“Look, son, I don’t expect you to understand,” Blake said. “You were just a boy back when it happened. I don’t know what you’ve been told about it growing up, but I can assure you, your uncle was robbing me.”
“Because you weren’t paying him enough money!” Mario screamed.
It was all coming out. Blake was right; Mario was a little boy when someone came knocking on his aunt’s door to tell her that her husband was dead and that they had to immediately evacuate the house because they could no longer live in it. From that night on, Mario had been forced to grow up and do things that were beyond his years. He watched his aunt struggle working odd jobs just to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Little Mario started cutting grass and raking leaves to make money to help out, but it just wasn’t cutting it. Eventually, he turned to doing small robberies. He would break into a few cars and take whatever he could find. From there, he moved on to breaking into houses. One night he was almost caught when the man whose house he was robbing started shooting at him. He was able to fight the man to the ground and take his gun. When he felt that cold steel metal in his hand, he felt whole. He developed a passion for guns and trained himself how to use them. Before he knew it, he had made a reputation for being quick with his hands and swift with his guns and began doing work for hire.
He had always wondered about what happened to his uncle, and after he finally learned the truth, he had been on a mission to avenge his death. When he heard that a man by the name of Tommy Rodriguez had a price on Blake’s head, he jumped at the opportunity. He felt it was a win-win for him; he would get revenge on his uncle’s killer and get paid for doing it.
For Rodriguez, hiring this young kid was the perfect setup. He had learned that Blake was getting ready to come in on his territory and seize control of the majority of his business, and that is something Rodriguez could not allow. He had come seeking help from Diablo’s only living uncle, Carlos, to exact revenge, but he learned that Carlos had retired and left the life of being an assassin behind him. He was heading out when Mario approached him and offered to do the job. Rodriguez thought that Mario was young, bloodthirsty, but he saw the passion in his eyes, so he decided to give him a shot. Rodriguez came up with the plan of having Mario get to Blake through his daughter Tiara. He paid Mario’s school tuition, and he and Mario planned everything out. Mario came in to that school determined to win Tiara over; otherwise, he would never be able to get anywhere near Blake.
Mario was enrolled into the same school as Tiara Rogers, but he never bet on her being as beautiful and down-to-earth as she was. He never bet on truly falling for her, but his mission was just more important. What had happened in the cafeteria was his doing as well. Rodriguez sent his own soldiers disguised as lunch helpers to start a massacre in the middle of her lunch period. It all was a ploy to make Mario look like a hero. Even the graze on his arm was staged. He never meant for Tiara’s best friend to get killed, but there are casualties in all wars. She was already so broken, and it pained him to hurt her even more, but after he was done there, he would move on and never look back. Tiara would just be a memory, and a hefty bank account would be his new girlfriend.
“Diablo was trying to take care of his family!” Mario yelled again. “After you killed him, I had to sit and watch my aunt struggle every day trying to survive just because you couldn’t keep your end of the bargain. You’d been skimping Diablo on his money for years! Years! Anything he took from you was rightfully owed, you slimy bitch-ass nigga!”
Mario applied pressure to the trigger, but he wasn’t able to get a shot off because Blake reached over and hit the gun out of his hand. Blake caught him with a right hook so hard that Mario felt like the room was experiencing an earthquake. But he recuperated fast and came back at Blake with a combination of power punches to his gut. Where Blake excelled in power, Mario had speed. For every one powerful blow that Blake landed, Mario landed three. Unknown to Blake, Mario had a knife in his belt as well. Blake went to slam Mario to the ground, but while he held him in mid-air, Mario was able to retrieve the knife and shoved it straight into Blake’s chest.
“Ahh!” Blake cried out in pain and dropped Mario to the ground.
He staggered back and yanked the knife from his chest. He put his massive hand over the wound, but it was no help. Blood gushed through his fingers and dripped on his clean carpet, staining it. Blake’s breathing was short, and he fell down to the ground with his back against his desk. He tried to reach for the phone in his pocket. All he had to do was hit one button for his security to sweep the building clean and save him. However, a kick to his temple stopped any feeble attempt at a rescue.
“The fuck you think you’re doing?”
