Dead Man's Hand: A Small Town Romance (A Good Run Of Bad Luck Book 1)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  Antonio had his legs wrapped around another man’s neck, choking him until he passed out. The room went quiet. I held my gun at the ready, preparing for any stragglers to make their way in. I couldn’t tell how many had initially attacked. There could be more waiting outside, preparing for another attack. Creeping over to the window, I chanced a peek outside, but didn’t see any movement. Looking over at Antonio, I shook my head, letting him know I thought we were alone.

  He shoved the man away from him and stood, his arm dripping blood. Frowning, I walked over to him, tearing at his sleeve. It wasn’t a scratch, but it wasn’t a death sentence either. The bullet appeared to be a through and through, going right into his shoulder.

  “Jo,” I shouted, grabbing a towel to press to the wound. “I need you out here!”

  “It’s fine,” Antonio grumbled, brushing my hand away.

  “Let me be the judge of that,” I said, pulling him over to the torn up couch. I pushed him down, pulling at his shirt even more so I could see what the damage was. Jo walked out, shaking her head as she stared at the carnage with wide eyes.

  “Who are you people?”

  I ignored her, getting up to look for supplies. “Do you have a first aid kit?”

  “Under the sink in the bathroom.” He pushed up from the couch. “We need to get out of here.”

  “We need to get you patched up first.”

  “Somebody needs to tell me what the hell is going on here,” Jo said, still staring at everything in shock. “There are dead bodies.”

  “Yep,” I said, going into the bathroom. She followed me, her eyes watching my every move.

  “A lot of dead bodies.”

  “And there are more outside,” I said, grabbing the kit. “What’s your point?”

  “You killed them.”

  “As I recall, they attacked us.” I rushed over to the couch, noting the slightly glazed look on Antonio’s face. I set the kit on the coffee table and rummaged through everything. “There’s no needle and thread in here.” I turned to her. “Do you have anything at the shelter?”

  She nodded slightly. “Is that a bullet hole?” Her shaky finger pointed to his shoulder.

  “Well, the dog didn’t bite him.”

  Antonio went to stand, but I shoved him back on the couch. “We’ll have to patch you up until we get into town.” I pressed the gauze to his shoulder on both sides and taped it in place. The whole time, Antonio was silent, not even grunting when I pressed down on his wound.

  “We need to pack,” I said, getting up from the couch, taking the kit with me. “Jo, I need your help.”

  “Sure,” she nodded. “I’ll just…” She started laughing, tossing back her head.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “You’re like…a total badass, but you have a dog named Princess, and he’s in love with a lap dog.” She laughed even harder, holding her stomach as tears rolled down her face. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be laughing, but…he takes the dog to the spa on a weekly basis. And he’s a murderer!”

  I could see this was going nowhere fast. Antonio shot me a look, telling me we needed to leave. I nodded and headed for the bedroom, pulling my suitcases out of the closet.

  “Keep an eye on that guy,” I heard Antonio say to Jo. “If he even moves, yell for me.”

  “Didn’t you kill him?”

  “No. I need information.”

  “Right, because the rest of them are dead,” she said woodenly.

  Antonio rushed into the room and pulled out his own suitcase, shoving whatever he could inside. I was almost done packing, but we still had to get the dogs’ stuff packed up.

  “Jo! I need you to get the dogs and anything we’ll need.”

  “Yeah, sure,” she said, standing in the doorway to the room. “I’ll get it and then leave you to…this.” She waved her hand over the dead body and all the glass on the floor.

  “You’re coming with us,” Antonio said. “They must have followed you here, which means they’ll use you to find us.”

  “But if you leave, I won’t know anything,” she muttered.

  “Doesn’t matter. These people don’t care if you know anything or not. They’ll find you and torture you until they’re sure they’ve gotten all they need from you. Go back and watch the guy on the floor.”

  As she turned and walked away, I finally faced Antonio. “You knew who I was, didn’t you?”

  “Not until recently.”

  “How did you find out?”

  “I sent your picture to someone. He was able to run your face through a recognition program.”

  “Why couldn’t the police do that?”

  “Too big of a database and not enough technology in place. And my guy is really good.”

  “Your guy? I thought you were a loner.”

  He walked over to his dresser and grabbed the last of his clothes, stuffing them in the suitcase. “He’s not really my guy. He was there when my sister tried to have me killed.”

  “Your sister tried to kill you? And I thought my family was messed up.”

  “Well, I tried to kill her first, so I can’t be too upset over it.”

  I slammed the case closed and latched it. “We’re gonna have a long talk when we get out of here.”

  “Can’t wait,” he muttered under his breath.

  36

  Antonio

  I stormed into the other room and slapped the man on the floor hard across the face. My shoulder was killing me, I was feeling light-headed, and I now had two women that I needed to take care of. This hadn’t been the way I expected the night to end.

  The man didn’t immediately rouse, so I slapped him again. “Wake up, fucker.”

  His eyes slowly opened, blinking slowly as he looked around the room. The moment he realized he was alone with me, he knew he was fucked. I grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up, straining my shoulder in the process.

  “Who the fuck sent you?”

