Anthony must have guessed my thoughts. “I really liked Dylan. He was the son I never had.”
I clenched my fists at my sides. “Tell me, who’d kill their own son? You’re nothing but an animal, Anthony.”
The smile fell from his lips. “I didn’t kill him. I couldn’t do something like that to Dylan.”
Right. That only left one alternative, if he was in fact telling the truth. I still wasn’t sure how Dylan’s death had come to be but could wager a guess and took a step toward Butchy. He pointed the gun in warning while Gabby attempted to hold me back, but I shook her off. Even though I wasn’t thinking straight, everything else had become clear in my mind. “You killed my husband?”
Butchy laughed. “I wish I could take credit for it. You two will be my very first fatalities. To tell you the truth, it kind of excites me. No one would ever take me for as a killer. Little Butchy DeNovo. What a nice Italian boy,” he mimicked. “Hey, I’m sick and tired of having nothing in this world. Your husband had a lot of nerve working his way in and taking a job that was supposed to be mine.”
Anthony clenched his teeth together in anger. “I never promised you anything. Tell the girl the truth about her husband. You must have been the one to kill him. I know that Izzy and Rico had no part in it.”
Butchy ignored him. “I’ve had to help support seven brothers and sisters since my father died. My mother thinks Anthony made me his manager and that’s why we’ve suddenly got money coming in. She’s sick and can’t work. When I scrape a little more bread together, I’m out of this country. It’s time to put myself first.”
“What about Eric?” I said in disgust.
Butchy waved me off. “What about him? That kid was a major scumbag. He got what was coming to him.”
“Eric saw you tamper with Dylan’s car, didn’t he? He was blackmailing you.”
Butchy’s eyes resembled stone. “I didn’t tamper with the car.”
Why do they keep denying it?
“He’s right. Eric was nothing but trouble from the beginning,” Anthony agreed. “Always asking for money or part of the stash. We’d send him to make a drop, but lots of times the punk would help himself first. You can’t trust no one these days.”
Rage burned inside my brain. “You’re nothing but cowards. Dirty, pathetic cowards.”
Anthony’s nostrils flared in anger as his hand shot up and caught me on the side of my mouth, his onyx ring cutting into my lip. Gabby screamed and reached for me, but Butchy shoved her to the floor. My lip started to bleed. I brought a hand to my mouth but didn’t fall down this time. They weren’t going to break me.
“Why did you make me hit you?” Anthony whined, using the anguished tone of a jilted lover or an abusive parent. He didn’t wait for my response as he jerked Gabby to her feet, then gripped her tightly by the forearm. “Butchy, you take the troublemaker. I don’t want to even look at her anymore. If she does something else, shoot her in the back. We can put her body in the trunk.”
“Works for me,” Butchy said cheerfully. “This is gonna be fun.” His casual attitude horrified me. Butchy was barely out of his teens and already a full-fledged monster.
Butchy opened his coat and then pulled me in front of him. The gun pressed hard into the small of my back and was now hidden from view. I stiffened and refused to budge, but he pushed me forward. “Out the front door, and no funny stuff,” he grunted. “If you do, I’ll shoot your friend. That’s a good girl.”
“You said you’d let her go!” I cried.
“Shut up and walk,” Butchy snarled and lifted his other hand as if he intended to strike me. He shoved me out the door and down the steps of the porch, with Anthony and Gabby bringing up the rear. I glanced across the road at Stacia’s house and the one next to it where Lyle and Anna Hansen lived with their two little girls. Everyone was most likely down for the night. I looked up and down the darkened street, but there was not a soul in sight.
Butchy handed me my car keys. “You’re gonna drive.”
I trembled from the cold, with fear added into the mix. The frigid air along with his menacing tone sent a jagged chill through me. God knows where they were planning to take us. Maybe Gino or Justin would stop by and see Gabby’s car at the curb. But it was after ten, and the chances of visitors wasn’t likely, especially when Justin thought I was still mad at him.
“Why my car?” I tried to stall for time.
