Chapter 4
Four
Shiloh
Banging and shouting on the other side of my locked bedroom door pulled me from the dream I was having, and I abruptly sat upright in my bed.
“Open the door, Shiloh!” a man’s voice boomed, making my heart race. It was slightly muffled, and I wasn’t sure who it was.
“Don’t do it, Shiloh!”
Javi!
“I swear to God, Shiloh, I will blow his brains out if you don’t open this door in five,” the original speaker threatened. Shit, I think that’s Carlos. “Four…”
I ignored Javier’s pleas for me to stay inside, and I quickly scrambled out of bed, unlocking the deadbolts just as Carlos counted to one.
I was immediately shoved out of the way as Peter bounded past me, flicked the light on, and began tearing the room apart.
I took notice of the handgun that was pointed against Javier’s temple by a stocky man I’d never seen before.
Javier had fresh cuts and swelling marking his face, his stitches had been ripped apart on his chin, and blood stained his shirt like they’d just beat him up. Again.
My heartbeat felt like it was in my throat. Javi was fine…shit, yesterday? Fuck, I don’t even know what time it is. Did he try to hurt Peter because of what I told him?
I wasn’t about to let my brother be killed because of me. Carlos usually held an aura of psychopathic calm, but right now he was livid, and I had no idea what he would do.
The burly guy began dragging Javier back to the living room, one hand firmly placed behind Javi’s neck, the other still pointing the gun at his head. I was shocked, a small yelp escaping my lips, when my wrist was grabbed by Peter, and I was yanked out of my room to follow them.
I thought Javier had ranked up. I thought he was Carlos’s successor now. Why is someone holding a gun to his head? Is this another test?
“Javi, what’s going on?” I asked, trying to control the fear I was feeling. I didn’t have time for my stupid emotions to get in the way. Not when my brother’s life was at stake.
He glared at me to shut up, so I did.
Peter flung my body onto the floor of the living room, and I quickly sat up, his hands on my shoulders forcing me to stay on the floor.
“De rodillas, soplón,” Carlos spat at my brother who reluctantly complied. The vein in Javier’s forehead was popping out like it did when he was angry. I stared into Javier’s brown eyes with a panicked expression. What the fuck did you do?
The front door suddenly opened, and I twisted my neck to look over my shoulder.
“Ayúdalo!”
My dad and Kush froze just over the threshold, the case of beer in my dad’s hands landing on the floor with a crash.
“Welcome gentlemen,” Carlos said in that fake politician voice he usually reserved for public events. “You made it just in time for the main event.”
Kush pushed my dad into the room, his loyalty to Carlos clearly stronger than his loyalty to my dad, his closest friend.
“I really trusted you, I just…I’m so disappointed.
” Carlos looked genuinely sad for almost long enough to make me think he might not go through with his threat.
“And to think you were going to be my legacy. You really fooled me well, hijo. All that work…down the drain now. Your first mistake was thinking that as mi sucesor I wouldn’t be looking at you under a microscope. What did they promise you? Safety?”
Oh my God! What the fuck?! My brother flipped? He’s been working with the police? Why the fuck would he do that when he knew what would happen?
Carlos laughed sadistically. “You’re not safe now, are you hijo?”
“I have never informed to the police,” Javier gritted out, struggling against the hold he was under to face Carlos more directly. “I told you I don’t fucking know what you’re talking about!”
“Lies!” Carlos snarled. “Don’t mistake me for a fucking fool. I do not tolerate traitors. You know that fact very intimately, Jack.”
Javier’s jaw ticked with what I could only assume was exasperation. Why the hell did he call him Jack?
“I know you’ll never tell me the truth. You’re sick. I think you actually like the torture, so I’m not going to waste more time asking you for answers I know you’ll never give me. Mis sabuesos will sniff out just how far your squeals reached.”
Javier took a deep breath, a look of calm washing over his face.
“You know she’s next in line. Hopefully this teaches her a lesson she would’ve learned sooner or later. Disloyal rats will be silenced, and anyone who helped you will be silenced as well.”
What? My stomach dropped. Carlos studied me like he could read my mind, like he could detect whether or not I knew what my brother was doing. Fuck, Javi was right. He’s going to kill me too. FUCK!
Carlos nodded his head, “Go ahead, Vargas.”
I watched as Vargas, the burly guy, moved the gun to Javier’s temple, his finger on the trigger.
My heart raced erratically as I realized that Javier must have been selling secrets to earn his freedom, our freedom.
