Chain Reaction discussion

So, I've had a few days to mull this one over and I'm thinking that the plot to this entire series is kinda silly.
Now, I liked the characters (Except for Carlos....really wasn't a fan of his at all) and I was interested to find out what would happen to everyone, but after finishing the third book, I'm thinking that if Mrs. Fuentes had half a brain in her head, none of this would have happened. At least not the way it does.

First of all, there's Alex. Why was she willing to sacrifice him? At the end of the first book, she flees to Mexico once he leaves the gang. Why wait? Why wouldn't she have picked up and run long ago? Before he had the chance to be jumped into the gang even.
Also, why Mexico? Obviously, she knew she'd be heading back into gang territory. From the sound of it in the second book, she jumped from the frying pan into the fire since the gangs in Mexico are supposedly worse than what they left in Chicago.
She was capable of living on her own with the boys in Chicago. Why not elsewhere in the US where there was no major gang presence?
Then I think, knowing that Louis is actually Hector's son, maybe she couldn't just up and leave like that.
Except that they did.

Okay, so then, after fleeing the dangerous gang in Chicago and getting Carlos mixed up with a different, more dangerous gang in Mexico, they go to Colorado - probably the smartest thing she's done in her entire life.
But then they leave in a few years so she could be near her grand kids. And go right back in the heart of the danger they fled six years (or however long it was) ago. It certainly was not long enough for the gangs to have forgotten, even if they were 'disbanded'. Any mother who cared about her kids at all, wouldn't be dumb enough to put them in the EXACT same stinking situation they were in before when they were afraid for their lives. In the same neighborhood. In the SAME HOUSE. (They'll never find us here!!!)
Especially considering the fact that Louis was Hector's son. Why on earth would she bring him anywhere near Chicago?!
And why would Alex feel that it was safe for him to bring his family there either? Dontcha think they might be just a tad upset with him for leaving the gang? Enough to, say, kill him and his whole family if he showed up again?
Yeah. I'd think so.

Okay, then there's the bit about Louis being Hector's son. If he was so proud of their connection, why would he have allowed him to be raised with his mother at all? Or at least, why would he have allowed the distance and for him not to know who his father was? He obviously had the means to take him, or at least strongly influence him while he was growing up. If he was so proud of his 'legacy', wouldn't he have wanted to train him from the time he was little to take over one day?


*sigh*