The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2) (48 page)

“You have to go. I’ll meet you there.” He pulled back and looked down the street, because he still didn’t trust that real cops weren’t going to show up. “Get out of here. Get my cousin out. Get my boys out. They need a reason to leave, and you’re a good reason. They’ll keep you safe until I get to you.”

Alaine took a shuddering breath and looked past Chuito to Marcos and the others behind him. “I don’t want to leave you in that house. Please—”

“I’ll repent,” he offered her, because it was all he could think of that might work. It was the one thing she’d asked of him when she thought she was going to die. “Let me take care of this, and I’ll repent for you, but I need to stay.”

Alaine took another deep breath. Her hands were still shaking as she held on to him, but then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. “I love you too.”

Chuito kissed her back, cupping her face for one long second he couldn’t afford. She was handling this much better than most women would. He’d underestimated her in that regard, and he planned to make it up to her. It was the only thing he could do.

He certainly couldn’t walk away from her now that she was neck-deep in the mafia bullshit. Nova would need her in.

For life.

If Nova hadn’t before, he did now, because she knew Tino had just caused a Russian apocalypse in that house, and Nova didn’t negotiate when it came to protecting Tino.

“Go.” He pulled away from her. “Get out. Right now. All of you.”

“Is Angel dead?” she asked in concern. “Or was that him I heard—”

“He’s dead,” Marcos answered for Chuito as he opened the driver’s-side door to his truck. “That motherfucker is
very
dead, chica.” Then he leaned past Alaine and looked at Chuito, who wasn’t letting go of Alaine any more than she was releasing him. He said sharply in Spanish, “You want me to protect her? Let me get her out of here.”

Chuito let Alaine go and stepped back. “I love you,” he repeated and then closed the door before she could respond.

Alaine crumple in the seat, her body shaking with sobs before Marcos was out of the driveway. Chuito watched them disappear down the street and then turned to go back into the house without another word.

“Chu—” Luis called out to him.

“Get out of here.”

Chuito didn’t even turn back. He knew they would listen to him as he walked back into the house. There was something symbolic about closing the door on them, saving his old crew by pushing them away and walking into the house to kill their last connection to crime.

The Italians were all still standing there, their guns in their hands, their suits still nicely creased and unwrinkled, pretty and clean despite the pools of blood and dead bodies.

Cold.

Uncaring.

Looking away from the hushed, quick debate in Italian Nova and Tino were having, likely over the phone, because Chuito noticed Nova had it in his hand now. Whatever Tino was saying seemed to have an effect on Nova, because he turned away after a second and looked to Chuito standing there.

“Everyone get out,” Nova said and then gestured to Junior standing in the corner, now dressed. “Take him with you. Wait for us outside.”

Chuito didn’t pay attention to the Italians leaving. He just pulled out his gun as he stared at the two injured Russians lying on the floor in the middle of the fallen bodies of their brothers.

And Angel, his hands still behind his head while he knelt there, now quiet as he stared at the floor, as if silently praying for some sort of reprieve.

“Okay, motherfuckers,” Tino announced from behind Chuito when the door closed and the last of their crew left them alone with the two Russians and Angel. “We’re gonna play a game of good gangster, bad gangster, and worse gangster. We’ll let you try and figure out which is which. That’ll make it more fun for everyone.” Tino stepped forward and looked down at the Russian he’d shot in the kneecap. “Who’s the informant?”

“I already told you I don’t know who the fucking informant is,” Angel growled before the Russians could answer. His shoulders were shaking, taking some of the fierceness out of his voice. “These pendejos found me. They threatened me. I didn’t have a choice about any of this bullshit.”

“That makes you useless,” Tino said in a singsong voice. “Not a good place to be in this particular game.”

“What did they want?” Nova asked in a calm, even voice. “How’d they threaten you? Tell me what you know, and maybe we can make a deal.”

“What?” Tino snapped at his brother.

“Let me do my thing, Valentino.” Nova gave Tino an annoyed look and then gestured to Angel and said in Spanish, “You can lower your hands. Look at me, cabrón.”

Angel lowered his hands and looked at Nova. “I swear, they threatened me, Moretti. I didn’t have anything to do with this.”

Chuito let out a low, bitter laugh and glanced to Nova, who held up a hand to Chuito and then turned back to Angel. “You gotta give me more than that.”

“We’re not making a deal,” Chuito assured all of them. “He doesn’t know anything.”

