“Why, Langston? Why won’t I leave alive? You going to kill me, like you did Cara? Huh?”
“Baby girl, you don’t have the power to do anything to me.”
“No? Maybe, maybe not. But I know what you did to those boys, you sick fuck.”
“So what? So what if I bought them?”
“You bought them after you allowed women to run up debt and then you told them they had no alternative. You extorted their kids from them. And then you abused them.”
“I never hit those boys.”
“Kolson was kept in a dark room for months so he would stop calling himself Jason. You basically tortured him. It’s a form of psychological torture! You’re an evil man.”
“So what? Look at the man he’s become. I helped him by doing that.”
“He’s become successful because he promised himself he would only do so in spite of what you did to him. But why did you have to kill Cara?”
His hands slam the desk and he yells, “If you would’ve told me where my son is, she would be alive. It’s your fault, Gabby. It’s all your fault she’s dead.” He opens a drawer and pulls out a gun. “And this is something I should’ve done a long time ago. You’ve caused way too much interference where my son’s concerned.”
“Oh, so you’re going to shoot me too?” I expected he’d pull a gun.
Riley moves into the doorway, gun drawn. “Drop the weapon, now.”
“Who the hell is he?” Langston asks.
Then, as they say, even the best-laid plans go awry.
All of a sudden, I hear voices shouting, footsteps stomping, and Riley is pushed from behind. And there stands Kolson in the doorway.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kolson
“You have everything you want now. I’m here. You can let her go.”
Langston looks at me and laughs. “Well. If it isn’t the prodigal son. I was wondering when you’d show up.”
“Kolson. What are you doing here?” Gabriella asks.
“I’ve come to give him what he wants. Me. Now get out of here, kea.”
“No, I don’t think so, son. That’s not how this is going to work. You’re right, though. It was always about you. I didn’t really give a shit about your damn company.”
“Well, now you have me. You can let her go.” I flick my head toward Gabriella.
“Are you kidding me? Why the hell would I do that? I have you both where I want you.”
Gabby asks, “But why did you have to kill Cara? She never hurt anyone.”
Langston laughs. “To draw both of you out. Look how beautifully it worked.”
“It didn’t work as beautifully as you’d like to think,” a tall, dark-headed guy says as he pushes me aside.
“Who the hell are you?” Langston shouts.
That’s what I want to know.
“Someone who’s going to ruin your night. No, that’s not quite true. I’m going to ruin the rest of your fucking life.” His gun is aimed at Langston. Then into his radio he says, “Gem, you have enough?”
This Gem person answers, “Copy that.”
The big guy commands the guy I pushed down, Riley, to get up.
Langston says, “If he moves, I shoot baby girl here.”
“No, you won’t. My man outside has a laser sight pointed at your head and any kind of movement on your part will result in your gray matter being scattered and splattered across your desk. Choice is yours, pal.”
The guy named Riley stands, moves to Gabriella, and reaches inside her coat. He pulls out a wire. I’ll be damned. She’s come in here for evidence.
“Gun down. No more chances.”
The big guy’s radio crackles and the woman’s voice comes on again. “Team Alpha, your guys are unloading the jackpot.”
What the hell is she talking about?
Langston puts his gun down. The dark-haired guy says to Riley, “Go down and help them unload.”
Riley leaves.
Now it’s the four of us.
Then I say to Langston, “So I guess you were glad I contacted you about Danny.”
He laughs. “Oh, that. And after everything, that stupid fool throws himself off the top of that building after all. My guys called me up laughing about it.”
“Then there never was a debt, was there?”
“Hell no. But you didn’t know that. It worked out perfect for me. You would come crawling back to pay it off. But then you disappeared and turned everything over to her. You ruined it all. It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way.”
The dark-headed guy interrupts and says, “Sorry to disappoint.”
Who the hell is he?
Then the dragon starts rambling. “You’re making a big mistake. My connections will see you dead within a day after this.”
“I don’t think so. With what we have on you and your connections, you won’t be seeing the light of day for the remainder of your life.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
Then Gabriella laughs. Hard.
