“Yes, really. Shows they have some balls. Two guys against a pack. Next time, they won’t be so lucky.”
Something sparked in me. It was his comment. Two guys against a pack.
Meaning he didn’t know about the cops and Maurice.
“Oh yeah. When is next time?” More testing. I wanted to see if we could really harness the element of surprise.
“I’m about to tell you. We meet at eight. Bring the diamonds.”
We’d be there a lot sooner than fucking eight.
“Where?” I asked pointedly.
“Clever, clever. I’ll tell you closer to the time. Sit tight till then.”
Good, we had the element of something. A window of some opportunity. We could be at Peyton in three hours. That would take us to around four. If we went through the old section of the prison like Cora suggested, we could get into the facility and catch them by surprise.
As to what would happen after that, I didn’t know. I didn’t know how I’d fare, but that didn’t matter.
The two women I loved more than life itself had told me they hated me.
Before Amelia got taken, she’d given me that look of hate again, and it crushed me. I didn’t know how she felt or what they were doing to her. It was all my fault.
There was one thing I needed to know though. One thing I had to know, and this was the perfect opportunity.
“You haven’t said yet. How did you figure it out?” I asked.
“Millicent.”
Great, confirmation of what I’d feared.
“Right.”
“But you knew that and didn’t want to believe it, just like how you didn’t want to believe that your marriage was over.” He gave me a sinister laugh.
A knife straight to my heart. I’d bet he loved that my wife chose him over me.
The days that followed after I’d caught them together were awful. I’d imagined all sorts of things. What they must have talked about, what they must have done. All that they did.
There was a day in between when Eloise had said she was going shopping and was away for much longer than her usual time. When she got home that night, I saw the few things she’d bought and immediately suspected that she’d been with Tag. I’d kept quiet right up to the big day when shit went down.
“You’re right, and I was a fool. A fool to believe that things like loyalty and trust meant anything. A fool to trust a wife I’d always been faithful to and believed she was faithful to me too. A fool to trust a friend or take a man like you for a friend when you would easily turn around and take the thing I loved the most. I was a fool to believe Millicent couldn’t be turned against me. Yes, Tag. I know I did so much wrong, so much wrong in this whole thing, and the things that I’m sorry for are that you lost your boys and Eloise died. But, fuck, I still want you dead. I still have the same vendetta against you. So, I’m not sorry for setting you up. I’m not sorry for your pain. I’m not sorry for anything I did to you. I’m sorry for the results.”
It was the end for me. It was the end of my road, the end of my journey, and it wouldn’t matter what happened to me. I’d say whatever the hell I liked. Right now, I could because I still had something he wanted.
The diamonds.
I still had them, and he wanted them. So, fuck him. He’d hear the truth, alright, and I wasn’t sorry for him. The only difference between years ago and now was that I wanted him dead more than ever. Back then, my goal had been prison for a long time. Long enough to get him out of the picture.
I was a fool to think that with him gone I could save my marriage. Even after seeing Eloise with him, I’d been willing to forgive her.
He was silent for a minute or so, and I grew more eager because we had to go. My question, however, hadn’t been answered.
I knew he hadn’t hung up because I could hear him breathing. He was probably seething from my words, but I didn’t give a flying fuck.
“So, old friend.” I emphasized the words. “How about we pick up where you left off in your explanation. You got to the part about Millicent.”
“I came back to Chicago after spending years in Italy, hiding. Remember, you arranged for me to get gone.”
I’d arranged that because the feds were after him and he was after Agent Peterson. If Tag had gotten to him, I knew Agent Peterson would have talked and Tag would have known everything. Without his boys and the state Tag was in that night, he was useless to himself. He’d called me straight after the whole craziness went down. He’d called me in tears over the lives that were lost. He was how I’d found out Eloise had been killed.
“I remember.” His call had been followed by Agent Peterson’s. I didn’t know which call was worse. Tag giving me the initial blow or Agent Peterson telling me he’d accidentally shot my wife. She’d run right into his line of fire and got hit. It was an accident, but I didn’t care. “Don’t pussyfoot around the situation. Talk.”
He laughed. “I wanted to come home. Italy isn’t Chicago. I think though that most of all I wanted to see you. I should have found it weird that through all those years, we never stayed in touch. I left, couldn’t even bury my boys properly and say goodbye to Eloise, and you never stayed in touch. It should have been a giveaway, but I foolishly thought it was for my protection. Calls can be traced.”
“You’re pussyfooting again.” I didn’t want to hear all the fluff about how he felt or what he thought. Much as it was a part of the story.
“I went to your house and saw Millicent. You were away. She was shocked to see me, and it was what she said then that revealed all.”
My heart gripped as suspense truly took me. This was it. The moment of reckoning.
“What did she say?”
