The Devil's Due

by Ali Vali

  But Ross Verde did now own the Luca family’s casino, so perhaps that wasn’t completely true.

  Also, before Nunzio could land in New York, his father Junior was killed by a bullet to his forehead. They needed to check with the New York office to see if there’d been any developments in uncovering who was behind that hit, in case Nunzio in any way blamed Cain. If he didn’t, they could leave him to the DEA agents she assumed were still following him. If he did blame Cain, they’d have problems on this end.

  She really didn’t know very much about Nunzio Luca, but her limited knowledge left her with a sense that the man had very little or no finesse. That could never be said of Cain, though, so the old saying about a fly being in someone’s ointment came to mind.

  Nunzio, who was no strategist, had probably learned the meaning of that saying if he’d tangled with Cain and lost. If he had tried something back then, which had blown up in spectacular fashion and he was back for revenge, he’d find that in this case the fly was more the size of a dragon with an Irish temper that would burn you from head to toe without hesitation.

  Then again, Nunzio could be back because of what had happened with Remi. That shot to the chest had been big news around town for a while, but nothing ever came of it. No leads or information materialized, even with the news footage. And surprisingly, none of the Jatibons had complained too much to them or the NOPD. That probably meant that the problem had been taken care of in-house, which translated into it not being a problem anymore. In her opinion, Junior’s demise could be a result of the failed attempt on Remi and have nothing to do with Cain.

  “That’s it?” Shelby asked.

  “There’s plenty going on, but the rumor about Nunzio was the only one I could connect to Casey. From the feelers I put out, Nunzio’s not in town now, but I alerted every agency in the city that might be interested. We’ve already looked at that crap with the safe houses around town, and I use that term loosely. But so far no one’s claiming ownership, and according to the narcotics division, they couldn’t have been anything but drug-storage facilities. Whoever hit those places didn’t mind killing everyone inside. That might be a Nunzio kind of move, but we can’t rule out Casey.”

  “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but that doesn’t sound like Cain. No matter her disregard for the law, she isn’t into drugs. Not that we’ve found anyway.” The door opened and a few more big black, boxy vehicles came out. Six sets was a good number for a wild-goose chase through the city. “Well, let’s get going. Something big is going on and no one invited us. Let’s make sure all your teams know it’s imperative not to lose any vehicle. If they stop and can go in, tell them to stick close.”

  “If you had to guess, which one is she in?” Joe joined her at the window, and it seemed the warehouse was empty.

  “I’d narrow it down to the first or the third, but that’s only a hunch. Once we know some destinations I might change my mind.”

  “The first vehicles pulled into the private drive at Emma’s, so that’s a good guess.”

  “Where’s the third set?”

  “They went back to the house and into the garage.”

  She put her jacket back on and nodded. Her heart wasn’t in this tonight, so she touched the small slip of paper in her pocket and made up her mind. She didn’t have any more excuses to get rid of the burning ball of rage in her stomach, so it was time to do something about it. Whatever tonight was about, for once she prayed Cain was as good as usual. She didn’t have time to deal with the end of the chase now.

  “Let’s head over to the club and see if she’ll talk to us before she adds to whatever all this crap is.”

  “I’m not in the mood to be that forgiving. Let’s wait it out and see what the play is. The string of different cars to different locations isn’t fooling anyone.” Joe pointed to the door and their team got ready to go. “It’s time to prove we’re not so simple-minded.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  *

  “We’re good to go, Boss,” Lou said after speaking to his nephew Dino, who’d moved up in their ranks after the Juan Luis situation had been resolved. Cain trusted the kid, who’d often visited his uncle at the house when he was working.

