by Kiera Silver
“These are simply official statements and confessions from the Moretti brothers detailing their criminal ties and mafia involvement. Of course, the admissions don’t detail everything.” The old man winked at her, as though they shared a private joke. “I want some left to salvage, you know.”
Her mouth fell open. “What do you expect them to do?”
He shrugged. “I’m expecting them to sign the papers, and then I’ll call my good friend, the police commissioner, to come and arrest them. He’s been investigating the Moretti family for months, and he’ll be glad to have these confessions. I was slightly troubled when he refused to manufacture evidence against them. I guess there are still some men who can’t be corrupted.” He sounded mournful about that. “It’s only a matter of time until your illegal endeavors leak out, and this will make it easier for everyone.”
“What do you gain from this?” asked Larenz. His posture and tone betrayed nothing about how he felt or what he thought.
“That’s simple enough, son. After you sign those papers, we’re going to go through and figure out all the levels of your empire. You show me the weak spots, and where to strike to take over with a minimal amount of fuss. I get the money, you get jail, and the girl gets the baby.”
“I’m not signing that,” said Larenz.
“Where is Lucas?” asked Katie at the same time.
The senator ignored Larenz’s statement to focus on her question. “He’s somewhere safe. For now. Of course, you know how life is. That could change in the blink of an eye. It would be a terrible tragedy for a young mother like you to lose her baby.”
She started to throw herself across the desk at him, grunting when Armo intercepted her. She fought for a moment before relaxing slightly when Armo pressed his hand to her chest to hold her back. She wasn’t certain if it was a deliberate reminder of what was in her bra, or if he had simply been trying to get her to calm down. Either way, it reminded her of the gun, and she decided there was a better way.
As the men debated and discussed the details of Adams’ raw deal, she began to pace around. At first, the senator watched her with suspicion, but soon focused his attention on the triplets as Katie walked while muttering under her breath, pausing occasionally to pull her hair and wail softly.
It wasn’t all an act, and she was perilously close to falling apart. Knowing that this vile scum across the desk knew where her son was and was willing to hurt Lucas to acquire the Moretti’s’ crime empire was almost more than she could bear. If she’d been a confident shot, she probably would have taken out the gun and fired at him from across the room. Since she wasn’t very experienced with weapons, having only fired a handgun a couple of times in her life when Armo took her on a date to the shooting range when they first got together, and not knowing the full range of the tiny pistol, she couldn’t risk it.
Instead, she listened to Armo and his brothers grow progressively angrier, though none of them raised their voices. The senator remained cool and calm, with hints of pleasure showing through from time to time in his glance or tone. He was clearly enjoying the negotiations, and it didn’t bother him that a baby’s life hung in the balance.
She increased the circumference of her paces, until they were bringing her to the side of the senator back to the other side of his desk. When she got closer, he glanced at her a couple of times, but soon returned to the tableau unfolding in front of him. He was smirking slightly, obviously certain he had won. He clearly thought there was no way for the triplets to refuse his demands, and he was gloating already.
As she turned to make another circuit, she reached into her bra and under her shirt when her back was briefly turned to the senator, bringing the handgun out and pressing it against her thigh on the outside of her body, where he wasn’t as likely to see it.
She resumed her circuit, still talking to herself and allowing an occasional sob to escape. Once or twice, she murmured Lucas name, certain she was the picture of a mother trapped in her own world of grief and fear.
While that wasn’t strictly untrue, she was more than that. She was also an angry mother determined to protect her child. It was surprisingly easy to bring up the gun and press it between the senator’s eyes when she got close enough. She couldn’t help a cold smile when he broke off in mid-sentence, one where he’d been expounding on how he planned to run the empire the Moretti’s had built. “I don’t give a crap about the mafia stuff or the money. All I care about is my son. Tell me where he is.”
The senator quaked for a minute, and then his expression cleared. “No, I don’t think so.”
She struggled to keep her hand from trembling as rage filled her. “I will shoot you.”
The old fucker actually laughed at her. “No, you won’t. You’re a sensible and law-abiding woman, and there’s never been any hint of trouble from you. As soon as you found out what the scum does, you ran away. You wouldn’t even be back now if you hadn’t been forced to return.”
She pressed the muzzle of the gun harder against his skin, until he flinched. “How do you know that?”
“Your housekeeper has a big mouth, and she’s susceptible to an attractive and charming man.”
She didn’t know which was more disturbing—the idea that Gretchen would casually betray them, even if she hadn’t intended to do so, or the idea of Senator Adams fucking their housekeeper. “It’s none of your business. I just want my son, so tell me where he is before I shoot you.”
Senator smirked at her, shaking his head. He seemed to be having a great time.
Anger surged through her, and her finger tightened on the trigger. She took a deep breath, put the gun down slightly, and acquired a new target. When she shot the gun a moment later, it made a small popping sound that shouldn’t attract the goons’ attention.
The senator opened his mouth to howl with outrage, and she shoved his tie into his mouth and clamped it shut with her hand over it. Bright red blossomed through the fabric of his blue pants, the blood mingling with fabric, except in the place where the bullet had gone through skin and fabric, leaving a visible circle of bright red. He looked startled, perhaps angry more than agonized. It was clear he that hadn’t expected her to actually shoot.
