The Queen’s Gambit #2
I gasped. “That was you in the underground garage, wasn’t it? You were the third man in the SUV. You were there watching your thugs shoot at us.”
“Pity they missed,” he said mildly. “It would have saved everybody a whole lot of trouble.”
I blew out a breath as he took out his phone. He’d lowered the hand holding the gun but hadn’t holstered it. One false move and I’d get a bullet through my head. I had no doubt Vincent was capable of that.
“It won’t work,” I whispered. “He doesn’t care.”
“But he does care about his family,” Vincent insisted. “And he’ll care when I threaten to tell the Colombians. You’re just the frosting on top of the cake. The added insurance thrown in for good measure.”
A wave of nausea swept over me, and if I hadn’t been sitting down, I’d have fainted. Maybe I was slightly concussed after all, or maybe Vincent was just making me ill with his ruthless betrayal.
“Let’s test the theory, shall we?”
I swallowed hard as he dialed Dante’s number. He pressed the speaker button and set the phone down on the ground in front of me.
I froze as Dante’s voice tore through the warehouse.
“Vincent? Where the hell are you? I’ve been trying to get hold of you—”
“I have something that belongs to you,” Vincent said, interjecting calmly.
Dante broke off. I could hear heavy breathing on the line.
A long beat passed, and I could only imagine what was going through his head. It didn’t take him long to understand.
“You’re already dead,” Dante said, his voice icy with rage. “But if you touch one hair on her head, I’ll make you wish you’d never lived.” I could hear he meant it, and a pang of longing shot through me, so intense it took my breath away.
Vincent snorted and turned to me. “Seems you were wrong, my dear. He does still care.”
I heard Dante growl on the phone. “I’m warning you, Vincent. One fucking hair.”
“No, you’re not,” Vincent snapped. “Because she’s not all I’ve got.”
My heart twisted painfully in my chest. I knew what was coming. I knew the loaded gun he held over Dante, and it wasn’t me.
“I’ll let Evelyn tell you.” The traitorous weasel nodded at me to go ahead.
My voice was hoarse and broken. “He knows, Dante. He knows about the plan with the Russians.”
There was a stunned silence on the other end of the line.
“Don’t worry, she didn’t tell me,” Vincent said mockingly. “I found out about that all by myself. Valentina’s not the only one who knows how to move pieces around a chessboard, you know. And you forget, I know how she operates.”
They used to be friends. I remembered Dante telling me. I wondered what could have happened to make him so bitter now.
“Where is she?” Dante demanded. Hearing the strain in his voice made my chest ache.
Vincent ignored him.
I got it then. He’d been in love with Valentina, many years ago.
Dante had said he thought there’d been something between them.
Except she’d married Filippo and been absorbed into the Marcelli clan.
Then when her husband had died, she’d taken over his role.
Any hope Vincent had of being with her had been dashed by her alliance to the family.
Dante gave a frustrated growl and Valentina came on the line.
“What do you want, Vincent?”
Vincent crouched down in front of the phone but kept his gaze pinned on me. He issued his demands. Back off the gallery, give the pipeline to the Colombians, and transfer a hundred million into a Swiss bank account.
I gasped. “That’s not what you said before.”
He had the audacity to wink at me. “You don’t think I’m going to hang around for your boyfriend to find me, do you?”
“You know we can’t do that,” was Valentina’s cool reply. My chest tightened. If they weren’t willing to back off, I was as good as dead. Then again, I doubted Vincent would have let me live anyway. Not with the cartel after my gallery.
“I haven’t told the cartel yet,” Vincent continued. “Or Malakov. But I will.”
“Go ahead,” she said easily. “We’ve got nothing to hide.”
I tensed. What game was Valentina playing now?
Then I got it. She knew. Maybe not every detail, but enough. Enough that there was no surprise in her voice. No outrage. Just calculated calm.
“And why is that?” he asked coldly.
“Because it’s you who’s been playing everybody off against each other. You’ve been selling information on us to the cartel, selling information on the cartel to the Russians. What are Los Santos Rotos and the Bratva going to say when they find out?”
“That’s not true,” he snapped. “No one will believe you.”
I had to give Valentina credit. She was damned brilliant. In an instant, she’d turned the tables on Vincent and now he was the one running scared.
“Au contraire, my dear Vincent. We’ve checked your offshore accounts. You received funds from both the Colombians and the Russians. Frankly, I expected you to negotiate more.”
“You can’t threaten me, Valentina,” he barked. “They’ll know I was set up.”
“I wasn’t finished,” she said on a scoff. “Then there’s the other evidence. The bullet casings with your fingerprints on that were found at the Bratva warehouses, the emails on your computer containing Russian information you were sending to your Colombian contact, dead captains—”
“Alright!” he cut her off.
But she kept going. Valentina, I’d decided, was one ruthless mafia queen. She’d stabbed the knife into his back and was now twisting it.
“In fact, I think it’s far more likely Sergei Malakov and the cartel will conclude that you’ve been manipulating both organizations for personal profit.”
Fear crept into Vincent’s eyes then. Actual fear.
“If I were you, Vincent, I’d run as far and as fast as you can. This is only going to get worse for you.”
Vincent was trembling with fury, or maybe it was fear. I couldn’t be sure. Either way, the conversation had not gone the way he’d intended.
“Release her,” Dante demanded, coming back on the line. The sound of his voice sent a violent ache through my chest. “Now.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Vincent retaliated, his gaze hard.
“If you hurt her,” Dante said, every word precise and lethal, “there is nowhere on this earth I won’t follow you. Do you hear me?”
I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from crying.
Vincent looked at me and his expression hardened. “Well, that’s unfortunate, because Valentina has just signed Evelyn’s death warrant.”
Then he ended the call and pulled out his gun.