“Mine’s parked over on the next block. Besides, I don’t want to get blood in it,” Butchy said simply. “That lip of yours is spewing it everywhere. Haven’t you got a tissue?”
“There’s one in my pocket.” I reached down into my coat pocket until my fingers connected with my driver’s license. I let the card flutter to the ground in the driveway, relieved that it made no noise and appeared to go unnoticed. It wasn’t much of a clue to leave, but if someone happened to stop by, maybe they would find it and put two and two together. I reached into the other pocket and produced a tissue that I held to my lip in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. Annoyed, Butchy pushed me into the driver’s seat and then made his way around to the passenger side.
All I could do was pray that someone would find us in time. But how? Where was Gino when we needed him? Butchy kept the gun pointed at me from the front seat while Gabby and Anthony settled themselves in the back.
“Take a left,” Butchy ordered after the car crept out of the driveway. As we pulled on to the main road, Justin’s truck passed us in the other lane, and my heart raced. Had he seen us? I glanced in the rearview mirror. Maybe he would turn around and go back to my house. I tried not to get my hopes up, but we needed to get out of this mess before—
“Step on it!” Butchy yelled, interrupting my thoughts. “Stop stalling.”
Anthony spoke quietly from the back seat. “You see, Tessa, Dylan was trying to take over our little business venture and lifted a bunch of my important contacts. Your husband disrespected me and betrayed my trust.”
I clutched the steering wheel tightly between my hands. “You didn’t have to kill him or Eric over it.”
Anthony shook his head. “That Eric was a real piece of work. He threatened to squeal on us if we didn’t give him a bigger cut of the profits. He was costing me big time. Take a right here.”
The car was quiet, except for Gabby’s heavy breathing. She sounded like she was about to hyperventilate. “Let me stop the car so Gabby can get out. You said if I gave you the journal, you’d let her go.”
“Sorry but it’s not gonna happen now,” Butchy said. “She’ll run right to the cops for sure.”
Anthony’s breath was hot against the back of my neck, forcing the hair on it to rise. “When Dylan started doing my taxes, he figured out what was going on right away. Smart boy. At first, he wanted no part of it, but then, a few weeks before he died, he had a sudden change of heart. He said that he needed money—badly. A shame that he went and got himself killed.”
I shook my head, not wanting to hear any more. Most likely, Dylan’s illness had come into play, and his main concern had been leaving me with a bunch of bills to pay. My blood ran cold with the sudden realization. That was why he’d done these things—for me. Didn’t Dylan realize that he was all I wanted and not the money? If he’d only confided in me, I was positive that I could have talked him out of it.
“He told me that his wife deserved to have the best.” There was a sudden lilt to Anthony’s voice, as if he knew the direction my mind was running and enjoyed hurting me. “Too bad that he got too damn greedy. We would have made a good team.”
The words were like a dagger to my heart, but I was determined not to give Anthony the satisfaction of seeing me cry.
Butchy chuckled. “Yeah, how freaking sweet. Your husband was an arrogant putz, honey. He didn’t deserve to be Anthony’s middleman. That job had been promised to me.”
“Quiet,
” Anthony growled. “You’re too young. I told you to be patient, and it would happen eventually.”
My skin prickled at his words. With new defiance, I pinned Anthony with my gaze in the rearview mirror. “You’re a phony. You didn’t care about Dylan at all. After you got what you could from him, you murdered him in cold blood.” I clenched the steering wheel between my hands and kept staring at him. “You’re not a man—just a monster.”
Anthony sighed and shook his head. “You shouldn’t disrespect me, Tessa. It’s making things worse for you and your friend. Now take a right here.”
We were off the highway, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out where we were headed. The Hudson River stretched out to our left for miles—dark, cold, and foreboding. I slowed the car to a crawl.
The speed limit along the embankment was fifteen miles per hour, but I was only going about ten. Fear had lodged itself in my throat as we drove along. A potential getaway plan took shape in my head, but it could easily backfire. I needed to wait for the right moment, and we didn’t have much time.
