by Ali Vali
“I missed you, baby,” Dallas said when their first kiss ended.
“Right back at you.” She kissed Dallas one more time before letting go. “Are you almost done for the day?”
“One more scene and we’re good to go. The dead girl,” Dallas made air quotes with a big smile, “can’t stop breathing on camera.”
“Tell her I’m past ready to get you alone, so get it right or I’ll help her with the no-breathing part.”
Dallas laughed, and Remi swore she could feel the happiness coming off her lover like raindrops in a storm. “Have a seat and you can watch me earn my keep.”
The short scene took another hour, and then everyone was glad to hear they were headed back to New Orleans. That meant a week off for everyone, and Dallas was overjoyed. Their house purchase had come right after they’d started filming so she’d had to put all her remodeling plans on hold. A week would give her a head start on making it a home for them, while all Remi could do was nod.
It didn’t take long for Dallas to pack so they were wheels up and headed home. “How’d you convince Kristen to stay in New Orleans?” Dallas asked from her seat on Remi’s lap.
“She had a date, and I explained I was willing to share, but not yet.” Remi moved in for another kiss.
Dallas grabbed the hair at the back of Remi’s head and dragged her head away a little so she could see her face. “A date? With who?”
“Muriel’s taking her out for dinner. Don’t panic. I doubt they’re picking out china for dessert.” She tried to kiss Dallas again but got Dallas’s index finger to the forehead. “Muriel is taking her to dinner, querida. That’s it, and remember that I’ve known her practically all my life. She’d never do anything to disrespect your sister.”
“Our sister,” Dallas said softly, right into her ear. “Once we’re married, she’ll be our sister.”
“I wouldn’t put her in a bad situation because I love her, but right now she’s fine, and I’d rather talk about something else.”
“Funny,” Dallas said, then ran her tongue around the curve of Remi’s ear. “I’d rather not talk at all.”
*
“When’s she getting here?” Emma asked as Cain rubbed her feet. “I can’t believe I haven’t met her yet.”
“She’s a ghost who’s good at what she does. Actually, she loves what she does, and I can respect that.”
“Will you be long?” Emma moved around on the bed as if trying to find a comfortable spot.
“I doubt it, but I’ve lined up some recruits until I return to provide a backrest,” she said, going to open the door for Hayden and Hannah. “And they’ve promised to do whatever you need until I get home.”
Hannah ran to jump on the bed, and Hayden scooped her up before she could. “Just as long as some TV-watching is part of the deal,” he said, Hannah agreeing by clapping her hands.
“Any requests before I get back?” She kissed Emma as Merrick came into the room with Katlin. Emma’s guard was still moving a tad slower than normal, but her recovery had been miraculous so far. “You guys expand your viewing pleasure so everyone has a good time.”
She kissed Emma again and waved Katlin out the door. She was trying to curtail her evening meetings, but she’d never turn down Finley Abbott. She’d also never been seen in public with Cain so as to not ruin her life by exposing any kind of connection. To assure that had cost them all something she valued above all else.
The trip to the club didn’t take long, and because it was the beginning of the weekend, Emma’s was packed. They went around to the back, avoiding the crowd, and found Muriel and Remi already waiting. The way they both stopped talking meant she’d interrupted their conversation.
“Problem?” She wasn’t in the mood for big issues now.
“Nothing important to this,” Muriel said, and Remi chuckled.
“Your cousin invited my future sister-in-law to dinner, and from her demeanor when they got home, Kristen enjoyed it,” Remi said.
“I see,” she said, glancing at Muriel, then to the smirking Katlin. “Trip to the woodshed is what we walked into.”
“More of a friendly conversation,” Remi said. “Kristen and Dallas aren’t innocents in every sense, but they’re special to me.”
“I know who Kristen is, and I know what they’ve been through,” Muriel said, getting close to Remi. “It’s why I worked so hard to help you give them as clean a future as anyone could hope for. She isn’t a conquest, and you have my word I’ll be honorable.” Muriel held her hand out, and Remi didn’t hesitate to take it. “She probably thinks I’m boring anyway, so all this is a moot point.”
