Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
Milo
Doing this sort of job came naturally to me.
Extracting information from a potential enemy was something my father had taught me at an early age.
But if there was one important lesson I’d learned over the years, it was that not every situation was the same, and some could go off the rails in a New York minute.
Get them to fear you from the tone of your voice and they start talking. The sheer, unspoken threat of mortality when facing an Accettis’ deadly stare did wonders for purging the soul.
Pier 57 had been the spot of preference when my family needed a secluded area to take care of matters that had to be handled away from the public.
My men had been working over this particular rat who sat in front of me shivering and bleeding, but he still wasn’t talking. It was time for me to step in.
“Do you know who I am?” I patrolled in front of him .
“Milo Accetti.” His weak voice was barely audible, but I imagined that was from all the throat shots he had taken in the last few hours. “Everyone knows you.”
“Then you know my reputation. You know my family runs this city.”
He nodded.
“I’m not understanding why you would be stupid enough to steal from me.”
“I didn’t.”
“A man who would steal from me would lie to me too.”
When I glanced at Ax, he took the rope he had been so patiently waiting to use and put it around our guest’s neck from behind and held it tight against his throat.
“Wait!” the man managed to yell out in a hoarse attempt to plead for himself. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?” I asked. “Don’t make you pay for stealing three of my cars?”
“I didn’t do that.” He tugged on the rope, but Ax’s clutch was too strong for him to find any relief.
“The camera footage on my delivery truck said otherwise. We were able to identify you and two others, but you were of the most interest to me since this wasn’t your first rodeo.” I crouched in front of him. “You have ties to several prominent people in my world, don’t you?”
“I’m just making a living. I go where the work takes me.”
“How you make your living is of no concern to me unless it affects my bottom line.” I patted his thigh.
“You see how that works? Of course, I know you didn’t mastermind that heist yourself.
I’ve looked into you, and I know you don’t have the resources to pull something like that off.
You needed someone with deep pockets. Someone who has a death wish for provoking me. ”
“I swear, I didn’t know you were the target.”
“I might buy that.” I pointed at Ax. “Maybe I’ll even let him go easy on you, but you have to give me something in return.”
“What do you want?”
“Names,” I said. “Who took my cars?”
“I… I was paid in cash by a middleman.” He glanced around the room. “I don’t know who I worked for. I did what they told me to do, and I got paid.”
When I nodded at Ax, he tightened the rope around the thief’s neck. His eyes widened as he gagged.
“It’s only going to get worse for you.” I stood. “I promise, I’m not leaving until you give me what I want or you stop breathing. The choice is yours.”
“I don’t have what you’re looking for.” He tugged at the rope around his neck. “Please.”
“There is no need to make this difficult. You tell me who hired you, and I’ll let you go.”
“I can’t.” His lips turned purple as he gasped for air. “Please.”
There was a pretty good chance he was telling the truth. Most of these guys didn’t know who had hired them. We never found who was responsible for murdering my mother because the person who planted the bomb swore up until Marchello shot him that he didn’t know who hired him.
My best bet was to let him go and then keep an eye on him. Eventually, whoever paid him would come after him if they knew I was suspicious. They’d want to keep him quiet.
“I’ll start with your bank information,” I said. “I could hack into it, but that would take time, especially if it was wired into an off-shore account.” I looked at Ax and held up my hand. “Let him have some air.”
Once Ax released him, he fell to the floor, heaving as he touched his throat.
“It isn’t that easy.” He licked the blood from his swollen lip. “You don’t understand.”
“Keep him here overnight,” I said to my men. “If he survives the frigid temperatures, I’ll be back in the morning to see if he has any new information for me. Jog his memory a bit.”
A gust of wind whizzed by me followed by a round of quick blasts. Ax shielded me with his body as I pulled out my gun. My other guys took cover, defending us with a round of bullets.
“Fuck!” I dropped my gun when a burning sensation shredded the side of my hand.
