Paulo laughs and sits back down in the chair facing me. “Let’s just say I’ll have the very best connections. Not only that, but I’ll be running his guns and drugs through my neighborhood. It’s going to be a perfect, untouchable partnership.”
Untouchable? Is that why he doesn’t seem to be worried that Sebastian will come after him? Is this guy mafia? Or God, do they plan to get rid of Sebastian too? I tilt my head and stare slightly away from his face so he can’t see my concern growing. “If you’re so untouchable, why didn’t you take Banks out yourself?”
“I don’t kill. Banks and Blackie have history. I figured your husband might even enjoy this job.”
No, you’re weak and you’d rather have others do your dirty work for you. “But you’ve already killed!” It’s hard not to jerk my gaze to his, but I catch myself before I make that mistake. “Isabel Blake is dead because of you.”
Paulo looks away and shakes his head. “That wasn’t how it was supposed to go down.”
“You put the bomb on the gas tank flap, so of course a spark will blow the gas. What else did you expect would happen?”
Paulo starts to speak but he gets a text. Glancing down at his phone, he looks at me, a sudden grin on his face as he reads me the text. “Gun shots at Banks’s house. Men yelling. Neighbors must’ve called the police. Sirens on their way.” Paulo’s phone begins to beep with an incoming video call.
“Showtime!” he says, dark eyes lighting up as he turns his chair around. Sitting beside me close enough for “selfie” mode, he hits the button to answer, but quickly flips the camera so all the caller sees is the dingy hotel wall.
Sebastian appears to be standing on what looks like the porch of Banks’s house. Glass is everywhere under his feet. He looks pissed as hell. “I want proof that my wife is unharmed.”
“You were only supposed to call me once the job was done,” Paulo snaps, his voice jumping an octave. “If I don’t see proof in two seconds…” He picks up the gun and moves it before the front-facing camera.”
Sebastian’s face sets in hard lines, suppressed fury evident. I’m so worried, I call out. “I’m here, Sebastian. Please don’t do this!”
Paulo quickly sets the gun down on the table, then clamps his hand painfully over my mouth and chin, locking me in place. “Enough! Is it done? Show me.”
Sebastian pans the camera over the porch and Banks is laying on his back, half inside the doorway. Eyes staring sightlessly upward, his nose and face a bloody mess and his shirt torn and matted with way too much blood.
I gasp behind Paulo’s hand, tears filling my eyes. No, Sebastian! This can’t be true.
“I’ve done my part, but to assure you do yours and let Talia go…” Turning the camera back to himself, Sebastian’s blue eyes narrow as he pans the camera back some and we see Calder hand him a lit Molotov cocktail.
“What the fuck!” Paulo yells, pounding his fist on the arm of my chair. “That’s not part of the deal!”
“The house and everyone inside is now yours.” Sebastian tosses the bottle inside the house through the broken window. A burst of flames quickly licks up from the floor and along the windowsill as dark smoke billows out the window. “Release Talia and leave now if you want to save it.”
The moment Sebastian hangs up, I grab the gun and throw it as hard as I can at the window. The glass shatters in a loud crash and Paulo whirls on me, fury stamped on his face.
I duck, evading his swinging fist, and bolt for the door.
He grabs my hair and yanks me back. “You saw that, you lying bitch!”
Just as he hauls me against him, wrapping his arm tight around my neck, a man says in a harsh tone, “Let her go, right now.”
Den and another man with dark hair and piercing gray eyes stand just outside the broken window, their guns drawn.
Paulo lets out a maniacal laugh. “You’re not going to do shit. Sebastian will kill you both if anything happens to her. She goes with me or I’ll snap her neck where we stand,” he says, tightening his arm. “Move, Talia!”
Unfortunately, he’s just short enough to hunch and keep his head and body behind mine. While he shuffles us toward the door, I fold my bound wrists to my chest and work the pen from the bottom of my bra while Paulo’s distracted.
