Double-Crossed

by Ali Vali

  “You should reconsider that statement, Reed. They’re the only thing you have that will kill Wallace and Bell. Their deaths will resurrect your girl.”

  “She’s not my girl,” she said, but for once it was nice to imagine that being true.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Did he say what he wanted?” Robert Wallace asked Alex as he drove into work. He’d gone to an interview at Bellagio and was about to start singing, it’d gone so well.

  “All he said was it was important, and not to think about turning him down.”

  He couldn’t wait to put Francesco and all his self-importance behind him. “I’ll go over there now, and then we can head home early. We might have a lot of celebrating to do.”

  “He wants to see both of us, so keep the champagne on ice. Do you have any idea what this is about?” Alex sounded nervous. “Mr. Terzo isn’t a big fan of social visits, and he’s never included me in any of the trips you’ve made over there.”

  “I’m sure it’s a bunch of bullshit over Caterina’s death, but we had nothing to do with that, so stop biting your nails.” He turned into the casino and waved off the valet. “Calm down and we can go together.”

  “Park your car,” Alex said. “Mr. Terzo’s providing a ride for us. He said he didn’t want the Feds to see us going to his house, and he’d heard from Lucan the police were still all over us about those two bitches from accounting.”

  “Shit,” he said, not wanting to waste time on this today. He was anxious to get home and have Alex blow some of his nervous energy away. “When are they coming?”

  “They’re here and said they’d meet us in the parking lot. I’ll meet you down there.”

  The police had come by again a few days prior, after they’d found the two dead patrolmen. He’d explained that he had nothing to do with them, and they’d left with a promise to be back. The two dead accountants were still on their radar, but the only thing that worried him was Dean Jasper.

  That fucker had disappeared and no amount of searching had given him a clue as to where he was. The blood all over Dean’s pantry floor made Robert wonder if someone had gotten to Dean, but there was no way the little shit would talk. He wouldn’t have given a rat’s ass about the vanishing act, but the books were gone as well. That he’d checked himself, and if Dean or anyone else thought of shaking him down, he was going to kill them as painfully as he could once the ledgers resurfaced.

  The casino floor was dead except for a couple of gamblers, so he made it to the back parking lot fairly quickly. Alex was waiting by the door, and he was certainly not in control of himself from the way he was hurrying toward him.

  “I don’t like this,” Alex said.

  “All we have to do is humor him, and once the new job comes through, we’ll put the Terzos and all the other assholes in their orbit in our rearview mirror.” He put his hand on Alex’s neck briefly and smiled. “Come on, this shouldn’t take long. It’s probably a check-in kind of thing to make sure everything is still on track here.” He led Alex outside by the arm. “Francesco isn’t a big talker, so keep your mouth shut and we’ll be back here for dinner.”

  The driver locked them in and he tried not to show any fear. He’d negotiated with his new contacts and was ready to take over as far as distribution, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be alone with the old man, ever. He was looking forward to the moment he was solidly behind the wall of protection his new friends promised. That he’d even contemplated this would be seen as a major show of disloyalty, but Francesco was as out of touch with the reality down here as his bosses from New York, so they had only themselves to blame.

  “Wow, it must be a party,” he said when they drove up to a slew of cars in the parking lot.

  “It’s all in your honor,” the driver said. “Don’t keep the boss waiting. He’s in the dining room.”

  A guard led the way and another two walked behind them. “Are you sure about this?” Alex said.

  “Calm down,” he whispered harshly. That was hard advice to follow when he walked in and found the Jatibons sitting with the Terzos and someone he’d never seen before. “Mr. Terzo, thank you for inviting us. You have my condolences on Caterina. Such a tragedy.”

  “Sit down and stop talking,” the man he’d never met said, his hand on a stack of something in a bag.

  “Hey, I was just showing respect. Mr. Terzo’s earned it,” he said, but the way Francesco glared at him made him follow directions.