“Are you okay?” Ax picked up my gun as we hurried to the exit that led to the water. “I have trinity three,” he yelled to the other guards.
I glanced over my shoulder and spotted our thief sprawled out on the pier floor with a single gunshot wound to the head. A sharpshooter had taken him out. Fuck!
In the distance, the sounds of sirens came toward us. The rest of my men followed behind once the shooting stopped.
“That was fast,” Ax said.
Too fast.
“Clear out of here,” I said. “Someone tipped the cops off before the shooting started. Go underground and make contact with Lucas once you’re there.”
They took off down the pier. I couldn’t leave anyone behind with the cops so close.
“We’re going to have to leave the body.” I checked my hand as warm blood trickled down my wrist. “Get me back to the main house. ”
“You were hit.” Ax pointed at my hand. “Is it bad?”
“It’s nothing.” I hustled in the direction of the car. “We have to go.”
Ax did a scan of the pier before covering me to walk across the deserted docks. This area was too isolated for us to be spotted, which meant there were no businesses to install security cameras.
Once we reached the car, Ax pulled a knife from his ankle strap and quickly removed the plate on the back of the SUV. He looked up at me. “They’ll record us coming over the bridge into Jersey. I have the dummy plates in the trunk.”
“Hurry up.” I opened the passenger door and climbed in.
As Ax took care of the plates, I removed my tie and wound it around my hand, stopping the blood from spilling onto the leather seat. The graze wasn’t that bad. The sting was worse than the cut.
Ax got in and took off just as the lights from the police vehicles flashed behind us.
“Take your time getting out of here. We don’t need to get pulled over on the way back,” I said. “I need to get to the main house before the cops. I have to establish a timeline.”
“You think they’ll trace this back to you?” Ax kept his eyes on the road. “We were careful.”
“They took him out because they knew we had him. They made sure the police were minutes away, hoping we wouldn’t have reacted as quickly as we did. Even if we were careful, the cops will start with me, because this is Accetti territory.”
I grabbed my phone from my inside pocket and dialed Lucas.
“Milo,” he answered. “How did it go? ”
“Meet me at the main house.” I rested my head against the seat. “I’m going to need my attorney.”
Thirty minutes later, Ax delivered me to the house. I left him in the garage to handle the license plate situation. His impressive instincts and swiftness in sheltering me were commendable. I had sent several of our best guys with Marchello and my father. I’m glad I kept Ax with me.
On the car ride here, I filled Lucas in on what had happened. He agreed that the cops would want to question me and they probably wouldn’t wait until morning. As far as they were concerned, I had an alibi. I just had to get my newest companion on board with the plan.
“Sable!” I shouted as I came through the foyer. I needed to fill her in as quickly as possible.
Ricardo met me in the hallway. “Are you okay?” he asked. “You’re bleeding.”
“It was just a graze.” I held out my hand, noting my blood-soaked tie. It was my favorite Armani tie. “Sable!”
“The other guys who were with you tonight are all safe and are staying low.” Ricardo walked to the kitchen with me. “What do you need from me?”
“If the cops come, I need you to say I was here all night.”
“Done,” he replied.
When I entered the kitchen, Sable and Chance were by the back door. She fidgeted with her hands, and Chance didn’t make eye contact with me. What the hell is he up to?
“Milo.” She hurried toward me and reached for my hand. “You’re bleeding.” She looked me up and down. “Are you hurt?”
“It’s nothing.” I snatched my hand away from her. “I’m going to clean it up, but first I need you to do something for me.”
“What is it?”
“There’s a possibility the police are going to show up here tonight.” I took my jacket off and draped it over the kitchen chair. “If that happens, you need to say I was with you tonight.”
“You’re asking her to lie?” Chance asked. “Are you crazy?”
“No, but clearly you are if you think you can talk to me that way,” I said. “Why are you here?”
“Haven’t you taken enough from her?” Chance looked at Sable. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Where will you go?” I stalked toward him. “When are you going to realize I’m the one who takes care of her now? I can do that much better than you’ll ever be able to.”
