by Ali Vali
“Let’s get this over with. It’s damn late,” he told the guy at the door. In the faint light coming from the street, he could see his earlier guess was right. Homemade pipes littered the floor, evidence that the local dopeheads visited frequently after making a score. “Where’s Manuel?” Stephano asked without giving the first guy he passed another look. Manuel Cusso was the guy Rodolfo had entrusted the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida territory to. He was always straightforward during their dealings, and they’d formed a friendship along the way. That was why this meeting seemed so strange.
“In his condo in Miami, if I had to guess, but then again I don’t give a fuck about the people you keep company with, little man.”
The familiar voice chilled Stephano more than the hands pressing him roughly to the wall in front of him. After a few pats along his body, he was relieved of his only weapon, then pushed roughly into a chair almost in the center of the room. Another, much cleaner-looking one, sat a few feet in front of his, and its occupant looked like someone waiting for a cup of coffee. He’d always envied the cool demeanor.
“Comfortable? This won’t take long, but I don’t want you to be miserable during our talk.” Cain uncrossed one of her long legs and kicked a crack pipe in Stephano’s direction with the tip of an expensive shoe. “Do you ever stop to wonder what drives someone to get hooked on something that’ll ruin their life? What prompts them to sit in rat holes like this and spend their days sucking on crap like that?” She pointed to the pipe at Stephano’s feet.
“You dragged me here to ask me that?”
He winced involuntarily when someone jerked his arms back and tied his hands together. He tried not to show either pain or fear, because he was in the deep end of the pool and a shark was swimming lazily toward him. Stephano’s dreams about dying at home in his bed after a long life were rapidly dimming.
“It’s a rhetorical question, so no, that’s not why you’re here.”
“Cain, you have to know if you hurt me, my father’s going to bury you. I never figured you for stupid.” Stephano shifted to find a more comfortable spot, and a few creaks escaped from his chair.
The laugh that bubbled up from Cain’s chest chilled him. “Thank you for the compliment. At least I think it was a compliment. Stupid is something I try to avoid at all costs. Stupid gets you dead. Stupid gets you caged in some penitentiary. Stupid gets you tied to a chair someplace where no one of consequence will ever find you.” She crossed her legs again and cocked her head slightly to the side as if studying him. “The question is, do you know why you’re here? Is it because of greed or stupidity? Or perhaps a little of both?”
“Come on, Cain. I know you. What do you have against me? You wouldn’t kill someone because of their last name, would you?”
“Please.” Cain cocked her head to the other side, only this time she frowned. “You’re not going to sit there and act innocent, are you?”
“You’re the head of your family. You know what that’s like. My father’s no different from you. The grudges between you two have nothing to do with me. Just like all these goons standing around here, I was following orders.”
“So you were following orders, or did you feel some overwhelming compulsion to hang out with Blue? I didn’t realize your charity of choice was to give large cash donations to gamblers with shitty luck.” The laugh came again, and again it gave him no comfort. “But enough about that. Blue’s a dead subject. Why we’re here seems like a more interesting topic of conversation.”
“Why are we here?”
Katlin took a case out of her pocket and placed it on the windowsill behind her. She then took the time to study the area outside. Stephano knew Cain and her guards would’ve taken extra precautions to lose any shadows interested in them. He’d even heard rumors of escape routes dug from private homes for just such occasions, so he was afraid that any help from the feds would never materialize.
“I’m here to share with you what you’ve shared with so many.” The needle came out of the little black case, looking surreal in Katlin’s black gloved hands.
A bead of sweat rolled down Stephano’s neck.
“You’re here to sit back and enjoy the ride,” Cain said. Someone standing next to Katlin lit a small cooking torch and poured a bag of white powder into a small metal container. “I’ve never indulged, but from what I’ve read on the subject, I understand that’s exactly what it feels like. A nice long ride no one wants to end.”
“That’s too much,” Stephano protested weakly. A slight chemical smell in the air mixed with the mildew and rot, and he could almost feel death walk through the door.
“Are you kidding? I spared no expense on your behalf, Stephano. If a little makes you fly, then I want you to soar. And if you’re worried about the quality, don’t. I had one of my associates buy it from one of your dealers.” The plunger squeaked when Katlin dipped into the hot liquid and filled the syringe. “I would think you deal only in quality.”
Stephano was mesmerized as Cain pulled a switchblade from her pocket and opened it with practiced flair. He closed his eyes as it sliced through his sleeve and barely opened them when Katlin tied the rubber tubing into place, making his veins plump up like they were anxious for what came next.
“Don’t do this.” He knew the plea made him sound small and weak, but Cain’s expression didn’t change. “You’ve always been so sanctimonious, but we aren’t so different. Except for where we come from, we’ve got the same blood running through our veins.” Someone out of his eyesight tapped on the vein in the bend of his arm.
“You ask for salvation by insulting the memory of my father, saying our blood is the same?” Cain pressed her hands together to keep from hitting him. “You and I are nothing alike. I indulge in what I peddle, so to speak, so why is it you look at that needle with such fear?”
