25th October- Berlin, Germany
Other Team’s safe house
Letty’s POV
“Letty?” She asked, her expression a mix between shocked and confused.
“Yeah, I needed to change my name because I’m supposed to be dead.” I explained as we drove.
“Dead?” Ana asked still in a state of shock but I shook my head.
“Long story I’ll tell you another time. I asked you here because you asked me about those people…” I trailed off, glancing at her as she nodded waiting for me to continue.
“I lied to you. I do know them… well, at least I used to.” I whispered the last part softly.
“The bald one he means something to you. He was the one you were watching the most.” She stated making me spare her a glance. Damn Ana for being observant.
“He used to. At one time he was the centre of my life.”
“So what changed? Feelings like that don’t just change overnight.” She spoke knowingly and I nodded with a heavy sigh.
“A lot of things happened in such a short space of time.” I spoke, trying to sum up everything into one sentence. Ana stayed quiet though, looking at me intensely knowing there was more to my story. I let out another heavy sigh. Ana had never been one to push for information and I loved her for that, but now she wanted answers and to be honest I couldn’t blame her. Our friendship had been built on a lie and it was time to come clean.
“You know how there’s always that one girl who forgives her man no matter what shit he puts her through? The one who’s always loved him even when he didn’t return those feelings? That always took him back after every fight?” I asked as I pulled over onto the side of the deserted road.
“Of course.” I sighed, gripping the steering wheel tight.
“Yeah well that used to be me.” The silence in the car was deafening after I spoke. Sneaking a glance at Ana I noted she was watching me closely, no doubt trying to figure me out.
“And you got tired of it.” She spoke knowingly and it made me pause. Her words made me think. On one hand she was right I had gotten tired of Dominic’s ways, but in the end that’s not what had caused me to leave.
“Yeah, I got tired of it.” I half agreed with her.
“So what happened?” I let out a small laugh at her question.
“The question should be what didn’t happen.” I spoke with a shake of my head.
“We got into some trouble back in the States over a year ago, we ended up having to go on the run from the law. The job we’d been pulling went wrong and Vince, a friend of ours had gotten hurt. A person we thought of as a friend had actually been an undercover cop, he managed to get Vince some help but we knew we had to leave. We knew he’d turn us in. Mexico was the closest and was also out of their jurisdiction, I guess that was a plus.” I thought before continuing.
“We split up, Leon and I headed for Mexico together while Dominic stayed behind to look for our other friend Jesse. I was hurt quite badly so splitting up had been the only way. We had made plans to meet up at our safe house in Mexico once he found Jesse.” My voice cracked at the thought of Jesse. It had been such a long time since I had let myself think about him.
“Did they show?” She asked hesitantly, like she was almost afraid to ask.
“Dominic showed half a day later. Jesse had been shot dead. There’d been nothing anyone could do.” I managed to say shakily.
“I’m sorry. I know this must be hard for you so take your time Li- Uh Letty.” I managed a small smile.
“Time is not something I have Ana.” I sighed but then took a deep breath before continuing.
“We stayed in Mexico for a long while, I was recovering and so was Dominic. Leon was angry about Jesse, the two of them were pretty much brothers. He blamed Dominic and Dominic blamed himself. Leon decided after a while to leave, find his own place and move on. We said our goodbyes and he left. I didn’t think I would ever see him again. Turns out I was wrong. After a month of just being the two of us we knew we had to move on, it wouldn’t be long before we were found. I didn’t know at the time but Dominic had made plans with Leon.” I paused.
“What kind of plans?”
“Ones that included me.” I spoke bitterly.
“He left me with Leon, I was still recovering and he didn’t think it was safe for me to be with him. He promised we’d meet up somewhere when he got settled. I didn’t like it but once Dominic gets an idea you can’t talk him out of it.”
“Did you ever meet up?”
“Yes. Once, the second time came to meet up but he never showed. I was desperate to see him. I was in full panic mode and I needed him.”
“What was wrong?”
“At the time it felt like everything. I had found out some news and it felt like everything was crashing down again. I found him in the D.R planning a heist to help out the locals. I had travelled all that way so when he told me the plan I wanted in. he tried to fight me but I was determined. Eventually he agreed and the heist went okay, it wasn’t great but it wasn’t a complete disaster either.” I explained thinking back on it.
“He found me later that afternoon after the heist. I hadn’t been feeling well so I had gone to lie down, see if I could calm my stomach-“
“Letty…” Ana trailed off in question but I ignored it, continuing with my story.
“He asked me what was wrong, why I had come to find him, why I had needed to see him so urgently. I told him the truth.”
“Which was?” Ana whispered still looking at me for confirmation.
“That I was pregnant.”
“Letty how could you have done the heist?” She scolded angrily and I shrugged.
“I did what I wanted to at the time. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Obviously.”
“As you can imagine he went nuts when he found out, we fought for an hour. We only stopped when I had to run for the bathroom sick. It had been a wake-up call for both of us. Our fast paced life needed to change; we were going to be parents. He tried to talk me out of staying. Told me it wasn’t safe for me to be around him, that I needed to set up somewhere else and he would visit when he can. I fought him hard on it and I thought I had won. Never in a million years did I think he would leave me alone that night.”
“What he just upped and left?” she asked shocked.
“Yeah. No goodbye, no note, just a stack of cash and his cross on the side table. I felt like some cheap whore when I saw it. We were supposed to be soul mates, how can one just walk away from their family? I was angry, I was upset and I was so confused. I decided to leave, go back to the states and lay low. I didn’t know where it was safe but at that moment I didn’t care. I would have gone back to Mexico, to Leon but He never knew about the baby. Neither of us knew what to do so I turned to the only other person I knew would help. Dominic’s sister, Mia. We’d been best friends for years. She was mother hen and I knew that’s where I needed to be.” I explained.