“Uh-huh,” Remi said but stopped her teasing when the door opened.
“Cousin,” Cain said, and opened her arms to FBI Special Agent Finley Abbott, her first cousin. Finley’s mother Siobhan was her da’s baby sister, and Siobhan and Shawn Abbott lived a quiet life in Florida. The sacrifice of being away from family had been worth it to her aunt so that Finley could follow her dreams. “You look good.”
“Thanks for seeing me,” Finley said, moving to Katlin next. Her connection to the Casey family wasn’t public knowledge, but her job had nothing to do with trying to bring them down either. Finley’s job was prosecuting sex crimes, so Cain was interested in why she was here since she worked hard to never let the sex trade touch her businesses.
Everyone had to follow their passion. So to get what she wanted, Finley had done some pruning on the family tree and picked that particular assignment. She’d never be ashamed of who she was and where she came from, but she wanted to ensure no FBI ladder-climber could ever use her blood ties to bring her family down.
“So you ran home?” Cain asked after Finley explained a series of events that had started in New York and had followed her here. Finley had been working undercover to break up a sex-trafficking ring that used women brought in illegally from mostly South American countries.
A mass killing a block from the Plaza Hotel had dropped pediatrician Dr. Abigail Eaton and her three children into Finley’s life, and she was doing her best, from what Cain could tell, to keep them alive. One of the clues Finley had pointed to New Orleans’s Hell Fire Club.
“You’re talking about Nicola Eaton?” Cain asked, trying to keep her tone even. She’d give Finley all the help she could and, more importantly, anything to keep her alive, but this was a cluster fuck waiting to happen. She tapped her fingers on the conference table in her usual random beat, hoping like hell Finley’s answer would be no.
“Have either of you heard of the Hell Fire Club?” Finley asked, and no one minded her taking notes.
Obviously, her life wasn’t going to get any less complicated any time soon. Cain gave Finley everything she had on what was basically a high-priced brothel in one of the high-rises downtown. She’d had some of her people keeping an eye on the secretive operation but had kept her distance. The Hell Fire Club, from what she knew for sure, was controlled by the Russian mob. Taking them on was like jumping naked into a well with a thousand pissed-off rattlesnakes. It wasn’t impossible to survive, but very unlikely you’d walk away without a few poisonous bites.
Remi stood and pledged her help, hugging Finley before she left. Finley apparently planned to take care of this by the book her employers used, and that sounded insane to Cain.
“Finley, I can’t tell you what to do, but you tip off the wrong person and you’ll lose more than Abigail. Can you live with that? Be completely honest, since you’ll carry that load a long time.” All of her own mistakes came to mind in one heavy moment. “I speak from experience when I say it’s backbreaking when you can’t turn back the clock and change the things that go wrong. The load is extremely heavy on the soul.”
“I’ll call, I promise.”
Cain nodded. All she could do now was remind Finley of her place in their family and her willingness to help before she had Lou take her back out the way they’d come. She hugged her cousin again, then dropped back into her ch
air when the door closed and shut her eyes.
“Nicola Eaton might be dead, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Russians own the Hell Fire Club and whatever else sick shit they’ve got running,” Katlin said. “It didn’t miss a beat when the plane carrying those two pompous fucks went down.”
“Katlin, they’re dead, so drop that part,” Cain said, rubbing her eyes. “I met Nicola here actually, but the brunette with her didn’t strike me as a pediatrician. True, Nicola was a pompous fuck, but we need to keep Finley and her little troupe alive, so start digging and see what you find.”
“Are you sure?” Muriel asked. “And before you get pissed at the question, remember what happened to Pandora. The Hell Fire Club is the equivalent to her box of horrors.”
