Page 82 of Nocturnal Sins
No matter how our relationship morphed and changed, the one thing that could never be disputed was that Papa was just as much Santana’s father as he was mine. He loved Papa as much as I did and if something bad happened to him it would rip Santana apart.
My teeth chattered together as we pulled up to Papa’s restaurant. “You don’t have to go in,” Santana said.
“I want to,” I told him. “Just tell me, Santana, do you have a bad feeling about what we’re walking into?” I begged for the truth with my eyes and Santana gave me an answer with a single nod.
“The fact that Dom called me isn’t setting well, Sammie. He didn’t sound like someone who’d just gone through a coup or anything else traumatic.” Our words fell to silence and the only thing to be heard was our breathing. “Samira, no matter what, know I love you okay, baby?” He leaned over and pressed the sweetest kiss to my mouth. It was a kiss I didn’t want to let go of. I wanted to suspend that moment in a bottle of forever but I knew we had to break apart. We had to see what the fuck happened inside of the restaurant.
Santana walked ahead of me but he never let my hand go. We were linked together as always. Alvarez and Alvarez.
The backroom smelled sharp and even though there was only a hint of something metallic in the air, it made my stomach roil. A ball of fear and nerves pushed from my stomach to my throat nearly choking me.
“It’s okay, Sammie,” Santana said, giving my hand a squeeze. It wasn’t okay though. The air told me that. Nothing was okay anymore.
The concrete scraping sound of the hidden door opening made my skin crawl all of a sudden. It used to fill me with awe but now I was filled with dread. I wasn’t sure when it happened, but Santana had his gun drawn as he made his way into Papa’s office.
The door was open and a pale wedge of light spilled onto the floor. Everything was fucking wrong. Everything. I felt it sinking into the pit of me.
Santana pushed the door open more and didn’t even bother calling out to him. It was another gut punch and confirmation that the worst thing I could ever possibly lay my eyes on was right in front of me.
My mind took in the image then immediately rejected it.
Papa’s lifeless body lay strewn on the floor of his office with a deep red puddle soaking into the carpet under his chest. A sob clawed its way from my throat right before I threw myself on the floor beside him.
Warm blood soaked into my dress as I knelt by Papa’s side. Pain exploded in my chest like I’d been shot too. It was a pain that left no mark though. It was my heart-shattering.
As if I’d emerged from the water, voices became clear. There was…talking. I heard Santana’s voice. It was an angry growl. I heard another voice too but everything was moving so fast that I couldn’t make anything out. The only thing I knew for certain was that my Papa had been shot dead.
My world was crushed.
***