“They said they needed you.” Angel made a point to look at Nova instead of Tino and Chuito. “They knew you’d muscled in on my business, and they thought I’d help them.”

“You have no honor.” The Russian from upstairs finally spoke. His hand was pressed to the wound in his thigh that Alaine had left him with, but he was sitting up, clearly determined to face this like a man. “You betray us? You better hope the Italians end you. It won’t be so easy if we deal with it.”

“You’ll get your turn,” Tino growled. “You motherfuckers like being silent. Own your shit and shut the fuck up.”

The other Russian was sitting up too, his voice tight as he said something to his friend in Russian that made them both clam up.

“And don’t worry,” Chuito promised both of them. “It won’t be easy. I think I can give you comrade motherfuckers a run for your money.”

“I didn’t know!” Angel shouted. “They forced me! You hear how they are?”

“I helped your business.” Nova’s voice got icy. “I made it more profitable. Do you recognize I made it more valuable for you? That you were pocketing more green with me than without me. I gave you protection. From the heat. From other crews. I made you invincible, and you made a deal with these motherfuckers to whack me? You could’ve called me. You allied yourself with them instead.
Against me
.”

“I didn’t know they wanted to whack you,” Angel argued, his voice shaking. “How was I supposed to know that’s what they wanted?”

“Really?” Nova laughed. “What did you think they wanted to do?”

“I don’t know, bro.” Angel glanced to Chuito, his face noticeably paling. “I can offer you something. I can do something. Just keep him away from me and—”

“What can you offer me?” Nova countered, the underlying vein of fury slipping into his voice. “This is my brother.” He pointed to Tino. “We came out the same fucking womb, and seeing him hurt makes the only calm gangster in this room a little fucking irrational. So what are you going to offer to make up for helping these motherfuckers put him on his knees? For filming him? For making him do things that are going to haunt him?” Nova bent down and got in Angel’s face. “What are you going to give me to make up for it? I’m just
dying
to hear it. Make it good, ’cause you got one shot.”

“I have money.” Tears welled up in Angel’s dark eyes. “I’ll give you everything I have.”

“You think I’d sell my brother’s dignity for money?” Nova let out a bitter laugh and then turned back to Chuito and Tino. “Draw straws. He’s useless.”

Chuito didn’t want to debate with Tino on who got the chance to kill him. He kicked Angel in the face and knocked him to the floor. Angel screamed and tried to scramble to his feet, but Chuito kicked him again, catching him in the side, and growled in Spanish, “Try to run away, and I’ll make it worse. Go ahead. I dare you.”

Angel was never the smartest gangster. Chuito let him get to his feet and halfway to the door before he shot him, catching him in the back of his thigh.

Chuito wasn’t as good a shot as Tino, so he walked around and got to his knees as Angel screamed and writhed on the floor. He wanted to make sure he didn’t miss as he looked him dead in the face and held his gun to his crotch.

He didn’t even hesitate before pulling the trigger.

The sound out of Angel was earsplitting, making it obvious why the Italians favored this particular threat.

“Chu!” Tino shouted over the screaming. “Shut him up.”

Chuito sat down and pulled off one of his shoes, and in that time, Angel had the gall to try and scramble away again, so Chuito shot him in the balls once more.

Then he tugged off his sock and shoved it into Angel’s mouth, muffling his screams. Chuito just sat there, looking at his face contorted in agony. When Angel tried to pull the sock out, Chuito slapped his hand away and said, “Touch it again, and I’ll put another bullet in you, motherfucker.”

“You’re not gonna end it?” Nova asked, and Chuito turned to see him looking at Angel trapped on the floor, Chuito’s sock shoved in his mouth, the crotch of his pants coated in blood that was pooling around him.

“Nope.” Chuito shook his head as he went back to staring at Angel. “I like to watch.”

“I don’t like to watch,” Nova argued. “I don’t forget shit, Chuito.”

“I learned this from you,” Chuito reminded him.

“I’ve never actually done it,” Nova choked. “And we’re on a time restraint.”

“Don’t let me stop you.” Chuito looked over to the Russians, who were staring at Angel with a look of horror. “Tell me when you’re done with them, ’cause I’m not drawing straws. I get to watch all of them suffer. I deserve it.”

They were all silent for a long time after that, while Chuito just sat there, his gun pointed at Angel’s crotch as he stared at his face, daring him to try and take the sock out.