Without taking his eyes off my dad, he says to me, “By the way, I’m Wolfe.”
Wolfe. Like that’s supposed to mean something to me.
Then he says to my dad, “Gabby here told us about how you kept the boys downstairs. You’re a piece of shit, you know that? She also mentioned that you never allowed your wife down there.”
I instantly feel betrayed by Gabriella. Moisture breaks out on my brow, beads trickling down my temples.
“Why would that be, Langston? Why would you want to keep everyone from going down there? Especially after all these years? Unless, of course, you’re hiding something. So we had ourselves a look. And gee, guess what we found?”
My father’s face isn’t white, it’s fucking gray. His eyes look like they’re staring at Abraham Fucking Lincoln, and his mouth … well, goddamn, if it hung open any wider, we could use it as a dustpan.
Why didn’t I ever think of that? The basement? His fucking storage facility? Well, of course I know the answer to that. I never dared go down to that place … the place that evoked my memories of hell. And he knew it. He fucking knew none of us boys would go there. He knew the staff wouldn’t go. And he knew my mother, his fucking puppet, would never dare venture anywhere he told her not to. He could’ve stored twenty dead bodies down there and we would never have known.
“Jackpot,” I repeat.
Then something must fire in his brain, because he looks at me with such hatred and says, “You were unbreakable. I thought I succeeded, but I never did, did I? I should’ve killed you when I had the chance. When I had you locked in that cell down there, you miserable little shit.”
Then everything happens so fast, yet it unravels in slow motion, exactly like instant replay on a football game. His gun is on top of his desk, away from his hands, and he’s shouting and gesticulating about how hard-headed I was, that no one, not even Wolfe, notices he’s grabbed another gun. He must’ve had it hidden under his desk. Surely, he has guns everywhere in here.
He picks it up, and the room breaks into chaos, everyone yelling at once, but he points the gun at Gabby and a shot is fired. I shout, thinking Gabby’s been hit, but then I’m confused when I see his head snap backward. His body slumps forward and thumps the desk. Wolfe was wrong. His gray matter isn’t scattered and splattered across his desk. It’s sprayed on the wall behind him in a gruesome display.
Gabby screams. I grab her and try to shield her from the debacle unfolding before us.
I can’t figure out what the hell has just happened until I catch sight of my mom standing slightly behind us, still aiming a gun, staring at Langston.
Wolfe calmly approaches her and says, “Mrs. Hart, let me have the gun.”
Without so much as a word, she hands it to Wolfe, turns to me, and says, “I should’ve done that years ago.”
“Get Gabby out of here!” Wolfe says.
I drag Gabby out of the office and pull her along until we get to the living room and I fall ba
ck onto one of the sofas, taking her with me.
A dark-haired woman flies by and then a short time later returns.
“Everyone okay in here?”
“Yeah. No. I’m not sure.” My thoughts are all scrambled as I try to wrap my head around the fact that my mother just killed my father.
“You’re not injured?” the woman asks.
“No. At least ... Gabriella?”
“I’m fine,” she replies, shaking.
Gabriella is still on my lap and I realize how close she came to death. “Jesus. Jesus Christ.” My hands run over her, letting it sink in that she’s fine.
The dark-haired woman stands before me and extends her hand. “I’m Gemini Wolfe, Drex’s wife. You must be Kolson Hart.”
“I am.”
Then she goes to the side table and pours us each a brandy. “Here, this might help with the shakes.”
I accept the glasses and hand one off to Gabriella.
“You chose an interesting time to make an appearance.” Her eyes spark a bit. Then she chuckles. “For a minute there, I thought Drex was going to strangle you.”
Drex. Drexel Wolfe. Now it fits. She must see the recognition dawn on me.
“Oh! You didn’t know who we all were, did you?”
