Page 64 of Ashes

“Ah fuck. Not again,” Victor says with a sigh. “Take a seat, Father. I’ll deal with the door. It gets stuck from time to time.”

“Why haven’t you had it fixed already then?”

“I forgot. Just take a seat and have a drink.”

Victor’s father mumbles something under his breath as he makes his way to the chair Victor vacated. I push myself to my feet, and Victor’s gaze meets mine.

He nods.

I grab the bow that I left on the cabinet next to the door and a quiver of arrows.

Victor pulls out his gun and points it at his father.

I aim an arrow at mine.

Victor’s father bursts into laughter when he sees us while my father’s eyes widen.

“Did you kill them?” Victor asks. “Father, tell me the truth. Did you kill Rodrigo?”

“Guards!” his father shouts at the top of his lungs.

“That’s not going to work,” Victor says. “The room is soundproof. Now answer my question.”

“Of course I killed him! He was an abomination. Imagine if someone found out. Think about all the shame it would’ve brought to our family. I only raise men in my family. Real men. But I see I failed with you too.”

I gape at him, unable to believe he just said all that.

Without remorse.

Without even blinking.

“Lower the gun, boy. You two look ridiculous,” he says. “How did you find out?”

“How could you?” Victor spits. “How could you kill your own son? You always talked about the importance of family. You said blood was above everything else.”

“And I mean it, but Rodrigo wasn’t my son anymore. He wasn’t our family.”

I see my father reach for the gun that has to be under his suit jacket, so I let the arrow fly. He yelps as it grazes his hand.

“Don’t move,” I say. “You killed Alex, right? You two conspired together and came up with a story, and then you killed your own sons and made it look like they got in some stupid fight. And I guess you didn’t want to kill them together and risk someone finding them like that and figuring out something was off about the whole thing.”

“I was trying to do what was best for our family,” my father says. “I see now that I was wrong.”

No, he doesn’t see it.

He’s saying what he thinks I want to hear.

He wants to survive.

But I intend to keep my promise to my brother.

I let another arrow fly.

Victor pulls the trigger.

The bullet lodges between his father’s eyes.

My arrow pierces through my father’s neck.