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Pops pulled his gun from the back of his pants; he heard the desperation in my voice. He knew it was time for action. Knowingly, he looked toward me and pointed his gun at Roberto’s head.
“Let the girl go, Roberto,” he said, removing the safety.
Vienna starting yelling against her restraint, and it sounded like a high-pitched scream. It killed me watching her like this. Like she thought she was going to die.
“Don’t kill her,” I said again. “You can get out of this. You can walk away. We’ll never come for you.”
“We all know that isn’t true. I know I have to die for this, but I’m taking you with me.” Quickly, Roberto pulled the gun away from Vienna and pushed her to the side. She fell onto the floor with a thud. He turned the gun on me and took aim. He shot one bullet and I dove to the ground. I looked at Vienna from under the table. She was crawling away, toward the door.
Good girl. Stay away from the violence, from the guns, from what I was about to do.
I heard another shot as I pushed myself up on the table and took aim. I didn’t know who had taken the latest shot, but no one looked injured. My father stood unwavering, and Roberto looked confused, lost even. He was beginning to break. He looked at my father again and I took the opportunity to take my shot.
One bullet to the head. It was quick, and his body fell into a crumpled heap on the ground close to Armani’s lifeless corpse. I stood and looked at my father while the blood began to pool around Roberto’s head.
Luis came from the back of the restaurant, near the kitchen door with his own gun out in front of him. He took one look around and a smile played on his face. “You ended them?”
I nodded. “Where the hell were you?”
“Just got here when I heard the shots. You did good by us man. We won’t forget that.” He kicked the toe of Armani’s shoe and spit on his body. “Fucking traitors.” He looked back at me, “You both okay? And the girl?”
I looked at Pops, he was still standing, but I realized he was holding himself up by leaning on the table.
“Pops?” I said, moving toward him. “Pops, what’s wrong?”
He sighed heavily and sat back down, grabbing his leg. I saw the blood on the floor.
“You’re hurt!”
“I’m fine. Go get the girl. I’m fine, my son, fine,” he said, his head hanging back against the chair.
Luis nodded, “I’ll stay with him.”
I squeezed his shoulder and ran to the door, stepping over Roberto’s body as I made my way there. Marco was standing with Vienna, and he had a cut near his eye.
“What happened?” I yelled to him as I ran down the block toward them.
Vienna rushed toward me and fell into my arms, sobbing. “I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I understand why you did what you did. You were just trying to save me.”
I ran my fingers through her hair and held her close. “None of that matters now. All that matters is that you're back with me.”
Holding Vienna’s body close to mine with a strong arm, I turned and looked at Marco. “Where were you?”
“They knocked me out, sent some thugs to grab me. I’m sorry, man. I failed you.” I could hear the remorse in his voice. I couldn’t even look at him. I knew it wasn’t his fault, but the only person I needed to focus on right now was Vienna. She sobbed against my chest and I tried to keep her calm.
“You’re okay now, baby. You’re okay. I promise. I took care of it. Nobody will hurt you anymore.”
She looked up at me. “Roberto?”
I couldn’t tell her. I couldn’t tell her about the body in the doorway. It belonged to her uncle. The man who had single handedly created all of this madness. His behavior had almost taken her from me. I had seen the way her eyes looked at me while I was hurting Roberto in my apartment. She couldn't handle more blood on her hands. I had to respect that.
I remained silent and she knew. She cried harder than before. “I hate everything about this. I hate it!”
“I know, I know. But it’s over now.”
Pops staggered out of the restaurant with Luis and Marco helped him. Together, they hobbled toward us. “She’s okay then?” he asked me.
“Yeah, she’s okay.”