  “No one’s left in the rat hole across the street?” The fall weather was windy but in no way cool, so she took her jacket off and sat in the small kitchen of the tugboat. While the feds chased the SUVs around New Orleans, they’d used the small catwalk under the docks to board a boat for a trip up the river to the grain silos in St. Charles parish right outside New Orleans. It wasn’t far to the industrial park on River Road from there, one of their new investments buried by Muriel’s talent of legal layering. The paper trail ended with the name of a corporation in the Cayman Islands, but Muriel had structured the deal so that it took about twenty jumps and a lot of know-how to follow the maze back to her.

  A federal agency would notice the property only because of suspicious activity, so they’d leased about seventy percent of the park to various small and average-sized businesses doing the mundane things usually found in an industrial complex. She’d only been interested in the warehouse space fronted by a plastics company with its own set of legitimate papers.

  “Seems they must think something big is going down, so they called in the cavalry,” Lou said. “They’ve got every vehicle buttoned down.”

  She laughed and handed the captain an envelope before stepping off. “Thanks, Tucker,” she said, shaking hands with the son of an old friend who had a gambling jones but no luck to go along with it. Favors like this meant his debts were paid until the next time and his legs would stay intact for now. “If need be, we’ll meet you later with something a little faster than this, right?”

  “I’ll be waiting. Don’t worry.”

  The car Lou had driven out the day before was parked inside one of the warehouses along the bank, registered to yet another shell company. She wanted to be as careful as possible, for Finley’s sake. Lou shook his head when she got in the front seat, but she simply smiled.

  “Just try to not get pulled over and we’ll be fine.” The office was still dark, but she saw the SUV parked out front and figured Remi had beaten her there. “Anything on Santino or his idiot grandson?” With Junior gone, Cain figured Nunzio’s strings were now being pulled by the only man left in his life with any influence over him.

  “If they’re in town, we haven’t found them. Our contacts at the Hilton did say Nunzio was there but stayed under a different name. What doesn’t make sense is that the front desk guy talked about the pretty blonde with him.” Lou parked and looked at her. “If he had someone with him, it might or might not be important. But I’ve got my guys looking anyway. The woman might be an easier way to find out what he’s up to.”

  “This teaches me that, no matter what, don’t leave bastards like this around if you can help it. But we don’t have time to think about that tonight.”

  “You sure about this, Boss?” Lou wasn’t usually so chatty, but she understood the reason. “The Russians might be a big mouthful to swallow.”

  “Emma asked me the same thing right before we left. It’s true that I’m doing this for my family, but we’d eventually be doing it anyway. Think of it as trimming the oaks in your yard before a storm. These guys won’t leave us in peace forever if we ignore them, so we’re going to do a little trimming before any major damage occurs.” She patted him on the shoulder before she opened her door. “It should make you feel better to know what I’m planning after it’s done. While a lot of braggadocios would pat themselves on the back and recount their momentary blaze of glory, I’m not taking any credit for my landscaping skills. Once we do this, we’ll put the remains through a wood chipper that in no way will leave a trail to our door.”

  *

  “What does that mean?” Carol said, gripping the phone so hard her hand hurt.

  “The court date for later this month has been cancelled. I wasn’t in court when Ross’s attorney filed the p
aperwork, but he withdrew the divorce petition and the judge later agreed.” Dennis Parpan was one of five attorneys in Haywood and the only one Carol had found who hadn’t done any work for Cain and her extensive new investments up North. “Since we’ve fought this from the beginning I couldn’t object. I know you’re angry to learn about it days later, but I couldn’t find you. I’ve been calling every number you provided, and you never got back to me, so I had to go forward without your advice.”

  “You think Ross and I are going to live happily after this, like in some movie? He’s crawled into that demon’s house so I’m sure he’s up to something. You need to find out what that is because I don’t plan to lose again.”

  Carol hung up and closed her eyes to recite a string of prayers begging God for patience. When the day came for her to be judged, she wanted God to know she’d done everything she could to save Hannah’s soul. The rest of them would burn, but it was by their own choice…even the boy. That someone so young could already be so corrupt was beyond her comprehension, but he’d been made in Cain’s image and seemed to revel in that truth.