When Den sees the pen curled tight in my hands, he nods and lowers his gun. “Let them go,” he says in a calm tone. Elijah glances his way and frowns, but then lowers his weapon as well.
The moment we walk through the doorway onto the sidewalk, I swing my bound hands in an upward arc, aiming the pen right for Paulo’s head.
Paulo lets out a horrific yell and releases me to fall against the wall, grabbing his injured, bleeding face. “My eye! My eye! You bitch. I’ll kill everyone you care about!”
Still pumped on adrenaline, I shout, “Don’t threaten my family.” I turn with my arm raised, ready to lash out at him once more.
Den captures my arm before I can connect. Pulling me away, he traps me against his solid frame with an arm around my shoulder. “You’re okay, Talia. He’s down.”
Keeping his gun trained on Paulo, Elijah pulls his phone out, his eyes sliding over to me with wary respect. “Remind me to never piss you off.”
“Nice to finally meet you in person too, Elijah,” I say with an embarrassed half-smile. He really did just see me at my absolute worst.
While Elijah rattles off the address to the police, Den releases me to walk into the motel room and retrieve a couple hand towels from the bathroom. Hauling Paulo to his feet, Den shoves a towel in Paulo’s hands, then walks over to me, holding the other one—doused with soap and water—out, his tone soft but proud as he takes the pen from my shaking hands. “This pen was meant to be used as a tracker.”
“I improvised.” My bravado falters when I glance down to wipe my hands on the towel. The sight of Paulo’s bright red blood brings home how lucky I was that Den found me, making my legs shake a little. I’m so glad I didn’t have to find out what Paulo would’ve done if I hadn’t thrown his gun through the window. Den’s beside me instantly, holding my arm until I nod that my legs aren’t going to fail me.
Exhaling, he squeezes my arm. “Are you sure you’re steady now?”
“I’m good.” I study his face. He looks worried and a bit tired. “Are you okay? It took some time for my vision to fully return once I woke up.”
He nods. “Whatever they used to gas us was high tech and something I’ve never seen.” Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he hands it to me. “Sebastian wants to talk to you.”
Both relieved and anxious, I walk away from the men and put the phone to my ear. “Were you on the phone the whole time?”
“Of course. Are you truly okay, Talia? That backstabbing little shit deserves to be shot.”
His protective comment makes me feel warm inside. “I’m fine.”
“I still want you checked out by an EMT when the ambulance gets there. Calder and I are on our way to you now.”
The sound of him shifting gears finally filters through. “Please tell me that you didn’t really kill Banks, Sebastian,” I whisper.
“I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, Little Red.”
Tears mist in my eyes, but I hold them back. “But not like this.”
“I won’t say I didn’t enjoy getting in some well overdue punches. Banks sure as hell deserved them, but no…he’s very much alive.”
Gulping my relief, I glance back to see the ambulance has arrived ahead of the police. “And the house and everyone else?”
“No one was harmed. It was a contained fire. We planned it to look much worse from the outside than it was. We knew we were being watched.”
“Someone was feeding Paulo info via text. Paulo intended to run guns and drugs for a partner. I hope Paulo will give up whoever his partner is now that he’s going to be arrested.”
“Tell Elijah to grab Paulo’s phone before the police get there. We might be able to trace it back to his partner o
urselves.”
I smirk when I see Den slip Elijah Paulo’s cell. That’s what he was doing when he handed Paulo that towel. “Already on it. I’m glad you’re coming.”
“Be there in five, sweetheart.”
Hanging up, I exhale a deep breath that Sebastian didn’t have to cross a line on my behalf, and that we’ve at least caught one of the people responsible for Isabel’s death.
Chapter 18
Talia
“Want a slice of pepperoni, veggie, or loaded with meat?” Sebastian asks me across the kitchen table in the BLACK Security office.
“Pepperoni,” I say, holding my paper plate out.
“You sure you don’t want a beer, Talia?” Calder asks as he grabs one from the fridge.
“If I have a beer, Sebastian will be carrying me out of here. It’s been a long day.”
