Page 46 of Vicious Savage

“If it’s not you, Luna, it’s another girl. This is what he does…”

Attila’s words turn over and over in my mind. He’s right, of course. He may not be a saint, but he knows the world works a certain way. He knows the evil that pervades the air. That which lurks in plain sight. I don’t understand his anger, but I do. All too well.

I was born into this life. Whether or not I’m Coyin Castillo’s daughter — I was born to this ruthless, evil world where men take what they want with their currency. Men in this life, they deal in all sorts of things. They trade in human flesh. Their business model comprises everything from drugs to assassinations to trafficking. If you want to survive in this world, you have to be a jack of all trades. You have to play by the rules as set out in the specific code of made men.

What, then, of Attila? He is repulsed by what Nestor did. He’s repulsed by so many things, but nothing so much as the attack on a woman. As seen in my dealings with him. He differs in that way. There’s probably nothing more sacred to him than the life of an innocent. No. He doesn’t kill simply for the pleasure of doing it.

TJ tries to calm my nerves as we stand staring out at the ocean. I’m starting to understand the trouble that will be dropped on these men’s doorstep for saving me. Nestor is one of those problems; for some reason, he fixated on me and dared to make a move to steal me from my saviors. Bad move. And then, there was the matter of my brothers. What would their retaliation be for the death of our father? He may not have been my biological father, but they are still my brothers. How would they feel about what has happened? Howdothey feel? I have to stop thinking about them in terms of their having disappeared, never to return. They had to be somewhere and would make their whereabouts known eventually.

“Oh my God… where’s Scarface?” I ask, turning suddenly toward TJ. He looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Gabriel,” I amend. “I last saw him when he dragged me out of the living room and Nestor found us. Where is he?”

“He’s fine. A few scrapes, but he’s okay.”

I breathe a sigh of relief then look out at the sea, Attila’s words infiltrating my thoughts again.

“This is the man that tried to buy you. He would have forced you to marry him. He would have touched you… He would have raped you, degraded you. And you want to show him mercy?”

Attila was right about one thing. Nestor doesn’t deserve my mercy. He deprived me of being home for three long years. He came here and shot up this house, and would have inflicted maximum damage given the chance. I don’t know how many men were killed or injured in the attack. How many of his men did Attila lose? And for what? So that Nestor could control and destroy me? To spite my dead father? Because that’s what he wanted? Because that’s what he paid for? Did he even know who he was messing with when he attacked these men?

“If it’s not you, Luna, it’s another girl. This is what he does…”

“I think I want to go inside now,” I tell TJ, looking back at the house.

“You sure?”

He seems reluctant to take me back to the house. I nod with a certainty my brain is at odds with and we start the short trek back to the house.

“What’s the time?” I ask him, as we near the patio.

TJ reaches into his pocket and brings his phone out, looking at the screen before he tells me the time. It’s still early morning. A soft breeze whistles through the air. I slow my pace, lagging behind TJ as he scrolls distractedly through his phone.

I see Nestor hanging from the ceiling as we close the gap between us and the house. He swings involuntarily from his one leg. At some point, someone must have left his other leg out, making it extremely more uncomfortable for him. I know he’d also be experiencing trouble breathing in this position, with all the blood rushing to his brain.

I despise him. I despise what he’s done. I hate this version of our world. But I also know that he’s going to die a slow and painful death strung up in this position. Even I don’t have it in me. I can’t watch him die like this. And I won’t. But I can help him along.

We’re merely steps away from Nestor now. TJ is still scrolling on his phone as my eyes skim to his waistband. He is so distracted that the opportunity presents itself. I quietly step closer to him and swipe at his waistband. I have the gun in my hand and I’m running toward Nestor, releasing the safety as I run.

“Luna!” TJ gasps, and I can feel the beat of his feet against the ground as he tries to catch up to me. But I reach Nestor before he can even stop to catch his breath, and I have the gun pressed to the man’s temple. Nestor looks up at me as my hand shakes and the gun ripples against his skin. He doesn’t think I’ll do it.

“Luna, don’t!” TJ hisses, as he nears me and slows down. He treads carefully, knowing that one false move and it could be game over for one or more of us. “Don’t do this.”

“You heard what Attila said, TJ. He’ll just keep doing it over and over again. He doesn’t deserve my mercy.”

“Let me do it,” TJ says, stepping closer. I shake my head and fix him with a hard stare, daring him to come closer.

“No. I may not have been Coyin Castillo’s real daughter, but I saw enough to know that men like this — they never change.”

And I pull the trigger.

47

ATTILA

Irace through the house like a madman. To find Luna standing there holding a gun at her side, Nestor Gamboa’s brains splattered all over the ground. Once again, she stands with the blood of another staining her skin. Her father’s blood, and now Nestor’s blood. I hate to say it, but she looks so damn hot.

I walk towards her slowly. I think she may be in shock, but it looks more like Cesar is the traumatized one. This may be just the cleansing she needed, because she looks up at me and gives me a small, tight smile, before she twirls the gun dangerously around her finger then hands it to me.

“He deserved it,” she says, before she turns and walks toward the house. I turn and watch her brush past Dante and Caleph, who seem to have developed a new found respect for the girl.

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