  “When we put you in the job you have, you seemed so grateful, considering where you’d come from.” The new guy wore a really expensive suit and appeared to be a man with few worries.

  “I’m very grateful, and I’ve done a good job for Mr. Terzo. We move a lot of money through the Moroccan, and we’re working on upping our numbers.” Robert sat and tried to keep his leg from bouncing. That was his nervous tic, and that was the last thing he needed to show in this room. “If you want to add even more business than Mr. Terzo has in mind, that might take time.”

  “You’re working on something, on that I agree,” the man at the head of the table said.

  “I’m sorry, who are you?” He glanced at Alex, but he didn’t seem to have a clue.

  “This is Angelo Giordano,” Lucan said. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you who that is.”

  “Mr. Giordano, I’m so glad to meet you. Mr. Terzo has always spoken highly of you,” he said, standing and offering his hand. When Giordano didn’t take it, he got his first real clue that they’d walked into a trap.

  “If you’d let me finish,” Angelo said. “You’re working on something, but it has nothing to do with us or improving our business.”

  Angelo took his hand off the bag and another man emptied it so they could see what was inside. The sight of the ledgers made Robert’s nausea climb to the point he almost threw up. Jasper had fucked him, and he wasn’t walking away from this.

  “You wanted something that doesn’t belong to you, and you cut a deal with someone who had no right to do so.”

  “You have to let me explain.” He spoke fast, and Alex sat quietly with his eyes closed, seeming to shrink in his seat. “I wasn’t working against you. All I was doing was trying to open new markets.”

  “You can talk all you want, Robert, but the books speak for themselves. I’m sure Angelo would appreciate whatever bullshit story you’re going to tell,” Remi Jatibon said, “but it’ll be a waste of time.”

  “I’m sorry, but you don’t have anything to do with this,” he said to Remi.

  “You were told to shut the fuck up,” Francesco said. “The guy you were dealing with had something in common with you. He was way down the totem pole, and his boss didn’t mind turning him over to us. You may not know this, but when someone starts cutting little pieces off you, believe me, you’ll tell me whatever I want to know to make the pain stop. It only took a few fingers for the fucker to give you and your master plan up.”

  Sweat ran down his back and his leg jumped frantically. “Francesco, come on, we’ve got a good thing going here. Who are you going to believe?”

  “I’m going to believe you, of course,” Francesco said.

  “Thank God,” he said, almost wetting himself from relief.

  “Yeah, you put it all in there, making it easy to believe you,” Angelo said, pointing to the books. “You were going to cut us off, you were starting to pull Victor in with you, and you were going to screw with my supply chain.” Angelo stood and walked behind him. “You were also dumb enough to try and cover up your screwups by killing two women and their children.”

  Robert gripped the arms of his chair and barely refrained from screaming when Angelo moved quickly and slit Alex’s throat. The gurgle and scent of metal were something he’d never be able to forget.

  “Karma’s a true bitch when you order the death of innocents, but then, you had your fixer make that call.”

  “I was trying to protect you and Mr. Terzo.”

  “You were trying t
o cover your ass,” Angelo screamed. “No real man kills women and children who have nothing to do with our business. All you managed to do was get police to crawl all over our asses until they manage to solve the crime. How exactly is that helping us?”

  “If I made a mistake, I’m sorry. You should know that I’m loyal to you, though. There’s no way I’d try to move in on your business.” The words were falling on deaf ears and he let the tears flow down his cheeks unchecked.

  “Remi,” Angelo said, holding his hand out to her. “Mano.”

  “Angelo, we’ll be waiting for your call once you’re done,” Remi said. She shook his hand and turned away like it was an ordinary day.

  “Wait by the pool, if you don’t mind the late afternoon heat—this shouldn’t take long.”

  Remi and Mano nodded and started to walk out.

  Robert had a feeling any chance of living out the day was walking out with them.