“Let’s try that some time. I think it’d be fun to cart you home drunk off your ass.” Sebastian shoots me a wicked grin before he gulps down half his bottle of water in one long swig.
“I’m with, Talia.” Calder snorts his agreement and lifts the bottle in salute to me. “It’s not every day I think my cousin has gone off the deep end.”
“How did you two convince Banks to go along with your plan?” I ask once I swallow my bite of pizza.
“I didn’t really give him a choice,” Sebastian says, tossing his plate into the trash.
Calder points to his cousin with his pizza slice. “That, and the fact he wanted to screw Paulo over once he learned of his betrayal.”
Nodding my understanding, I shift my gaze to Den and Elijah, who are so busy eating, they haven’t said a word. “Once you two vacuums are done consuming a whole pizza each, we need to compare notes from the day and see if we missed anything.”
Just as Calder lifts the beer to open it, Sebastian says, “You probably should limit yourself to one, Cald. We’re expected at the precinct first thing tomorrow morning to make our statements.”
“Might as well skip it then.” Calder stares at his beer with a forlorn expression, then stands to return it to the fridge.
Crumpling my napkin, I say, “Paulo has a partner. He said that his partner wanted him to run drugs and guns through his neighborhood. And that he would be untouchable.”
“We know that they used tech beyond anything I’ve seen to gas us,” Den says. “I checked with my UK contacts and they hadn’t heard of anything like that either. They’re definitely connected to someone with money or have access to high tech equipment.”
“Who else from Banks’s Boys or contacts were working with Paulo?” I ask, looking at Sebastian and Calder.
“Vinny the shop owner,” Calder says. “And Banks’s girlfriend, Sierra.”
“We haven’t been able to find Sierra.” Sebastian looks at Elijah. “What did you find out about Vinny?”
“Nothing. His bank accounts seem squeaky clean. No large sums of money have been deposited.” Elijah wipes pizza sauce from his lips and swallows some soda. “Unless he’s hiding money under other IDs, that’s all I could find.”
“You don’t have any idea why Vinny threw Banks under the bus?” I look at Sebastian.
He shakes his head. “Vinny blew Banks off when he tried to confront him about it earlier.”
I frown and gnaw my bottom lip. “How well does Banks know Vinny? He might give us some insight.”
“Can’t hurt to ask. What’s his number, Talia?”
I look up Banks’s number in my contacts and Sebastian dials it, putting his phone on speaker.
Two rings later, Banks grates into the phone. “Who is this?”
“It’s Sebastian. I have a question.”
“What are we, besties now?”
“Bite me, Banks. This is important.”
“You’d better be calling me to tell me you’ve written a check to cover all this damage.”
“That ‘damage’ saved your life. Now shut it and listen. Paulo was working with a man who wanted Paulo to take your place so he could run drugs and guns through your neighborhood. You’ve still got an enemy out there. Now that Paulo can’t follow through with his plans, this guy will look for someone else to take his place.”
“Hell no, he’s not bringing that shit in my neighborhood! Who the fuck is this guy?”
“If you don’t want that to happen, then talk to me about Vinny. What do you know about him? Why would he lie about you?”
“I have no clue why. Vinny did have a gambling problem in the past. Ran up a good bit of debt. Thought he’d gotten clean though.”
“Maybe not.” Sebastian looks at Elijah. “Go back a bit further in his finances.”
“Are you talking to me?” Banks says.
“No, you’re on speaker. Members of my BLACK Security team are here, helping me dig into this.”
Once Elijah pushes his plate away and then opens his laptop, I speak up. “Hey, Banks. It’s Talia. Something’s been bothering me. Did you get my message to you in the pizza delivery box?”
“What message? The last time I heard from you was that voicemail about the article being delayed.”
“Talia tried to warn you about the police, Banks. The Tribune called the police without her knowledge.”
I smile at my husband, appreciating that he wanted to set the record straight, but that wasn’t why I was asking. “If you didn’t get my message, then how did you manage to avoid getting arrested for having the painting in your house?”