“First, she looked confused to see me, and disgusted. I wondered why she looked like that.” He chuckled. Millicent looked disgusted because the night I’d seen Eloise and Tag together, she’d been the one and only person I’d told. I was a grief-stricken man with a broken heart who needed to confide in someone. She was at home tucking Amelia into bed by the time I’d returned. “I thought she must not have recognized me. I stupidly reminded her who I was, but she knew me and said that she was surprised I would dare come here. The woman was defending you. You know, Raphael, she truly was a friend because that little woman didn’t care who I was when she started her tirade. What she didn’t know was that I never knew you knew about the affair.”
Fuck, that was how it started. Wow. It was amazing.
“So, you figured it out from what she said?”
“Not exactly. It was what Eloise said right before your agent’s bullet got her. I saw her running across the docks. When she saw me, she screamed ‘He knows. Get out.’” He paused for a minute. “She said that, and I thought she meant someone else. I thought she was talking about the agent. He knows. I never put two and two together that he was you. She was trying to tell me that you knew about us and I was in the middle of a trap. Bullets were already being fired, and it got her just then. It wasn’t until Millicent said she was amazed that you and I were still friends after what I did to your marriage that it came together in my mind. Then she all but confirmed it all in disgust when she said it was unforgiveable to betray you the way I did by having an affair with your wife.”
I held my breath and released it slowly. “So, that’s it.”
“That’s it. It took a few days to sink in. A few days to do a little more digging and realize that the feds didn’t get the diamonds in the shipment, so you must have got to them first, and a few days to come up with my grand plan for you. Blood for blood. Your daughter for my sons and Eloise.”
“You know that same daughter is hers too.”
“She’s yours, and Eloise is gone. It’s enough. When I found out she’d left home, and damn, you took great lengths to cover her identity, that just encouraged me more.”
“How did you then get Millicent to betray me?” Last question, and then I was done.
“The same way I do everything else. E
veryone has a price. Everyone has something they can be made to do if you threaten them enough. For her it was her husband. When I put it all together, I threatened to kill her husband if she didn’t cooperate.”
So, that was it.
Yes, that would indeed be Millicent’s price. She loved her husband the way I’d wanted my wife to love me. She would have done anything to save him, even if it meant betraying me.
The way it had played out and from what I knew of Tag back then, I knew that if he’d gotten his hands on Agent Peterson, the man would have sung like a canary and told Tag it was me who’d put him up to the whole trap. Blood for blood.
I’d known Tag would have wanted Amelia. He’d lost his boys and Eloise, and he would have wanted her dead too.
To my poor girl, I’d run a successful business. She’d never known who I really was. It was part of my job to keep everything business related out of her life. My men hadn’t even known I had a daughter. Just Tag and Marcus. That was it, and even then, I hadn’t allowed any association for safety reasons.
No one had to tell me that Tag would have sought revenge on me by getting to Amelia. I’d known he would kill her because he would have wanted me to feel the same pain he felt. I knew how his mind worked. I’d never expected Amelia to leave home the way she did and for any of what happened to happen. It hadn’t been in the cards. So, my mission had been to keep her even more secret.
Now was the time of reckoning. All the secrets were jumping straight out of the closet. Right into the open for all to see.
Luc came into the office with a frown on his face, probably checking to see what the holdup was with me.
It was time to go.
“Eight o’clock, Tag.” I looked at Luc as I spoke, and his eyes widened when he realized who I was speaking to. “This ends today.”
“You bet.” Tag hung up, and I placed the phone back on the hook.
“That was Tag?” Luc asked, moving closer.
“It was, and they don’t know about the cops. He wants to meet at eight. We have an advantage and a window.”
“Let’s go.” He nodded firmly.
One thing I’d admired about this guy since his return to Chicago was his love for my daughter.
She was his price. No one had to tell me that he would do anything for her.
It was evident in everything he did.
He turned to go, but I stopped him. I took off my family ring and held it out to him.
“Your ring. Why are you giving me that?” He furrowed his brows.
“Whoever wears it owns the business.”
He shook his head at me. “Raphael, I’m honored, but like I told you, I don’t want it. If we make it, I’m taking Amelia out of this life.”
I rested my hand on his shoulder and smiled. “That’s why you should have it. It was always yours. You take it and give it to whomever you see fit.”
He looked at the ring, staring at it for a few moments before he took it. “Thank you… I’ll make sure who gets it will definitely be fit for the job.”
I gave him a curt nod. “Let’s go.”
Time for showdown. Time to face my enemies. And if I died, it would be time to face death.
I’d finished the Bible last night.
In my state of sorrow, I took to it.
At the end, the conclusion I’d come to was, it wouldn’t matter what I did. There was no place in heaven for a devil like me.
Chapter 14
Amelia
That was it.
About an hour ago, I’d managed to loosen the tension around my thumb and forefinger on my left hand. These ropes were bound so tightly that it was perhaps pointless to think I could break free, but I would try.
My goal was to try. To try for Gigi.
She’d been shuffling around, moving her head from side to side occasionally, although she wasn’t awake.
It was like she was stuck in a dream, or rather, in our case, a nightmare.
