Chapter 43
43
Reuben walked into Alejandro’s office at the Circus of the Dark, nodding to the Scot who stood guard outside the door. Cairn was standing guard at the bottom of the stairs.
Alejandro glanced up with a nod at him. “Wasn’t actually certain you’d come.”
Reuben just raised an eyebrow as he sat across from him.
“Thought you might be too busy with Faith.” Alejandro’s lips twitched as though he was holding back a grin.
“I just dropped her off where she’s staying.” Which he hated. He wanted her with him.
And he knew she wanted to be with him, too. Even if she’d been grumpy about having to write lines before he’d taken her home.
“So you didn’t kidnap her and lock her in your lair?”
“Of course not. That’s more your style.” He was alluding to how Alejandro had once locked Cat in his home.
“It is,” Alejandro agreed.
“She’ll be in my apartment by the end of the week,” Reuben said confidently.
Alejandro nodded.
“Did you bring her things?” Reuben asked.
Faith had been nervous about going back to her friend’s house without her coat. He didn’t like that. It was just a fucking coat. Surely, her friend wouldn’t worry about it being returned a few days late.
Yes, Faith would definitely be living with him by the end of the week.
“No. Cat is insisting on returning them in person. They’re going to become friends.” It was a statement from Alejandro. One he wouldn’t argue with.
Alejandro was his friend. His employer. He’d helped save his life when he’d gotten into trouble with the Venturos a few years back.
But Cat would always come first.
Which was the way it should be.
“Of course. Faith already likes her. She just needs the coat back. She thinks her friend will be upset with her.”
Alejandro nodded. “All right.”
“Oh, and I’m ruining Leonard for talking to Faith the way he did.” Fucking asshole.
Alejandro waved his hand in the air. “He thinks he’s a big fish, but he’s no one. I kept him hanging to see if I could use him in anyway, but I have no problem with you taking him out. I’ll help you in whatever way I can.”
“Good.”
“We need to talk about Venturo’s death,” Alejandro told him.
“What have you discovered?”
Reuben wasn’t really worried about the death of the former head of the Venturo family. Former head because the Venturo family was no more.
They’d been completely wiped out a few years ago after they’d come after Reuben for refusing to defend one of them.
The asshole in question had been one of Abel Venturo’s sons, Jasper. A child abuser.
Reuben had defended some terrible people. Everyone deserved a defense, right?
Everyone but child abusers.
Well, at least, he would never defend them. And after he’d made it clear to Abel Venturo that not only would he not defend his son, but that he’d do everything he could to ensure that he was punished for a long, long time, the Venturos had come after him.
Alejandro had helped him get rid of the problem. They’d found evidence to get Jasper charged with child abuse on top of his other charges. He’d been killed in prison.
His friend had also provided him with protection while they’d worked together to take over Venturo’s business interests. Which also meant taking out most of the family.
Except for the innocents.
Abel should have died as well, but the Feds had gotten to him first and he’d been sent away for money laundering and human trafficking.
With nothing left and stuck in a cell, Abel’s life was reduced to nothing. Not that he didn’t deserve it. The fucker had known that his son was abusing his grandson and was still defending the bastard.
He deserved everything he got.
So Reuben felt slightly annoyed that his miserable existence had ended early.
“I’ve gotten a few reports,” Alejandro said, leaning back in his chair. “They think he actually died Tuesday, maybe during the storm.”
Hmm.
“And no one noticed he was dead for days? Seriously?”
“He was in solitary confinement at the time.”
Yeah, Reuben wasn’t buying any of that and he knew Alejandro wasn’t either.
“Someone whacked him?” Reuben asked. “But why? He wasn’t anything to anyone anymore.”
“Officially, it’s a heart attack. Unofficially, I’ve yet to find anyone talking. Which doesn’t make me happy.”
Reuben felt the same. If someone had killed Abel Venturo, he wanted to know why.
“We could ask Tariq,” Alejandro said. “Venturo wouldn’t be someone he would take an interest in, but he might know someone to ask.”
“I’m thinking about killing Tariq.”
Alejandro raised his eyebrows. “I’m not against it, although I am curious about why.”
“He called Faith sweet and delicious.”
“Yeah, let’s get the bastard,” Alejandro said seriously.
Reuben sighed. “We can’t. Not yet. We might need him.”
Tariq was building an empire and someone they were both watching carefully.
He had a foot in with the city’s wealthy and famous and he liked to gather secrets to use when it suited him. Blackmail, extortion, he was good at it all. And his spies were everywhere.
Even though he’d never gone against them, Reuben wasn’t sure that he could fully trust him.
And no matter what that asshole liked to claim. They weren’t friends.
“He wants me to do some work for him. I’ll ask him to keep his ears open as payment.”
Alejandro nodded. “I think we can trust him as long as our goals align, but if he decides we’re against him, he will do whatever is necessary to take us out.”
Reuben agreed. “Still doesn’t mean we can’t use him.”
“Don’t promise him anything.”
Reuben shot him a droll look. “I know what to do.”
“I have heard one interesting thing. About a month before his death, Abel met with his lawyer.”
Reuben frowned. “About what?”
“I don’t know. And apparently, the lawyer has gone missing.”
That wasn’t suspicious at all.
“I’ve got Nighthawk searching for him.” Alejandro tapped his fingers against the arm of his chair.
“You really think this is a problem? Venturo had no one left, right?”
Alejandro hummed. “There’s always someone . . . I don’t like the coincidence of him meeting a lawyer who disappears, and then Venturo mysteriously dies. And not being found for several days? That doesn’t sound right. I’ve also got Nighthawk looking into the guards who should have checked on him.”
Reuben nodded. Maybe Alejandro was overreacting. Maybe not. But it was always best to be prepared.
“Onto the new police chief. I’ve heard a few rumors about a taskforce he’s putting together,” Reuben said. “And none of it sounds good. In fact, it sounds like he’s about to stick his nose firmly into our business.”
Alejandro frowned. “He’s becoming more of a problem than I’d anticipated. We may need to shift some product around.”
His phone buzzed and he glanced down, his body filling with warmth as he saw it was his girl messaging him.
Faith: SOS
What the fuck? He jumped to his feet.
“What is it?” Alejandro asked.
“It’s Faith. She’s in trouble.” And he wasn’t close to her. Reuben knew he should have trusted his instincts and insisted that she stay with him.
If anything happened to her . . . he wasn’t sure he would be able to contain his fury.