MAMI ✔️

Chapter Nine

SANTIAGO'S POV

"There's a spring in your step today boss? Any particular reason?" Julius asks as we hang out in my cell.

The kid is becoming attached, practically moved cells but I don't have it in me to send him away. I know for a fact that he gets picked on when we are not together. He's not strong enough to fight back so I always have him by my side when we are not working.

"My brother is coming to visit." I reply bouncing a rubber ball off the wall and catching it.

"The famous Diego, I think the one person you talk more about is your ex-cellie Deshawn." Julius replies.

"I don't talk about them. I barely talk at all." I retort.

I learnt to keep my mouth shut the first week I landed in prison. Just as I am taking Julius in, Moreno did the same for me and trained me on how to survive in prison. He made sure I knew to blend in on the inside and he is the only reason I have survived the last three years without any scars.

"Exactly, which means that when you do talk it means a lot more." Julius comments.

He gets up from the chair he was perched on and starts roaming around my cell. I don't like it when som ieone snoops around my stuff but again there's not much to see.

"Boss you've been holding out on me. I thought you said you didn't have a lady on the outside." Julius comments.

"I don't." I grumble.

"Then who is this?" He asks turning around to show me photo of Hannah I had pinned to the wall.

The image of Julius holding one of my most prized possessions has me losing focus. I fail to catch the ball, so it falls out of my hand and rolls to the floor. I jump off my bed and snatch it right out of his hands.

"That is not for you to toy with." I growl.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know it was that important to you." Julius apologizes.

"Well it is. You've been here long enough. Get out." I demand.

"Sorry boss. I didn't mean to cross any boundaries." Julius mumbles.

"Just get out kid. I'll see you later." I reply dismissively.

Julius bows his head in shame and leaves my cell without another word. The kid was just being his usual curious self but Hannah's picture and her letters are the things I treasure most. Seeing his dirty hands all over her beautiful face rubbed me off all wrong.

Instead of pinning the picture back on the wall, I put it in between my diary together with the two letters.

It takes a minute for me to calm down as I focus on waiting for Diego to arrive. I'm looking forward to our visit because I want to hear all about him meeting Hannah. I'm not even sure if she went but I know that she is a woman of her word so if she said she'd be there then there is no reason to doubt her. If I'm being honest with myself, I am a little jealous of Diego. He got to meet Hannah before I did and spend time with her. All I can hope for is that their meeting went well for people who are complete strangers. It broke my heart that I could not be there for Diego but I took solace in the fact that Hannah, my sweet Hannah was there for him.

I still remember the sound of her voice when we talked on the phone a week ago. It's been etched on my mind ever since and I can't seem to get over it. She was like a siren who lured me in with her addictive song and now I am hooked. If I thought her letters and picture had me reeled in then her voice was my undoing. I was in deeper than ever and I hadn't even meet the woman.