by Shandi Boyes
I don’t want to believe her. I want to hang her out to dry as I’ve desired many times over the past nine months, but there’s too much truth in her eyes for me to ignore. Women like India and Audrey don’t make friends. They’re ridiculed for their beauty like they should be punished God gifted them with enticing features, and we won’t mention the fact they’re foreigners living in a country known for its disrespect of women. In my motherland, women are treated like goddesses. It’s one of the reasons my father rarely visits Italy.
After a few big breaths, I weaken my grip on India’s throat. Once I’ve worked my anger down a few notches, I sink back to my side of the bench seat before straightening the disheveled collar of my trench coat.
My clothes are drenched through, but you wouldn’t know it from the fiery heat teeming out of me. It’s so blistering hot, I’m confident I’ll be bone-dry in seconds.
Certain I’ve got everything in order, I stray my eyes to Smith’s side of the cabin. “Once you cleared the footage, commence implementing the ruse we discussed last week. Any chatter regarding me moving on is to come directly through me.”
“Understood.” Smith gets straight to work like he’s already cleared away the footage of the unknown blonde getting fingered in the alleyway and was dying for another task. He likes to keep busy. “Do you want the compound included in the catchment zone?”
India doesn’t move her head, but I can feel her eyes on me when I dip my chin. “Word got out about my marriage. It was a guarded secret, so either someone in this car is a snitch, or we have eyes and ears in unknown locations.” It sucks to admit you can’t trust your own blood, but this isn’t the first time I’ve felt this way. Why do you think I kept my relationship with Audrey a secret?
“And tonight’s plans?” India asks, jumping back into the conversation like she wasn’t almost choked to within an inch of her life.
I don’t look at her. I can’t. If I do, I’ll want to finish what I started. “Will continue as planned.” While tapping out a quick message to my father, telling him we’ll be delayed a couple of minutes since I stopped for some lighthearted entertainment, I add, “While you convince Miceli your husband’s claims about you disliking oral sex are fraudulent, Clover, Smith, Rocco, and I will convince his crew they’d rather settle anywhere but Hopeton.”
By convince, I mean we’ll get heavy. New York was run by three separate entities of the Italian Cartel, however Hopeton most certainly isn’t.
Famiglia prima di tutto… until it isn’t.
Chapter Four
Dimitri
Ignoring my cracked and bleeding knuckles, I raise a recently printed photograph of my daughter off a dust-coated desk. Unlike last month’s shotty and blurred image, this one shows every inch of Fien’s chubby cheeks, toothy grin, and birthmark-blemished stomach with precise clearness.
The figure attached to her picture speaks a thousand words. My ruse is working. I’ve been requested to deposit one hundred fifty thousand dollars into a foreign account on the third of each month without fail the past nine months. This month’s demand only cites one hundred thousand dollars.
Her kidnappers didn’t lessen the amount of her ransom because her upkeep this month is less than the previous nine. They’ve lowered it because they’re worried I’m weeks from forgetting her. Why pay out of the eye to keep someone safe when you can replace them within months? It seems demoralizing and cruel to even consider, but it’s exactly the way men in my industry operate. They wouldn’t pay to keep their blood safe, especially if that blood has female hormones running through it.
My father loved my mother, yet, he profited from her death instead of mourning it. If he’d known how beneficial her death would have been, he would have put plans into play years earlier. Guaranteed.
My mother was killed during a joint FBI and CIA sting many years ago. Her death sparked controversy across the globe. The outrage ensured my father would never be prosecuted for his crimes. The uproar about the loss of an innocent was louder than the calls for my father to serve time. If he were put away, his many children would become wards of the state. No one wanted that, not even the men who had spent years hunting him.
Once the heat settled down, my father sued the state for an undisclosed record-setting amount. He won. My mother was a good woman. She was the only person capable of getting through to my father. Our family dynamic drastically changed when she was killed.
For years, I blamed authorities for the hell I was raised in. If the large, balding Russian standing in front of me hadn’t convinced me otherwise, I’d still be avenging her death. A bullet from an agent’s gun killed my mother, but that was only because my father pulled her in front of himself as a shield.
