Chapter 19 #2
“I wasn’t there, so I couldn’t break his hands in the moment.
His punishment for touching what’s mine.
But Harrison was there, and he would’ve stepped in if the dude crossed a line.
She’s got a date planned for this evening.
” I flash a savage, feral smile and thrill in the fury beating through my veins.
“Second day in a row I’ll intervene and ensure my marriage stays intact. ”
“Second day in a row?” He bounds up from his chair and shoots a wary look toward the door.
Ensuring we’re alone, probably. Then he brings his focus back to me.
“She’s working her way along the list, isn’t she?
” He bites out a furious snarl. “She and Soph are hunting these pricks down and…” He can’t say the word, not while we’re in the belly of a police station.
Instead, he brings his hand up and makes the slashing motion across the front of his throat. “Isn’t she?”
“She’s trying.”
“And you?”
“Intercept. She thinks last night’s date stood her up because of a business meeting he couldn’t escape.” I shake my head. “He was with me. Now he’s sleeping. Permanently.”
“Dude!” He swings his gaze back to the door. “You can’t just—”
“I can. I am. Harrison’s riding Minka every minute of the day she’s not with me.
She’s on the phone to Soph, planning their hits and coordinating their little Barbie Doll militia.
Every morsel of information they share, he overhears and feeds it back to me.
That way, I’m staying two steps ahead of my wife and keeping her out of the crosshairs.
She has a date planned with a dude on the list tonight.
Too bad I made a more tempting offer. He’ll meet me, not her, and when it’s done, he’ll be sorry he ever crossed me. ”
“But you’re… if you’re…” He scratches his inch-long hair and frowns. “You’re doing the exact thing she’s doing. Different methods, but it’s still the same mission.”
“So?”
“So this is the reason you sent her away! You were pissed, you fought about it, and now we’re in this mess. If you were gonna do the work anyway, why not just collaborate with her? Two brains are better than one, and it would save Delicious from feeling like you gave up on her!”
“Those are two separate situations.” I point toward the board. “The daughter’s boyfriend—”
“One topic,” he snaps, snatching the marker and lobbing it across the room. It bounces from the carpet to the wall, then back to the floor again. “One fucking thing at a time. How are these two different situations? Your entire fight is because—”
“Our fight was because we’re both hotheads who care more about saving the other than staying safe. We fought because that’s what we do. If I’d had five more fucking minutes, I would’ve come around and suggested, as you have: working with her.”
“Instead, she got in the car and left,” he grits out. “And when she realized she, too, is an idiot hothead, she called home and said she was coming back. But you told her not to.”
“I told her not to, because in the fifteen minutes she was gone, word had somehow gotten back to Cordoza. All of her hard work convincing the prick I didn’t kill Agosti was for naught.
As a result, he had no choice but to act.
Even if she didn’t take my name, she’s a Malone.
Therefore, the rules had been broken. One family hit another. ”
“So you…” Frustrated, he growls. “What? You tossed her to the fuckin’ wolves? Here, Boss. She did it, not me. Don’t hurt me.”
“No, dickhead. Agosti was the last of his family, which means no one is out here looking to punish his killer. Minka, on her own, is not a target for anyone in New York. But one family hitting another? It forces Cordoza to act. If I separate Minka from the family, his obligation to squish people I care about ceases.”
“So instead of having her back, you toss her in the trash?” He throws his hands in the air. “This is worse than when I just thought you were a stubborn mule. This is worse than ‘hey, my wife killed a guy, and I’m cranky about it, so imma need a minute’.”
“You need to calm the fuck down.” I cast a wary glance toward the door. “You’re inside a police station right now, Charlie.”
“Your wife did something good for society. Putting the law and ethics and personal opinions aside, Agosti was a predator and a piece of shit. We saw firsthand the little girls he’d swept off the street and sold to someone else.
My daughter is almost the same age as the youngest in that group, Arch!
Mayet did what others were not brave enough to do, but instead of her husband backing her up, he tucks his tail and kowtows to the don? ”
“I kowtow to no one,” I snarl, stalking three paces forward and meeting his furious eyes.
“But I will walk the line to ensure we both live. Cordoza favors her, so he’s pulling strings in New York and smoothing some shit out.