When my fingers had come free, I’d wiggled them and tried to feel for a knot. I knew if I could get one knot loose, then maybe the tension would break on the rest.
I’d spent the last hour trying to do that, and just now, a little section gave way, so I could slip my finger through the hook. God, all this with my hands tied behind my back. I had to visualize what I was doing while trying not to make it look obvious.
I was certain that there were cameras in here. It would have been foolish if this room wasn’t under surveillance.
I couldn’t see anything around me, and I couldn’t see what was behind me because of the way I was positioned.
Footsteps echoed along the wooden floor, and a hideous man approached the barred door to the cell.
I’d taken to thinking of this as a cell because of the setup and the fact that we were here tied up, waiting to die.
The man who opened the door looked like a cross between a toad and a lizard. He was bald, bulky, and had terrible teeth. Yellow and brown in appearance.
He smiled, showing off the display, and looked me over.
“Just checking on you two dolls.”
I wouldn’t talk to him. I didn’t need to. This was a lackey, a grunt as far as I was concerned.
“I get to play with this one later.” He pointed at Gigi, and I narrowed my eyes.
His smile grew, and he walked over to her. I winced as he raised his hand and slapped her across her face.
“Stop it!” I yelled.
The slap to Gigi’s face woke her up, and she cried out and looked around her fiercely with tears running from her eyes.
The man laughed. “I knew that would get some reaction from you. I followed you in LA. Followed the two of you.”
I held his gaze. I didn’t remember seeing him.
“I was there at the ballet watching you and that oaf. I was the biker, as they called me.”
“Leave me alone.”
“For now. Maybe I’ll have what’s left of you when Victor’s done.” He licked his lips and looked from me to Gigi, then left us.
I watched him until he walked down the length of the bars and disappeared.
We had to get out of here.
I had to get Gigi out of here. She was my friend and didn’t deserve to be part of any of this.
I looked to her, and my heart ached.
“Gigi,” I cried.
“Amelia, I’m in so much pain.” Her lips were so swollen she could barely talk.
“What did they do to you?” I had to know. All manner of things had flooded my mind as to what she could have gone through.
“Electrocuted me, tortured me. It was awful. I couldn’t stop screaming from the pain.”
“God, Gigi, I’m so sorry.” My heart squeezed.
She winced and shook her head. I thought she was going to tell me that she wanted nothing to do with me, and I would have understood. It was perfectly understandable for her to want that.
She could be dead right now.
“If we get out of this, I will personally vet every single friend you have, and for fuck’s sake, I think you need to either work in a different department or choose another career.” She actually laughed.
I couldn’t believe she was laughing. But that was Gigi. It was what she did when she knew a situation looked bad. Granted, this had never happened to us before, but she was being herself.
“I’m so sorry this happened to you. I’m so sorry, and I understand if you hate me.” I thought I should be the one to say it.
“No. No, Amelia, don’t you dare say that to me. Don’t you dare. I know this isn’t you. It’s these guys.”
“I’m going to get you out of here,” I promised.
“How?” Through her bruises, I could see the look of confusion on her face.
“My fingers are loose. I think I may be able to do something.” I didn’t want to say any more just in case I could be heard, and I certainly wouldn’t talk about the key.
“God, Amelia, try. I can’t from here. Rope’s too tigh
t, and even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to break free. I’m too weak.”
“Don’t worry. I’m trying.”
It was all about trying to relax and focus. Visualize the movements just like I would if I were dancing. Seeing the move before it happened. Seeing it all before it happened and working with that.
In my mind’s eye I saw the knot and moved my finger. Slowly and up, and up. Then across to where the bulk of the knot was and where it twisted.
Oh God, my finger moved in and shifted it out.
Oh God…
I can do this. I think I did it.
I did. The hold actually loosened, and the tackle it had on the other knots loosened too.
“Gigi, I need you to stay calm and work with me. Is there a camera behind me?” I needed to know before I shook the ropes off. If there was a camera—and I suspected there was—then I’d probably only have a matter of minutes to get the key, free Gigi, and get out of here. Exactly in that order.
I didn’t know where Victor and the men were stationed. It didn’t seem like they’d come from far.
“There’s a camera, Amelia. It’s just above your head.”
“Okay. I need you to focus on running when the time comes. Just that. Just use whatever strength you have left and focus on running. When we get outside, I don’t want you to think of me or anything else. I need you to think of you.”
“Amelia.” She winced, and her eyes were full of worry. “I can’t do that.”
“Gigi, please, this is life or death. It literally is. The fact of the matter is, you’re probably being kept alive for some purpose.”
She gasped on hearing that.
“You think so?”
“Yes,” I replied with certainty.
I was certain the purpose would be more than just to be used as some damn toy. They would use her in some way. Just like they’d used her to lure Luc and the others away. The strongest men had left, which had opened the doors for Tag to take me. It wasn’t even that hard. Everyone had prepped for battle, but all it took was Millicent.
Mafia Love (The Accidental Mafia Queen Book 3) Page 12