Katlin stepped closer, inserted the tip of the needle into the bulging vein, and barely pushed the plunger. Cain judged from the way Stephano’s carotid was pumping, the coke would course through his body rapidly. And from the way his eyes were glassing up, the high would kick in sooner rather than later.
“See, that’s not so bad, is it? See what you’ve been missing just pushing this crap to other people?” Cain nodded, and another shot hit Stephano’s system.
“I feel so great I could run a marathon,” the condemned man said. He sounded as if he were vibrating with energy, and the ropes around his hands pulled tighter as he pushed against them. He apparently thought it wouldn’t be too difficult to break free and seemed oblivious to the ties biting into his skin.
Cain watched Stephano slide further and further into a world the cocaine was creating in his head. From what she could see of his hands, they were swelling and turning blue as he pulled on his bindings. She couldn’t tell if they bothered him.
“You can’t hurt me, you know.” His head fell forward, and he laughed so hard his eyes filled with tears. “Even after all we did to you, there’s nothing you can do to hurt me.”
Cain held up her hand, making Katlin hold back on the huge syringe that still held three-quarters of the original amount. “What things?”
Stephano jerked his head up, as if remembering Cain was still there. “What do you care?” The laughter had died down to some high-pitched giggles, and he appeared to be enjoying himself.
“I don’t. I just thought you would get off on the telling. If what you did hurt me, just think what telling me about it will do.”
The smile on his face made Cain think he agreed with her logic.
“You still crying over that retard you were related to?”
Cain used every bit of her self-control to refrain from getting up and slitting his throat when he spoke of her sister in such a flip tone. “If you’re referring to my sister Marie, then yes. Her death is something I’ll never get over.”
Stephano’s head fell back, and he started laughing again. He laughed so hard he choked on his saliva, but for the longest time,
he didn’t stop. “She cried for you in the end, you know. Really, she cried for you the whole time, but after the show Danny put on, we just ignored the whimpering. The way that little simple brain thought you would save her from the bad men was heartwarming.”
So caught up was Stephano in the telling of the story, he never noticed that Cain was almost breaking the arms of her chair. “I wanted to call you so you could hear her screaming, but Gino wouldn’t let me.”
“Gino was there?”
Cain barely recognized her own voice.
“Was he?”
Everyone jumped as Cain shouted.
“Yeah, we both were. Danny called us after he nabbed her. You should’ve heard him. He couldn’t believe he caught her so easily. He really wanted your woman, but you ruined that for him. Kept going on about how he got a hard-on every time he looked at the blonde you were fucking every night, but that the retard would really get to you.” He stopped talking and smacked his lips together like he was thirsty. Even though they were still sitting in the dark, dank room, Cain knew that his senses were heightened, giving him a feeling of euphoria.
“Finish your story, Stephano, and I’ll let you go.”
“He had her tied down when we got there, had her spread out and naked like some sort of freak show. The retard shut her eyes and just kept calling your name over and over. I’m not into that shit, but for a fucking deadhead, she was kinda hot.”
Cain’s hand shot up, and when Lou pulled his gun out and pointed it at the man’s head, she warned him with her eyes. As painful as it was, she wanted to hear the end of this story. “Why were you there?”
“I just went to watch, but Gino, he wanted in on the action.” He shook his head and laughed again. “He’s my brother, but that bastard will fuck anything. The burns on the tips of her nipples, those were mine. I couldn’t just sit there with my dick in my hand the whole time doing nothing. Gino got a real kick out of the way that got her hips to buck.”
“Give me that fucking torch.” Cain held her hand out as she stood.
Without being asked, Lou ripped Stephano’s shirt open.
No matter how much shit Stephano had in his system, he must have noticed the smell of burning hair and flesh. He screamed like a volcano erupting as his nipple disappeared, eaten off by the blue flame in Cain’s hand. “You bitch, you said you’d let me go if I told you.” He was crying when she moved to the other one.
“You’re right, asshole. I’m going to let you go, all right.” She pushed the plunger all the way down and stood back as Stephano started to convulse. Before long he started to shake from the seizure that had taken over, and he was choking on the foam spilling out of his mouth.
“Bon voyage, asshole, but don’t worry. You won’t be traveling alone. I’m sending your whole family on the same trip.”
Stephano’s chair started to shake from his jerking, but no one tried to stop him. At one final moment his body went completely taut, the ropes finally snapping under the pressure. Then he slumped, overwhelmed by the lethal dose of drugs.
“However we finish this, I want them all dead. None of the Bracatos will escape, but I want Gino and his father saved for last. Just like Danny, they’ll pray for death when I’m through with them.”
Katlin and a couple of the men stayed behind to remove any evidence. She put the syringe and needle back into her case, as well as the rubber tubing, then cut the ropes off without too much worry for his hands. He wouldn’t feel anything now.
Finally, she used with a disposable wipe doused in bleach to wipe down Cain??s chair. If anyone happened to discover Stephano, they wouldn’t be able to extract any DNA.
“Problem is, like Cain said, no one who matters will find you. The crackheads will come strip you of anything valuable, then leave the rest for the rats.” After making sure nothing could tie them to the scene, Katlin rifled the body for one more thing.
