My religion starts with “Isa” and ends with “Bella,” and I’d worship at her altar every night. Blessed be the meal I’m about to eat and all that.

But Arthur buys the whole ‘reformed bad boy’ thing. He thinks I have “genuine guilt” over assaulting the twins.

Gullible idiot.

The only thing I’m guilty of is getting caught.

And shot.

Getting shot really sucked.

Both during and after sucks more than anyone warns you about.

The bullet was millimeters away from my heart. The doctors weren’t convinced I was going to make it, apparently. And the fact I didn’t have my Minnie to nurse me back to health was the final nail in the coffin.

The good news? Thanks to the helmet, I didn’t have a concussion to go with the life-threatening injury. Silver-fucking-linings.

From the hospital, I was moved to the prison med bay for even longer. I was ready to murder old-man Phil in the bed next to me. It came to the point that if the doctors weren’t going to remove his adenoids, I’d remove them for him. I couldn’t get a wink of sleep because of the human diesel power generator.

To top it off, I was furious. I am furious. Not once did she check in on me while I was in the hospital. After the hell I went through, from recovery to pleading guilty for a lesser sentence, I finally had the chance to call her, and the line wouldn’t go through.

She’s deactivated her fucking number.

That’s not even the worst part.

She hasn’t responded to a single one of my letters.

Not a single one.

The only thing that pulled me through was the thought of hearing the sound of her voice again. It was the only reason I did every single ridiculous exercise the doctors told me to. Still, she doesn’t answer. I have no idea what she’s been doing or where she lives now.

The twins had no reason to suspect I attacked them because of what they did to Bella because I never got to tell them to leave her alone, after I beat them black and blue. It wouldn’t have been on the news, because shit like that happens all the time. Plus, my registered emergency contact is Margaret, the child psychologist. Margaret probably didn’t pick up either.

Not once did I mention Bella’s name. It was a conscious decision at the time that I didn’t think would have these types of consequences. Having cops come in to interrogate her would only stress her out. So, I told the shrink and the police I had a bad day at work, saw the twins, then got triggered. Arthur slapped my case with an “anger management” label.

Have I learned my lesson? Yes.

Will I stop using my fists? No.

But will I handle all witnesses and look around for police first? Yes.

That still doesn’t explain why she hasn’t replied to my letters. Unless she moved houses…

Joel scoffs from the bunk below Rico’s. “I give you both a month before you’re back in here.”

Joel’s been in the can for twenty years or some shit. In here for organized crime and conspiracy to murder or whatever. Something boring and disproportionate to the sentence time. He’s kept being in prison interesting for himself by adding more time to his sentence.

The first year he was here, he murdered a rapist right in front of the guards, then again five years ago. I think he doesn’t like his original crime’s ‘conspiracy’ label.

“Old man’s already dead. Can’t die twice.” On the other hand, Rico came in here at eighteen without any label other than manslaughter in the third degree. Eight years for killing his father, of all people. “What about you, Tao? You placin’ bets or what?”

The bunk creaks as Tao Yang Junior shifts before the sound of his Rubix cube starts back up. “Two grand on fourteen months. The court system is slow.”

It’s my turn to chuckle. Out of all of us, he’s the one who will never learn. I can guarantee the second he’s out of here, he’ll go back to gambling, embezzlement, and money laundering. The only difference is that he’ll move back to China and get away with it from now on.

His wife did him dirty during the divorce, and Tao Yang Senior dropped over a million on lawyers to get him out of criminal charges.

It obviously didn’t do much.

I’m glad he’s here, though. Not because I like him or anything. He gets on my nerves with the Rubix cube, and he’s constantly droning on and on about stocks. Every other person in this cell loves him because he’s an absolute fucking idiot who has no idea how to manage his finances. Which, lucky for me, means that there’s an extra ten grand sitting in my bank account, courtesy of the Yang family and Junior’s shitty bets.

“This pretty face will never see the inside of a cell ever again.” Rico’s legs dangle over the side of the bed as he shadow punches the air quickly. “I’m too fast; they’ll never catch me.”

Joel shakes his head and mutters something along the lines of, “I’m too old for this shit.”

Rico looks at me, but I don’t acknowledge him as I go back to staring at Bella. “Damien’s got you hooked up. Don’t you worry, my bro will take care of you. I told him about the solid you did for me.”

By solid, he means looking the other way when he stabbed an inmate from a rival gang. And by solid, he also means the drugs I found in one of the cars I was fixing. According to Rico, that is thanks to one of the other cartels in the prison—one he’s not part of.

I inadvertently started a turf war with Rico’s guys ten points ahead, and half a million dollars richer. Needless to say, the Vargas men are upset by the whole shipment mishap.

Oh, and I also backed him in a fight. He just thinks I did it for him, but the guy looked at me wrong, and gymming as the only time my fists were clenched wasn’t cutting it anymore.

Rico and I are not friends, but I don’t hate him completely. He has his uses.

Do Rico and Damien—the Reyes brothers—owe me?

Fuck yeah.

Could I ask Damien to check on Bella for me?

Absolutely.

Will I?

Absolutely… not. I’d break out of prison and kill him myself if he went anywhere near her.

“What will you do with your girl when you see her?” From the corner of my eye, I catch Rico leaning on his knees. “What if she’s got another man?”

I snap my head in his direction, and his face splits into a wild smirk. Asshole.

I keep picturing getting out of here to track Bella down, only to find she has a boyfriend. And then the imagination plays out the same every time: I kill him, then and there.

It wouldn’t be the first time I killed for her, either. Mitchell took her away from me for a year, and she got bullied. He should have known better than to do that.

Fortunately, the cops aren’t smart enough to catch a murderer who crosses state lines to kill his childhood best friend’s foster dad.

“She probably does have a boyfriend,” Tao adds.

No one asked for your opinion, Yang.

Because Joel always has to put in his two cents, he says, “Beauts like her don't stay single.”

“Three hundred says she does.” If Tao doesn’t stop talking, he can kiss his Rubix cube goodbye.

Joel doesn’t hesitate. “Deal.”

“You’re going to win for once,” I say to the old man. “If she does, I might be seeing you real soon.”

“Don’t forget what I told you,” Rico starts with his shit-eating grin firmly intact. I just know that the next words out of his mouth are going to piss me off. “Tie her up, then use your fingers to get Bella’s pussy nice and wet before you take that tight little cunt.”

White-hot fury flashes throughout my body.

I’m out of bed and on my feet in under a second. He meets me on the floor, in the small space between the two bunks. Red burns in my vision as I stare him down. “You don’t fucking talk about her.” My fingers twitch and curl into fists.

I could beat him right now. He might have been here longer, but I’m the one with the experience.