She brought the gun back to his forehead, seeing him wince when she pressed the now-warm barrel against his skin. “Tell me where Lucas is. I have two bullets left, and the next one goes in your balls. If you haven’t told me by the third one, it’s going right here between your eyes. Because if you haven’t crumbled by then, you aren’t going to, and there’s no point in keeping you alive.”
She sounded perfectly calm and in control. It was laughable, because she was a shuddering, trembling mess on the inside. Katie was certain the senator would call her bluff, and then she’d have to see about shooting him, possibly even killing him. At that moment, driven to protect Lucas, she was certain she could have done so, but she didn’t want to. He was still the best way to find the baby; perhaps the only way, but only if he would talk.
He sputtered against her hand, and she cautiously moved it away, taking the tie with her. “Not a word except to tell me where Lucas is. Tell me. Quietly.” She pressed the gun deeper into his forehead for emphasis.
His eyes were wide now, and he was visibly shaken. “You shot me.”
She pulled back the gun and smacked the side of his face with it, making the senator cry out softly. Apparently, he had taken her warning about being quiet to heart, because the cry didn’t carry. “I’ll do more than shoot you in the knee if you don’t tell me where my son is!”
Looking sullen, the senator muttered an address. From the corner of her eye, she saw Armo writing it down. She locked eyes with Larenz, jerking her head in his direction. “Get over here and take the gun. We’re going to go make sure Lucas is where he claims. If not, we’re going to ensure the senator has hours of pain to contemplate telling us the truth.”
Larenz didn’t argue with her, and he looked faintly impressed as he stepped up beside her, t
aking the gun smoothly without moving away from the senator’s forehead. “Go find your son. Call us if and when you have him.”
“Katie took Armo’s hand when he offered it, clinging to it desperately as they hurried from the office. Before the door closed, she heard the senator ask Larenz, “What are you going to do to me?” She didn’t hear the reply, but she had some ideas. Dark, violent ideas that should have scared her, but only brought a pleasing surge of warmth at the moment as she imagined unleashing all of her rage on the man who had stolen her child.
Armo continue to hold her arm as they rushed the mansion. She held her breath as they passed the group of goons, half-expecting them to challenge their right to pass. None of them made any effort to do so, which was a relief, though she worried about leaving Larenz and Dante alone with six goons with guns and the untrustworthy senator. When she told Armo about her fears, he was calm.
“I’ll handle it.” A moment later, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket, auto-dialed a number, and spoke to whomever answered, issuing a brief command that they secure the mansion and the senator, with minimal casualties.
“Why?” she asked when he hung up.
“Why, what?”
“Why did you tell them to minimize loss of life?”
He seemed startled by the question as he looked at her briefly before returning his gaze to the road. “I kinda thought that’s what you’d want, but mainly I don’t want a big production. The last thing we need is a shootout garnering media attention, especially at Senator Adams’ residence. We’re just lucky he chose his own place rather than the governor’s mansion for the meeting, because there would have been a lot more staff and innocent people there.”
She nodded, not taking the time to enlighten him that she didn’t actually care if he kept bloodshed to a minimum with those people. Even the goons were complicit in stealing Lucas, whether they knew exactly what the senator had done. They had to realize he was an evil man, but they worked for him anyway.
The address the senator had provided was only a few blocks away, but it seemed to be an interminable distance. She shuddered when they entered an unsafe neighborhood, picturing the danger Lucas must be in if he was really being held in one of the buildings around here.
Less than five minutes later, Armo pulled up in front of an apartment building, taking only a moment to lock the doors after they had slipped out before taking her hand again and leading her to a set of stairs on the side of the complex. The apartment number was on the third floor, but there didn’t appear to be elevators.
She doubted they would have worked if they’d had any such conveniences anyway. It was a dirty, rundown, and dangerous neighborhood. She was convinced a thousand eyes were watching them malevolently as they rushed up the stairs and quickly located apartment three-eighteen.
She hung back when Armo waved her behind him. She was content to let him lead, since he had far more experience than she did. She gasped in surprise when he reared back and kicked open the door, not even bothering to ring the doorbell.
Frantic shouts filled the apartment, but in a language she didn’t recognize. As she and Armo entered the apartment they found two women running around in a panic.
Katie grabbed the nearest one, slamming the young woman against the wall. As the girl sobbed, she realized she was younger than she had thought, and she eased off a bit, trying not to let anger and mother bear instincts propel her to hurt someone who didn’t deserve it. “Where is my baby?”
The young woman shook her head, looking puzzled and no less terrified despite Katie’s attempts to be less intimidating.
“Baby? Wah?” She imitated a cry. At the girl’s continued look of confusion, she let go of her long enough to mime rocking the baby in her arms before patting her breasts, hoping she would communicate breast-feeding with the motion.
The girl’s expression changed slightly, indicating she now understood, and she pointed down the hall.
She moved away from the girl and hurried down the hallway, pushing past the other woman, who recoiled and hugged the wall as she passed.