“I don’t want to open the box if I can help it, just find the snake who owns the box. That might not be so easy, but when we do, we’ll shock the operation by severing the head. The body might not wither and die, but break into smaller, more manageable little boxes.” She opened her eyes and spread her hands open. “I’m open to suggestions. What alternative do you both think will keep Finley whole?”
“I’ll dig and see if there’s another way,” Katlin said.
“Keep in mind the strongest force is always the eight-hundred-pound gorilla in the room,” she said and stood.
“Are you calling us big monkeys?” Muriel said, laughing.
“We’re all monkeys in the end, cousin, but if you have to be a monkey—you might as well be King Kong.” She smiled and pointed to the door. “Let’s try our best to keep it that way.”
Chapter Seven
Nunzio glanced up from the reports on the number of kilos the bottles of tequila Freddie Buhl had led him to held. They had stolen the stash from drug lord Roth Pombo, who was currently rotting in a Mexican prison, but Roth was a genius in bringing product into the country. Liquefying the coke and reversing the procedure once it was in the country had made him a mint.
“Did you get it?” Freddie sprawled in one of the chairs in Nunzio’s office, which hadn’t changed at all since his father Junior occupied the space. This street rat would’ve gotten shot in the head had he done the same thing with the original owner of the space. Junior was a stickler for a man acting like a man and not some mindless punk.
Looking at Freddie, he could understand his father’s point of view. “Sit up straight, and get one of the guys to take you to replace those clothes. If you want to stay, I don’t want to see baggy pants ever again.”
“Who cares what I look like as long as we get shit done?”
One of Nunzio’s guards, Mike Walker, came up behind Freddie and put his pistol against his temple. The .357 magnum snub nose was a little showy with the nickel finish, but it made Freddie pale, and that’s all that counted. He tried to tilt his head away, but anatomy only let him go so far.
“You picked an interesting seat in here, Freddie,” Nunzio said, relaxing back in his chair. “The marble floors aren’t for show or to flaunt the family money.” Mike laughed at the inference. “It’s easier to clean up when people didn’t understand two things. First, there’s respect and the understanding of our positions in life. You wanted to come back and work for me. Remember the work-for-me part, and don’t talk to me like that again or I’ll let Mike call the maid. You get me?”
“Yes, sir,” Freddie said and stood up. He turned to face Mike when Mike holstered his gun. “You want to take me shopping?”
“Sure, kid. Pull your pants up and let’s go.”
“Make him look like Roth Pombo’s little brother.”
“What’s the second thing?” Freddie asked, standing so straight he resembled a manikin.
“Respect. If you don’t respect yourself, kid, ain’t no one in the world who’s going to give it to you. Remember that the next time you want to walk around with the desire to show everyone what kind of underwear you’re wearing.”
“Are we going back to New Orleans?”
“We’ve got a few things to take care of there, but we’re set for Mexico after that. I need to get all the paperwork in place. Take the rest of the day to do whatever you have to and be ready by morning,” he said, dismissing them.
He dropped his eyes to the papers on his desk, glad Mike and Freddie took the hint to leave. The bottles had yielded a hundred kilos of coke, which meant over three million dollars in street value. If Pombo was bringing in three shipments a month, he had to be clearing around eight million with really low risk. That was only one part of his operation, so it was time to put it all back in place, only with him in charge this go-round.
“In a few months, I’ll own a big-enough army to crush anyone who’s ever fucked me.” Creating a list wouldn’t be a problem.
*
Cain arrived to a quiet house, so she stopped and poured herself a glass of juice. Her family was important to her, but Finley’s visit was something of an invitation to disaster if she let it get away from her.
“Hey, Mom,” Hannah said as she walked in and fell against her legs.
She smiled, thinking about the teacher who so misunderstood this beautiful kid. Time always moved too fast when it came to her children, but she was looking forward to seeing who Hannah grew up to be. “What are you doing awake, pretty girl?” she asked as Hannah climbed her like a tree when she offered her a hand.
