BABY FOR A PRICE: Marino Crime Family

by Kathryn Thomas

  “But you tried to kill Camille. You should have just left me alone, and none of this would have happened. You’re finished now, Evangeline,” Devin continued, taking a quick sharp turn. Camille shifted in her seat and clutched her thighs. She had never seen Devin so angry and intense.

  “I want to testify as well.” Camille was the one who spoke up, and Devin turned to look at her questioningly.

  “She had me handcuffed, she tried to poison me to death and then tried to burn my store down. I want to testify against her too. Make sure that she never gets out of prison,” Camille said quietly while Evangeline continued to scream at the back. Devin remained silent for a few moments and then nodded.

  “That is very brave of you,” he said as he made another sharp turn. He was driving fast to get them to the police station. He wanted to be rid of Evangeline, and Camille wanted to be alone with him as well.

  “Devin,” Camille said his name tentatively. She didn’t want to ask him, but she knew she had to. When he turned to her, she continued, “Have you been involved in crime too? Something they can arrest you for if you get involved in her case?”

  Devin breathed out and shook his head. “I told you, Camille, everything I do is legal. I own a security firm. I can’t say the same for my clients. I don’t get involved in what their business is, but my company has never done anything out of legal boundaries,” Devin said, and they both remained silent for a few seconds after. Camille was more relieved than ever. She didn’t know how she would react if Devin told her that he was just as much of a criminal as Evangeline.

  “And I’ll get immunity if I testify against her. The crimes and things that she has been involved in are much worse than anything I’ve done. She’s wanted by the Interpol for the thefts she’s committed in countries in Europe. She is much more precious to the cops than anything I’ve done,” he explained, and Camille placed a hand on his as he held onto the gear. He exchanged looks with her and smiled.

  “We’re okay, Camille. You’re okay. I’m not going to do anything stupid. I’m staying right here with you,” Devin added, and she nodded. She believed him.

  Within minutes Devin had pulled into the parking lot of the police station. A cop in uniform came running towards the car as Devin jumped out and opened the back door. Camille held her breath as the cop pulled Evangeline out of the backseat. He had looked at Camille in the front but didn’t say anything; it was as though she didn’t exist.

  Back outside he snapped handcuffs on Evangeline’s already tied wrists.

  “You’ll need to cut her binds with scissors,” Devin said as the cop proceeded to pull the tape off Evangeline’s mouth. She screamed in full force the instant it was off.

  “He kidnapped me. That bitch in the car kidnapped me and Devin helped her. They should be the ones who are arrested!” she screamed as the cop held onto her tightly. She was still trying to wriggle free, and it seemed like she would punch Devin in the face if she did get free.

  “You can stop now, Evangeline. We all know the truth, drop the act. I hope I never have to see you again,” Devin spoke softly, with nearly a laugh in his voice. Then he got back in the car, kissed Camille on her cheek and drove away. Away from Evangeline and the police station. To Camille, it seemed like they were leaving their troubles behind. Even though she knew it wasn’t over yet.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Devin

  He watched Camille until she walked into her apartment building and closed the door behind her. Then he waited until she appeared at her window and waved. He waved back and blew her a kiss. Then he was off again. Camille had let him borrow her car, which he needed since his bike was still at the comic bookstore.

  They both wanted to be alone with each other after Evangeline was dropped off at the police station. Devin would have given anything to spend the night in Camille’s arms, to be inside her, feel her warmth… but there was bigger fish to fry. He needed to take care of all loose ends before he could be with her in peace. And it needed to be done now. Evangeline was only one part of the problem. The Choppers were the other part and the ones who were much more dangerous.

  Devin drove in silence to The Choppers clubhouse, where he knew Figueroa would be. He knew he wasn’t being followed. They still hadn’t found out what he had done to Evangeline, where she was. There was a lot of explaining to do, especially now since Figueroa was obsessed with her.

  Devin arrived at the clubhouse and got out of the car. A few members of the club were sitting outside on their bikes, and they all grew silent when they saw Devin walking towards them.

  “Where’s Figueroa?” Devin growled, and one of them flung his can of beer away. Devin realized that this was the man he had punched at the beach when he was there with Camille.

  “What are you doing here?” the man asked, walking right up to Devin. Their faces were now only inches apart, but Devin didn’t back down.

  “Where’s Figueroa?” Devin repeated. “Your boss is going to be pissed if he finds out that you’ve kept me away from him. He’s waiting for me.” But the man was still up in his face.

  “He’s inside. Just let him through,” some other guy said from behind them. They glared at each other for a few more seconds with their nostrils flaring until the man stepped aside and Devin walked in towards the clubhouse. He squared his shoulders and clenched his jaws. This needed to be done right if he had to be successful. He was responsible for Camille, his dogs, and also his own club. This was going to be a sensitive mission, and he needed to handle it with care.