“Drive until I tell you to stop,” Anthony ordered. “We need a more isolated spot. Keep moving.”
Twenty-Four
I couldn’t believe that our lives were going to end like this. Even if Gino had received my earlier message by now, he didn’t know where we were and wouldn’t reach us in time. We’d be dead within minutes.
Butchy looked out the window at the endless body of water. “It’s frozen, ain’t it?”
“Only partially. Don’t worry. It’ll get the job done,” Anthony assured him. “Stop the car, Tessa.”
I continued to keep my foot on the gas pedal but slowed my pace until we were at a crawl along the marshy bank of water.
“Please,” Gabby whispered. “Don’t do this.”
Anthony’s tone remained calm but with an icier edge than before. “Listen, lady. I don’t want to kill anyone, especially women. Your friend here isn’t giving me much choice.” He glared over the seat at me. “You brought this on yourself, Tessa. If you’d left well enough alone, things could have been different.”
“Damn straight,” Butchy agreed.
Anthony held up a hand in an attempt to silence him. “Stop talking,” he commanded quietly. “Remember who’s still in charge—who is always in charge. You’re another taker, like my daughter. I never should have let you help make the sales. And I warned you not to touch Esposito. I said I’d deal with him in my own way. All you’ve done is make things worse and opened a bigger can of worms.”
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Butchy snapped. “Stop with the clichés, old man. If it wasn’t for me, Slice would have folded long ago.”
“Don’t speak to me that way,” Anthony warned. His eyes were dark, dangerous pools of water, eerily similar to the river in front of us.
“‘Remember, respect is key,’” Butchy mocked. “Maybe you fell for it, but I never trusted Esposito.” He thrust a finger in my direction. “Then you had to hire his wife. Didn’t you think she might be looking into his death and cause us more headaches? Hell, I figured that out right from the beginning. That’s why I started following her around. With her résumé, why would she want to come to your dump for a job? Boy, you’re stupider than I thought.”
Gabby whimpered again, then grew silent. I continued to crawl along, praying for another car to appear, but there was no one in sight.
Anthony’s lips curled back in distaste, but he kept his voice low. “Oh, you’ve gone too far, kid. But I’ll deal with you later.” He turned his head back in my direction. “Are you deaf? I said to stop the car!”
Having no choice, I positioned the vehicle so that it was pointed toward the river, only a few feet away. I kept my foot on the brake and pretended to place the car in Park. I stared at Anthony through the rearview mirror, hoping for some faint glimmer of humanity in his eyes, but they remained cold and expressionless. We were merely another job to him. Gabby started to cry again, and Dylan’s face flashed before me.
Butchy pointed the gun at Gabby and clicked the hammer. “Any last words?”
It was now or never. My heart thumped wildly against the wall of my chest as I pressed the pedal to the floor. My little beauty of a car reacted as I’d hoped. The Toyota sputtered, wheels spinning in the mud for a moment before it jerked forward into the river near the boat launch. A deafening splash filled my ears, and my vision was temporarily blinded by the rush of water hitting the windshield.
“What the hell are you doing?” Butchy yelled and reached over to yank the wheel from me. My right hand shot up and connected with his face. The sting was unbearable but worth it when he hit the back of his seat with a groan. The gun flew out of his hands from the impact, and a shot rang out, shattering the front windshield. Gabby and I both screamed.
A flash of bright, colorful lights appeared in my rearview mirror. Butchy whipped his head around in a sudden panic. “The cops!” The window whirred down in seconds, and Butchy jumped out of it into the knee-high water. Anthony swore from the back seat and did the same, while Gabby and I sat there, shell-shocked, watching them go. I reached for her, ignoring the water sloshing inside the car. “You okay?”
She nodded shakily, and before we could attempt to get out of the car, our doors were wrenched open. I shrieked in surprise, afraid for a second that Butchy and Anthony had come back. Gino appeared at my side while Lou guided Gabby through the freezing water.