  “What’s wrong?” Elton Newsome asked when she answered the door.

  “I just got some bad news from home, but I prepared myself for this kind of thing when Ross filed to divorce me. I always knew it’d be a fight, but I’m not going to bend or break no matter what they throw at me.” She recounted what her attorney had said as she moved around the room, too restless to sit.

  “He dismissed the case?” Her newfound friend sat at the edge of the bed and hit his knees with his fists. “That can’t happen. You need to get those visitation rights so we can get a reaction out of Casey that’ll get us both what we want.”

  “I know that. But as much as I’d like to, I don’t control Ross. Not anymore.” She had to think, and she needed to be alone for that. “He’s here, so I’m sure he’s getting advice from that woman. Ross was always a simple man who can be easily led.”

  “I’ve got some ideas so we won’t have to wait.” He stood up and rocked from foot to foot as if anxious to leave. She should be offended, but he always seemed ready to run off somewhere. “If you hear anything, let me know.”

  “What about your promise of seeing my granddaughter? I’ve been here for days and you’ve never mentioned it.” No matter what men like this promised, they were all the same. All of it was pretty words meant to pacify while they got what they wanted. “I’m running out of patience.”

  “Look, don’t do anything stupid that’ll mess everything up for both of us. You’ve been through this before, so you know it takes time.” He moved closer as if to intimidate her, but she’d shed her fear long before now. “The last time it failed because the guy in charge was on the take, so you have to trust me.”

  “Barney Kyle might’ve been working for the wrong side last time, but at least he had a team backing him up. You can’t even get that woman to work with you, so trust isn’t a given here.”

  Elton bent to put his face close to hers. “Listen to me and stay in this room until I say otherwise. I want this as badly as you do, but all we’ve got going for us is the element of surprise so don’t screw that up.”

  “Get out, and don’t come back until you can be more civil.” He didn’t move so she pushed him hard enough to move him a step back. “I said get out.” She didn’t breathe again until he gave in and left.

  It took some time to stop shaking, but she decided Elton Newsome could no more help her than Barney Kyle could. She needed to make her own plan to get all the things she wanted. The phone her brother had insisted she take was in the room’s safe, and she hoped it was still charged.

  She waited for the ringing to stop, crossing her fingers that her sister-in-law wouldn’t be the one to answer. “Hello.” Morris Upton’s gruff voice made the salutation sound almost like a curse.

  “Morris, it’s me.” In her opinion, her brother was the only other person on the planet, aside from her and Hannah, who had any decency left. They’d both had the bad luck to marry weak-minded individuals with no idea of what it took to raise the next generation of Uptons like their father had. The senior Upton had beaten their love of the Lord into them from the moment they could put their hands together in prayer, and their education hadn’t ended until they’d buried him. She’d tried that same way with Emma at first. But Ross hadn’t allowed it. It was one more reason to hate him. The man was not only weak, but weak-minded when he couldn’t understand the danger that came from sparing the rod. “Has anyone come by the house?”

  “That attorney fella was looking for you, but I didn’t tell him anything. It made him mad, but your business is your business.” She could hear Morris’s wife in the background yelling something. “Shut it. I’m on the phone,” he yelled back.

  “No one else came by?” She figured what Ross had done was only the beginning of what was coming, so she needed a hint of what that could be. “Ross cancelled everything in court, but I doubt he wants me back.”

  “Man’s a fool, so you’re better off with us. Are you sure he wants to cancel the divorce?”

  “For now, but you know that’s not going to stick. I’m coming back, but not before I see my angel.”

  “What about the policeman who wanted to help you?”

  “He’s a fool not even smart enough to realize Casey will gut him when she finds out what he’s up to.”

  “You stay safe, and call me more often. You know I worry.”

  “I will, I promise. But I have to make sure Hannah’s okay. After all this time, I’m willing to almost kill to make that happen.”

