Blake’s face had started to swell already from all of the hits Mario had landed on it. Mario had the gun once again in his hand and pointed it at Blake. He almost laughed at how easy it all had been. The sight of Blake’s bloody and defeated body made Mario feel powerful.
“Any last words?” Mario panted aiming the gun at a spot between Blake’s eyes.
Blake sat there awaiting death, ready for it. His only regret was that he wasn’t going to be able to see his daughter one last time and tell her that he loved her and that none of this was her fault. In that moment, he understood what Tiara meant when she said she had never asked for this life. Although he was proud of the lavish and comfortable life he had been able to provide for her, he had also brought her into a dark and dangerous world that she had no business being in. With him gone, he worried about who was going to be able to protect her.
“T-tell Tiara that it wasn’t her fault,” Blake said to Mario. “Don’t let her live with this grief on her soul. T-tell her I always loved her.”
Mario nodded his head. “Sure, old man. By the way, Rodriguez sends his love.”
Bang!
Chapter 10
Blood. All Tiara saw was the blood. The smile that was once plastered on her face vanished the moment she slid the doors to her father’s study open. All the laughter in her chest washed away, only to be replaced with a seething pain with the sight she saw. There, the notorious Blake Rogers lay on his back with his eyes still wide open and a neat red dot between them. Tiara caught herself on the door handle and slapped her hand to her mouth to stifle whatever sound dared to escape her lips. Her breathing was short and quick as her eyes darted around the room looking for the intruder. The only thing she saw was an open window and the particles from the back of her father’s head plastered on everything from the curtains, to the windows, to the wall. There was even a little bit of red splatter on the ceiling.
“Dad—” Tiara croaked finally, her voice was barely audible. “Daddy!”
Her whole body shook violently, and she dropped to the ground. Her tongue tasted salty, and she realized that tears were sliding down her face and landing inside her quivering mouth. She crawled from the entrance of the study to her father’s lifeless body. As she crawled, the knees of her dress got stained with blood. When she got to his body, she shook him, hoping that he would wake up. But his eyes held the same dull look that Brandy’s had when she held her in the cafeteria. He was gone. Tiara finally caught her breath and let out a bloodcurdling scream that could be heard throughout the whole house.
Within seconds, Cat and Stephanie entered the study.
“We heard a commo—” Cat started, but when she saw the scene before her she almost had a heart attack. “Oh God, no.”
She dropped down to the ground and crawled just as Tiara had toward Blake’s body.
“Baby,” she shook him. “Blake! No no no. You promised you wouldn’t leave me. Please, baby, wake up!”
She then started screaming too. Stephanie stared in horror but was able to radio to the security downstairs to check the perimeters of their property for the culprit. She couldn’t believe it. Blake Rogers was dead. Suddenly she thought of something. She had seen Blake and Mario enter Blake’s study alone after dinner. Maybe he saw something.
“Tiara,” Stephanie said, snapping her out of her deep trance. “Tiara, where is Mario?”
Tiara wasn’t in a position to answer any questions, but the security guard who had just entered the room was able to give them an answer.
“He just left not even five minutes ago,” the guard said. “He looked a bit dinged up, like he got into a fight.”
“He did this!” Cat screamed while she sobbed. “He killed my husband! Oh my God, he killed my husband! Blake! Blake!”
The remainder of the night was a blur. When the paramedics arrived, Blake Rogers was pronounced dead at the scene. Cat threw her body on the stretcher not wanting them to take her husband away. Vincent arrived not too long after and couldn’t believe his eyes. His cousin was dead. At first, he thought it was a joke, not believing anybody could take out an ox like Blake, but when he saw it for himself, there was no denying it. The first thing he did was speak to the police officers and federal agents who were glad to have a reason to come snooping around Blake’s residence. Tiara and Cat went with them to fill out a report, and Vincent sent the rest of them on their way after all of the pictures of the murder scene were taken.
Once the coast was clear, he went to the recording console that Blake kept in the house. In there were at least twenty different TV screens of the video surveillance Blake had on his house and his neighborhood. He played back the video of what had happened in Blake’s study that night and witnessed Tiara’s boyfriend killing him. He also heard everything he said to Blake. Right when Mario was about to pull the trigger and he said that Rodriguez had sent him, Vincent turned off the recording. He bet that Rodriguez thought that nobody would find out that Blake was killed under his order. Vincent also bet that Blake knew that Rodriguez might turn foul and had a spy in Rodriguez’s most trusted counsel ready to pull the trigger on call. He took out his phone and dialed a number.
“Pull the plug and bleed that whole motherfucking thing dry. The Eagle is down. Plans have changed.”
Chapter 11
Attending the funeral of
