But you are eighteen now. That means that you need to work for this family. Bring money in. Help and support us. Protect us.”
She didn’t say anything. His words leaving her confused.
He had never talked about the future with her before. A huge contradiction to her brothers who were always told what their future would be.
Something was wrong.
“What I’m about to ask of you, Winter, will be hard. But you must do this for your family.”
She glanced out the window as he made a turn, the gates of a small airport flying by.
“Why are we at the here, Papa?” she asked quietly, dread starting to fill her.
She wasn’t naïve. Her father may seem like a good man, but the men he worked forwere not.
It was well known to locals that the airport and surrounding villages were owned by the cartel.
By a man that everyone feared.
Something was definitely wrong.
“Do you know why you are so light skinned?” She frowned turning to her father as he picked up her hand. Her white skin a stark beacon against the tan of his skin.
It wasn’t the first time that she or others had questioned her looks. Her last name gave away her family’s heritage.
Rodriguez.
Where every one of them, her brothers included, had dark hair and darkly tanned skin, she was white.
Everywhere.
White blond hair, grey eyes, and light skin.
Her grandmother had told her a story once that her family had thought that the hospital had switched her at birth and demanded a DNA test.
“But it said what I have always known, child. That you are my brightest light. Someday you will leave all this, become a beautiful woman. But just remember Winter, you have to push the boundaries that life gives you. Because you will never know unless you try.”
“It’s because you are the angel sent to save this family,” her father continued, bringing her back from her memory of a brighter time.
A time that didn’t send a spike of worry through her.
“It’s also because you are worth a lot of money.” His eyes traveled over her face, a rare glimpse of emotion slipping through.
“Papa?” she whispered.
“I’m sorry sweet one,” he whispered back, right before his face shut down.
Like a door in her face.
