Fate (34 page)

Visions of the asshole beating Anita incensed Vince even further
,
and he landed his blows with even more force, ignoring his own aching knuckles now.

Someone stronger than Anita pulled Vince back. Then there were suddenly more arms pulling him back. “Vincent! Stop this right now!”

Feeling dazed with the adrenaline still propelling through him
,
Vince stopped long enough to realize both Lorenzo and his father were in the room now.

“What is going on here?” His dad demanded
,
glancing at Anita’s father then back at Vince.

“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” Anita’s dazed dad said as he struggled to get up.

Vince’s father tried helping him
,
but he pushed his hands away. “Your son came into my daughter’s room and brought her drugs. Then he beat me like a crazy drugged
-
out freak
,
and I want his ass arrested!”

“You’re the one that should be arrested!” Vincent yelled.

“No. No, please!” Anita begged reaching out to touch her father’s arm. “Nobody’s getting arrested.”

“Shut up and bring me my phone.” He pointed at Vince then wiped the blood from his mouth and nose. “
Your
ass is getting locked up for a long time.” Her dad turned to Vincent’s dad. “My daughter is a minor. Your son’s gonna fry for coming in her bedroom and bringing her drugs. I’ll make sure of that.”

“No,
D
ad. Please!” Anita continued to beg, crying now. Both her brothers clung to her side.

“Go ahead, Anita.” Vince urged, the adrenaline and anger still scorching through him too hard for reality to sink in. “Call them.
His
ass will get locked up, too.”

Anita turned her pleading face to Vince now and shook her head. Vince knew she was only months away from her eighteenth birthday when she’d finally be free of this monster. She had all her ducks in a row already. She’d told Vince the last time he’d come after one of her beatings that the most important thing she had to do was stay on her dad’s good side. The one time she’d mentioned leaving and taking the boys with her, the asshole’s only response had been “good riddance.”

The only thing that would ruin it for her now was if he changed his mind or denied her guardianship out of spite.

“Please no cops,
D
ad,” her expression softened. “
Daddy
, the drugs—”

“Are mine,” Vince said before Lorenzo would implicate himself or even let Anita take the blame. He knew even this could ruin her chances of getting guardianship of those boys and out of this hell once in for all.

Lorenzo started to speak
,
but Vince placed his hand on his arm and turned to his father. “I wasn’t dealing,
D
ad, just delivering. I was hoping I could get the car sooner.”

The disappointment on his dad’s face was like none Vince ever seen before. His dad had been so relieved lately. Everything was working out
,
and Vince had finally proven himself to not only his dad but
to
his mother who was much more skeptical than his father that Vince was actually going to straighten his shit out for good. He’d seen the change in his father’s demeanor in the last few months. The burden of having two sons heading in the wrong direction had finally lifted.

But even if he let Lorenzo take the fall for this
,
he knew his mother would blame him for it. He couldn’t chance Lorenzo being thrown in jail. Lorenzo may not have ever considered the whole drugs thing if Vince hadn’t tried it first. That kid did everything Vince did. Vince should’ve anticipated this and warned him more severely—watched him even closer.

“Why did you bring them here?” Vince’s father asked.

“I agreed to hold them for him.” Anita said firmly. “He didn’t want them around Lorenzo.”

Lorenzo frowned
,
but Vince squeezed his arm.

Anita turned to her father
,
holding her wrist. “We can work something out,
D
ad, please.” Her dad shook his head adamantly but did stare at her wrist. For all anyone of them knew it could be broken.

“Chavez,” Vince’s dad addressed Anita’s now. “I’m asking you man to man to please work something out without getting the law involved. I don’t want my son’s life ruined. He’s only eighteen. I’m sure there’s something we can agree on.”

Anita’s dad held his jaw, his face still a bloody mess
,
but even that didn’t satisfy Vince. He deserved to be beaten even more.

“My insurance is not gonna cover all this. You’ll be paying for anything I have to come up with out of pocket.” His face screwed up when he touched his nose.

“You got it. I’ll get you money,” Vince’s dad said too quickly—too desperately.

Vince nearly growled at how Anita’s dad’s eyes seem to flicker at that. “But to overlook the fact that your boy came into my daughter’s room with drugs—brought drugs around my little boys is gonna be hefty
.
”

Vince scoffed. This guy was now going to act like he cared about
any
of his kids. “The only thing you cared about when you saw the drugs was—”

“Enough Vincent!” His dad raised his voice. “Go outside.”

“Dad—”

“Outside!”
h
is dad yelled now
,
“
b
oth of you.”

Vince took a deep breath
,
glancing back one last time at Anita. Once again without saying a single word
,
her eyes said it all. She was begging him to not say anything about the physical abuse.

Once out on the fire escape Lorenzo started in on him. “Really? You didn’t want the drugs around
me
,
but it was okay to bring them around
her
little brothers? You know how bad that makes you look? I’m not letting you go down like this, Vince.”

“You’re not saying a word. I don’t want mom and pop knowing I knew about this and was planning on fixing it on my own. I’m already in deep shit as it is. What difference does it make now if they know it was you doing it or me?” He glanced into the room to make sure his dad wasn’t within hearing distance. “And not a word about her dad hitting her
,
okay? I don’t care what happens.”

