Let It Happen” by Tame Impala thumps through my spacious beach house. The ocean looks inky beneath the stars, washing soundlessly against the sand, drowned out by the sound of music and tinkling laughter from the girls.

I invited Damian and Gino over for a few beers, which I should’ve known meant half the city would end up in my house. Somewhere over the span of an hour, a few beers turned into a rager of a party. I don’t have the heart for a party, though. All I want to do is sit on the chaise by the windows overlooking the beach and stare through the glass. All I want to do is forget, but every day only locks her into my head more firmly. Like a tree, Ana has taken root in my head and spread out until I can’t even see a woman without thinking of her.

It has been three months since she turned me away at the restaurant. I’d had my guys keep tabs on her just to be safe, but a few weeks ago, they lost all trace of her. Not so much as a single sighting. She isn’t even showing up to class anymore.

Damian plops himself down on the couch beside me. “Going to sulk all night?” He thuds his fist into my shoulder. “Come on. The girls are asking about you.”

I shake my head. “I’m good.”

He considers me for a moment, then nods.

Damian hops off the couch and heads back to the party, not bothering me with another word. It’s part of what I’ve always liked about him. He’s a good friend and he’s loyal, but he won’t ever stick his nose where it doesn't belong. It’s part of why he has still remained a friend even though he doesn’t want any part of the criminal life.

Raised voices draw my attention. I stand up just as someone turns the music down. Three men in suits are standing near the front door, just inside, and they’re arguing loudly with Gino and two of my other guys, Jackson and Pierce.

“Where is he?” asks one of the strangers.

“Not here. So fuck off,” says Gino.

“You looking for me?” I ask loudly.

Everyone’s head turns toward me.

I step toward the men, glaring hard. Anger and bitterness are ripe in my chest, months in the making. I’m ready to hurt someone. To break something. Even if it only gives me a moment’s reprieve from being trapped in my own head with my thoughts and regrets, I’ll take it.

One of the men whispers something to the tallest of the three, who nods in response, eyes locked on me.

They reach for guns all at the same time, but Gino, Jackson, and Pierce were ready for as much. They draw their own guns too. It all happens in a fraction of a second. People scream and run for the exits, but the six men are completely motionless. Three guns pointed to my chest while my men have their own weapons trained on the intruders.

I look into the barrels of their guns. It’s not a feeling you get used to—knowing only the twitch of a finger stands between you and death. I could vividly describe every time I’ve ever had a gun pointed at me. Each is a memory my brain locked in with crystal clear detail, and I’m sure this will be one too, if I live to remember it. My heart pounds in my chest, breaths coming rapidly, but I walk closer to them until my chest bumps against the barrel of one of their guns. I look the tallest one in the eyes—the one I take to be highest ranking.

Moving closer goes against every instinct in my body. Every time I’ve looked before crossing the road or watched my step next to the edge of a cliff, or the times I’ve avoided driving so fast that I might risk crashing. Years and years and years of nothing but self-preservation all leading up to now, to one single moment where I gamble my future by assuming none of these would-be assassins want to die today. “Want to explain what motivated you three to commit suicide before my men gun you down?”

“You know what you did,” he says. He has thick, black eyebrows and a receding hairline that’s dotted with beads of sweat.

“Enlighten me. Because I have no fucking idea.”

“The boss’ daughter. You knocked her up.”

The four words lance through me like hot iron. They bounce around in my head, ricocheting and leaving ruin in their wake. “She’s pregnant?” I ask, voice strained.

“Don’t fucking pretend you don’t know,” says the man.

Gino takes a step closer, jabbing his gun in the man’s direction as a warning.

“Where is she?” I ask.

The men are all tense, eyes darting between me and my men nervously. They must not have expected to wind up at gunpoint like this. Maybe they thought we’d all be too wasted from the party to give them a proper fight.

Guess they thought wrong.

My fingers itch for the gun inside my jacket. I’d never live if I tried to pull it, but neither would they. They’d gun me down and they’d be punched through with holes by my men. It’d be a bloodbath. A minute ago, I might’ve welcomed the quick, painless end. Now though? I know Ana is pregnant.

My Ana is carrying my baby, and she’s out there somewhere without me. Alone and probably scared. Probably thinking I’ve already forgotten her and moved on.

“I’ll make you a deal,” I say when the men don’t respond to my question. “You tell me where she is, and I’ll let the three of you walk out of here. You can tell Rosiano I was gone before you got here. You can also tell him he’s a fucking scumbag for trying to have the father of his grandson killed, while you’re at it.”

The three men all share a look. No matter how men talk, very few are ready to die. From the way these three are fidgeting, I don’t think any of them wants to die here. Not today.

“How do we know you’d let us leave?” asks one of the men.

“Feel free to keep your guns drawn until you’re out the door. My men won’t shoot because they’ll know it’ll mean I’m dead. And you won’t shoot because you’ll know you’d be dead. It’s got a great kind of logic to it, doesn’t it?”

They watch me for a few moments before the tall one gives a tense nod to the other two.

“Rosiano’s house,” mutters one of the men, almost as if saying it quietly might negate the fact that he’s snitching.

They slowly begin to back away, then slam the door behind them once they’re outside.

Gino raises his eyebrows at me. “That escalated quickly. So, what’s the plan now?”

“We find out where they’re hiding her and take back what’s mine.”