“Don’t let them get away!” I screamed and shielded my eyes against the lights, which were everywhere. I spotted several figures on the shore, but it was difficult to tell what was happening.
“Relax.” Gino put his arm around my waist and reached for his sister while Lou ran off in the direction of the squad cars. “They’re both already in cuffs.” We reached solid ground, and Gabby and I both sagged against him. Concern and alarm were etched on Gino’s face as he continued to hold us both tightly against him. “Thank God,” he murmured.
“I can’t breathe, bro.” Gabby’s voice was muffled against his jacket.
He loosened his grip and examined our faces closely. “You both look like you’ve been through a war. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“We are now that you’re here,” I said gratefully.
Gino opened the back door to his vehicle as Lou handed each of us a blanket. “Thanks, Sawyer,” he said and turned to us. “You two climb inside and get warm. We need to talk to the other officers for a few minutes, and then I’ll take you both over to the hospital to get checked out.”
“How did you find us?” I asked as Gabby slumped in the back seat.
Gino exchanged a glance with Lou and smiled. “Let’s just say that the GPS tracker I installed on your car when you thought I was checking the tire’s air might have helped some.”
Twenty-Five
Gino waited at the hospital while the doctors examined Gabby and me. He called my mother and Aunt Mona, assured them that we were fine, and urged them to stay put, which they thankfully did. When I came out to the waiting room, Gabby was already sitting there with her brother. They both stood when they saw me.
“What’d the doctor say?” He was staring at my swollen lip. Without waiting for my reply, he handed me a cup of coffee from Java Time. “Lou stopped in a little while ago with these for you and Gabs.”
Grateful, I inserted the straw he’d also brought into the cup and took a large sip from the hot beverage. “Since when is Archie open so late at night?”
“He was hosting a private party for a friend,” Gino explained. “Lou drove by and saw the lights on. He said you guys were at the hospital, and Archie gave him the beverages on the house for his, I quote, ‘two favorite ladies.’”
Gabby sighed. “Well, I guess we know who’s going to be the topic of conversation at Java Time tomorrow.”
That didn’t bother me in the least. I was simply relieved to h
ave made it out of the night alive. “I’ll bake him some chocolate biscotti this week as a thank-you.” I swallowed another mouthful of the rich, dark-roast coffee.
“Forget that.” Gino waved a hand. “I asked you what the doctor said.”
“It was only a couple of stitches in my lip. I’ll be fine.”
He drew his eyebrows together in concern. “Your mother said to drop you off at her house. She’s waiting up, and I promised to deliver her daughter safely.”
It would be useless to argue. “All right, thanks. I fed Luigi before I left, so he should be okay until the morning.”
Gino’s dark gaze rested on me solemnly. “I spoke to Justin a little while ago. He’s been worried sick about you.”
I spotted a flicker of interest in Gabby’s wide-set eyes, but it disappeared when I shot her a death glare. “Where is he?”
“At work,” Gino said. “He refused to go in until I had called and told him you were safe. Honestly, if it wasn’t for him, we probably wouldn’t have made it to you guys on time. He stopped over at your house and found your driver’s license in the driveway. When he saw that the front door was unlocked and your phone had been smashed, he called me right away.”
Justin had certainly come through for me—for us. I realized that I’d had no right to be angry with him earlier. He’d made a promise to a friend and had kept his word. Undoubtedly, he would have done the same thing for me too. I’d talk to him later and straighten everything out.
“Well, thank goodness for him,” Gabby chimed in. “But where were you all evening, dear big brother? Tessa tried to call you, and so did I.”
Gino shot her an annoyed look. “I was actually at Slice. Before Justin called, we spotted Isabella’s fiancé, Rico, leaving the shop with a stack of pizza boxes. The place had already closed, and no one else was around. When we called out to him, he freaked and took off in his car. Then we had probable cause to go after him. After we pulled his Porsche over, we found drugs inside the boxes. Heroin, cocaine, LSD, you name it. Pretty much everything but anchovies.”
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