  Someone had already informed Figueroa of Devin’s presence because he found Figueroa sitting on a lavish leather chair near the reception area, surrounded by a group of bikers with their guns drawn. They didn’t seem to trust Devin, even though he was by himself and clearly defenseless in the middle of a rival club.

  “My men tell me that you haven’t done what I asked you to do.” Figueroa didn’t believe in formal greetings. He cut straight to the point, and this time he meant serious business.

  Devin smiled at Figueroa, trying to establish friendly terms but Figueroa seemed to have prepared for a battle. In his eyes, Devin had failed to prove his loyalty to their code of conduct, and he had to pay for it.

  “No, I haven’t burned the bookstore down,” he said and watched as Figueroa breathed in deeply, relaying his disappointment.

  “May I ask why? Or is that a useless question. Is the answer to that question the fact that you are indeed a snitch, or that you’re a pussy?” Figueroa asked, and one of the men behind him laughed.

  “I didn’t burn it down because I found Evangeline there and I didn’t think you’d want me to burn the place down with your girlfriend in there,” Devin said, standing his ground. The key was to not show any weakness. He could see that Figueroa was surprised by that revelation. Figueroa couldn’t seem to think of any reason why Evangeline would be there at Camille Griffin’ comic bookstore.

  “What was she doing there?” he asked, and Devin was the one who sighed this time. There was a lot of explaining to do, but he wasn’t quite prepared with a speech.

  “Because she had taken it upon herself to murder Camille Griffin. My girlfriend,” Devin explained, and he could sense the surprise in the room. The other men remained silent, but Figueroa sat forward in his seat, more surprised than all the rest. In his mind, Evangeline was undoubtedly a sophisticated and yet delicate little princess. Why would she try and commit such a violent act of crime?

  “You can’t be serious. Evangeline? Wanted to kill your girlfriend?” Figueroa asked, glaring at Devin. It was clear that there was still a part of Figueroa that didn’t want to believe what Devin was saying.

  “Yes, because she wanted to silence me. She thought she could scare me into shutting up about her,” Devin continued, and this time Figueroa stood up with a jerk.

  “Shut you up? Why? What were you planning on doing?” Figueroa asked, and Devin held his chin up.

  “I could have and probably would ha
ve told you everything about her, and she didn’t want me to do that.” Devin decided to leave out the little detail about how Evangeline also wanted Devin all to herself. That she wanted to be with him again. He didn’t believe that Figueroa would believe it or take it well.

  “Tell me what?!” Figueroa was screaming now.

  “About how she’s a drug addict and has been stealing from me and now you. And that she’s wanted by the police and the Interpol in Europe.”

  Figueroa held his head with both his hands. He was shaking his head vigorously like he didn’t want to hear another word that Devin was saying. But Devin was going to make sure that the man heard the truth about his beloved new fiancé.

  “Evangeline wasn’t involved in this, she couldn’t have been. She was at her house all day. I’ve bought her a new apartment, she spent the day there working on her photographs,” Figueroa finally said, but he was speaking more to himself. One of the men he had sent out earlier to find out information came back into the room. Devin was watching all of them with an intent gaze. One wrong move and he could set The Choppers ablaze, and they would be prepared to kill him.

  “Boss. She wasn’t at the apartment. She left at around six and hasn’t been back since,” the man said to Figueroa, who shook his head with more vigor. He still couldn’t believe it.

  “Check the police station,” Devin intervened, and everyone in the room whipped their heads to look at him. The mention of cops in a conversation always meant trouble.

  “Police station? Why would she be at a police station?” Figueroa had been pacing the floor of the room and now stepped in Devin’s direction.

  “Because I dragged her there myself,” Devin admitted, and Figueroa rushed towards him in rage. His eyeballs protruded out, and his nostrils were flaring. He looked like he was ready to kill somebody. Devin stood his ground.

  “I had to. She handcuffed Camille and tried to poison her with heroin to force her to overdose,” Devin said, and Figueroa’s mouth hung open. Devin knew that even though the older man had asked Devin to burn down the bookstore, he would never order such a thing as Camille’s murder.

  “Besides, she’s wanted in eight states here and by the Interpol. By surrendering her to the police, it grants you, me, and both our gangs immunity from any other petty crime that we might be charged with for the next few years.” Devin folded his arms over his chest. Figueroa appeared to think. He had grown quiet and less enraged. He was clearly in shock from what he was hearing.

  “It grants us immunity?” Figueroa asked, and Devin nodded.

  “If you’re willing to testify and make a statement,” Devin explained, and he watched as Figueroa grew incensed again.

  “Against my own fiancée? I love her!” He thundered and pushed his face towards Devin again.

  “Check your accounts. See if she’s stealing from you. If I’m right and she has been stealing from you, it gives you the evidence you need to testify against her,” Devin continued while Figueroa shook his head again.

  “Boss?” one of the men called out to him.

  “Check the accounts. Now!” Figueroa yelled at him, and two of the men ran out of the room. It would take a few hours for the accounts to be thoroughly checked - for the full scope of Evangeline’s crimes to be visible. But Devin was willing to wait. This would prove once and for all, that it wasn’t him who was The Chopper’s enemy. It was Evangeline.