“Fuck no, I didn’t know!” I explode. “This one,” I point to Gabby, “disappears, and leaves me a cryptic note. So I have an idea she’s on another one of her harebrained schemes, like when she went after her cousin, Danny. I know what happened the last time she ran off, so I come out here, thinking she’s taking the fucking dragon on by herself. And then you guys swarm the place.” My hands tear through my hair and I groan. “Jesus, fuck, Gabriella, are you ever going to stop giving me goddamn heart attacks?”
“If she’s anything like the woman I’m married to, probably not,” a deep voice says. “Drex Wolfe, in the flesh. I’d like to say it’s good to meet you in person, since we’ve only talked on the phone when you hired me to find Danny Martinelli, but …”
We shake hands.
“I’d like to say it’s a pleasure to meet you too, but right now I can’t decide if I want to strangle this woman here or kiss her.”
“We’ll give you two a few moments alone. And just some advice. I’d go for the kiss. And then I’d like to talk to both of you.”
“My mom?” I ask.
“She’s in the other room. We tranquilized her earlier and never expected her to wake up that fast. She was supposed to be locked in her room.”
“The lock on her door has been broken for years. My dad broke it. I think he wanted access to her so she couldn’t hide from him. Do you think she’ll be okay?”
“Right now she seems pretty pleased with herself, but I’m sure shock will set in. It’s never easy killing someone, no matter how terrible they were,” Drex says. “She’ll be interrogated, but there were three witnesses present that will say she did it to stop him from killing Gabby here.”
“True.”
They leave us alone. Gabby’s face bears a guilty look. I’ve seen it before, when she was in the tunnels after we found her with Danny.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. It was intense in there. My heart is up here.” Her hand cups her neck. “But …” Her voice trails off.
“I’m not the least bit sorry he’s dead. In fact, I’m sorry I wasn’t the one who shot him.” And that’s the fucking truth.
“Oh, neither am I. Only shocked and disgusted in the way it unfolded. I hope your mom is okay though.”
I tighten my arms around her and kiss her. “What the hell, Gabriella? I thought you promised me you would never do anything like this again.”
“I wasn’t in danger,” she insists.
“Like hell! When someone has a gun pointed at you, that constitutes danger in my book!”
She pulls away, opens her jacket, and shows me her Kevlar vest.
“Fuck that. What if he’d taken a shot at your head? Look where my mom shot Langston!” Her mouth opens and closes several times. “Do you get my fucking point now?”
“I had to do it. After Cara, what would he have done next? He thought he was invincible. He wouldn’t have stopped until he had you. Would we have lived in seclusion forever, hiding and running? Come on, Kolson. You know I’m right. Drex had a sound plan.”
I pinch my lower lip between my thumb and index finger. I’ll give her this. Her plan was a hell of a lot better than mine. I had none. I was running on empty, half-cocked.
“I wish I had hired him earlier. But why didn’t you tell me?”
“Seriously? You would’ve stopped me. You know you would have.”
“Yeah. I would have.”
“So, get over yourself and admit I was right. And let’s go forward with our lives. It’s done, Kolson. You’re truly free now. Not only that, so are Sylvia, Kestrel and Kade.”
“Yeah, I guess we all are.”
Drex and his wife take a seat across from Gabby and me. “The police and the FBI are on their way. You heard what I said in there. To Langston. It didn’t make sense. The basement, that is. So we went to work down there. And we found a lot more than we could’ve hoped for. He has some kind of data vault down there … files dating back to the mid-seventies. Enough to incriminate everyone involved in the East Coast arm of the Mob. And I mean everyone. One thing about Langston Hart—he was a scrupulous record keeper. When paper turned to computer files, he converted everything. He kept photocopies of things too. Why he didn’t destroy them is a head-scratcher, unless he wanted to make sure he had enough evidence on everyone to burn them, just in case they decided to turn on him. We won’t need any of the audio we captured on the wire Gabby wore. These files have much more than we could’ve hoped for. And get this. He was running a sex slave operation. All the information is down there. He would locate his victims from the casinos and track them. He also had a drug and prostitution ring that he operated and laundered money through the casino. That’s why he opened Vegas and wanted HTS because Atlantic City has fallen under hard times and it was getting harder and harder to pass the cash through there.”
