“Why are there four of them? I didn’t know the lunch ladies needed that much help.”

  The question hadn’t even been out of her mouth for a full second when the men noticed Taina staring at them. There were two Black men, one white man, and one Hispanic. One of the white guys smiled sinisterly at Taina. All four men then threw their lunch attire over their heads, revealing black suits and automatic weapons. Taina saw it before it happened, but it was too late. She tried to grab Marisol when she took cover under their table in the cafeteria, but the bullets from the shooters ripped into Marisol’s body, making her look like a dancing rag doll.

  “Marisol!” Taina screamed repeatedly, holding on to her friend’s body as they dropped to the floor.

  Marisol tried to say something, but it sounded like a gurgle. Blood poured from her mouth, and Taina tried to apply pressure to her wounds. All around her, the multiple gunshots and the screaming of her fellow classmates faded into the background of her hearing. She was only focused on her best friend lying in her arms, choking on her blood. Marisol feverishly reached for Taina’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

  “I love you, Marisol. You are my very best friend,” Taina whispered, letting her tears fall on Marisol’s face.

  Marisol gave her what was supposed to be a smile.

  “I-I love y . . . you too. P . . . please don’t f . . . forget me, OK?”

  “I promise,” Taina said.

  Before Taina could say anything else, she felt Marisol’s grip on her hand slacken and watched her opened eyes go dim. Taina let go of her hand and shut Marisol’s eyes to make it look like she was sleeping. She put her friend’s head to her chest and sobbed. She didn’t care if a bullet caught her right then and there. The one person in the world who understood her was gone; it was like she was lying dead with her already. She shook and sobbed into Marisol’s hair, silently praying for her to please come back. She didn’t plan on letting her go until she felt a hand tightly grip her shoulder.

  “Taina, we have to go!” Taina looked up to see Mario standing over her. “It’s too late for Marisol, but we need to get out of here now. They came for you.”

  They came for you. His words echoed in her head.

  The bullets that were made for her had gotten to Marisol instead. Taina kissed her forehead.

  “I’m so sorry, Marisol,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Come on, Taina! Your dad’s men are here, but I don’t know how long they can hold them off.”

  Taina finally listened to reason and laid Marisol’s body down gently.

  “I’ll come back for you,” Taina promised and struggled to her feet.

  The two of them ran away from the gunfire as quickly as they could. Taina almost couldn’t stomach the sight of the bloody bodies of students she kept stumbling across. Some were still alive, while others weren’t so lucky.

  “Aah!” Mario yelled as a bullet grazed his arm.

  “Mario!” Taina cried out.

  “I’m OK.” Mario winced at the wound. “It just grazed me. Keep going. My car is in the back of the building.”

  They made it out of the building without any other occurrences and ran hand in hand to Mario’s red Corvette. He put the key in the ignition and floored the gas pedal all the way to Taina’s house. Right before they reached the gate, Taina asked Mario to pull over. She opened the passenger-side door and leaned out. Everything in her stomach rushed out, and she tried to catch her breath.

  “Hey, hey.” Mario rubbed her back.

  He felt her long hair under his slender fingers as his hand went back and forth between her shoulder blades. Her heart thumped rapidly while she continued to take deep breaths. It wasn’t until then that he noticed she was covered in blood, and her face was pale.

  “Come on,” Mario said. “Let’s get you home. Your parents are probably really worried about you.”

  Taina nodded and shut her door. Mario drove up to the gate and saw an armed man standing there. He walked up to the driver’s-side window, and Mario rolled it down.

  “Can you please tell Mr. Capello that I have his daughter, Taina, with me?”

  The guard’s face registered surprise, and he looked over into the passenger’s side. When he saw that it was, in fact, Taina, he opened the gate and waved them through. At the same time, he radioed to the house that Taina was home. Taina pointed Mario to her house. He helped her out of the car and up the steps that led up to the front door. Taina pushed it open, and she was bombarded with a swarm of people around her no sooner than she stepped into the house.

