Arturo frowned. “Or else what?”
“Or else I’ll destroy you.”
“You’re alone out here, daughter. It’s only you and that traitor you’ve been fucking. You’re in no position to make threats.”
“I’ve given you my terms. Do you accept them?”
“No,” he said sadly. “I will not. I hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”
“It never had to come to this. You’ve had a stranglehold on this city for too long, and you’ve grown fat and complacent. It’s time to allow the new blood to rule in your place. I’ll be fairer and better than you ever could have hoped to be.”
“What do you know of ruling?” he roared. “I’ve controlled this city for half of my life, for all of yours. I created this city, I own this city. You’re just a weak girl, a pathetic girl trying to overthrow her father. Now come over here and stop being a foolish child.”
“Goodbye, Arturo,” I said, and then hit a button on a remote control hidden in my hand.
Smoke bombs burst, billowing smoke up into the air. Wyatt and I dropped to the ground, slipping small portable gas masks over our faces. The gas wasn’t poisonous or anything, but it would be choking-thick for some time.
That was when the firing started. The snipers began their work, one cracking shot after the next. Arturo’s men began to fire back, shooting off like crazy, but we stayed close to the ground, heads turned and low.
There was yelling and screaming, but the smoke was too thick. My father was such a fool not to see this same trick coming again. I heard one of the cars start to pull away, but its tire burst as someone shot it out. The glass was shattered as the snipers picked off the men inside.
Chaos and blood and destruction. It all happened around us as we remained tucked and low, keeping ourselves out of the crossfire. Arturo’s men continued shooting, but they were doomed. Arturo assumed that we’d come out in force, but instead we were smart, and that was why we were going to win.
It took maybe five minutes for the shots to finally subside. After it was over, there was a deep, eerie silence over the area. I could hear a man nearby groaning in pain as his life slowly drained out of him.
Wyatt stood up first, a gun in his hands. He helped me slowly to my feet as the smoke began to softly billow about, clearing as the wind picked up. We pulled off our masks and surveyed the damage.
Arturo’s men were all dead. The tires in the trucks were shot out. Blood was splattered everywhere, bodies torn to pieces by high-powered rifles. I saw Ernesto pinned up against the hood of a truck, moaning. He looked up as Wyatt put a bullet in his skull, ending his misery.
It was glorious and it was terrible. It was exactly as we planned it.
My father was huddled on the ground, his eyes wide with horror. Not a single bullet had touched him, although he was splattered with the blood of his men. Wyatt and I walked over to him as he dropped back onto his ass, his knees tucked into his chest.
“It’s over,” I said to him.
“It’s never over,” he whispered. “I always win.”
“Not this time, Arturo,” Wyatt said. “Surrender.”
His eyes flashed. “Never.”
Wyatt smiled. I loved him so much. “Good,” he said, and drew a long knife from his belt.
I drew out my knife. Arturo’s eyes went wide with horror.
“No,” he said.
“Yes,” I answered.
I drove my knife into his side. He screamed in pain. I tore it back out, slick with blood.
Wyatt pushed him back and then plunged his knife into Arturo’s chest. Arturo screamed, blood gurgling in his throat. Wyatt pulled his knife out. I stabbed downward, aiming for the heart. I pierced his chest bone and felt the knife enter into Arturo’s beating muscle.
It went still. His scream choked in his throat. He slowly went limp, blood streaming from his lifeless corpse.
I stumbled backward, dropping my knife. Wyatt dropped his, grabbing me into his arms.
“It’s over,” he said.
I nodded, pressing myself against his chest.
My father lay at our feet, his blood slowly draining into the sandy soil.
Wyatt took my chin and kissed me hard. I kissed him back, my mind racing, but my heart steady. I was in love and I had won.
That was all that mattered. I was in love and I had won. Together, we were going to take the city from my father. There was nobody left to oppose us. The mafia would break into pieces as it tore itself apart, and I would swoop in and take control.
Wyatt planned all of this from the start. His idea was simple: we needed to kill Arturo. The rest of the mob would fall once he was gone. Getting him alone was the hard part, but we got there eventually. We used some of our old tricks, and of course they worked again. Arturo was too proud to plan for anything he didn’t think of himself.