  “You know I trust you to stay while I’m doing it, but none of this has anything to do with you, and there’s no need for you to deal with the mess. I am, though, in your debt for bringing this to me,” Angelo said.

  “And the rest?” Remi asked, and Robert wondered what that meant.

  “Let me finish this and I give you my word I’ll take care of that as well.”

  The only strange thing about the conversation was that Francesco and Lucan seemed as confused as he did. All he had to do was turn Francesco back to his side. “Are we going into business with the Jatibons?” Robert asked. It made no sense if they were. The Gemini was a Jatibon property, no matter whose name was on the deed, and it was set up to do the exact same thing he was doing at the Moroccan. The Jatibons wouldn’t need to go outside their own operation.

  “Us? Who is us, exactly?” Angelo asked.

  Robert stayed in his seat but watched Angelo walk until he was behind Lucan.

  “If you want to be truthful here, Little Bobby, it’ll save you a lot of pain in the end. You should learn that from your friend there,” Angelo said, gesturing to Alex. His lover was slumped over as his blood dripped from the table to the terracotta Saltillo tile, bleeding on the floor like some kind of macabre Halloween decoration.

  “All I was doing was trying to make new contacts and build the business. I know it wasn’t my place, but I wanted to show initiative so I’d get the Bellagio job. You can’t blame me for that.”

  “Little Bobby, I do blame you, and you fucked up. No one comes into this type of meeting completely innocent, but this time you gave me everything I needed to hang you for every crime.” Angelo tapped Lucan on the shoulder and Lucan moved toward him. “You should be honored. It’s not every day you give someone the chance to make their bones.”

  Before he could ask what the hell the bastard meant, Lucan placed his gun to the back of his head and pulled the trigger. Robert’s last sensation was the cold metal against his scalp.

  * * *

  “You know what to do, right?” Angelo asked Francesco and the old man nodded. “I’m leaving tonight, but forget the Moroccan for now. We’ll take care of putting someone new in charge and concentrate on the operation in New York for the time being. You’ve got Caterina’s funeral and your family to worry about.”

  “You can’t cut us out, Angelo. This is our town,” Francesco said, but didn’t get too loud.

  Angelo knew Francesco’s men patrolled the grounds, but only his men were in the room with them. It didn’t matter though—in reality, everyone in the house belonged to him. “This is your town? Honestly, that’s what you’re going to say?”

  “You can’t blame me for that motherfucker.” Francesco pointed to Robert.

  “Who else am I going to blame? You put him there, you missed all this, and you completely missed whatever it was that Caterina was doing. I know Lucan can’t answer what the hell she was up to, but can you?” Angelo sat back down and cracked the bones in his neck. “She started something that has turned into this complete mess, and neither of you knew anything about it.”

  “Caterina was loyal to you and the family. Whatever it was, I’m sure it was for our best interest,” Francesco said, shaking his fist at him.

  “Careful, Francesco, that’s how Little Bobby tried to defend himself, and look at him now.” The way Francesco stared at him made Angelo want to break out in laughter. The old man never could control his temper, but he’d been a friend of his father’s and that was the only reason he’d left him in this position. “London Emerson, though, is hard to overlook no matter what she was doing.”

  “That little slut is who you’re worried about?” Lucan said.

  “She was Benito’s granddaughter. That alone should’ve made her off-limits. If Caterina wanted to fuck her, fuck her, but she should’ve known better than to pimp her out.”

  “What does it matter now? Either Benito or Diego is responsible for Caterina’s death, and I need your okay to do something about that.” Francesco sounded like he was about to rush out of his chair and stab him through the heart, not asking for permission for anything at all.

  “You’re not getting that. Benito was within his rights to do with Caterina as he pleased, and he’s got my protection. Caterina got his granddaughter killed, and now she’s dead. That’s the way of things. The main problem I’m having is that you’ve lost control not only of your family, but of your people. That I can’t afford.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Francesco asked.