  “Just get back here, and we’ll find an answer together.”

  “The answer is to beat the devil at her own game.”

  Chapter Twelve

  After greeting Finley, Cain got everything in position for their guests. For the moment, Finley would stand among her and Remi’s guards so she could observe. Cain had no idea who the players were, but Finley had at least half the equation. At least, she hoped she had half the information, because if someone other than who they anticipated showed up, this charade would have to continue.

  “No matter what, you stay over there and don’t say a word,” she said to Finley as a car approached the building.

  “Boss, we’re ready,” Lou said after finishing a call. There were some tense moments as Lou and the others disarmed the muscle their guests had brought with them.

  “I thought you offered your friendship?” Yury—at least that’s who she guessed he was—scowled at her.

  “I start most friendships with as little weaponry as possible. If you object, then you can leave.” She pointed to the door with a smile. “In my house, we follow my rules.”

  Yury nodded, then, as if he owned the place, waved her over to the chairs that had been set out. The woman with him sat like a trained seal.

  “I’m Cain Casey,” she held her hand out, “and this is my friend Remi Jatibon. Remi’s my business associate as well, and she’s here to help.”

  “Yury Antakov,” he said, accepting her handshake. “This is my wife, Valerie.”

  “I’m sure you’ve got plenty on your mind, so what can I do for you?” Cain asked as they all sat.

  “I am sure the most important thing in your life is your children,” Yury said, his head slightly tilted, giving him an air of sincerity. “Am I right?”

  “My children, my wife, my entire family. Yes. I’d think anyone with an ounce of honor would feel the same way. Does this have something to do with your family?” She wanted to get to the point before the night was done.

  “My daughter Nicola, like you, married a woman she loved. They had three children. At Nicola’s passing, this woman cut us from their lives.” Valerie only nodded as Yury spoke.

  “Do you mean Nicola Eaton? I met her a few times but never had the pleasure of getting to know her well.”

  “I thought it best to change the name once our business was established, but the Antakov name still demands res
pect on the street. I am sure you understand that as well. My daughter-in-law, Abigail, does not. My wife cries for wanting these children in our lives, and this woman spits in her face.”

  Cain nodded, glancing briefly at Finley. Her cousin appeared ready to strangle Yury and Valerie simultaneously, since her shoulders seemed tight, her fists were clenched, and her mouth was set in a thin, grim line. “What reason does she give?”

  “I don’t like talking about it,” Valerie said, her impatient tone belying her role as the wounded grandmother.

  Yury lifted his hands, palm up, and gave her another altar-boy head tilt. “My daughter’s children have a right to grow up with the knowledge of who they are.”

  “This woman, Abigail, doesn’t want that?” Remi asked.

  The viper in Valerie broke its restraints. “Abigail was Nicola’s mistake, and she’s too weak to raise Antakov heirs. We need them back, and my husband’s giving you an opportunity for easy money if you help us,” Valerie said, her eyes only on Cain.

  “I’ll help, but I’ll do it from friendship. You won’t owe me anything,” Cain said. Yury was cold-blooded, but nowhere close to his wife’s league. If their relationship was supposed to be a balance, the scale of cruelty tipped more toward Valerie. Cain took down their contact information and escorted them out.

  “You’ll help them for friendship? Are you fucking kidding me?” Finley vented because she’d let them leave, and Cain thought it was a hell of a time for her Casey genes or nature to come out of hibernation. “Those animals want Abigail dead and want to raise her children to become pimps. They make a lot of goddamn money doing what they do, but that’s all they are. No expensive suit or impeccable manners are going to cover up the smell of shit on them.”

  “Stick with what you know,” Cain said, holding her hand up to forestall Finley’s anger. “You understand what has to happen. I couldn’t let that take place here. They need to be seen somewhere else so this doesn’t come back to us. Think about the ramifications. These kinds of people don’t work in a vacuum.”