“I needed to ask you something.” Hannah put her head on her shoulder and her arms around her neck.
She left her drink and headed upstairs with her daughter. Hannah’s room was a beautiful space Emma had created for her, like she had for Hayden first, and now the baby’s room. Cain sat on the bed and placed Hannah on her lap. “What do you need to ask me?” She spoke softly. Hannah was usually clingy when she was worried or scared about something.
“Are you and Mama going to fight all the time?” Hannah’s voice was barely a whisper.
“Your mama’s my best friend,” she said as she bent uncomfortably to kiss Hannah’s forehead. “I love her, so we won’t fight. I bet, though, that Lucy’s mom and dad fight a lot, huh?”
Hannah nodded and pressed closer to her. “It makes her sad.”
“Then you have to be a good friend, and she’ll have something to be happy about. You have plenty to be happy about because I love your mama, your mama loves me, and we love you and your brother more than there are stars. There’s that, and Lucy can come over whenever her mother lets her.” She hugged Hannah and kissed her forehead again. “Think you can go to sleep now?”
“You’re staying home right now, okay,” Hannah said, seeming to have forgotten her worry. “Night, Mom, love you.”
“Night, and I love you more.” She tucked Hannah in and stayed until she closed her eyes, arms wrapped around a teddy bear. The woman Finley was keeping safe had small children too, and they deserved to sleep without the fear of harm like her child did. She kissed Hannah’s hand, her decision made.
“Mum, keep my family safe—all of them,” Cain said softly as she left Hannah’s room. She smiled as she entered the master bedroom and found Hayden asleep in the chair next to the bed. That explained how Hannah had got away from him and Merrick, who was sleeping on the edge of the bed.
She gently shook him awake before doing the same to Merrick. “Thank you both for staying with Emma, but get some sleep.” She hugged Hayden and kissed his forehead like she had Hannah’s, glad that he still welcomed that bit of affection from both his mothers. The ring that matched her own was on his finger, and she would’ve given anything for her father to see this next generation of their family. Both their children and all who followed would make them proud.
“Merrick, help your better half with her search. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it,” she said softly to her friend after Hayden left.
“It’s not like Finley to ask for a meeting, so what’s up?”
“Tomorrow is soon enough for all that, so get some sleep.” Once the door closed she didn’t bother with neatness and stripped, dropping her s
uit on the chair Hayden had used. Her new sleep pants and T-shirt were at the foot of the bed, so she dressed, knowing the possibility of having to run out in the middle of the night in the coming days was more than fifty-fifty. Children came in their own time and not any sooner, her mum used to say, and she was right.
Hayden had come a week early, and Hannah, according to Emma, had taken her time, arriving almost two weeks late. So far, William Cain Casey, the name Emma had fallen in love with, was predicted to arrive right on time, and she was doing everything within her power to keep it that way.
Emma moved over and used her as a backrest. “Did Hannah find you?”
“You knew she was roaming around the house?” Cain laid her hand on Emma’s bulging belly.
“She wasn’t roaming, mobster. Your little terror has supersonic hearing when it comes to you, and she asked if she could go since we were the only two awake. Did she tell you about whatever’s bothering her?”
There was so much movement under Cain’s hand that she rubbed Emma’s middle softly. “She wanted to know if you and I are going to start fighting.”
“What?” Emma asked. More alert, she sat up, which prompted her to get up and move into the bathroom for the first of what Cain knew would be numerous trips during the night. “Why’d she ask you that?”
“Little Lucy’s made quite the impression in a short period of time,” she said before she had to yawn. The nightly bathroom trips were preparing her for the baby. “I’ve met her mother briefly, but what do we know about these people aside from the fact they fight in front of their kid?”
“I haven’t had very many conversations with Lucy’s mother, Taylor, but she doesn’t strike me as the devious type.” Emma moved her head up so she kissed the tip of her nose. “Do you get a bad vibe off her? Sometimes pregnancy does weird things to my vibe radar.”