“Paulo gave me the heads up the police were coming and what they’d be looking for early in the morning. I almost ripped his head off when I found out the painting was stolen. He promised me that it was a one-time deal and he was done with that kind of stuff.”
Sebastian and I exchange a glance. “I didn’t send my message until lunchtime, so who warned Paulo?”
“I never got your message, Talia. I knew because we have a police contact,” Banks grudgingly admits.
“What?” Sebastian leans forward at this news. “Who?”
“Don’t know. He was Paulo’s contact and said it was best if he only interacted with one of us, so I didn’t push to learn his name.”
“Fucking hell. What if Paulo’s partner is a cop, or a cop working with Paulo’s partner? Paulo won’t make it to trial if we don’t get him protection.”
“You think I give a shit if Paulo makes it to trial?”
“Dead men can’t tell us who his partner is, Banks!” Sebastian grabs my phone and walks away to make a call.
“If a police officer is involved with this whole thing, that would explain Paulo’s access to that high-tech ink used to gas us earlier,” Den says. “Think about all the items that get seized during raids and entered into evidence.”
“British guy’s there too?” Banks snorts. “He’s a damn big guy.”
“Still right here,” Den says in a dry tone.
“Speaking of evidence,” Elijah says in a low voice to me. “Phil dropped off an evidence package with your necklace earlier today. It’s in Sebastian’s office.”
When I nod, he looks back down at his laptop and taps on his keys. “Okay, I went back a bit further on Vinny, and yep, he drew down his savings account to the tune of forty-thousand dollars over a period of three months less than two years ago. And then the account stopped bleeding.”
“How are you seeing his finances?”
“Owing a huge debt like that can shift loyalties on a dime,” Calder says over Banks’s question.
“Are you saying you don’t think he got clean?” Banks says, his suspicious tone sharpening.
“When have you ever known a gambler to just stop cold turkey?” Calder answers. “They’re either beat to a pulp and forced to pay up, or they pay the debt and finally join groups to get help.”
“Or, the other option is…someone takes care of their debt and they straighten out their lives in gratitude.” I glance Sebastian’s way, thinking about what my husband did for Phil.
“Most people don’t erase debt
without an agenda,” Sebastian says as he returns to the table. “To Calder’s point, having his debt wiped clean would explain Vinny’s sudden about face with you, Banks.”
“Yeah it would,” Banks grouses. “Sierra hasn’t shown her face. I’m pretty sure she was hooking up with Paulo. She won’t be back, but looks like I’ll have to pay Vinny a visit tomorrow.”
“No, stay away from Vinny,” Sebastian says in a harsh tone. “You could tip Paulo’s partner off and we’ll lose our advantage. Right now the guy doesn’t know that Paulo told us his plans.”
“What did the police say?” Calder asks before Banks can argue.
“The police chief is moving Paulo to a secure location with a couple trusted guards, but he only agreed to do that if we all came in tonight to make our statements.”
“The police already have my statement,” Banks interjects. “Are we done with the twenty questions now?”
“Yeah, we’re done. And, Banks…I shouldn’t have to remind you not to repeat anything we’ve talked about or it could blow this case, right?”
“Got it, Blackie. The next time I hear from you, it better be you telling me you’re sending a check.”
“Blackie?” Elijah mouths to Sebastian, curious amusement dancing is his gray eyes.
Ignoring Elijah, Sebastian snorts and says, “It’s in the mail,” then hangs up.
“What time are we going to the station?” Calder asks, as he types out a text on his phone. “Cass is on her way back from visiting her parents and planned to stop by here for a slice.”
“How far out is she?” Sebastian asks.
“About fifteen minutes.”
“We’ll wait for her.” Turning to Elijah, he asks, “What’s the latest on Paulo’s phone?”
“Been running a diagnostic on it. I’ll go get it.”
He starts to stand, but I wave him back into his seat. “I’ll grab it on the way back from Sebastian’s office. I want to see just how badly damaged my necklace is.”
Black Platinum (In the Shadows Book 6) Page 15