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The fire burning inside of me starts to diminish.
“It’s okay,” he says just like he did when I was a little boy and would get upset over something.
That’s when I finally turn away from an unconscious Gabriel to meet the cerulean eyes of my father.
“Not here,” is all he says.
Still breathing hard, I take a step back and stumble due to the way my body continues to tremble from the adrenaline rushing through it.
My father holds me upright.
“It’s over. He won’t hurt her,” he assures.
I look over at Gabriel who’s labored breathing lets me know he’s still alive. But he’s in no condition to hurt anything at this point.
“Our guys will take care of this mess,” my father says. “Come on.”
I barely register the guys from our family’s security coming in and out of the room. I assume they’ve already taken care of the goon squad Gabriel had with him.
“I still don’t know where Rodrigo is,” I tell my father as we exit out of the back of the tiny office building.
He stops us in the middle of the parking lot behind the building. “We’ll find him wherever he is,” he replies, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Are you alright?” He looks down at my bruised knuckles.
I glance around, only seeing our security coming in and out of the shop. “Should we be out here?”
“There’s no security cameras. Everything’s been managed. No one will ever know you or I were here,” he says with confidence.
My shoulders slump from the release of tension his response provides. I trust my father implicitly.
“Are you okay?” he asks again, this time clapping my face with his palm.
I ball and flex my hands. “I’m fine.” I meet his eyes. “Sorry about that. I moved before I could ask him about Rodrigo. I know you told me to keep my hands off of him, but—”
He holds up his hands. A chuckle rushes out of his mouth.
After that day when Gabriel Jr. had the balls to pop up at Monique’s gallery, I knew he was going to be an issue. Or should I say, I knew that I would need help getting rid of his body.
So, I went to the man I trust with my life.
My father.
We had a plan for how I was to get information out of Gabriel because we knew that he wasn’t working alone. Rodrigo is a part of Gabriel Jr’s bullshit somehow. Even if he hasn’t shown his face yet.
“Did you honestly think I believed you when you said you’d keep your hands off of him until we arrived?” my father asks, still laughing. He shakes his head. “I knew as soon as you mentioned Monique’s name he was as good as dead. You’re lucky I gave you that five minutes alone with him.”
His grin shrinks a smidge.
“You did enough damage in that amount of time.” He looks back at the exit we just left.
“Not enough,” I reply. “He’s still breathing.”
My father’s hand on my shoulder tightens. “Not now. You have places to be. Don’t you?”
I’m meeting Monique at her gallery so I can take her out to dinner. That thought reminds me to pull out my phone and check on her numbers. I exhale in relief at seeing she’s in a safe range.
I send her a quick text to let her know I’m on my way. Then I follow it up with a reminder to make sure all of the doors of the gallery are locked and to not come out until I’m there to meet her.
I laugh when she immediately replies with an eye roll emoji followed by an emoji with its tongue sticking out.