“Why not?” Lorenzo looked at him exasperated. “Can’t we at least threaten him with that
,
so he won’t keep threatening to call the cops on you?”

“No, if dad knows, that’s exactly what he’ll wanna do. She’s this close to getting out of there without child protective services plucking those kids from under her. If that happens there’ll be all kinds of red tape to get past to try and get them back even once she turns eighteen
,
n
ot to mention him fighting her for them just to be an asshole—or for money
.
Y
ou saw his eyes light up in there when the subject turned to money.”

He shut up when he saw his dad’s head come out the window. “I’m going out through the front. Go back to the apartment. I’ll meet you there.”

“What’s gonna happen?” Lorenzo asked.

“I don’t know yet.” His father frowned
, and
then those deeply disappointed eyes locked on Vince. “I have to call your uncle.”

And just like that on top of it all, Vincent felt sick to his stomach. That was one of the things he knew his dad had to be most relieved about. The fact that it had been a while since he’d been forced to report any more bad news to his family about his trouble-making son. Everyone in La Jolla had been so proud of the change Vince had made. Even more troubling, Rose would be furious. More than furious
,
she’d be devastated.

Following Lorenzo back up to their room
,
he wondered if he should call Rose and explain before it got back to her, but then Lorenzo hit him with another bombshell.

“I need to get the stuff back to Cruz, Vince, or I’ll owe him for it. There was close to a grand worth of stuff in there.”

Vince stared at him
,
his mind suddenly going back to the dime bags thrown across Anita’s bedroom floor. He knew the drill. Once you had possession of the drugs
,
it was on you to get the money for it or return the drugs
intact
. No if ands or buts. If Lorenzo didn’t deliver the loot or bring back the stash, they were coming after him.

“We’ll get it back. I’ll talk to—”

The bedroom door flew open
,
and Vince’s dad charged at Vince slamming him against the wall.

“Is this what you want
?
To be a low
–
life
,
drug
-
dealing gangster your whole life
!
Is this what your mother and I have worked so hard for
?
” Snatching the phone out of Vincent’s hand
,
his dad threw it against the wall
,
and Vince watched it smash into pieces. Stunned
,
he stared at his dad whose face was inches from his now. “I
will not
let you throw your life away. You hear me? Do you hear me!”

“Dad!” Lorenzo placed his hand on his dad
’
s shoulder trying to calm him.

“Shut up, Enzo!” Both Vince and his dad spoke at the exact same time.

His dad turned back to Vince. “Your mother is in the other room crying right now. She doesn’t deserve this.
I
don’t deserve this!”

“Dad I know
.
I’m sor—”

“Shut up! I don’t wanna hear it!” Vince had never seen his dad so angry
,
n
ot even with all the other shit he’d done in the past. “
Your
uncle and cousin are on their way now to help you out of this mess. I’ll probably end up owing them a lot of money. That asshole next door wants cash and more.”

“More?” Vince’s blood began to boil again. “What else does he want?”

“You beat his ass, Vincent
...i
n front of his kids. They saw what a fucking coward he really is. He’s humiliated.”

“Good! He deserves it!”

Vince’s dad loosened the death grip he had on Vince’s shirt
,
dropping it in defeat. “Yeah, well now he wants you to pay.”

Vince didn’t understand. “Pay? How?”

“He wants you punished
,
but mostly I think he wants you gone—away from here—where he won’t have to worry about you coming to Anita’s rescue anymore during one of their family squabbles. We all know what goes on over there and how often. It’s not gonna stop
,
and he doesn’t want you interfering.”

Squabbles
? Is that what his dad really thought went on over there? Vince gritted his teeth. “So tell him I won’t anymore.”

“He saw you today, Vincent. We all did. Hell even
you
don’t believe that for a minute
,
do you?”

Locking his jaw
,
Vince looked away from his dad at Lorenzo. His brother wasn’t buying it either. After getting a taste of what it felt like to beat the shit out of that animal
,
there’d be no holding him back if he ever heard him beating on Anita again.

Standing up close to his face again
,
his dad spoke firmly. “You will do
whatever
it takes to get you out of this without police involvement. You hear me? I will not let this ruin your life. You are better than this, son. You may not believe it
,
but I do.”

His dad turned and began walking toward the bedroom door. Lorenzo’s eyes pleaded. Vince knew he wanted to come clean—tell his dad it was his shit that caused all this not Vince’s
,
but Vince shook his head.

“Dad,” Vince said before his father walked out of the room
,
“I
do
believe it. And I
will
do whatever it takes. I’m sorry.”

His dad nodded
,
but it was as clear as the blood on Vince’s knuckles
h
e’d disappointed his father once again
:
t
his time maybe beyond repair
.

Now
…

As the anger overwhelmed Vince
, drowning out even the excruciating pain of his arm,
just like all the other times he’d replayed that night in his head
,
he came to the same conclusion he always did. If he had to do all again, it would always play out the very same way.
There’d be no way, not even now that he knew what the outcome would be
,
that he’d be able to hold back from attacking that animal the way he had
a
nd no way he wouldn’t take the fall for his brother. No matter how much he wanted to regret the events that led him to where he ended up now, he couldn’t. The only thing he regretted now and would forever was losing Rose in the process.