Chapter Twenty-Eight
Krampus
Rico’s body hits the floor, skull cracking against the unforgiving concrete as the bullet wound gushes with his blood. It was the perfect shot, and the asshole never saw me coming.
Mindy violently shakes on the floor, back ripped open, blood dripping down her back as it stains the pretty blue fabric. Even the front of her dress is tattered and torn, exposing parts of her breasts as she slowly lifts her head.
“Krampus?”
“I’m here, baby,” I cry, moving in to comfort her. She’s crying before I even reach her, shoulders sagging with relief the second she’s in my arms.
“I was so scared…” she mumbles, barely able to get out the words.
“I know, baby, but it’s over now. You’re safe.”
Moseley’s crouching on the floor in a fetal position with Voorhees’ gun pointed at him, ready to shoot. “You sick motherfucker!” he shouts, kicking the portly mob boss until he’s crying out in pain.
“Did you actually think you would get away with trafficking these women?”
Moseley’s body quakes as Voorhees delivers another powerful hit, this one to his face. He lets out a groan, blood dripping from his already bleeding face in rivers.
“You put a fucking hit out on me!” Voorhees rages. “I almost fucking died!” Then before any of us can stop him, the first bullet flies from his gun, severing an artery in Moseley’s thigh. The blood gushes out like a fountain, spraying everything within a few feet. “That was for my hit.”
Mindy cowers into my side, hiding her face in my shoulder. “I can’t watch this,” she whispers.
“Just look away, baby. We need to finish this so we know you’re safe.”
Voorhees fires another shot, this one through the shoulder.
“Voorhees, stop!” Drac demands, coming up behind him.
“He doesn’t get to live, Drac. Not this time. Not after everything he’s done.” The man is shaking with vengeance, his arms barely holding his gun steady.
“You don’t need to go back to jail,” Drac reminds him. “I won’t lose you again.”
Lupo appears beside them, just as Ombra helps a young woman from one of the rooms, the rest of his club marching out with young girls crying in their arms. Some not even old enough to have their periods yet.
This is just sick.
“Whatever happens here won’t get past those doors. We’ll scrub any evidence clean,” Lupo encourages. “The man deserves to die. Let him make his move.”
Drac relents, releasing his hold on Voorhees' arm just as he raises his gun.
“Please,” Moseley begs, clutching Voorhees' pant leg with his stubby little fingers. “Don’t kill me! It was all Rico! I had nothing to do with this.”
The girl in Ombra’s arms voice carries across the room as she shouts, “He lies! He’s the one who ordered the men to take me.”
“God, Moseley, you’d think you were smarter than that,” Voorhees growls, his anger increasing.
“Please! I have money. I’ll pay you anything.” He fishes out his phone, fumbling with it as he brings up his bank account. “See! I have more money than any of you will ever see in your lifetime. It’s yours. Just please don’t kill me.”
Drac and Voorhees exchange a look—a look I know all too well. This shit’s about to get very, very interesting.
“That’s a lot of zeros.”
Voorhees grins. “Definitely. Alright, Moseley, you got a deal. Transfer us thirty million US dollars, and we’ll spare your pathetic life.”
He pales, brow scrunching in anger. “Thirty million! That’s almost half!” he rages.
“How much is your life worth to you?” Voorhees shoots him again, this time right through the foot.
The sad excuse of a man hollers in pain, barely able to grit out his next words without getting shaky. “Okay. Okay. Thirty million.”
Violare appears holding his laptop. “I’ve got both of your accounts up, ready for the transfer. I just need his password.”
“Damn, you’re good,” Drac compliments.
Lupo smiles with pride. “He’s the best.”
With a shaky hand, Moseley puts in his passcode, making the transfer; the thirty million appears in our club’s account immediately. “There, it’s done.”
“Not so fast,” Voorhees demands. “Now transfer the rest of it to them.” He nods to Lupo, who is standing with his arms crossed, that ‘don’t fuck with me’ look plastered on his face as a warning.
He wasn’t expecting any money, but we wouldn’t have found this place without his club’s help, and there’s no way Drac or Voorhees would’ve left them empty-handed.
“Are you crazy! Then I’ll be left with nothing for me!”
“You’ll be left with your life.”
The second Voorhees raises his gun again, Moseley panics. “Okay, okay. I’ll do it! I made the money once, I’ll do it easily again.”
Violare sets up another transfer, and Moseley reluctantly makes the deal.
“Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Moseley,” Violare exclaims, shutting the laptop before he disappears out the door.
“I swear, when I heal up and survive this, I’m coming after you all. I’ll fucking have your heads when I’m through with you.”
Voorhees smirks, then fucking fires his gun, the single bullet shattering through Moseley’s skull like a pinball game.
“Who said you’d survive this?” Voorhees growls, spitting on the lifeless body of the man who tried to sell me to the highest bidder.
Lupo takes the gun away from him and wipes off the prints. “You guys better get going. We got it from here.”
“Are you sure?” Drac questions, looking at the seven dead bodies in the room.
Lupo nods once. “This is an Italy problem. You enjoy your vows. This day should’ve been marked with laughter and happiness, not blood.”
“I don’t know how to thank you,” I tell him, coming up behind him with Mindy still clutching me tighter than she ever has. “I wouldn’t have saved my girl if it weren’t for your club.”
Lupo looks over at Ombra and his sister, a strange look of longing in his eye.
“You’ve done more to help us than you’ll ever understand.
Consider us even.” He takes the gun from my hand, then wipes the prints off it too.
“We’ll clean up this mess. You go back to America and live a life free of fear. ”
Drac scrubs the back of his neck. “I wish it were that easy, but Moseley and Nostra aren’t our only enemies.”
Lupo nods. “There are always new enemies lurking somewhere.” He shakes Drac’s hand. “If you’re ever in Italy again, seek us out. We’re always looking for new members of our brotherhood.”
Mindy flinches when she sees Moseley’s body twitch, unable to stop her tears.
“He’s not alive,” I whisper. “You don’t have to be afraid. You’re safe now.”
“Are you sure?”
My gaze falls on the man who played so recklessly with her life. “At least from him. Consider your contract with him canceled.”
She tries to fake a smile, but fails.
“What about my shop?”
Violare suddenly appears out of nowhere, holding a long piece of paper in his hands. “Looks like you own the building now,” he says with a devious smile.
She stares at the paper with wide eyes.
“What is this?”
He smirks. “It’s the deed to your building. I had it drafted up and changed to your name. Don’t worry, everything is legal.”
“Are you serious?”
Violare nods. “Yup, it’s easy what you can accomplish when you know the right people. Oh, and those videos he had of you in the shower and bedroom. Those are erased too.”
“How did you know?” I question.
Lupo comes up behind me and places a friendly hand on my shoulder. “Violare always knows. Now get out of here. It won’t be long before the polizia get here.”
“Again, I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Just take care of your girl. You never know how much time you have left with them,” Lupo cryptically replies, motioning for his club to start cleaning shit up just as I lead Mindy out the door.
“Is it really over?” she asks me, voice shaking with worry.
I kiss her lips, enjoying the way she melts against me even though she’s shivering and in pain.
“This chapter yes, but we still have enemies out there.”
She nods like she’s agreeing to something she doesn’t quite understand. “That’s okay. As long as I’m by your side, I know I’ll always be safe.”
And she will be.
Once I get her back to Nevada, I plan on making shit official, and trying for that baby both of us so desperately wish for.
Misfits be damned.