In the meantime, I’m wiping the table clean every time she finds a mark and sets him up to be chopped down.
I’m working two sides right now, and if I slip, it all comes undone. ”
“Cordoza gave you permission to whack those guys on the list?” he sneers. “Agosti is off-limits, but you have the old dude’s blessing to delete the rest?”
“None of the names belong to a New York founding family, so Cordoza has no clue what I’m doing, and wouldn’t care even if he did.
Minka doesn’t know what I’m doing, either.
But that’s why I look tired, asshole. That’s why I’m stressed.
And that’s why I’m keeping her away. I’m juggling chainsaws right now, and if you shout Minka or delete one more fucking time while we’re standing inside a police precinct, I might be inclined to put your name on the list, too.
Don’t fret about Mia; she’ll always have a home with Cato.
And since he’s so selfless and kind, he’ll probably lead Fifi toward his bed. Ya know, to keep the family intact.”
“Remember the other day when I rearranged your fuckin’ face?” His nostrils flare with unconcealed rage. “I’m ready for round two.”
“So swing.” I glance at his swollen, adrenaline-filled chest, then further down to his balled fists.
“Swing on me and get us both suspended. Fabian’s already looking for a reason to knock our skulls together.
If I’m going down, I wouldn’t mind having your blood on my knuckles while we’re sitting in the holding cells. ”
“Getting my ass arrested only furthers Cato’s mission of romancing Sera and adopting my daughter.
” He makes a show of unclenching his hands, of stretching his fingers, and cracking his knuckles.
“I’d rather do something safer. Like help you hunt the pricks Minka is hunting.
” He turns on his heels, his shoulders jacked and pumped full of blood.
Circling the table and sweeping up the marker, he peers back and smirks. “Can I help?”
I choke on a scoff and crush my palms to my eyes. Because I honestly thought we were gonna roll, and the adrenaline sizzling in my veins only makes my knees shake more. “Fuck.” I draw a noisy, lung-aching breath. Then I drop my hands and exhale. “I’ve set up an auction for tonight.”
He lowers into the chair he began in, flopping down and dropping his legs open wide. “An auction for what?”
“Girls.” I tilt my head left and wait for the pop of my neck.
Then I go right and do the same on the other side.
“Soph conveniently collated a list of buyers just for me, and I have the details of seventeen girls these pricks wanna buy. Agosti disappeared with their money, as far as they’re concerned, but the stock is still in the city. ”
“Because they’re on the news.” He tilts his head forward, sighing and resting his chin on his chest. “Okay. So you’ve reached out to the buyers and invited them to an auction. Is this an on-the-book, Fabian-approved police sting? Or is it the kind of thing we never tell the brass about, ever?”
“The second. I removed one last night and made it appear like he packed up and ran. As the girls’ investigation proceeds and these details are discovered, it’ll appear as though Abate got spooked and went into hiding.”
“Where is he really?”
I flash a wild, wide smile. “Industrial warehouse by the train depot. They were pouring fresh concrete yesterday.” I shrug. “I have it on good authority he stumbled and fell in.”
“Jesus.” He snorts. “Ya know, most of the time, you’re just you.
Little ol’ Detective Malone. My best friend.
The coolest uncle who knows the power of buying a little girl’s affection with an ice cream cone.
But sometimes…” He brings his eyes up, locking onto mine.
“Sometimes you’re Timothy Malone the Second’s son.
It would do me well to never forget that. ”
“You’re safe, ‘cos I love your daughter. Detective Banks, on the other hand, is about to swallow concrete if he doesn’t stop looking at me sideways every time we’re in the same room.”
“Well…” Fletch’s lips quirk into a crooked smile. “To be entirely fair, his problem with you is that he suspects you’re dirty, ‘cos of where you come from. Bad seeds, bad apples, ya know?”
“I’m not dirty!”
“And to prove it,” he brushes his hand over his lips, hiding his smile, “you threaten to put him in a concrete slab.”
“I’m…” I stop and frown. “Shut up.”
“I’m just sayin’!” he laughs. “If we’re looking at this objectively, he might be the good guy and you, my dear friend, may be the villain with a scar on his face.”