Chapter 24
Malachai
The warehouse smelled like rats, saltwater, and old blood.
I had been summoned.
Caine sat at the head of the table like the king he was—Raffaele Mercier’s oldest son and the current head of the Italian mafia in the States.
Kael leaned against the far wall with his arms crossed, looking bored as usual.
He had come to act as a mediator. Caine was a hothead and so was I, and Caine frequently seemed to forget that I didn’t actually work for him.
I remained standing. I didn’t sit for these kinds of conversations.
Caine leaned back in his leather chair, studying me with focused eyes. “I need the Cooly situation left alone,” he said flatly.
“And if I don’t?”
“He’s Black Axe,” Caine replied. “His father runs half their European and Canadian networks. I’m sure you remember what happened when Tommy Dillinger took that contract on one of their lieutenants three years ago.
He ended up being found with his own dick in his mouth.
This needs an end before it begins. I talked to the father.
He’s not offended that you pulled a gun on his son; he understands that Indigo is your wife. ”
Caine exhaled slowly, adjusting his cuffs. “You’ve got weight because of the name you’ve made for yourself. You’re the Hand of God, Malachai. Even retired, you can still swing heavy. But the Nigerians don’t play by our rules. They erase problems.”
“I’m aware.”
From the wall, Kael let out a low, sarcastic chuckle. “Let it go. Treat him like you told your wife to treat Sasha,” he said, grinning. “You know he wants her. Doesn’t matter if she doesn’t want him back, right? Just be the bigger man. Ignore the competition.”
I turned my head slowly and looked at him. “Are you my wife’s friend or mine?”
Kael’s grin only widened, entirely unfazed by the threat in my eyes.
Caine rubbed his jaw, clearly amused by the friction. “He’s not wrong. You can’t kill every man who looks at her, Malachai. Not if you want this city to keep running smoothly.”
The meeting was short. I needed to get back home. Indigo wouldn’t sit still for long, and I wouldn’t put it past her to try and fight her way past the guard I’ve left to keep her where she belongs.
When the meeting ended, I walked them out to the line of idling SUVs in the gravel lot. As Kael opened the back door of his vehicle, something inside caught my eye.
A woman was handcuffed to the grab handle in the back seat.
She was half-conscious, with fresh track marks bruising her arms, looking pretty in a completely ruined kind of way.
I stared at her until her face clicked in my memory.
Years back in the Everglades, she’d been the scared little bunny Kael had brought along to chop up some bodies.
She’d looked like she’d been running on coke and bad decisions for months back then; she looked even worse now.
I raised an eyebrow, looking from the girl to him. “What is this?”
Kael lit a cigarette, the flame briefly illuminating his face, and shrugged. “She crossed me again. I don’t want to kill her. Maya would lose her fucking mind, and when Maya’s mad, Raziel and Raffaele get involved. You know how that goes.”
Everybody in our circle knew Maya had her husband and father-in-law completely wrapped around her finger.
Kael glanced at the slumped girl with an expression that looked dangerously close to affection. “Even coked out, look at her. Fucking beautiful. I want her enough to fix her.”
I stared at him for a long, quiet second, processing the sheer absurdity of his logic.
“Like you’re the rehab?” I asked.
Kael exhaled a thick cloud of smoke and smiled. “Exactly like rehab.”
I said nothing as he climbed into the driver's seat and drove off into the night, the broken girl still slumped in the back of the SUV.
I’d never understand why some men collected damaged things and tried to rebuild them.