Page 3 of Revenge on the Mafia

He struggled to form words. I can’t make it to your recital.

“Papá?”

He’d forgotten to tell her he loved her, too.

You are the best thing that happened to me.

“Papá?”

You’re brave. I’m so proud of you.

“Papá!”

We are not cowards. No somos cobardes.

“PAPÁ!”

Te quiero, mi solecita.

I love you, my sunshine.

Everything darkened. It went pitch-black. Screaming. Heart-wrenching cries. The cold was all that was left. Then it went quiet. Deadly quiet.

Te quiero, mi solecita.

CHAPTER ONE

NICO

No somos cobardes.

We are not cowards.

My finger curled around the trigger and aimed.

Thud.

My uncle dropped to the floor.

Thud.

My father dropped to the floor.

I’d saved Juan. I turned to tell him that.

But he was still bleeding. His white shirt was still seeping crimson.

Someone screamed. It could have come from me. I wasn’t sure anymore.

Juan drifted away from me. I rushed after him. My hands slipped and trembled. I still tried to close the hole in his neck. But it wouldn’t close. I tried to wrench the knife sticking out of it. It wouldn’t budge, no matter how hard I tried. His eyes darkened. Death pooled out of them. I looked back, and my father and uncle were still alive. It was a nightmare.

“Fuck off,” I screamed. They only laughed at my ridiculous effort to keep him alive.

“It’s ridiculous,” Juan confirmed, and I turned back to him. He’d written AV all over the wooden planks with his blood. I looked past him at the slatted cupboards, and terror-filled eyes looked back at me. Accusing me.

“Eres un cobarde,” Juan muttered. You’re a coward.

I couldn’t look at him. So I closed his eyes with my trembling palm. I didn’t want him to see the truth anymore.