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Ruiz Giovanni

~•~

“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.” My shrill voice echoed through the church. “It has been long since I had my last confession.”

“What troubles you, my child?” The priest's voice echoed from the other side of the confession room.

“I have killed a total of fifteen persons in the last twenty-four hours,” I said and closed my eyes tightly as the memories of the previous day replayed in my head.

Father Francis let out a loud gasp and I put my hand over my mouth to prevent myself from laughing. “Did you at least do it for a good cause, Ruiz?”

Of course, I wouldn’t go around killing people if it wasn’t necessary. They crossed my territory. They stole from me and I had to retaliate by wiping out half of their men.

“Yes, they stole from me.” I raked a hand through my long black hair. “Forgive me, father.” I slumped my head back on the wooden chair.

“Ruiz, my child, your sins are grave indeed.” Father Francis said, his voice laced with concern. “But the lord is always ready to forgive his children, you’re forgiven. Strive to do better because I fear for your soul.”

I snorted, a wry smile spreading across my face. “My soul is long gone. But I will strive to do better.” The lie tasted bitter on my lips but I needed to tell Father Francis what he wanted to hear.

I walked out of the confessional booth, holding back a grin as I made my way out of the church. One must’ve wondered why I always confessed my sins without any fear but I had Father Francis wrapped around my fingers.

He wouldn’t dare say anything about me because he knew it would just put his life in danger. Aside from that, I trusted him.

My mother forced me and my siblings to go to church regularly while growing up. So technically, Father Francis watched me grow up.

I grew fond of him and he tried his best to stop me from joining gangs back when I was a teenager, but my mind was made up and all his pleas fell on deaf ears.

Even if I considered his pleas at one point in my life, there was no redemption for me anymore, because I wasn’t going to stop until I found out who exactly killed my brother.

As I settled in my car, I turned up the stereo and was about to start the ignition of the car when my phone started ringing.

It was Lorenzo calling. Lorenzo was my best friend and my partner. “Speak, brother,” I asked as I put him on speaker while my eyes were fixed on the road.

“I’ve gotten intel on the other gang who stole from us, I’ll send you the details now.” As soon as he ended the call, my phone pinged with a text.

I shook my head as I read his text. The location wasn’t far from where I was. Lorenzo and some of our other men were going to meet me there.

Two gangs came together to steal from me. Initially, we had found only one of them. The people who made me visit Father Francis earlier.

“I guess I have to sin again.” Anger coursed through my veins as I matched the brakes of the car and turned around, driving at full speed to the Martinez resident.

I respected Mr. Martinez and I never expected him and his members to steal my money and drugs. We were competitors, so we didn’t see eye to eye, but I still respected him and would never steal from him.

Pulling up at the front gate, I opened the compartment of my car where I always kept my gun. I brought it out and made sure it was loaded before I stepped out of the car.

Lorenzo asked me to wait for his arrival before making any move but I didn’t have much patience. I was fueled by anger, so I walked towards the gate and banged on it multiple times.

One guard opened the gate to see who it was and before he could say anything, I shot him on the head. His body fell to the ground and I walked past him.

As I entered inside, two other guards came firing shots at me, but I took them down with just two bullets. I had been to the Martinez residence a few times for business, so I knew my way around some parts of the house.

I made my way to the front door but before I could twist the door handle, I heard Lorenzo’s voice behind me. “You couldn’t wait?” He asked and I turned. His eyes darted across the lifeless bodies on the ground.

From his expression, I could tell he wasn’t surprised.

The other men surrounded the compound while Lorenzo and I went into the house. The front door was easy to bypass. It was my line of work, so it didn’t give me much trouble.

I could only hear voices coming from the TV in the living room. Lorenzo and I walked over to the living room and my surprise, I saw Martinez and his family seated with scared looks on their faces.

It was him, his wife, and two of his teenage kids.

“Ruiz, you don’t have to do this. We can talk about it.” Martinez pleaded when I pointed the gun at his wife who was also begging for her life.

I let out a dry chuckle. He knew what he did and there was nothing to talk about. He crossed a line and he was going to pay the consequences.

Without wasting time, I fired a shot at his wife and the blood spilled all over the cream-colored sofa. The rest of the family gasped in disbelief and I could see the fear in their eyes.

“Ruiz, plea…. ”

I didn’t let him complete his sentence before I fired a shot at him too, making his body fall to the ground. I turned over to the children. I didn’t want them to have a life without their parents, so I fired two shots at them too.

“Let’s go.”

Lorenzo and I were about to walk back to the front door when we heard a brief sound coming from the staircase. “Did you hear that too?” Lorenzo asked and I nodded.

We both went upstairs and as we ascended the stairs, we heard footsteps running in the corridor. We looked at each other for a second before I increased my pace, running upstairs faster.

“Stop or I’ll shoot you too!” I commanded, my gun trained on the fleeing figure. She froze and turned around slowly, it was dark but I could tell it was a female.

As I moved closer to her, I discovered she was Martinez's oldest daughter. I had seen her once or twice on several occasions. She didn’t live in Spain and I had no idea she was in the country.

“Please don’t kill me.” She pleaded in a slightly cracked voice. I pursed my lips, thinking hard about what to do with her.

“Kill her, and let’s get out of here.” Lorenzo urged but I shook my head and lowered my gun. She was too beautiful to die just like that.