“It turned out Mia knew where he was but she wouldn’t tell me. I was mad because I really needed him. I hadn’t told Mia at that point about the baby, I thought while I could hide it I would. Dominic would ring occasionally to see how we were, Mia and I. Make sure I was eating properly and getting enough sleep. Mia was confused about his questions but if he told her she never said anything to me. Eventually I got tired of it so I made a deal with the FED’s to help them in exchange for them clearing Dominic’s name and letting him come home. That’s when things went wrong… so wrong.” I shuddered at the thought of those times.
“You said earlier about how you’re supposed to be dead, is that when it happened? When you were helping the FED’s?” I nodded.
“Yeah but I managed to escape. I was hurt, badly. It took a long time to recover. I couldn’t even remember who I was I just sort of ran… I didn’t know why or where I was going but I just had this feeling so I went with it. I ended up in a little town in Mexico, I checked myself into a hospital and got the medical attention I needed. I still had no idea who I was so they kept me in and it wasn’t until one day this man walked past me in the hallway of the hospital that I found out who I was.”
“Did you know the man?” I nodded.
“At the time no but when my memories started to return yes. It was Leon. He was shocked to see me considering he’d heard I was dead. He came up with a false name for me to get me out of hospital and I stayed with him for months as he helped me recover, helped me remember everything from my past. My first thought after remembering who I was and what had happened was to find Dom but I just couldn’t do it. It was like…” I struggled with the words.
“Like what?” She asked softly.
“I was practically seeing my memories for the first time all over again and I didn’t like what I saw. I loved him more than anything but it was my love for him that was going to kill me.”
“Like that chocolate bar you want but you know you shouldn’t have?” I laughed along with Ana as she tried to make the heavy situation light again with a joke.
“Exactly, you got it in one.”
“So…”
“So I decided to leave my past behind me and I hid away from everyone except Leon and... one other. When I’d healed I moved around a bit just doing odd jobs here and there. I still kept in touch with Leon though, I always went back.”
“One other? Who?” I bit my lip as I drove.
“I can’t say. She’s in the same boat as I am. The less people that know the better.”
“Of course. Is that who you were on the phone to tonight?”
“Yes. I keep tabs on them all, after all I still cared about them, even Dominic in some fucked up way. As time went on though I realised how lonely I was, I’d entered this dark place in my head and I started to get angry, at myself, at the world… and most of all him. We’d been through so much together and he promised me he wasn’t like other guys and he was right; he was worse. He was worse because he made me fall for him and wasn’t there to catch me when I need him the most. I fed on that anger for so long. Then one day eight months ago I snapped out of it. Not completely, I still feel that anger towards him but now I have something else to focus my time on.”
“Do you want to see him again?” I thought about it.
“No… maybe…I don’t know.” I sighed and she nodded as I turned around and headed back to the base before everyone woke.
“Letty you never said anything about your baby.” I paused as I stopped the engine. She stared and then nodded silently working it out herself.
“The crash.” She spoke sadly.
“No. No she’s with Leon. Safe and not known about.”
“But her birth certificate, wouldn’t it list you as her mother?”
“It lists Lia Thomas as her mother but Leon and… the other person pulled some strings and she’s listed as a still born and the file buried for added protection. No one knows she exists.” I said quietly.
“What’s her name?”
“Ava, Ava Toretto. I might not ever want to see him again but he’s her father whether she knows it or not so she was always going to have his last name.”
“Your secrets safe with me Letty.” I smiled at her.
“Thank you Ana, you’ve been a good friend to me.”
“As have you Letty. I would love to meet your little girl one day.” I paused and looked at Ana.
“I do have a request to ask of you.” I said quietly and she nodded.
“Anything.”
“I will tell you everything you need to know another time but Ana if something happens to me, Leon or the other woman. I need you to promise me something.”
“Of course.”
“I need you to take Ava to Dominic.” She looked stunned for a moment but then nodded slowly.
“I promise… but how will I know where to find them?”
“I’ll give you all the information when the time comes.” I promised the other woman.
27th October- Berlin, Germany
Carlos’ Club
Elena’s POV
Getting off the plane in Berlin had been easy, booking into a hotel room for the night had been easy but unexpectedly coming face to face with Hobbs and his team had been exhausting. Lie after lie I had had to tell in order to not give away the real reason I was here. He filled me on everything and had me working for him like back in Rio. Based on what I saw and heard there was no talk of Dom or the rest of the team. Letty was the main focus and so far they didn’t have much to go on. For that I was glad, it meant I had more time to either find her myself or find Dom and tell him before Hobbs found her. Hobbs believed they were operating underground somewhere and as far as he knew a man called Carlos was the big boss behind the operation. He owned a club which they had been staking out but nothing had turned up so far.
He put me on to stake out the club and by now I had figured that if Dom was here he might just be working for this Carlos guy too. Every night I stayed at the club hoping to see any of the team or Letty but none of them came and Hobbs was getting angrier and angrier by each passing day.
“She might have left Berlin.” I voiced.
“No I don’t believe it. She hasn’t left, she’s here I can feel it. Now fucking find her.” I winced as he shouted at me and his team.
“You worked with him in Rio huh. Is he always like this?” an officer asked me.
“Always.” I said quietly as I turned and made my way back to my room.