Gabriel’s brother’s eyes brighten with certainty. “Let’s just say I have that covered and I have a feeling many of the guests will be objecting to the wedding. You may have enemies, but turns out Santiago has way more.”
Gabriel grabs the bag from the floor, sliding a holster over his shoulders, loading each side with guns. He pulls a sports coat over it, straightening his posture. “How about we go add a few more out there?”
There is no possible way I could ever second guess the man beside me being Marcus’s son. He carries the same drive and passion in his eyes. When he loved, it was with his whole heart and it was apparent in every action he took. This man loves my son and that alone is enough for me to fight along his side. We both want the same things. To stop the wedding and take down the people who threaten my family. Mateo is all I have left, and I won’t let anything else happen to him. I couldn’t save his brother, but I can save him.
33
Mateo
Istand next to my soon-to-be husband who’s wearing a black suit and a smug expression on his face. He thinks he’s won. The mystery guest from before and unplanned fireworks give me hope that it isn’t over yet. After practically dozing off to the priest talking, he looks up toward the guests behind us. “If anyone can show just cause as to why this couple cannot lawfully be joined together in matrimony, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”
“No one does, please go on,” Santiago says in a rushed tone.
The priest looks back down and when he’s about to continue on with the vows, someone I’ve only met briefly stands up. “I do.”
Santiago’s eyes go wide and his face grows red with fury. Before he can say anything else, another man with long blonde hair pulled back stands up, “Me too.”
“Me three,” another one says from behind my mother. Santiago clenches his fists at his side. “If you are all done with your little joke, I’d like to continue getting married.”
“I have just cause.” Another person jumps from their seat and the priest closes his book and tilts his head. “Will there be anyone else?”
I glance into the crowd and watch as the back doors swing open. My breath catches when my father and Gabriel come barging out. “We do. Game fucking over.” They both draw their weapons toward Santiago and four men stand up from the chairs, pointing their guns at my father and Gabriel. The men who stood up before draw their weapons as well.
Santiago bursts into a heap of laughter. “Well, wasn’t all this very entertaining. I think we can stop fucking around now and just admit I’ve won this little game and that Mateo here is part of the prize. Since you bothered to waste my time, I think I’ll keep you alive until after the honeymoon. I think I’ll let you watch me break your precious boy.”
He wraps his cold fingers around my chin, and I hear the clicking of someone’s jaw. “How about we skip the boring part and get to the fun part. I think it’s time I kiss my husband, don’t you, Father?” He stares at the priest and the guy’s hands shake around the bible.
“Yes, sir. Of course. And by the power invested in me, I pronounce you both partners for life. You may kiss the groom.” Santiago’s lips turn up as he presses them against mine. I slip my hand under my coat, grabbing my pocket knife. I kiss harder, pulling him farther into me while I jab the blade into his side.
He yelps, jumping back. “You little shit. You will pay for that,cabrón.”
He reaches for his gun but I’m faster pulling out the blue pistol from the back of my pants. I shoot him in the arm, making him drop it to the floor with a loud clack. “Looks like the only one who will be paying is you.”
His jaw clenches as he tugs his injured arm to his chest. I keep my gun right on him, staring him right in his cold eyes. My mom stands from her seat. “Please,mijo. Think about what you’re doing. You can still set things right. It doesn’t have to go this way.”
My hand shakes with anger but still remains on the gun, pointing it at the vile man in front of me. “No, Mother, it does have to go this way and this is me trying to help fix the mess you made.”
She huffs. “The mess I made? All you’re doing is repeating your father’s past mistakes. Everything I’ve done is formi familia.For you. Can’t you see? Everything I do comes from love. Your father and Gabriel don’t care about you as they claim. Your life will always be miserable.”
I laugh, staring in the direction of the woman I no longer recognize to be the woman who used to hold me every time I woke up from a nightmare. She is the reason for the one I’m in now and nothing about her cold touches from earlier brought me comfort.
“Do as she says,mi amor.Keep continuing this path and you are as good as dead, just like your father and Gabriel. It isn’t too late for you.”
I raise my gun to the middle of his forehead. “You’re right. It’s not, but it is too late for you.” My knees buckle when someone kicks me from behind. I nearly drop the gun to the ground. It gives Santiago enough time to twist my arm behind my back and pull me to his chest.
His laughter is loud and dark in my ears. “Stupid, just like your father.” He spits in my face and someone screams in the background, “Now!”
Guns go off around us. Bottles shatter everywhere and balloons pop above me. The white chairs my mother was so excited about are being covered in splatters of blood. Everything becomes a blur of red. Santiago throws me to the ground. “Make sure he doesn’t go anywhere,” he says to a nearby guard. He yanks my gun from my hand. “You won’t be needing this anymore, sweetheart.”
I lay on the ground, closing my eyes. The screams become louder. Shot after shot, more bodies drop to the ground and I can’t tell the bad guys from the good guys. My mother runs off into the distance, making her way through a bunch of trees. I think she’s about to get away and I attempt to stand, but the man behind me steps on my chest. “Oh no you don’t, little one. You’ve caused enough trouble for the day as it is. How about we get you out of here and safe from harm’s way,sí?”
I know a coward when I smell one. It’s his own safety he cares about, not mine. He pulls me up from the ground and then releases me as he gets struck in the head with a bullet. Blood pours down his face before he crumples to the ground. I turn around and Gabriel is smiling at me covered in blood from head to toe. “Hey, little prince. Don’t you know not to wear white after Labor Day?”
I laugh and his smile fades. “Duck.” I do what he says, and he lifts his gun, shooting behind me. “We should get you out of here.”
I shake my head. “My mother. I should go after her.”
“That won’t be necessary. I have a feeling she’s about to get hers.”