“Oh my God!” Gabby yells.
“What?” I ask. Drex and Gemini look at her and wait.
“One of the times Langston came to the office and threatened me, he said that I needed to watch it because I might find myself in a foreign country doing things I never expected. He would’ve put me in that sex slave ring,” Gabby explains.
“Jesus,” is all I can say. “I never realized the lengths he would go. If I had known, I never would’ve left you out there like that.” I’m sick with the thought of what might have happened. “I’m so glad that monster is dead.”
“Yeah, the world is rid of one sick bastard,” Drex adds. “But from what we can gather, for whatever reason, Langston kept you and your brothers clean of this mess. Sylvia didn’t know anything either. When we pull up files on the computer, nothing on any of you guys comes up.”
“You’re sure about that? I’m not worried about Kade. He’s been into drugs so long, he couldn’t function in the business, but Kestrel is another story.”
“You wanna call him? While we’re here?”
“Yeah. He needs to be here for this.”
Wolfe nods. “One other thing. Those fucked-up rooms he kept you boys in are still down there. When the Feds get here, they’ll investigate. Do you want us to remove what’s in there? There are only a few things.”
Gabriella squeezes my hand. If the Feds see any of that shit, it’ll open up a can of worms that doesn’t need to be opened. I turn to her for guidance.
“Kolson, he can’t be punished for what he did to you now. He’s gone. There’s no use in digging up all those ugly memories. Let them go after the Mob for the crimes they committed.”
I say to Wolfe, “Move everything out of them. Make them look like he used them for Mob activities.”
“We can do that. I assume this place has an attic? There are only a few small items, kids t
hings anyway. It won’t take but a couple of minutes. But we need to do it now.”
“Yeah. I’ll show you.”
After I show him where to stow it, Gabriella calls Kestrel and tells him to get over here. The police arrive followed by the FBI. The house is filled with all kinds of people moving about. When Kestrel walks through the door, he’s shocked at first to see me but after we briefly explain, he wants to see Mom and then the dragon’s body. I hesitate but Gabriella says I should let him. I had it in my mind that he would fall apart. But he takes one look, nods, and says, “Much kinder than he ever deserved.”
Sylvia sits in a small den where she is being questioned by one of the detectives. Kestrel goes to sit with her. When she’s finished, they both join us in the living room and we discuss what’s going to happen. Kestrel doesn’t know anything. Dad wouldn’t involve him in any of “The Meetings.” They were held the third Thursday of every month at a secret location. Kestrel never knew where. Dad never told him. And Mom knows nothing at all. She’s very quiet as she sits with us and I wonder what’s going through her mind.
Kestrel’s hands shake. “It’s difficult to explain. I hated him, you know. Kolson, I know you never understood how I could remain close to him and I don’t know if I can explain it. But I could never leave him. He had this hold over me.”
Mom finally speaks. “He threatened everyone. No one was safe around him. I should’ve taken you boys away years ago, but he told me if I tried, he would have me locked away in a mental hospital. He was vicious and ruthless. I should’ve killed him a long time ago. I’m sorry I failed you boys.”
Gabriella pats her on the back. “Sylvia, you were afraid to do anything. You were as much the victim as the boys were. It’s all in the past and the best thing to do now is move forward.”
I hand Sylvia and Kestrel each a brandy. “Here. This might help a bit.”
“You know, I feel more at ease with him gone than I have for as long as I can remember. When I came home from my trip to France, he told me we had a son. It was you, Kolson. He wouldn’t tell me where you came from, other than we had adopted you. When I went to ask questions, he hit me. He told me never to ask about it again. He almost strangled me once. I should’ve gone to the authorities, but then, he paid them off, so it was useless.”
The Hart Brothers Series Box Set (Including the bonus book Sabin: A Seven Novel): Freeing Her, Freeing Him, Kestrel, The Fall and Rise of Kade Hart, Sabin: A Seven Novel Page 50