Chance lowered his gaze to the floor.
“Ricardo, take him back to the pool house and keep him there. If he gives you any trouble, shoot him.”
“Milo!” Sable raised her voice.
“If your brother gets shot, it’s on him.” I shrugged. “All he has to do is listen to Ricardo and he’ll be okay. I don’t need the aggravation tonight.”
“Let’s go.” Ricardo opened the back door.
“No!” Chance glared at me. “Sable, you don’t have to tell the police he was here. You don’t owe him anything. Don’t lie for him.”
“I’m losing my fucking patience with you.” I pointed at Ricardo. “Get him out of here, right now. ”
“You heard Milo.” Ricardo grabbed Chance’s arm. “Let’s leave so Milo and Sable can figure this out.”
“Chance,” Sable said. “Please, don’t be a problem.”
“I’m not the fucking problem!” He tugged out of Ricardo’s hold. “Don’t let him talk you into doing something you’ll regret.”
Ricardo shoved Chance out of the kitchen and shut the door behind them.
“He’s only alive because he’s your brother.” I held up my hand. “Don’t fucking tell me he’s young and stupid. Don’t enable him.”
“What happened to your hand?” She touched the bloody tie. “Can I see?”
“I told you it’s nothing.”
“Let me see.” She led me over to the sink and unwrapped the tie, revealing the injury.
“It’s just a scrape.” I turned on the water and then tossed the tie in the trashcan under the sink. “I need you to listen to me.”
“You can talk while I clean that,” she said. I flinched when the water washed over the cut. “What happened?”
“There was an incident that was out of my control,” I said. “You don’t need the details, but I do need you to say I was here tonight.”
“Why are the police coming?”
“Because of the incident.” I removed my hand from the running water and turned off the faucet. “What they’re coming here to accuse me of, I didn’t do, but they can haul me in and make my life chaotic for the next day or so. I don’t have time for that. Not with my father and my brother away.”
“You can’t tell me what happened? ”
“The less you know, the better. You can’t tell the cops what you don’t know.”
This was a big ask. I wanted her to lie for me. If she didn’t do it, I could still maneuver my way out of this, but if she agreed, I would know she was with me. I could trust her in a way I never trusted another woman before.
When she inched closer to me, I lulled her into an embrace and kissed the top of her head, breathing in the warm vanilla scent of her hair. She calmed me with little effort. She wrapped her arms around me and held me close, resting her head on my shoulder.
“Milo.” Lucas stood in the archway. “They’re pulling up now.”
“Right on cue.” I let go of Sable. “If you’d rather not be here for this, you should go upstairs.”
Stay with me.
“What about your hand?” she asked.
“It’s fine.”
“No.” She went to the wine cabinet and grabbed a bottle from the top rack.
“You want to have a drink now?” What the hell is she thinking?
“Milo,” Lucas said. “You have to focus.”
Sable took two wine glasses from the wet bar on the other side of the kitchen and brought them over to the counter.
“Sorry,” she said.
“For what?”
“This.” She hit one against the sink, shattering it. “You have to be careful with the glass or you could cut your hand.”
“Smart girl.” I grinned. “You can bring the detectives to the kitchen, Lucas. Sable’s got this. ”
“You know the drill, Milo,” Lucas said. “Sable, you don’t have to answer any questions other than if they ask if Milo was here tonight. Otherwise, I’ll do the talking.”
“Okay.” She tucked her hair behind her ear as Lucas left to greet the police. “We should bandage that.”
“Wait.” I gripped her arm before she could turn away. “This means a lot to me.”
“I want to help you.”
“By doing this, it makes you an accomplice. It brings you deeper into my world.” I squeezed her arm. “Are you absolutely sure that’s something you want?”
“I want you and everything that comes with you.” She stretched up on her toes and kissed me. “I’ll stand by your side, because that’s where I belong.”
By my side was where I wanted her, even if that meant putting her in harm’s way. I was arrogant enough to think that I could protect her from anything. Consequences be damned.