Why believe the Bureau over my own flesh and blood, you ask? Tobias had footage no amount of manipulation could alter. It was as gory and as terrifying as the video on a USB drive stored in my safe.
When I place Fien’s photograph on my desk, Tobias continues with the conversation we were holding before her ransom note arrived. “I have strong intel on a new Castro compound popping up in the New Mexico region. A crew was deployed there last week.”
“Where exactly in New Mexico?” The land there is rugged and spread out. I’m sure Smith would eventually unearth Rimi’s location since he can’t demand money without using some form of electronic communication, but I’d rather Tobias spell out the details for me. It will be quicker this way, although it could also be a heap bloodier.
Rimi isn’t keeping Fien in one location. He’s bouncing her around the country, constantly altering her location, so I can’t get a solid lead for longer than a day, two at most.
“I can’t tell you that.”
The stiffness of my jaw is heard in my reply. “Then what can you tell me?” Although I’m asking a question, I don’t wait for Tobias to respond. “Your department has been sitting on their hands for months. I’ve shared intel with you, trade fucking secrets, and what have I been given in return for it? Nothing. Not a single fucking thing.”
Tobias doesn’t rattle easily. “I placed men on your date to ensure she doesn’t get snared by the same trap as Audrey.”
I slouch low into my chair before making a teepee with my index fingers. Since my beard is thicker than I usually wear it, my jaw’s tick isn’t as obvious. “Don’t act like you did that for me, Tobias. Your wish to keep Justine out of harm’s way has nothing to do with me, and you know it.”
There it is, the brutal pulse a vein in his neck gets any time I’m on the money. I don’t know who fucked Tobias over, or how well he was fucked, but I guarantee you he doesn’t look at Justine with the same set of eyes as me. I doubt he even views her how her brothers do. He sees a person, not an asset.
“Whether it’s downright sinister or ingenuously brilliant, my plan is working. I received Fien’s proof of life earlier this month, and the ransom is lower. Rimi is growing worried, which means he’ll get sloppy.”
Tobias breathes heavily out of his nose before slumping into the chair opposite to mine. Since our meetings need to be kept on the down-low, dust kicks up around him in protest to his large frame squeezing the last bit of air out of the chair’s cushioning. “I agree. Impatience is one of Rimi’s biggest downfalls. I just have a bad feeling about this one. The New Mexico region is the Castros’ stomping ground. Rimi would only go there for one reason.”
“To end things?”
When Tobias jerks up his chin, I take a moment to deliberate. Tobias’s extensive knowledge on how the Cartel works is the sole reason I’ve continued to keep him updated on Audrey and Fien’s case. He knows how these guys tick because he’s been undercover in their organizations longer than some of the main hitters have been helming their reigns. If anything is about to go down, Tobias generally knows before it occurs. He tried to talk my father out of his failed takeover bid on the family now running New York. He didn’t listen to him as I am tempted to do this time around.
“I can’t let this
go. The evidence is too overwhelming to discount.”
“I agree,” he says again. “But I also think you need to tread cautiously. Castro reacts stupidly when scared.”
I shouldn’t smile at the thought of Rimi quaking in his boots, but I do. What can I say? I like knowing he doesn’t have one up on me. Tell me one air-breathing man who wouldn’t? He’s had my daughter for nearly ten months. Most men would have cracked by now.
Confident all is said and done, Tobias stands to his feet. “I’ll try and get word to you before we make a move. In the meantime, stay out of Erkinsvale. Even with the security guard being shot in the back, his death has murky cartel smears all over it.”
I slant my head to hide my smile. I shot the guard in the back to weaken the Feds’ suspicions. I should have realized that wouldn’t work with Tobias. He has an uncanny knack for knowing when his targets are coming out to play.
When Tobias’s silence gets the better of me, I mutter, “He was going to rape that girl.”
