Emiliano
EYES OPEN
“Check the rest of the house,” I order Papo, catching sight of Nas through the kitchen window as he lines the men up for questioning with Berto tying their wrists and ankles. Once he’s done, he’ll let loose on them with an assault rifle.
Loyalty is the Pineros way. And you pay for disloyalty with your life.
Tío Guillermo would be proud. He’d probably insist they were decapitated instead, but we’re looking for Taina and Paloma. Time is of the essence.
I approach the basement door, and I just know . My Princesa is down there.
And she better be alive. She better fucking be alive.
The door at the top is still locked, so I step back and shoot the doorknob, aiming away from the basement.
It creaks open, and I check the dark staircase, looking toward the sliver of light that illuminates the bottom of the second door downstairs.
I don’t hear anything, but I try to step as quietly as possible.
Maybe Ignacio was right and I’m too big to try to tiptoe.
Fee, fi, fo, fum and all of that. Plus I already shot the fucking door .
So I rush down the stairs, pausing only to shove my size-fourteen foot through the second door. When it bangs against the wall, I catch sight of just the motherfucker I wanted to see.
He’s got Taina—who looks like someone tossed blood all over her—by the back of her neck. And because Carlos is so predictable, he has his gun to her head.
With mine aimed at him, he snickers. How did he become this person? I’ll never understand.
“You might be bigger than I am, but we both know I’m a better shot.”
“Fuck all of that, hand her over,” I demand, beckoning Taina to walk over to me.
She tries, only to have him yank her back.
“Oh, you mean this bitch right here? The one I had first?” He adjusts his grip so he’s now fisting her hair. “Worth every penny of the $500,000 I paid her parents.”
I watch her eyes wince and exhale as evenly as I can.
I’m gonna get you out of here.
And then I’m gonna give you my last name so no one ever harms you ever again. You’ll never have anything in common with those people ever again.
“Bullshit, you paid her parents $500,000, Carlos. You didn’t have that kind of money.”
“Says who?”
“From selling off Papi’s cars?”
“From working with my in-laws.” He smirks, tipping his chin at me. “ Papi didn’t want to listen—no one wanted to. So I did it on my own.”
“What are you?—”
“You just had to kill her uncle and her brother,” Carlos grits out, sweat beading on his top lip. “I—I probably could’ve saved you if you hadn’t done that. This bitch would still have to go, but you…we could’ve been brothers.”
“You stopped being my brother a long time ago,” I hiss, terrified of how erratic he appears. A simple squeeze, and she’s gone.
“You’ve been making money with the Russians? Sex trafficking?” I spit the words out like the heinous act that it is.
“ Papi thought the same when I brought it up to him after I got out of jail. That’s where I met Nina and made friends with a couple of her cousins.
They talked about how lucrative the business is.
I wanted to make the money we had to pay that family back and earn my rank again.
But he made sure that’d never happen as long as he was alive.
” All while he rambles, it’s so impassioned that I fear what my brother’s reality looks like through his lens.
“And he conveniently died…” I trail off as I focus on what he isn’t saying. “Did you kill Papi ?”
He glances down at his feet, and while I could’ve taken the shot, I don’t. I want to know his answer.
I need to know.
“It’s amazing, what a little botulinum toxin can do to a sixty-eight-year-old man. Nina came up with that idea.” He shakes his head, chuckling. “For all of her bullshit, she sure is an evil little genius.”
“At least one of you has a functioning brain,” Taina mutters, yelping when Carlos yanks her hair tighter.
I glare at her, not wanting to tell her to shut the fuck up but wanting her to shut the fuck up.
“? Y Paloma?”
Tell me everything you know before I release this clip. If he’s not looking like Swiss cheese by the time I’m through, I will tie him to the back of Papasote and drag his body everywhere until there’s nothing left but his foot.
“What is it with you two and falling for destroyed women?” he asks, looking at Taina. “Her pussy was good, though. Even if I did have to knock her unconscious just to get her to stop fighting.”
He’s trying to piss me off so I’ ll make a mistake.
He’s trying, and it’s working. But I won’t make a mistake when it comes to her.
“Paloma is spending time with my wife. Initially, I was going to have Paloma and Nina was going to handle this bitch, but I told her I wanted to fuck her one last time, just because she spent months stalking me. I even tried to threaten her dad to get her to stop! I knew killing the bitch was going to bring too much attention, with him running for senator. So I shot him, which took him out of the running, and Fabián informed me that you two lovebirds were shacking up.”
I stare at Taina, who’s staring up at the ceiling, likely wishing she could be anywhere but here. He rambles on as I watch her, soaking her face in, waiting for the right moment…
When the Devil himself wouldn’t touch me in his presence.
“You don’t even know. The afternoon you came over to help scrub my floors after I said I had to handle someone who disrespected me?” He damn near giggles. “You were cleaning up her blood?—”
Bang.
Taina screams, holding her hands to her face as Carlos’s body sinks to the floor.
I rush up to grab her, placing the gun I’m holding in her bloody, shaking hands. I kick the gun he’d been holding across the floor, just to be safe.
“I clipped his neck. This kill is yours.” She’s still shaking, so I hold her hands in mine to help with aim.
She’s the last person he’s going to see before he burns in hell.
If there’s a life after this one, she’ll haunt him there too.
Bang .
The gun clatters to the floor, and I turn Taina to gather her in my arms. With a quick glance, I confirm the bullet hole in his forehead, now oozing blood.
His eyes stare blankly at the ceiling.
You know what they say when you die with your eyes open.