  “Oh, thank God.” Stephanie was the first person to embrace her. “I was so worried. Oh my God, she’s covered in blood!”

  “I . . . It’s not mine,” Taina was able to get out.

  Isabella came forward and pulled Taina away from Stephanie to hug her daughter.

  “I’m glad you’re OK, baby,” she said into Taina’s hair. “We got the call that somebody was shooting at the school, and we thought the worst. Your father is on his way back here now.”

  Taina pulled away and just nodded her head. She was numb all over. All she wanted to do was go to her room and sleep. Maybe it would have all just been one horrible nightmare when she woke up. Everyone around her began overwhelming her with a million questions. The only one she heard was Stephanie’s.

  “If that isn’t your blood, Taina, whose is it?”

  Taina’s eyes welled with tears again, and her bottom lip trembled. She opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t find the words. The image of Marisol lying lifeless in the school’s cafeteria entered her head, and it was too much for her to bear for one day.

  “I think she’s been through enough today,” Mario finally said from behind them.

  Suddenly, all eyes turned to where the strange voice had come from.

  “Who are you?” Isabella asked. “What is he doing here?”

  “My name is—”

  “Taina!” Denny Capello’s voice boomed throughout the house when he pushed the door open and saw his daughter standing there.

  He left his security guards outside the house and rushed to swoop her off the ground. He held her tightly to him like a baby and kissed her face. He studied her from top to bottom when he put her back down.

  “You have blood all over you,” he observed. “Are you all right?”

  “It’s not my blood,” Taina said, struggling with her speech. “It’s . . . It’s Marisol’s. She’s dead,” she sobbed.

  She was finally able to say it, and Stephanie gasped. She had to sit. Stephanie then knew why Taina’s face was so pale. Her best friend had been murdered right before her eyes. From the looks of it, Taina must have held her until the end.

  “No,” she exclaimed. “Oh Lord, not Marisol.”

  “Papi,” Taina said, looking up into Denny’s eyes, “is it true that those men came looking for me today? Is it true that they wanted to kill me?”

  Instead of answering, Denny looked to Isabella for help. She came and stood by his side. Gripping his hand, she tried to talk to Taina.

  “Honey—”

  “They did mean to kill me,” Taina screamed. “But they killed Marisol instead. But they were trying to kill me.”

  Taina was hysterical by then. Her sobs were uncontrollable, and she looked at both of her parents with deep anger.

  “Taina—” Her mother tried again. This time, she reached for Taina, but Taina threw her hand away.

  “Fuck you!” she screamed. “This is all his fault!” She pointed a finger at her father. “My best friend is dead. She’s dead, and she’s not coming back.” Taina had to take a breath. Then she backed away until she reached the stairs leading to her bedroom. Her face was completely twisted, and she cried like a 5-year-old. “I hate you! I don’t want to live like this anymore! I have lost the only person in this world that ever truly gave a fuck about me, and you can stand there nonchalant as hell like I’m not the one with blood on my body?”

  With that, she turned and ran up the stairs leaving all of them standing there in awkward silence. Stephanie nodded her respects to Mario for bringing her home safely and ran up the stairs after her. Denny wiped his face with his hand and tried to understand what had just happened.

  When he and his men had arrived at the scene, the shooters were already dead. He couldn’t understand why they had even gone to the trouble of invading the school in the first place. The first person that came to his mind was Rodriguez, but although Denny had pretty much taken over his operation by force, Rodriguez still had a major hand in all the dealings. He was making more money in the heroin game being partnered with Denny than he ever had running things solo. So until he figured out exactly what was going on and who called the hit, he would need to double his security.

  Marisol’s death deeply saddened him. He knew how close she and Taina had been. She was the first real friend Taina ever had that didn’t use her for the perks of having a wealthy friend. However, he would have been lying if he said he wasn’t glad it was her and not Taina.