  “You already know,” he croaked out, his eyes flicking over my shoulder to where Ciara stood.

  “Don’t look at her,” I snapped.

  But he couldn’t help it. His eyes kept moving back to her. I slammed my fist into his face, his lip busted immediately spilling blood down his chin.

  “Fuck, man, her family.”

  “Why did they send you?”

  “Because you’re alive,” he muttered. “You know how it goes.”

  “I’m not messing with any of you. I was just living my life,” I growled.

  “Doesn’t matter. He couldn’t let you live.”

  Ciara stepped up beside me, her anger just as strong as mine. “But why didn’t he wait for me to check in?”

  “You’ve been here for weeks. He thought you were dead,” the man muttered. “Obviously, your loyalties changed.”

  I glanced over my shoulder at Ciara, wondering for the first time in a while if she had been playing me all along. But her face was pinched in a frown, almost like she didn’t understand what was going on.

  “But when you saw me, you didn’t think to stop and ask questions?”

  “You’re expendable, just like the rest of us,” he muttered. He coughed, sending blood spraying from his mouth. “You thought because you’re his daughter, that would matter? The boss doesn’t care about anyone’s life but his own.”

  “You’ll regret those words,” Ciara snapped. “When he finds out—”

  “I’ll already be dead. I can’t go back after I failed to kill you, and you won’t let me walk out of here alive. Either way, I’m a dead man.”

  Antonio pulled out his gun, but Jo shouted at me to stop.

  “This is insane,” Jo cried. “You can’t just kill the man.”

  “Jo,” Ciara said calmly, “you don’t know what you’re getting involved in. Just go get the dog’s things together so we can leave.”

  She looked like she wanted to puke, but I didn’t have time to think about that right now.

  “How did you know to c
ome looking for us?”

  He refused to answer, just staring at us with all the stupid bravery of a soldier. I would have respected him if I was still in the business, but now all I could see was the idiocy of my old life. Men acting like kings, fighting wars over illegal shit that always got them killed. That life made sure a young man would die before his time.

  Pressing the gun to his knee, I watched his bravery falter. “Tell me.”

  He shook his head. I didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. Part of me would always be the killer, but this was about protecting my newfound family. I couldn’t care about a man that made his choice to live his life the way he did. The man’s screams filled the cabin. If we had any neighbors nearby, we would have been found out. Thank God I hated people and chose to live far away from others.

  Sweat poured down the man’s face and tears leaked from his eyes. I had him close, but he wasn’t giving in yet.

  “You obviously know me. I don’t stop until I get what I want. I need answers, and you’re going to give them to me, or I’ll make your life very painful, and draw it out until you’re begging me to end your miserable life. And even then, I won’t do it. I’ll throw you down the side of the mountain and wait for a bear to come across you and rip you to shreds. You won’t even be able to crawl away by the time I’m finished with you.”

  The man sniffled, snot and tears dripping down his face. The pain was bad enough, but knowing he was betraying his family was even worse. But in the end, a quick death was always more appealing.

  “The first guy we sent never checked in for his next job,” he said, his voice wobbling. “Word spread, and when the boss realized the last time he checked in was up here, he knew something else was going on. It didn’t take much to find you,” he said, looking at me. “You went into town, and didn’t even see us.” He nodded to Jo. “Saw you talking to her and we followed. All we had to do was wait for her to go to you.”

  I knew that was what happened, but hearing it just made me angrier. I hadn’t been watching as closely as I should have. I had failed to get us out of here in time, and almost gotten us killed.

  “How many more are coming?” He didn’t say anything, so I punched him again. “How many?”

  “If we don’t check in within the hour, he’ll send more.”

  I pressed the gun against his other knee, knowing he was still holding back. “What else?”

  His whole body shook with fear. I watched as his throat bobbed as he swallowed. The man was ready to piss himself. “You’ve already been tagged.”

  “Fuck,” I shouted, slamming the butt of the gun into the side of his head. He collapsed back, not moving, but he still wasn’t dead. I stood and paced the room while Ciara watched.

  “What are we going to do?”

  “We need a new vehicle. Do you know where to get one in the middle of the fucking night?”

  “We can take her car,” Ciara jerked her thumb at Jo.

  “That won’t work. They already know about her.”

  Jo held up her hand. “Um, I hate to point this little nugget out, but I can’t just up and leave my life. I’m not going with you.”

  “If you don’t go with us, you’re dead,” Ciara said. “I’m sorry to drag you into this, but if you want to live, you have to do as we say.”

  “Sure,” Jo nodded. “Of course, why wouldn’t I go with the people that murdered a bunch of other people in the hopes of living just a few days longer? And we can take the cute dogs with us, and the murdering psycho can whisper sweet nothings in her ear while pulling guns on anyone that comes near us. It sounds like a swell time.”

  “Alright,” I sighed. “We’ll go to your place and grab what you need,” he told Jo. “We’ll have to ditch the truck and get something new.”

  “How are we going to do that without financing?”

  “I have cash.”

  “Cash?” Jo asked in surprise. “You just have enough cash sitting around to buy another car.”

  “Yes.”