On Stephano’s right ring finger rested a signet ring bearing the Bracato family crest, a gift from their father, a duplicate of the one he wore proudly. Engraved inside each one was the name and birth date of the son to whom it belonged. It was one of a set of five Cain planned to collect before all this business was over. To see it again, off his son’s finger, would send Giovanni the same message as the dead fish announcing Blue’s demise. Still wearing her gloves, she jerked the ring off, walked to the car, and handed it to Cain.
“We’re good to go, boss.”
“Rest up, Katlin. We’re just beginning.”
Katlin knew Cain’s comment was fueled by rage about Marie and that if the Bracatos wanted quick and painless, the devil wasn’t in the mood to hear their pleas.
Chapter Thirty-One
For one brief moment Cain could hear the echo of laughter when Marie and Hayden had played together, enjoying each other’s company. Not a day went by that she didn’t miss her sister, but she realized that while Hayden hid his feelings on the subject well by not talking about it much, Marie’s vicious murder had left a hole in his heart. Compared to what Marie had endured, the syringe full of liquefied cocaine she had just given Stephano was a gift.
In a lot of ways, this night resembled the night four years earlier when Danny had tried to rape Emma, causing her to leave Cain because she believed Cain had killed Danny in revenge for an act that never took place. Only this time Cain really had taken a life, a life that had ended in a sputtering mess of twitching muscles and tense limbs. Stephano’s death had eased some of Cain’s guilt over her failure to protect the most innocent of her responsibilities, but now came another test.
A light under the door flashed every so often, and Cain guessed Emma was watching television, trying her best to wait up. She paused, her hand on the knob, wondering how Emma would react this time around. “The proof is as easy as opening the door,” Cain whispered before doing just that.
The television was on, but Emma sat in the middle of the bed staring at the door, willing it to open. When it did, she could see from Cain’s clenched jaw that she was upset. The sitting and waiting had been murder, but now she needed to help.
Without a word, she pulled Cain into the room and locked the door. When she finished, a pile of clothes lay on the floor and she was lying skin to skin with Cain as she held her.
“Tell me what happened.” Emma’s tone showed no trace of indecisiveness.
“Stephano came to the address. Alone, like Lou had asked him to on the phone.” Cain relaxed into Emma’s chest, enjoying the methodically moving fingers combing through her hair. “We treated him to some of the shit he sells, and it made him really talkative…”
As her voice died away, she expelled a big sigh. “Maybe some part of him knew I’d never let him walk, so he wanted to inflict the maximum amount of hurt before his time was up.”
“What could he possibly say to hurt you?”
Cain closed her eyes as if reliving the little speech Stephano had given about that night. When she opened them again they stung from unshed tears. “He was there the day Marie was killed. He tortured her too, and laughed about it.” The sheets wrinkled in her fists as she gripped them, trying to fight the urge to go out and find the rest of the Bracatos and inflict some pain immediately. “Thing is, Danny put on a little show for not just Stephano, but for his big brother Gino. That bastard took a turn with her.”
Emma held Cain as her tears fell, something that rarely happened. Cain had always had time to spend with her younger sister. She had taken such good care of Marie that Emma had been sure Cain would make a wonderful parent and therefore had loved her even more deeply.
*
Fourteen Years Earlier
“Why do you look so nervous, Emma?”
“Are you kidding? You haven’t done anything but talk about your sister and your family for weeks. What if they don’t like me?” Emma was enjoying their rare time alone as Cain drove them to the Casey home for a casual Sunday lunch.
“Lass, quit your worrying. Marie’s going to love you, and so w
ill Billy and my mother.” She squeezed Emma’s thigh and smiled. “Just remember she gets confused at times, but just be patient with her.” Two of the guards opened the front gate, and Emma waved, recognizing them from the pub when they accompanied Cain.
“I remember.” She smoothed down her dress for the hundredth time since Cain had picked her up. “Do I look all right? I don’t want your mother thinking I’m not right for you.”
Cain’s blue eyes softened. “You look fabulous. At least I certainly think so.”
“I just want them to like me.”
Cain got out of the car and walked to Emma’s door. When she opened it she crouched down and pressed her palm to Emma’s cheek. “Do you think you’re right for me?”
“With all my heart.”
“That’s all that matters.”
Before Cain could say anything else, the front door opened and Marie pressed herself to her sister’s back. “Hi,” she shyly said to Emma. “We’re going to be great friends.”
The words proved that Cain was right. Life might have given Marie a mind that wouldn’t mature like most, but her heart had fared just fine. Emma smiled and gazed into eyes so like Cain’s that she felt an instant affection for the girl who was so important to the woman she was falling in love with, although Marie’s eyes were missing the mischief always shining in Cain’s.
*
“Do you remember the day you introduced me to Marie?” Emma brushed back a thick lock of Cain’s hair and held it in place when it kept falling forward.
“I remember how well you and she got along.”
“Do you know why we got along?” Cain shook her head, and Emma kissed Cain’s forehead before answering. “Because Marie told me something that I’ll always treasure.”
“What?”
“She said you’d found someone who would love you more than she did. Then she told me how lucky I was.”
“Why?” Cain moved to get a better look at Emma’s face, never having heard this story.