This was his ‘plan,’ his way of taking care of things, ensuring I got out of here.
That’s why he was so adamant that he couldn’t get another job, why he took the sucesor position, so he could get access to more information.
He told me…he fucking told me, and I didn’t realize what he was saying.
Didn’t realize what he meant when he said all this would be over soon.
Oh my fuck. Holy fuck. Shit. Do something!
“Cinco.”
“Javier, por favor!” I screamed, pleading with him to try and save himself. Even if it only delayed the inevitable, I wanted him to fight back. I needed him to survive.
“Cuatro.”
Javier’s eyes turned soft as he met my gaze, “Remember what I taught you. You fight like hell.”
“Tres.”
“Cierra tus ojos, güerita.”
“Dos.”
“Te quie—”
A loud pop rang out, and I flinched. A blink.
One blink and my brother was no longer kneeling in front of me.
One blink and he was on the ground. His eyes were fixed in my direction, his head turned in an unnatural angle on the living room floor.
Carlos stepped over the blood slowly creeping across the tile.
I was vaguely aware of people talking behind me, but I was too focused on Javier just a few feet away from me. I stared intently, breath held in my lungs, as I waited and waited for his chest to move, for his eyes to blink, for some sign that this wasn’t real.
I was brought to my senses when I heard my dad’s voice begging Carlos to clear his debt, pleading for Carlos to believe him when he said that he wasn’t involved with the police.
Why wasn’t Dad doing anything? Why wasn’t he shooting Carlos in the head for killing his only son? Why did no one seem to fucking care?
The rage ripped through my body, and I realized that Peter was no longer holding me down. I stood up and spun around, lunging at Carlos. I didn’t get very far as I was pulled back by Peter into a tight chokehold that was threatening to cut off my air supply.
“How could you?!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
Carlos looked at me with a scowl before erupting into a cackle. He was laughing at me after just fucking murdering my brother. I wanted to snap his neck. Claw his eyeballs out. Slit his throat. Blow every motherfucker in the room’s brains out.
I glared at my father who was sweating profusely under the gun that Vargas now held to his own head. I knew it was sick that I didn’t care if my dad died. My biggest fear was what would happen to me when he was dead too. I was next. And there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I tried to scream again, but a hand was clamped over my mouth to shut me up and I writhed in Peter’s arms, desperately trying to break free, kicking my feet at his shins and clawing at his arm.
It was like everything Javier had taught me about self-defense was locked behind a door, just out of reach, and I couldn’t find the sequence of moves I needed to break free.
“Por favor, jefe. Mi hija,” my dad cried, tears streaming down his face. I was stunned, unable to believe my own ears. My dad was begging for my life? “Mi hija. No me mate. No me mate.”
Carlos turned his head to stare at me, an amused expression on his face.
“Oh, güerita,” He stepped forward until he was inches away and ran his finger over my cheekbone. “You’ve got a lot to look forward to when I get back.”
I stared at him in bewilderment, flicking my gaze to my dad for answers, but he ignored me.
Carlos gestured for Vargas to put away his weapon.
“Gracias mil veces. Gracias, gracias,” my dad sobbed, bowing down onto the floor.
Carlos nodded as he turned around, observing the chaos he’d left in our living room.
“Bring the girl once the cleaners get here,” Carlos calmly ordered Peter. “And keep your mouth fucking shut, or you’ll be dead too, Kush.”
I struggled against the hand that was becoming damp with my harsh breathing. I couldn’t let him take me somewhere. Carlos paused in the doorway, glancing down at the broken beer bottles puddled on the floor. Carlos turned, grabbing a bag of powder from Vargas’ suit pocket, and tossed it at my dad.
“Por las cervezas,” he muttered, crouching down and patting my dad across the cheek.
My dad didn’t even hesitate to open the bag and take a line on the coffee table. Right above Javier’s body.
Carlos smoothed out his suit and followed Vargas outside. I shuddered at the sound of Kush in my ear.
“At last. No Javier here to protect you now...unless you count his dead body.”
Before I could even process anything that was happening, my body was flung onto the floor, my mouth and nose burning from the impact of hitting the floor face first. Suddenly, Kush rolled me over and landed on top of me, pinning my legs beneath the weight of his own.
My back was sticky and wet, and I gagged realizing I was in the pool of my brother’s warm blood.
I flung my fists towards Kush’s face, but Peter landed with his knees on either side of my head and gripped my arms so forcefully they were nearly breaking beneath his weight.