  Ciara walked over to her and grabbed her by the arms. “I know this is a lot to take in. We’ll discuss it on the way. Right now we have to get out of here.”

  While the girls hustled the dogs out to the truck, I pried up my floorboards and pulled out my go bag. When I stood, I had to take a few deep breaths and wait for the black spots to pass. I definitely couldn’t drive like this.

  “Are you okay?” Ciara asked as she walked in.

  I shook my head slightly, pulling the keys out of my pocket. “You’re driving,” I said gruffly, shoving the keys in her hand. My skin was clammy and my hands were starting to shake. I needed to get the wound stitched up fast before I lost too much blood. I wouldn’t do either of them any good if I died of blood loss.

  Ciara grabbed the bag from me, heading for the door. I trailed behind, gripping onto anything I could as I headed out the door. I hoped I had everything, but I could barely think anymore. I glanced at my shoulder, almost puking when I saw the gauze completely saturated with blood. I should be used to it, but being away from the business for over a year seemed to have changed something in me. As I walked past the man on the floor, I pulled out my gun. The part of me that wanted to feel I had changed didn’t want to kill him, but the other part of me knew that I couldn’t leave him alive. I raised the gun and put a bullet between his eyes, then turned for the door.

  Once outside, the fresh, crisp air helped to clear my head enough to get to the truck. Ciara was tossing the suitcases in the bed, along with all the dog supplies. She rushed over to me, practically pushing me into the front seat. Once sitting down, my stomach stopped swirling quite so much and I was finally able to take a breath. I leaned my head against the window as Ciara pulled out of the driveway.

  “So, that’s it?” Jo asked. “We just leave the cabin and all the bodies like that?”

  “We don’t exactly have time to clean up,” Ciara muttered. “But you’re right. Someone’s going to find those bodies eventually, and then we’ll have bigger problems on our hands.”

  I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t have a choice. If the sheriff came up here and saw all the dead bodies, they would dig into me, and then they would find out who I was. It could filter back to Carly, and I couldn’t let her deal with my fuckups.

  Pulling out my phone, I dialed Knight for what I hoped was the last time.

  “Are you dying?” he answered.

  “Close,” I muttered, my vision still swimming.

  “What happened?” his voice went stern and he was down to business.

  “They came back before we could get out.”

  “I fucking told you to leave.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose, my arm burning from the movement. “There are bodies.”

  “How many?”

  “I have no idea. Four in the house, and I have no idea how many outside.”

  “Is she with you?”

  “Yeah, and one other.”

  “Christ, you picked up a straggler?”

  “I didn’t have a choice. She was there. They followed her.”

  “Fuck,” he shouted. “Where are you going now?”

  I took a breath, my vision starting to blur again. “Town,” I muttered. “Gotta get…”

  Ciara snatched the phone out of my hand, probably noticing how I was starting to drift out.

  “This is Ciara…Yeah, I know who I am now…Well, we haven’t exactly had time to chat about it. Between the dead bodies and Antonio getting himself shot, we’re just trying to get out of here alive…Yeah…Alright.”

  She hung up the phone, throwing it onto the dashboard. “Your friend has a place we can stay that’s close by.”

  I nodded, just trying to stay awake at this point.

  “Jo, can you do sutures?”

  “Sort of. I wouldn’t exactly say I’m great at it, but I can do them in an emergency.”

  “This is an emergency. We’re headed to your shelter, then we’ll head to your apartment and grab whatever y
ou need. We don’t have much time, so only grab what you absolutely need.”

  “And you don’t think it’ll be a little odd that the three of us just vanish into the night?”

  “Hopefully by the time they find out we’re gone, everything will be cleaned up,” I muttered.

  “How much do you trust this guy?” Ciara asked, turning to look at me.

  I stared at her for a moment. I wasn’t sure that I trusted him at all, but he was the only one I knew that could help. We had no one else to turn to. Whether I wanted his help or not, I needed someplace to lay low until I could get my strength back.

  “Well, he didn’t kill me when he had the chance.”

  37

  Ciara

  “So, you’re like a mob princess?” Jo asked as we drove to this guy Knight’s house.

  “Not exactly,” I snorted. “I was never what you would consider pampered.”

  She nodded and turned to Antonio, who had slept most of the early morning hours after Jo had stitched him up at her shelter. It had taken forever. Her hands shook the whole time as she repeatedly told him that she didn’t really know what she was doing. Antonio didn’t care. It didn’t need to look pretty. It just needed to be closed up.

  “And you’re a…”

  “I’m nothing,” he grumbled.

  “But you were the head of the Scavuzzo crime family,” she pushed.

  He let out a heavy sigh and closed his eyes. “Does it matter?”

  “Uh, yeah,” she said, almost enthusiastically. “One minute, you’re just this grumpy, sexy mountain man—” I shot her a death glare that she pretended not to notice. “And the next, you’re actually part of this notorious mafia family. Not to mention that you’re sleeping with your mortal enemy. I’m not even sure how this works? Are you like Romeo and Juliet? Will everyone go to war over you two being together?”

  “Since I’m the last of my family, I doubt there will be a war.”

  “And my father couldn’t care less about me, as you saw at the cabin.”