He shifts on his feet to face me. Even with him being close to sixty, his swagger is highly noticeable. “I know. Why do you think my cuffs are still shackled to my belt?” He waits for my gut to absorb his first hit before he whacks me with another. “Was he one of your johns?”
“Hypothetically speaking?”
His smirk matches mine. He isn’t impressed with my negotiating skills, but he’s aware we won’t talk without them. “When aren’t things hypothetical with you, Dimi?”
As my smile doubles, I shrug. “Hypothetically speaking, his kink was rape. He liked them un-bled and young—”
“Younger than the girl you left to clean up your mess?”
I shrug again. “Depends. How young is she?”
I’m seeking answers from the wrong person, but I can’t fucking help myself. Even with my week being tied up dating Justine and praying Rimi is as stupid as he looks, the bleach blonde’s sullied green eyes barely left my mind. I swear I’ve seen them before, but for the life of me, I can’t remember where.
With his smirk as edgy as his mood, Tobias replies, “Young enough I shouldn’t need to tell you to stay away, but I will. She doesn’t belong in this life any more than Fien.” Confident I’ll adhere to his warning, he leaves the warehouse cloaked by a moonless sky, sidestepping Maddox Walsh on his way out.
Maddox’s fists are balled tighter than they were when I approached him at an underground college fight months ago, and fiery ambers are blazing through his icy gaze. I want to say the scum who tried to rip him off of five thousand cool ones last week is the reason for his anger, but I doubt that’s the case. Rumors about me moving on aren’t just reaching Rimi’s ears. Justine’s brothers have heard them too.
Although I know the reason for Maddox’s visit, I try and downplay it. I’ve got a third date with his sister to organize. I don’t have time to babysit men big enough to crawl out of their own shit. “The funds from last month’s fights will be deposited into your account by the end of business Friday. I don’t have any intel on the fighters being brought forward for next month.”
“I’m not here about our arrangement.” His voice is gruff like he’s taken one too many jabs to the throat. I guess it’s part and parcel of being an illegal street fighter. His skills are good enough not to get hit, but he knows the more strikes he takes, the bigger his prize will be. Even if it’s rigged, idiots pay top dollar to watch two men come to blows for longer than a couple of minutes.
After planting his ass in the seat Tobias just freed up, Maddox locks his blue eyes with mine. “Is it true you’re using my sister as bait?”
That wasn’t close to what I was anticipating for him to say, but I keep a cool head. “Whatever do you mean?”
“Don’t play the dumb card with me, Dimitri. You might have all the stupid fuckers around here believing you’ve got the hots for my sister, but I know there’s more to it than you’re letting on. You paid the dessert menu more attention last week than you did Justine, yet you’re trying to organize another date. Why?”
I’ll give it to him. It takes gall to call a man out as a liar on his turf. His valor sees me issuing him some leniency—just. I inconspicuously aim my gun at his stomach instead of straight-up pressing it to his temple like I usually do.
“She’s not in any danger—”
“That wasn’t what I asked.” He winks, then leans forward, aware I have my gun on him but uncaring. If I gunned him down now, Tobias would be on my ass in an instant, and Maddox knows it.
Tobias isn’t my friend. Only a fool would believe otherwise. We work together because we must, not because we want to.
“You’re willing to die for your sister?” When confirmation flares through Maddox’s eyes, I switch tactics. “How does Demi feel about that?”
Justine hinted that Demi and Maddox were going casual last week. I know it’s more than that. Maddox isn’t just fascinated with my cousin, he’s wholly fucking taken by her. Enough for me to be confident in saying, “If Demi were taken by your enemies, how far would you go to get her back?”
I see the answer in his eyes—there’s no line he wouldn’t cross—but it doesn’t mean he’ll go easy on me, though.
Fortunately for me, I have another card up my sleeve.
“And what about that kid of yours growing in her stomach? The one you don’t know about because you’re ignoring all the signs. What if he or she were ripped away from you? How far would you go to keep her safe?” He’s taken back by my suggestion his girlfriend is pregnant, but he doesn’t deny my assumption, confirming he has an inkling that everything I’m saying is true. “My daughter was cut out of my wife’s stomach. They butchered her like a piece of worthless meat. I don’t care who I have to trample, I won’t stop until they’re forced to pay for their mistakes.”
