The man released her before he pivoted and snatched his gun from beneath his jacket.
Enrique grabbed him by the collar and knocked the gun aside.
The metal clattered as it slid across the floor and hit the wall beneath the now-muted television.A cartoon played on the screen, the innocence blackened with the threat of violence.Sera’s whimpering as she clung to her father’s legs shattered the heavy stillness.
“Touch my woman again, I will tear you apart.”He crowded so close that Zayas’s tobacco stench clogged his nostrils.Steady, now,he told himself.You have what you want.Do not throw it away.The ice in his veins cooled his burning rage.He released the man and straightened his suit for him, a threat in itself.“Make no mistake, you’re on my shit list.”
Zayas turned toward Rubén, then Villegas.“You’re going to let this happen?”
Villegas adjusted his jacket.“Briceño will marry her.We’re leaving.”He pivoted and walked out.
The main door of the hacienda banged open.
Fuming, Zayas shoved past Enrique, grabbed his gun, and strode for the exit.
Rubén clamped Zayas’s arm and drew him up short.His razor-sharp voice resounded like a death knell.“You scared my daughter.Insulted my pregnant wife.Brandished a gun in front of them.This will not go without severe repercussions.”
The stiffness in Zayas’s shoulders drained away.His throat worked so hard that his Adam’s apple bobbed.He nodded and, once Rubén unhanded him, followed Villegas out.
Lourdes jumped into Enrique’s embrace.
Her lilac scent intoxicated him.The feel of her lithe body against his much stronger one sucker-punched him.She curled her fingers in his shirt as if she would never let him go.And she didn’t have to.He sure as hell would never let her face the world without him again.
She pulled back, eyes shining.“We can marry?”
“Let’s do it tomorrow, quick and simple as we planned.Unless you want something more traditional?”
“I just want to be your wife.Simple is fine.”She tunneled her fingers through his hair.“I can barely believe this is happening.”
“We need to talk, Ricky,” Rubén called out from where he wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist and held his daughter in his other arm.“Zayas is going to cause problems for you.Us, I should say.He’s a liability.”
Sera clung to Rubén and whispered to him in little gulps Enrique couldn’t catch.For Zayas to pull a gun in front of that innocent child, fuck.Rubén had shown massive restraint in letting Zayas walk out without a black eye or broken jaw.
His friend was right.Zayas was a problem.Right now, only Lourdes mattered.Marrying her.Loving her.Claiming her.He would deal with her jilted fiancé in due time.
A bullet to the head should do the trick.
