It was the twilight hour and The Hood was preparing for another night of hustling. Now that the summer was ending, nights began to stretch and its people were getting ready for the prosperity that having more work carries, used to the fear that sat on the back of their heads, boringly reminding them that this could be their last winter if they weren’t cautious enough.

Historically, The Fair and Humble Hood of Altamira was conceived as a place to make businesses, and it kept its purpose over the years, never seen as a place to look after children or grow old even from its citizens. The weather was cruel, as The Hood, an unbearable heat altered with nights of fresh humidity that soaked trough the households built by the Official Authority all over Altamira. Small buildings surrounded by jasmines, trinitarias and San Josés, with the sound of haunting dogs and motorcycles always in the background.

Here, the people didn’t protect their kids from the bad things that happened. The children learnt to live surrounded by everything that was wrong, seeing it as something normal, specially because their own families were part of the lifestyle.

Cayena was 8 years old when her father taught her how to shoot an AK-47. She would forever remember that day. She was so happy spending time with him. He was her hero, along with her mother.

They taught her the business and how she should never fold under pressure, a great lesson she was grateful for when her parents died. Everybody believed the Cayena sisters were born rich, but they came from the bottom. They lift themselves up after her parents passed, didn’t even had the time to mourn.

At sixteen Cayena spent her nights selling all the drugs in the world. She got rich again, this time by herself, using her surname as motivation and taking care of the enemies of their parents that wanted to tear her and her sister into pieces.

Her mother used to tell her that once you kill someone from Altamira, you were bound there, with The Hood. Its destiny became your destiny. That’s why Cayena deeply believed she was destined to be The Ruler of Altamira, since she lost count long ago of all the deaths she hand-made to get what she wanted.

Because of this, Liverty had to be stopped. Her willingness to save The Hood was being harmful to Cayena’s businesses, making it hard for her to keep up with her greater plans. But Liverty had been smart and made herself the reputation of the hero of Altamira. It would be difficult for Cayena to kill her without pointing all the fingers at her.

Getting rid of her status should be the solution, making her lose the support the people had given her. Cayena remembered what her mother told her once, “corruption is a subtle blade”, so she’d have to find Liverty’s weakness to make her fall.

Cayena never took time off. She wanted to make sure her destiny came as soon as possible. She worked harder than the rest, didn’t want to be patient, didn’t want to wait for the moment. She wanted to non-stop climb. Her sister and her were going to achieve the greater things life owed them.

Leo asked her once when it was going to be enough, and Cayena replied “you have to trust me, it’s for our future”. She loved her sister more than anything in the world. She wasn’t like the rest. Leo showed her love no matter what she did. “What counts is that we don’t betray each other”, she used to tell her big sister. Cayena would never let her fall.

She knew they were gifted and no one could compete against them. At the end of the day she was always winning. Anyone who dared to be her enemy was in danger. “Perdónanos padre, somos pecadores”. She was hated because she didn’t want to share her throne, but that was the only way everyone will remember her name. She was going to achieve so much, her legacy wouldn’t believe she made it.

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