Louis
"Why did you do that? Why did you do that to me?" Enzo, his face flushed with anger, screamed, slamming his fists against my chest. I quickly caught hold of both his hands, holding them still.
"Listen, puppy, we did this for your own good. You need to learn how to survive on your own. You're not a child anymore, Enzo. You have to learn to live without him," I said firmly.
"No, you sent him away because you hate me. You hate me! I know you hate me," Enzo shot back, trying to break free and hit me again. But I held his hands tight, not letting him.
"Stop crying like a baby, Enzo. You're not a baby. It's time you learned to be a man," Pedro said, casting a hard look in our direction.
"Fine, then I'll just run away," Enzo retorted, his voice trembling.
"If you run away, we'll have to fire Manuel. You're supposed to stay here for one year without him. If you pull any stupid stunt, your 'beloved bodyguard uncle' will have to pay the price. And believe me, we'll make sure you never see him again. You know we can do that, right?" I said, my voice low but firm.
"Oh, and this is Papa's idea, by the way. Don't take it up with us—go argue with him if you want," Pedro added with a shrug.
"But you didn't even let me talk to him before he left!" Enzo snapped, his voice laced with hurt.
"Papa didn't want you to. He's your bodyguard, Enzo. He could be gone any time—don't you get that?" Pedro said, his tone exasperated. But Enzo just stared back at him, as if he were speaking a foreign language.
With a final look of defiance, Enzo stormed off to his room, slamming the door behind him. Pedro and I exchanged a silent, knowing glance.
—----
It was a good day for traveling. Pedro and I were already set to head to the airport, but Enzo was still getting ready.
"Hurry up, Enzo," I called out, glancing at the time.
"I don't want to go to Spain to meet my ancestors," Enzo muttered as he finally came down the stairs.
"We're not going to meet our ancestors; they're dead. We're going to meet relatives," I replied, rolling my eyes. Who wants to meet dead ancestors, anyway?
"Is Esmeralda going to be there?" Enzo asked, sounding as if he were talking about something revolting.
"Yeah, don't worry, we'll see her too," I said.
"I don't like her. I don't want to meet her," Enzo grumbled, his tone sharp.
"Nobody likes her, Enzo. Just pretend you do. That's what we all do. Even in business, we have to act like we like our clients and partners," I said, giving him a knowing look. He stared back with worried eyes, and I couldn't help but notice how much his eyes resembled Tino's. They both must've inherited that look from Papa. I had a feeling Tino would look just like Enzo when he got to his age. Hopefully, he wouldn't turn out to be as much of a jerk as Enzo.
"What?" Enzo asked, looking at me with narrowed eyes.
"Nothing," I replied, brushing it off.
"You were staring at me. Why?" he pressed, putting his hands on his hips.
"I said it was nothing," I repeated. Ugh, he's so annoying. I have no idea why Papa made this decision. Now I'm stuck spending months with Enzo. It feels more like Papa wanted to punish Pedro and me, not him.