Maddox stands from his chair so quickly, he topples it over. “Justine is my sister. I won’t have her used like this.”
“And she’s my daughter!” I thrust Fien’s photograph onto his side of the desk before lining up my pistol with the crinkle between his brows. “She ranks higher than anyone.”
I discover the Walsh’s don’t just fight with their fists when Maddox draws a gun on me. It’s clear it is one he picked up from a gangbanger in a back alley, but the quality of the weapon shouldn’t enter the equation when calculating how much time you have left. The skill of its user is the only sum needed.
Do I think Maddox has the guts to kill me? Probably not. But he won’t hesitate to maim me if it increases the odds of keeping me away from Justine.
If only the heat didn’t get too hot for Tobias, then we would have found out. He interrupts our conversation long before I get the chance to prove nothing will ever come between Fien and me.
Not a woman.
Not the law.
No one.
“Lower your guns.” When we remain standing firm, Tobias’s voice rises as readily as his anger. “Don’t make me repeat myself. I’ll shoot you both before leaving you here to rot. Trust me when I say two less criminals in a sea of many won’t be missed.”
Unsurprisingly, Maddox lowers his gun first. He has the instincts of a killer, he just needs to hone his skills. I’d be happy to teach him if he weren’t glaring at me like he wants my insides hanging out of my belly button.
“Stay away from my sister.”
Stealing my chance to reply that I wouldn’t be the only one licking wounds if I did that, he dumps his gun onto my desk, spins on his heels, then walks away.
You have no idea how satisfying it is when Tobias strays his eyes to mine to seek permission for Maddox to leave. Some would say it’s because Maddox entered my premises with a loaded weapon, so Tobias is simply following the law. I know it’s more than that. Tobias cares for me in his own twisted way. I guess that can be expected since he killed my mother.
Guilt does weird things to people.
As does vengeance.
I know that better than anyone.
Chapter Five
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Roxanne
“Come on, Roxie, don’t be like that. You were into it last time.”
While rolling my eyes at Eddie’s highly inaccurate statement, I continue down a dark alleyway. I can’t believe I was so stupid to fall for his sob act. He doesn’t care that my scholarship floated precariously in the wind for three months after the security guard was murdered, or that I sat at a police station for fourteen hours giving testimony about an incident I’m still struggling to comprehend.
Even the officer taking my statement was wary about my recollection of events, and I was as honest as Mother Mary. I even told him about the stranger watching Eddie notch his finger inside of me, aware that it could get me in trouble, but hopeful it would see me skipping a murder conviction.
It worked, however my life hasn’t been the same since. My nanna is still angry at me, the dean at my school won’t stop eyeing me like a freak since our emergency meeting to save my ass, and all my friends bar one up and vanished.
You’d think that would keep me on the straight and narrow, but no, I’m clearly a weirdo who gets off on danger. Why do you think I agreed with Eddie’s suggestion for us to camp out in a dark alleyway on a rainy Friday night? It isn’t the same alleyway as three months ago—Eddie was smart enough to pick one two towns over from the crime scene of our last farce—but I’m still striving to relive an event I should give anything to forget.
Someone call the mental hospital. A new patient is at the ready.
“Roxanne…” The clomp of Eddie’s flip-flops on the wet ground irks my last nerve. “I wanted tonight to be special. Why do you think I bought you flowers?”
By special, he means he wants to slide to the home plate by doing something as simple as purchasing a bunch of gas station flowers. If he purchased them. I wouldn’t put it past him to steal them. That’s how cheap he is.
Too angry to let his bad taste slide, I say, “You left the price tag on the flowers, Ed. For future reference, $3.99 won’t get you close to home plate.” I let out a soundless whine before spinning around to face him. “Even if you did pay for them, which I’m highly skeptical about, I forked out fifteen dollars for your movie ticket, so if we’re counting merit points, I’m coming out of this date shortchanged, not you.”