I hated hospitals. I hated everything about them. The smell. The bright lights. The weight of all of the grief in the place, as though the walls held onto the memories of all of the pain and suffering endured here.
‘So, what the fuck happened?’ I asked my uncles as we walked down the corridor.
It was my Uncle Phillipe who answered me. My mother and father lived in Vegas, and were only visiting L.A for a few days, where they were staying with him and my aunt, Rachel. ‘He left the house in a rush this morning. Wouldn’t even wait for his bodyguards to go with him and insisted on driving himself. He was at a stop sign when someone pulled up alongside him and shot him. We got all of the local CCTV and there’s not much on it. But the shooter was on a motorcycle which was dumped further down the road.’
‘Fuck! Do we have any leads?’ I snapped.
‘Do we have leads?’ Carlos hissed. ‘Where the fuck were you this morning, Alejandro? And why was your father so desperate to get to your hotel to see you that he took off without any of his men for protection?’
I glared at Carlos. ‘I was in New York.’
‘New York?’ he snarled. ‘What the fuck were you doing in New York when we have all of this mierda going on here in L.A?’
‘I was looking for Alana,’ I said with a sigh.
‘You were chasing some puta!’ Carlos snorted.
‘Don’t you ever call my wife a whore!’ I snarled at him through clenched teeth. He was my uncle and I had never laid a hand on him, but he was pushing every single one of my buttons.
‘Carlos!’ Phillipe said, quietly. ‘Now is not the time for fighting amongst ourselves.’
‘Then when is the time, Phillipe? Because our brother is fighting for his life, and his idiota of a son was halfway across the country when he needed him.’
Carlos was right. If I had been here, maybe my father and I would have spoken last night and settled our differences. Maybe he’d gone to my house to see me and I wasn’t there? If I had been, maybe he wouldn’t be here in this goddam hospital. But, I couldn’t admit that to them, or to myself right now.
I felt the anger surging through me like a geyser as I grabbed the collar of Carlos’ jacket and pushed him against the nearest wall. ‘What the fuck did you just say, Cabrón?’ I snarled, my face pressed against his.
‘You should put that wife of yours on a leash!’ he spat.
I pulled my fist back without even thinking about it, but Phillipe’s hand was on my arm before I could land the punch. ‘Alejandro,’ he said quietly in my ear. ‘Now is not the time.’
His calm voice seemed to snap me out of the rage I was in and I released Carlos from my grip. He straightened his jacket and flexed his shoulders while he glared at me.
‘To answer your question. We have no leads yet. But, given your recent troubles with the Ortegas, they are our primary targets,’ Phillipe said.
I nodded. ‘I thought that too, although this isn’t exactly the Ortegas style.’
‘I know,’ Phillipe nodded his agreement.
‘Jax is at the hotel now doing what he does best. We’ll find out who is responsible for this,’ I told them.
Phillipe put his hand on my shoulder. ‘I know. You’re a good son, Alejandro,’ he said while Carlos didn’t even attempt to hide his disdain as he snorted and shook his head in disbelief. I couldn’t help but worry that it was him who was right. What if my father died? What if the last words I said to him were to call him a jackass and tell him to get out of my office?
Fuck! I needed my Papa to pull through, for so many reasons, not least of all that I would never be able to forgive myself if he didn’t.