Katie let out a small sob of relief when she entered the bedroom to find a pack-and-play. Clicking on the light, she hurried over to it and sobbed even harder when she recognized Lucas sleeping in the portable crib. He looked no worse for the wear, and when she lifted him, she discovered he smelled clean, and there was a can of formula on the table near the crib along with a freshly washed bottle.
He opened his eyes, instantly alert, and reached out to pat her face. When he gave her one of his wide smiles, relief filled her, and she hugged him tightly as she turned to leave the room, anxious to share her discovery with Armo.
He was waiting for them in the living room, blocking the doorway that would allow the women to exit. No one spoke, and she wasn’t certain if it was because of the language barrier, or if he was striving to be more frightening.
He lost all credibility a moment later when he saw Lucas in her arms and rushed from the doorway to embrace her, holding her against him as he hugged Lucas while pressing kisses to every exposed inch of the infant’s face. They reveled in the baby for a few moments, neither realizing the front door was open, and the women had gone until they both stiffened at the sound of sirens in the distance.
“We have to leave now.”
They rushed from the apartment and into the SUV. She was thankful that it was still parked where he’d left it and looked unmolested. That was a miracle considering the neighborhood. She experienced a strong surge of guilt when she fastened the seatbelt around herself and Lucas as Armo pulled away carefully. He didn’t drive above the speed limit, and she was careful to keep the baby low on her lap so no one realized that they had a child with them as they moved out of the neighborhood.
She held her breath when he had to pull over to the side of the road to allow three police cars with screaming sirens to pass, certain that at least one of the officers would pause to investigate the SUV. None of them did, and she could breathe easier again as Armo navigated through the neighborhood, finally leaving the squalid area behind. They were less than a block from a big-box store, and he pulled into the parking lot a few minutes later, tossing her his cell phone. “Call my brothers and let them know Lucas is safe while I run in to get a car seat.”
She took the phone and opened the address book, happy to see Larenz’s name listed. Her hands shook for a moment when she dialed the number, and then Larenz answered. He sounded cool and composed. “We have Lucas,” she said with a small sob. “He’s safe.”
“Excellent. Now to deal with the senator.” Larenz hesitated, and there seemed to be air of challenge to his words when he spoke again. “You know he has to be dealt with, don’t you?”
She nodded, though he couldn’t see that over the phone. “Yes, I understand, but I do have one request.”
Larenz let out a harsh sigh, as though bracing himself for something awful—like a plea for leniency. “What’s that?”
“Make him suffer,” she said with a surge of anger as Lucas squirmed in her arms, grinning up at her. She had no regrets as she ended the call without speaking another word. She had meant everything she’d said. She wanted the senator to suffer for what he had done to their family, and what he had nearly done to her child.
In that moment, in the throes of rage, she could clearly and easily understand how Armo had surrendered to his baser impulses and killed Agent Parsing when the other man had threatened her. He loved her, and so he had wanted to protect her. It was exactly the same with her child. She wanted to protect him from further harm, and she also wanted the senator to pay for what he had done.
If that made her a bad person, she could live with that.
Katie didn’t ask what they had done to the senator, or how they disposed of the body and covered their tracks. She briefly noticed the news frenzy about the missing senator, but still didn’t ask. It was a topic they didn’t mention over the next few days, and she was content to let it go. Wanting him
to suffer and knowing all the details were two different things, and she was careful to separate herself from it.
Separation was the only way to survive their lifestyle, and the activities in which the Moretti’s engaged. She’d found a way to move past her moral objections to their criminal ties by focusing on her family and its importance.
It was three days later, and they were cuddled on the couch with Lucas sprawled across his father’s lap, tugging playfully on Armo’s facial hair. Sometime in the past week as they’d searched for their baby and then spent time just basking in having him again, his whiskers had crossed the line from stubble to the beginnings of a beard. She was sure he would eventually trim it down again, but if not, she kind of liked the scruffier look. It made him look dangerous, which he was. She’d discovered she could be dangerous too, in the right circumstances, so seeing the proof of his dangerousness didn’t bother her.
“Is everything set for the fundraiser next Saturday?” she asked as their program went to a commercial.
He nodded, wincing as Lucas’ fingers burrowed into his whiskers. “Yes, everything’s in place. I’m confident we’ll raise at least six figures for Children’s Hunger Fund.”
“And other business?” she asked delicately.
Armo stiffened and looked at her. “We were hoping that Adams was just blowing smoke when he mentioned an investigation, but Larenz called in several favors and made contact with informants who assured him it’s true. Commissioner Faulkner is trying to put together a case against the Moretti family.”
Her heart thudded in her chest as she imagined what that could mean for the three of them. The idea of Armo being sent to prison alongside his brothers filled her with panic. Now that she had a complete family with him, she didn’t want to contemplate raising Lucas alone or planning her life around visiting hours at prison. “What are we going to do?”
He smiled despite the topic. “I like the use of we, love. You don’t need to worry though. Larenz has plan.”
She tipped her head slightly. “Is it a good plan? Is it a plan worth staking our family on, or should we get away now while we still can?”