  Figueroa sat back down in his leather chair with a huff. He was still angry and confused yet also exhausted.

  “She told me about you going to the cops. Why would she do that?” Figueroa asked, in a quieter voice this time.

  Devin allowed his shoulders to relax; Figueroa was beginning to face reality now.

  “Because she hoped that you would kill me off, in which case she wouldn’t have to, and all her criminal secrets would be safe with my dying breath,” Devin said, and Figueroa shot him a look. Despite the situation, and even though the two rival gangs and their leaders had never quite gotten along, Devin began to feel a little sorry for Figueroa.

  He knew exactly the kind of hold Evangeline could have on people, especially the men who fell so hard for her. It was difficult to believe that she was a criminal and see the clues that gave way to her drug addiction. But once you began to see her for who she really was, the rest only became clearer. Figueroa would need some time to face reality, but once he did that he would be able to connect all the dots and understand how Evangeline did it. How she had completely duped him and made a fool of him.

  “And don’t think for one second that she’s not in there spreading lies about you and me. She’s going to take every opportunity she gets to save her skin,” Devin continued, and Figueroa watched him with a deathly stare.

  Figueroa stood up again with a jerk and shook his head violently. “I should never have trusted her. She isn’t a biker. She doesn’t belong to the club. She doesn’t follow our code. I shouldn’t ever have trusted her.” Figueroa was speaking more to himself again rather than to anyone else. There was a deer-in-the-headlights look in his eyes as he stared at Devin while he spoke.

  Devin stepped towards him now and taking a chance, he reached out to pat Figueroa on his shoulder, like a friend or comrade. Surprisingly, Figueroa didn’t seem to react. He simply stood there, looking like a man whose heart was broken and whose dreams were shattered. His new love was stealing from him, had lied to him to start a club war and had also tried to murder an innocent girl.

  “We’ve all been there, Figueroa,” Devin said encouragingly, and the two men stared at each other in silence for a few moments.

  ***

  The two men were sitting on the front porch of The Choppers’ clubhouse, sipping from their cans of beer.

  It had been three hours since Devin first showed up here, and Figueroa’s men had revealed to him that they had already uncovered traces of money being laundered, all pointing towards Evangeline. Figueroa ordered them to keep digging.

  “You have to just take my word for it, I guess,” Devin said, taking a big sip of his beer. Less than a day ago, Figueroa had bashed Devin’s face, and the bruises were still there to prove it. And now they were sitting on porch chairs, sharing a drink and talking to each other like they had been friends all along.

  “Take your word for what?” Figueroa asked, still a little disoriented.

  “About my loyalty to the code. The bookstore is Camille’s source of income, her art has all been ruined because of Evangeline, she’ll have nothing if I take the store away from her as well,” Devin explained, and Figueroa nodded silently.

  “Yes, I think we’ve all been responsible for the shit that the poor girl has been through in the last couple of days. You tell her that I’m deeply sorry for this all. I never meant for any of this to happen,” Figueroa spoke quietly. He didn’t seem like a man who was used to apologizing often.

  Devin drank from his can again, allowing Figueroa’s words to truly settle in.

  “She understands. This wasn’t anybody’s fault, especially not yours. You were told lies,” Devin said, and Figueroa interrupted him.

  “And I believed them! Like a fool,” he said, and Devin remained silent. He needed to give the other man some time for the truth to sink in.

  “You seem happy with her, anyway,” Figueroa said, finishing the remaining beer in his hand. Devin nodded and smiled, an image of Camille’s face floated up in his mind. He had forgotten how much he missed her.

  “She’s great. We are very happy together. And she’s forgiven me for all of this, what more can I ask for?”

  Figueroa remained quiet for a while. “You should set the poor girl free. This isn’t the kind of life she’s prepared for. She nearly lost her life this time, but how long will you be able to protect her. She’ll become a liability,” Figueroa said, and Devin listened. He knew there was great truth in his words. He had thought about those exact things. Camille was going to be in constant danger if she remained with him. There was always going to be so
mething new.

  Devin shook his head and remained silent.

  “It’s just my two cents. For your sake and hers,” Figueroa continued.

  “I understand what you’re saying. And I agree with it. It’s just, I don’t…” Devin ran his hands through his thick dark hair and caught Figueroa smiling. It was the other man’s turn to feel sorry for him for being in love.

  “She must be one hell of a girl if she’s put Devin in a trance,” Figueroa said and laughed loudly, very happy with his own joke. Devin smiled too. He was also glad to see that Figueroa was feeling better about the whole Evangeline debacle.

  “You know I’ve always respected you, Devin,” Figueroa added, reaching for another can of beer on the floor. He threw one over to Devin and then picked up another one for himself.

  “I’ve never doubted that,” Devin replied, popping the can open and taking a quick sip. Figueroa was watching him, and he had a smile lingering on his face.