That Thing Between Eli & Gwen

He thought for a second. “Because she didn’t listen?”

“Worse…she didn’t know who I was, now she’ll never forget.” If she simply didn’t listen, I would say she was brave…stupid, but brave.

“Presidential Suite,” the automated voice spoke as the doors opened again. The cream colored marble floors right outside the suite were so polished that I could see my reflection in them.

“Not yet,” I said when I saw Fedel reach in his jacket. A smile crossed my lips as I walked towards the music.

One of my men walked towards the door, already pulling out the master card to get in.

“Knock first,” I said. Fedel’s eyebrows bunched together as he moved to stand in front of both Ethan and I—though just like I thought no one bothered to answer. They clearly couldn’t even hear over the music; the guards glanced back to me. “No one can say I didn’t try.”

The moment the door opened, it felt like I was hit with a wall of sound. The music was so loud it hurt. Inside, women of every race were dancing on couches, the pool tables, ‘dressed’ in G-strings and bras or nothing at all. All around them were fancy new toys, watches, and motorcycles; they even had the audacity to dance on the money just laying around…my money.

“Ladies!” I called out when Fedel cut the music. “I’m giving you one minute to find some fucking clothes, grab as much money as you can and get the hell out.”

“Who the fuck are you! How do you just walk in here?” Some half-drunk Asian man shouted as came out from behind the bar. He had shoulder length black hair, and a scar under his left eye,; on each arm were two more women. One by one his bodyguards came from forward, some with the Tàiyáng tattoo on their faces, others on their necks or arms.

“In my defense, I did knock,” I said as my bodyguards tried to clear the room. However, these women were either too stupid or too scared to move, which proved they either knew who I was or knew whose party they were at and what would most likely be the outcome of this.

“Your minute is up—get out,” Fedel snapped.

“I asked you who the fuck are you people? And how the fuck did you get into my building?”

“Your building?” I smirked at that. “You are a child, how can you own anything?”

He threw his glass and grabbed the gun from his bodyguard to point it right me. Finally, the females in the room screamed, running like naked rats out of the room.

“Ni zenme keyi? How dare you come into my house and motherfucking speak? Do you have any idea who I am? How powerful I am? Me, Tàiyáng Ruò Jiàn—”

Before he could finish, he reached up to grab his neck and the gun dropped from his hands. He fell to his knees no less than six steps from me, his face slowly turning blue. He glanced back at his guards to, from what I could only assume, order to kill me, but one by one they fell to their knees.

“How dare I?” I whispered and crouched down in front of him. He reached out to touch me, but Fedel caught his hand. His eyes watered with each deep breath he tried to take. “You come to my city, put bad drugs on my streets, fuck in my hotel and ask who am I?”

Grabbing his neck, I pulled held him tighter. “You should be careful of the questions you ask Tàiyáng. Ruò. Jiàn. Because you will not like my answers.”

“My—father—”

“You’re on your knees, that means you are at my feet, does that seem like position from which you can threaten me?” I wanted to rip his goddamn head from his shoulders for making me do this on today of all bloody days. “I warned your father. I made sure he got my message, keep your fucking drugs out of mycity, and yet what do I find? Your drugs in my city. Now what am I supposed to do about this, Tàiyáng. Ruò. Jiàn? If I don’t kill you, it looks like I’m a bitch, and as you can see my son is here, so that I can’t have that. If I kill you, I’m going have to kill a lot more people later. Personally, I do not mind. But you see my wife is the governor and her platform is safer schools, safer streets, and all that.”

“Pl…ease…”

I released him and he fell back, his body starting to shake. I rose to my feet and nodded to Fedel who bent down and opened the idiot’s mouth to pour the antidote down.

“Ethan.”

“Yes, dad?” he asked, softly stepping up beside me.

I handed him my gun and he didn’t took it without question, pointing it at the man my guards were now holding up. The bravado he had shown only minutes ago was fading, replaced now with tears.

“Please. Please! No! Anything you want…I’ll give you anything you want,” he said as he sobbed, spit coming from his lips, “Forgive me. Yuánliàng wo! Yuánliàng wo!”

“Ethan.” When I called

his name, he fired, but his hands were shaking so badly, he missed completely. “Congrats, you killed a lamp.”

“I—”

Snatching the gun from him, I fired not once but twice, both bullet towards his crotch, his body cringing, before it buckled forward as he screamed out for his father. Paying him no mind, I turned to my son looking him dead in the eye.