  Denny finally noticed the tall boy standing in the room with them. He’d been so relieved to see Taina home alive and safe that he hadn’t even seen the stranger in his home. Denny could tell he was trying to decide whether to leave or go upstairs after Taina. From the concerned look in his eyes, he guessed that this was the boy his daughter had begged to go on a date with.

  “Mario,” Denny said, catching the boy off guard.

  “Yes, sir, Mr. Capello, sir,” Mario stammered.

  “I was told that you were the one who rescued my daughter and brought her home,” Denny said, walking to Mario and standing directly before him. “Is that true?”

  “Yes.”

  Denny sized up Mario and then finally nodded his head. Finally, he held out his hand for Mario to shake.

  “Thank you,” Denny said. “I apologize that you had to witness that.”

  “No problem at all,” Mario said, shaking his hand. “I’m just glad she’s OK. If it’s all right with you, I would like to check on her before I leave.”

  Denny contemplated the boy’s words. He knew that the right thing to do was allow him to go upstairs and console his daughter, especially since his face was probably one of the only ones she could stomach at the moment. Denny waved his hand to the stairs.

  “I might have been wrong about you,” Denny said, remembering how hard he’d been on his daughter’s crush. “Go on. When you come back down, my security will let you out. I have some business to attend to.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Mario said and hurried past him.

  Halfway up the stairs, Denny Capello surprised him again.

  “And Mario?” Denny said.

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Come on over on Sunday. I would be honored if you joined us for dinner.”

  Mario was shocked, but instead of showing it, he flashed Denny the best smile he could muster, given the grimness of the situation.

  “I would love to.”

  Chapter 9

  Taina was allowed to skip school the for rest of the week. She couldn’t find the strength to get up and return to that school. All she had been thinking about was Marisol. Her family had laid her to rest only two days after, and the funeral was hard to attend, but she went and sat in the front with the rest of Marisol’s family. She could say her final goodbyes to her best friend, and although she was sure Marisol was at peace, she wasn’t. Her heart ached because she knew that Marisol was dead, and it was all her fault. If she hadn’t been friends with Taina in the first place, she wouldn’t have been sitting at that lunch table and would still be alive. She thought of all the times they shared and looked through all the selfies they’d taken on her phone. Spring was around the corner, and she couldn’t believe she would bring in her eighteenth birthday without her best friend.

  Taina cried every day after the funeral and stayed locked in her room. She didn’t eat; she just lay there feeling sick. The only thing that provided her solace was that her father had invited Mario over for dinner on Sunday. She knew he only did that because he felt guilty for ruining her life, but she would take it. The only other person that she thought she had left in the world was Mario. She had distanced herself from everyone, including Stephanie. The only person who heard her voice was her boyfriend.

  When Sunday night finally came, she showered and combed her hair. She dressed and wore a pretty cream-colored dress and a pair of brown flats. Her hair flowed around her shoulders. Finally, she opened her bedroom door to show her face to the rest of the household. She smelled the amazing aroma from the kitchen as her mother and the cooks made of all their favorite traditional foods, and she heard her father and his friends in the living room watching some sports game. Things had been tense around the home since the shooting, and her father had more security around than usual. But it was nice to feel the ambiance of their sacred family Sundays again.

  Taina told Mario to be there at eight, and at seven fifty, the doorbell rang. She beat the housekeeper to the door and flung it open. Sure enough, on the other side of the door was her boo holding a bouquet of roses. He smiled at her when he saw her.

  “Wow, you look amazing,” he said, handing her the flowers.

  “Thank you. You do too,” Taina said, taking in the black designer suit he chose to wear that night.

  The two sneaked a quick kiss, and then she led him into the foyer.

  “Just the person I wanted to see!” Denny said, coming from up behind the two teenagers. “Come sit down. The food is ready.”

