Chapter Sixty Nine
Maria froze by the car, the loud gunshot ringing in her ears like an alarm bell. She felt her chest crush as her breath got shorter and strained, tears burning her eyes. She could no longer feel the pain in her body as it was overpowered by the stabbing pain in her chest.
“Honey that could mean anything.” Edna said with a quivering voice as she fought the panic squeezing her chest.
When another gun shot went off Maria sprinted towards the warehouse like a runner. She fought to keep her head clear, she didn’t want to think of the worst. Her children were her life now, and if they died, she would die too.
She stopped when she saw a cold rigid Miguel holding a gun high. She felt her body shake in fear when she realized none of the two shots hit Ricky or who else would her father be holding a gun to?
She took two steps in to see the person the gun was directed to. Ricky was standing across the room, the mouth of his gun resting on the tearful Michael.
“Mama!” he cried, struggling to get out of Ricky’s hold.
She choked on her sobs as she stared at her crying, scared son. The sound of his cry drove a knife through her heart as she stared at him, powerlessly, unable to help him.
“Mama!” he cried again, but this time he pointed to the ground.
Maria’s eyes shifted down slowly; Dave was lying on the ground covering Izzy’s entire body except her tiny little feet. She felt her heart hit hard against her rib cage as her legs gave way under her and she fell to the ground gasping for the little air her constricted throat let in.
She didn’t want to believe it, but it was there, light as day. Ricky had killed them both, he had threatened to do it and he did, the only one left for him to take away from her was her son, and that was going to happen in a few more seconds.
Her daughter and the love of her life lay before her lifeless and it was all her fault. The moment she loved them, she’d condemned them to death, she knew this would happen, but she was so selfish she hung on to them. She loved her new life and her new family she didn’t think of the danger she was putting them in…. yes she did, she just didn’t want to let go of it.
Her legs, more jelly than flesh and bone, wouldn’t let her stand up, so she dragged her dead legs closer to the two still bodies, a weep escaping her lips as she got closer, “No, please no, please don’t be dead.”
“Maria, don’t move any closer.” Miguel whispered, inching forward with her.
“You promised to bring them back to me alive.” she cried louder, “You promised papa!”
“Hija.” he whispered tenderly, as he leaned down to touch her shoulder, “It’s not what it looks like.”
She shrugged his hand away and moved closer stretching to touch Izzy’s foot, “They are dead aren’t they? How could it not be what it looks like?” she yelled before she began crying again, “She’s just a baby.” she sobbed, stroking her foot with the tips of her fingers, “my little baby.”
“See Michael, she replaced you just like she did me.” Ricky snorted out, “She loves those two more than she loves us.”
“She may not love you, but she loves me!” Michael yelled roughly, rubbing his cheeks dry, “And I hate you too!”
“You little brat!” he said, pulling Michael’s hair and making him scream out in pain, “I should kill you right now!”
Maria’s head shot up when she heard Michael’s cry. She struggled to her feet and wiped her tears away. She needed to find a way to save the only person she had left. “Ricky, please let him go.” she begged. She wanted to move closer to them, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave Izzy, “It’s me you want to hurt, not him.”
“I’ll hurt you more if I killed your little bundle of joy here.”
“Mama he’s supposed to be dead.” Michael asked, puzzled.
“Don’t worry, he’s going to be very soon.” Miguel answered.
“Honey just calm down.” she stuttered, “Ricky he’s your son too, you can’t hurt him.” she said with so much anguish.
“The hell I can’t! Zorro here just shot me, and I can’t think of a better way of getting revenge!” He said, signalling with his head to his bleeding arm.
Maria looked down at Dave and Izzy as Ricky’s words sank in. She only heard two gun shots, if one bullet was in Ricky’s arm why were both Dave and Izzy on the ground? She saw blood on Ricky’s shoulder, but she couldn’t see blood on Izzy or Dave. She felt some hope creep inside her when she stepped around the two, looking them over, searching for the slightest sign of blood.
“As much and as long as you look at them Maria, they aren’t waking up.” he laughed, “I just killed two birds with one stone, literally!”
Maria stopped when she saw the puddle of blood at Dave’s back. His brown jacket was also soaked in blood. She felt her heart stop and the little hope she had seeping out of her as she stared down at the blood. That was too much blood for one person, too much to lose to stay conscious for a grown man, for a little girl it meant she was…
She drunkenly turned around to look at her son and his heartless father, “You’ve taken enough away from me.” she pointed down, “This is enough to torture me for a lifetime.” she sobbed, tears running down her cheeks, “Please give me back my baby, he’s all I have left.”
“He was all I had left too until you took him away from me!” Ricky roared, “The second I let him go you’ll run with him, again!”