“I should shoot you again for talking about raping my mother,” Chuito said as he raised his eyebrows at Angel, who choked on another scream and tried to scoot away from Chuito. “Nope.” Chuito shook his head. “Move and I will do it. Lie there and fucking die for me while I watch.”

“Okay,” Tino cut in at that. “This is much more disturbing in person than I thought it was going to be. I mean, I knew you were vindictive, but Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Important note, never fuck with a Puerto Rican’s woman. Holy shit. Oh, but wait,” Tino said thoughtfully. “You two are sorta guilty of that, aren’t you? I think you were going upstairs to rape her, weren’t you?”

“No.” The Russian Alaine shot suddenly found his voice. “I wasn’t.”

“I think you were,” Tino argued. “In fact, we have video of it. Shall we watch it together? Sorta a distraction against this motherfucker dying a slow, painful death. I know I could use a distraction, and my brother hasn’t even seen the video yet. Would it upset you, Chu?” Tino asked lightly. “Watching that? We’d hate to upset you, ’cause we can all see that’s bad for any man’s sexual health.”

“What do you want to know?” the first Russian asked, his voice tight but quivering in a way it hadn’t before. “You’re going to kill us anyway.”

“Yes.” Tino’s voice became as cold and icy as his brother’s had earlier. “We’re definitely killing you, but we’re reasonable. So here’s my deal. Give my brother the information he needs, and I’ll make it quick. You won’t even feel yourself hit the ground.”

“Bullshit, Tino!” Chuito growled at him. “I get this. From all of them! I earned it! Fuck the heat. I’ll sit here and watch them all die like this, and I’ll spend the rest of my days rotting away in prison happy as fuck about it.”

“Aldo,” the first Russian said without hesitating. “That’s his name.”

“What?” Nova sounded so shocked Chuito turned around to see that all color had drained from Nova’s face. “You’re fucking with me.”

“Why would we fuck with you? We have no loyalty to the Italians. Our boss, he made a deal with Aldo. We kill you; he gives him free rein of the arms trade in New York and Miami. It was a valuable deal for our organization. You dying must have been important to him.”

“Who’s your boss?”

“Nikolai Aristov.”

Tino looked to Nova. His eyes were also wide as he asked, “Is he in bed with Aristov right now?”

“Currently, yes.” Nova turned back to the Russians again. “Aldo Moretti. That’s who hired you to kill me?”

The Russian nodded. “
Da
.”

“That can’t be right,” Tino argued and pointed his gun at the Russian. “Aldo is our grandfather.”

The Russian shrugged, completely fearless in the face of death. “You must have pissed him off, then, huh, comrade?”

“He wanted it to be the Russians,” Nova whispered almost to himself. “Turf bullshit over this motherfucker.” He gestured to Angel. “That wouldn’t be his fault. This was my deal. His hands would be clean. No one would think to blame him. Cazzo.”

“Is this true?” Tino asked him in wild disbelief. “Does the old man want you dead?”

“Apparently.” Nova still sounded dazed as he looked back to the door a sea of Moretti soldiers had just walked out of. “Merda, Tino, I did this. I gave the old man the fucking address. He asked, and I told him. I was gonna call him every hour or so to check in, and he was gonna send backup if I didn’t answer.”

“Yeah, but he knew I was here,” Tino argued. “He knows if they’re gonna come at you, I’ll kill a thousand Russians to stop it.”

“I didn’t tell him.” Nova let out a bitter laugh. “I didn’t want him to know about this clusterfuck. I told him it was business with the Puerto Ricans.” He turned back to the Russians. “What information did he want? Tino said you needed information from me?”

The Russian crew leader laughed. “Why should we tell you?”

“Chuito.” Nova tilted his head at the Russians. “If you don’t mind.”

Chuito pulled off his other shoe and was tugging his sock free from his foot when the other Russian answered for his boss, “Bank account passwords. All the numbers. He needed a list of all the accounts too.”

“Doesn’t the old man have those?” Tino asked his brother.

“No. There’s too many accounts for him to keep track of. He’s been letting me handle it for years. It made him lazy.” Nova looked grim. “After the whole thing with Romeo, I started changing the passwords every day. Just in case. I told Aldo it was for security purposes. I give him the information if he asks, but he must’ve thought it’d be too obvious to ask me today. He figured the Russians could get it out of me. Sorta nasty of him, considering all I’ve done for the Borgata.”