  Angelo snapped his fingers and one of the men opened the door from the kitchen so two big guys could drag Gino Roca in. Gino’s face was a mess and he was moaning. “Your top lieutenant was out making threats against people who had nothing to do with any of this, and followed it up by threatening their business.”

  “Am I supposed to know what you’re talking about?” Francesco stared at Gino but made no move toward him.

  “Assuming you don’t know about this, he visited Remi without your permission, so tell me how you’re going to handle it.”

  Francesco hesitated but held his hand out for Lucan’s gun. When he had it in hand, every man in the room aimed their weapon at his head. Angelo didn’t worry, though, since Francesco knew the score. It was either Gino’s life or his. “Are you satisfied?” Francesco asked when Gino was dead.

  There was a sudden spurt of gunfire and Francesco turned toward Lucan.

  “Not quite, but this shouldn’t take long.”

  * * *

  The sun had set hours before, but Reed couldn’t sleep so she went down and poured herself a drink. There had been no word from Remi aside from her warning to be patient, but the breaking news of the day was about the fire that had consumed the Terzo home after a gas leak, killing ten people. That number included the entire Terzo family as well as some of their household staff. Someone had done law enforcement’s job for them and taken down one of the Mob families in town. The only survivor had been Lucan’s wife, who was out at an attorney’s appointment.

  All Reed had to worry about now was Sofia and Benito, but Remi had told her to be patient about that as well, and she would be, up to a point. The burn of the whiskey made her relax, but she still heard the soft footsteps on the stairs. Brinley hadn’t been upset to hear about Robert Wallace and Alex Bell, but she seemed happy it hadn’t been Reed who had pulled the trigger.

  “Are you okay?” Brinley asked, taking the glass from her and taking a sip.

  “I couldn’t sleep, that’s all.” The nightgown Brinley was wearing made her smile when she noticed the small cats all over it. Wilma had been able to pack a bag with some essentials in it and drop it off with Oscar. “What are you doing up?”

  “I was thinking.”

  “Is that a bad thing?” Brinley handed her glass back and reached over to comb her hair. In reality it was time for Brinley to go home. With Wallace dead, all Reed was waiting for was the okay from Remi.

  They’d worked out a story to tell the police that blamed Robert Wallace for her kidnapping, and Brinle
y had managed to escape when he disappeared. Remi had promised Robert wouldn’t be found to contradict anything Brinley said. “I should hear from Remi by tomorrow at the latest and I’ll drop you off. You can make your way home after you deal with the police.”

  “Once that happens you’re going to disappear, aren’t you?” Brinley led her to the sofa and pushed her back.

  “We talked about this,” she said, finishing her drink and turning slightly to face Brinley. “You’re free to go back to your life. I’ve made the best deal I could to make that happen.”

  “You haven’t told me the whole story, but I’m sure you’re sacrificing something for that.” Brinley touched her face like she had so many times, and she wanted it never to end. “I don’t know why fate brought us together, but I’m glad it did. You’re one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”

  She chuckled at hearing that. No one had ever uttered those words in her presence. “Don’t worry about me, and you don’t have to lie.”

  Brinley shook her head and leaned in to kiss her. “You’re so stubborn when it comes to believing the good in you.” She kissed her again and carefully straddled her lap. “Let me show you.”

  She was going to stop Brinley from doing anything else, but she stripped off her nightgown and she couldn’t bring herself to move. There was enough light in the room to see what a classic beauty Brinley was, and she had a gorgeous body with plenty of curves.

  “I don’t—” She didn’t know how to finish that sentence. All she was used to were encounters like she’d had with women whose time she paid for. That seemed like a million years ago, and it was only about achieving relief and nothing more. This…this felt like something altogether different. And fuck, did she want it.

  “What? Tell me,” Brinley said, placing Reed’s hand on her breast.

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” she said, and Brinley seemed to understand what she was saying.