I pressed the tip of my gun to his stomach. “Back up.”
A menacing expression covered his face. Lei moved in closer and touched his nose to mine. “Who?”
Marcelo spoke from the side, “Your father.”
Lei rushed for him.
“No.” I tried to grab him.
Lei was too fast. He dodged me and had Marcelo’s neck in an arm lock in seconds. For now he wasn’t chocking him. “What did you say?”
Marcelo’s men pointed their guns at Lei’s head.
Marcelo held himself low to the ground and yelled, “Put the guns down. Lei is not going to kill me.”
I’m not sure about that.
I pointed my gun at Lei. “Let him go.”
Deranged, Lei kept his arm around Marcelo’s neck and dragged him back. “What the fuck did you say?!”
Lei could snap his neck in seconds.
Marcelo held his hands out to the side. “Eh! Calm down.”
I took a step forward. “Marcelo is right. Let him go. It was your father. That’s what Chanel was trying to tell us.”
At the mention of her name, Lei released Marcelo and shoved him to the ground. Lei headed for me next with no fear in his eyes. “What fucking proof? Are you trying to play games with my mind, Dima?”
I kept the gun trained on him. “Do you remember what she wrote in blood?”
“O37! 037!” Lei screamed as he got to me. “037! It’s been in my head over and over and over—”
“She wasn’t writing numbers. They were letters. Flip them around.”
Confusion covered his face. “Flip them around?”
Marcelo rubbed his neck and rose from the ground. “Somebody get him a fucking pen and paper.”
One guy pulled out a large rainbow sticker out of his pocket. Next, he took a pink crayon from his pocket.
Marcelo eyed him. “Ricky, should I be concerned that you have stickers and crayons?”
Ricky shrugged. “I had to take my kid to school this morning.”
“My father did it? That’s what you bring to me?” Lei watched us. “I’m going to kill everyone in here.”
Not willing to lower my gun, I ordered, “Write down 037, Ricky, and then turn it around for Lei.”
Ricky hurried and wrote with the pink crayon. Once he finished, he handed it to Lei.
Staring at it, Lei’s hand shook. “No.”
“It’s Leo.”
“You’re trying to play me. You always wanted to take over.” Lei threw the rainbow sticker at me. But when it fell to the ground, he still stared at it. “My father loved Chanel.”
“He just killed all my men today. Go downstairs and look at it. Viktor is dead because of him.”
Lei shook his head and paced in the center. “My father is dedicated to God. What do you both really want?”
“Nothing.”
Lei still looked at the sticker.
I thought of Viktor’s dead body. “I’m going to kill your father.”
Marcelo raised his hands. “Now’s not the time, Dima.”
“You don’t have to believe me, Lei, but I thought you should know. I’m going to kill Leo for what he did to Romeo, Chanel, and Viktor.”
Lei moved his view to me.
Tension rose in the air.
He spoke through clenched teeth, “What did you say?”
“Leo did it, and he’ll die by my hands.” I rubbed the tip of the trigger. “That’s what the fuck I said.”
Lei charged for me.
I shot to his side, making sure not to hit him. That didn’t stop him. Marcelo grabbed him. Lei twisted Marcelo to the floor like he didn’t weigh over two hundred pounds. Marcelo yanked Lei down with him. Lei kicked. Marcelo punched him in the gut. Lei staggered back.
I gestured for the men to lower their guns. Meanwhile, mine was still on Lei. “Enough!”
Lei returned and delivered a shocking blow to Marcelo’s side.
“Fuck!” Marcelo took it like the professional boxer he was.
Lei spun around to kick him again.
I jumped in the middle, taking some of the attack. I grabbed Lei’s foot and slung him back. Lei crashed to the ground, right next to the paper.
I pointed to the pink letters. “Look at it!”
Lei glared at the sticker.
“Who else would Romeo have met with to drink something? According to the autopsy reports, Romeo had chamomile tea in his system but I never connected that to Leo’s tea. He usually like green tea, but—”
“Romeo likes chamomile.” Lei touched the sticker and then moved his hand away.
“Did you tell your father that Romeo passed that morning?”
Lei shook his head.
“Then, how did he know to show up that day? I didn’t tell him. Chanel was too out of it.”
Marcelo shook his head. “I didn’t.”
I lowered my gun. “Who else would Chanel leave Nefertiti to talk to? My mother or your father. That’s it.”
Lei rubbed his face with both hands. “There’s no way. Not my father.”
“He did it!”
“Not my father. He knew how much I loved her. He had to.”
“It all points to Leo—”
“Dima.” Marcelo put his hand in front of him. “Give him a minute to come to it.”