“Are you saying your father may be alive?”
He pinches his nose. “I’m not sure what I’m saying. Nothing is ever what it seems lately.”
I sit up on the couch and he tries to stop me. I place my hand to his shoulder. “I’m fine, I promise.”
He slides his thumb over my cheek. “You’re staying, then?”
“Wild horses couldn’t keep me away.” I smile. Gun shots come from the back yard. Gabriel’s eyes dart toward the door. “Looks like it’s time for us to finish cleaning up after your mother.”
I straighten up my body on the couch. “Where is my mother?”
“She’s gone and so is Santiago’s mother.”
“And your brother?”
“He said he needed to take care of a few things in the basement.” He smirks.
Two men swing open the front door and I reach for my gun. He slides his hand over mine, stopping me. “Relax, little prince. They are friends.”
One of the guys gets closer. “So this is the guy who’s caused all the trouble?”
Gabriel laughs. “We don’t exactly have time for proper introductions, but yes. Carlos, this is my Mateo. Mateo, this is my older brother Carlos.”
Now that he mentions it, I can see the family resemblance. The guy behind Gabriel shouts, “Sounds like those gunshots are getting closer. We better move.”
“You should go upstairs and lay down.”
I shake my head. “No. Where you go, I go.”
The stranger laughs. “Boss man, he’s just as stubborn as you are. Looks like someone has met their match.”
When Gabriel offers me his hand, I take it and his fingers are warm and large around mine. We run out the back, loading our guns. Gabriel aims his gun at the first guy he sees and shoots without asking questions. Someone runs toward me with a knife and I put a bullet in his chest, soaking his white button down in his own blood. More men emerge from inside the house. It becomes a never ending cycle and it is very apparent we are outnumbered, until there are finally more of us than them. My father’s main guard takes out the last one. We are standing in the middle of the yard, never letting our eyes leave the back patio door.
The same man who resembles an older version of Santiago walks through the threshold with an AR-15. “Where is my son?”
I smile. “Probably dead by now. Now I think it’s your turn.”
His face flushes red with anger and he lifts the gun in my direction. “He should have ended you a long time ago, you stupid...”
The moment he walks closer, a bomb goes off cutting off his words and sending pieces of the older mob boss’s body all over the back patio.
“That oughta shut him up.” My father laughs from beside me holding a remote control in his right hand. More chuckling comes from beside me.
“Thank God. That man talked too damn much.” Gabriel pulls my body to his. “This was some wedding. Too bad there was no photographer to capture all the memories for you to look back on.”
I huff. “There are plenty of reminders all over the house.”
“I never did like this house anyway.” My father sets his gun back in the holster. “I guess we better get this mess cleaned up before we have more trouble than we need. I’m going to go make a few calls to ensure we don’t. You two should get out of here.”
He points to us before heading back in the house, stepping over the leftover pieces of my father in law the same way a person would be walking over a puddle of mud. His men follow after him.
Carlos sighs heavily, reminding me we aren’t out here alone. “As much as I hate to eat and run, I think it’s safe to say the party is over, and I have officially overstayed my welcome.”
He walks toward the untouched white cake that doesn’t have a single bullet or drop of blood in it. It appears the exact same way it did when the baker brought it over. He scoops up a piece in his hand and shoves it in his mouth on his way out the back gate.
Gabriel laughs. “I guess somebody should get to enjoy that cake.”
I swipe a drop of blood from my brow and only Gabriel and I are left standing in the middle of broken flowers and shredded ribbon with an altar full of bullets that no one will be exchanging vows in today. We glance around us and erupt into a heap of laughter.
