Page 96 of A Dish Best Served Hot

“Gabi and I are the ones here every day and we’re the ones who’ve been here the entire time building his vision and following his plans, so we are the ones discussing the situation with our dad, not you.”

“Alex, enough,” Tío Luís began scolding, but Saint missed the rest because he read the latest of the flurry of texts he’d gotten.

ANSWER YOUR FUCKING PHONE!! I GOT CALLED TO EL COQUÍ!! LEO GOT SHOT!!

He exploded out of the chair, startling everyone. They asked him questions, but he was already gone. He was down the hallway, pulling up his brother’s number as he went. The moment the call connected, he barked out, “Where?”

“He’s at Humboldt Park Memorial. He was stopping your girlfriend and Rosie from being held at gunpoint.”

Saint’s heart stopped. His soul left his body. He hung up and took off running. He would never remember the frenzied drive to the hospital although he was sure that he broke many traffic laws on his way, including pulling up to the front of the building and parking in the pickup zone without giving a single fuck.

He raced into the emergency department waiting room, his eyes going immediately to Rosie. She was in Lola’s lap curled up in a little ball, her face hidden as Lola smoothed a hand over her head over and over. The moment Lola saw him heading in their direction, she nudged Rosie and leaned to whisper in her ear.

Rosie’s head snapped up and she looked in his direction. In a split second she was up and running to him.

He dropped to his knees and caught her, pulling her to his chest where his heart finally began beating again. His daughter wrapped her legs around him and kept pushing her face into his neck like she was trying to burrow into him. Her little body shook with the force of her sobs. Saint couldn’t do anything but tighten his arms, close his eyes, and just feel her there. Words were beyond him and he was too full of rage to cry.

Someone had done this to his little girl. Someone had made her shake and tremble like this. Someone had caused her to cry so hard her tears were soaking his shirt. He would destroy them. He opened his eyes and found himself staring at a familiar pair of hips. He tilted his head up and looked at Lola.

“What happened?” he grit out.

“It all happened so fast,” she said. “We were walking to my car and suddenly these guys were there. They wanted us to go with them.” Her voice trembled like her body.

Saint was on his feet in a second pulling Lola into his arms too. She wrapped her arms around him and Rosie, effectively boxing her between them both. Rosie didn’t seem to notice and if she did, she didn’t mind.

He looked at the chair where Benny sat, then at the empty ones around them. “Where is everyone else?”

“Liam stayed at the restaurant with the police while Kamilah came with us. When we got here, Papo started having some chest pains so she had them take him back to get checked out. She’s with him. No one else has gotten here yet.”

Saint gulped. “Leo?”

“Leo woke up right before the ambulance arrived. He’d hit his head against the car when he fell and got knocked out.”

“Cristian said he’d been shot.”

“He was. In the shoulder. When they took him in the ambulance he was awake and talking, but we haven’t heard anything since.”

Before he could ask more questions the glass doors to the entrance opened and most of his immediate family came pouring in, his parents leading the charge, a look of desperate worry on their faces.

“Y Leo?” his mom asked, the wild look in her eyes showed him exactly what he’d looked like a few moments before. “Where is he? Where’s my son?”

Saint could only shake his head. “I just got here. I don’t know anything.”

His mother dove in between him and Lola and pretty much snatched Rosie out of their arms. He almost said something, but he could see that Mami needed to hold Rosie in her arms to be assured she was safe, just like he had.

She started peppering Rosie’s face with kisses as tears slid down her cheeks.

“Where’s Kamilah?” Eddie asked. “She was with him.”

“She’s with Abuelo.”

“What happened to Papi?” His dad looked shell-shocked.

“I guess he started having chest pains. Kamilah took him back so he could get checked out. That’s all we know so far.”

Eddie hustled Mami and Papi over to the nearest chairs and got them to sit. Moments later more family showed up and they had to answer the same questions over again. They passed Rosie around, kissing her head, embracing her, and thanking god she was okay. Saint never took his eyes off her, which was how he knew that through it all she didn’t say a word.

Eventually they all settled into a tense silence.

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