  He took them into the dining room, where the long table was almost filled with food and people surrounding it. Denny sat at the head of the table with Taina to his left and Isabella to his right. Mario sat on the other side of Taina and ignored the curious stares he was receiving from everyone at the table. He was there for one reason and one reason only: not to mingle with the likes of them.

  Taina grabbed his hand under the table, and he smiled at her. Like always, Denny requested everyone to bow their heads as he prayed before anyone dug into the food.

  “So, Mario, my daughter tells me you are in the same grade as her at school?” Isabella said after everyone had loaded up their plates.

  “Yes, I am, Mrs. Capello,” he answered, swallowing a forkful of rice.

  “What are your plans after graduation?”

  “I hope to go to a college on the West Coast so I can study to become an architect,” he answered with a smile.

  Isabella nodded, seemingly pleased with his response. Everyone else was engaged in their conversations, but Denny and Isabella focused more on Mario. Denny didn’t know what it was, but there was something about Mario that he recognized from somewhere. However, he was sure that he’d never seen him before.

  “Do you have any family here in Manhattan?” Denny asked, taking a couple of bites of his food.

  “I live with my aunt and uncle here,” Mario told him. And before Denny could ask, he said, “My parents died when I was a little kid. Dad died in a car accident, and my mother died when I was 10. Cancer.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Isabella said, her voice dripping with sympathy. “Well, I’m glad your family took you in so you didn’t have to jump from house to house.”

  “Tell me about it,” Mario said. “Can you imagine my Hispanic ass being raised in foster care? I’d definitely have fallen into every single stereotype.”

  Even Denny laughed at that, and Taina felt herself relaxing. The dinner went without a hitch, and everyone was getting along just fine. Taina even found herself smiling and being nice to her mother. When dinner was over, all their guests left except for Mario. Denny whisked him off to show him around the house, leaving the two women behind to clean off the table and wash the dishes.

  “He seems nice,” Isabella said to her daughter. “You like him a lot, huh?”

  “Yeah, I do,” Taina said, drying the dishes in the dish drainer. “He’s an amazing person.”

  “I remember when I first met your father,” Isabella said dreamily. “I remember the feeling he gave me and the first time we—”

  “Mommy!” Taina exclaimed and put her wet hands to her ears.

  Isabella giggled like a schoolgirl.

  “Well, I’m just saying. That man is something else,” she said. Suddenly, she sighed. “Taina, I know we haven’t had the best relationship since you’ve entered your teenage years. And now, with Marisol gone and you about to leave home soon, I would like to fix that. I don’t want to lose you.”

  Taina pondered over her words for a few moments and was tempted to tell her to go shove them up her ass. But she knew that being bitter wouldn’t help the situation, either, so instead of being mean, she nodded.

  “OK, Mommy, I won’t say that it will be an overnight thing. But I will try if you do.”

  Isabella cocked her head and touched her daughter’s cheek. She sometimes didn’t think she had anything to do with her daughter’s being there. The only thing Taina got from Isabella was her physique and her high cheekbones. Other than that, she was her father’s child completely. They made small talk and laughed together for a few more moments before Taina left to find her father and boyfriend.

  “I’ll be right back, Mommy,” she said, handing her mother the kitchen towel.

  Denny led Mario upstairs to his study and shut the double doors behind them. He then lit a Cuban cigar and handed it to Mario, who took it and puffed a little too hard. He broke into a coughing fit, and Denny patted his back, finding humor in Mario’s struggle.

  “You need more practice,” Denny said, taking the cigar back from him.

  “It looks that way, huh?” Mario said and wiped the tears from his eyes. “I think I’ll give myself a few more years before I try that again.”

  Denny went and sat behind his desk. He blew on his cigar and motioned for Mario to sit across from him. When Mario sat down, the two men looked at each other.

  “What are your intentions with my daughter, Mario?” Denny asked the question he didn’t want to ask when Taina was around. He knew she would throw a fit and didn’t feel like hearing her mouth.