Chapter 31
STELLAN
Iknow some things about fucked-up families.
Like my father. He didn’t bother raising me. I had to find that in other people, and all those people were hardened criminals.
Kira’s father was just about the closest I ever came to a real role model.
I know how she’s feeling now. It’s like she lost her mother all over again. Except this time, I think she can mourn for real. Now she knows that her mother’s truly gone for good, and she can finally put that part of her life to rest.
We park in front of Lenny’s a few minutes later. There’s only one other truck in the lot. It looks fairly new. I make sure my gun’s loaded before we get out and head to the entrance. The driver stays outside to keep an eye on our exit.
“What are the chances he’ll have it?” Kira asks nervously.
“Pawn shops are hit or miss. Some are barely more than junk stores, and others—” We push into a brightly lit and surprisingly clean showroom. I gesture around with a slight grin. “Others are a little more professional.”
“Lucky us.” Kira wanders through the aisles.
Each item has a price tag, but I know they’re all negotiable.
There are cameras covering every inch of this place, and I’d bet a kidney they all work.
An older man’s sitting behind a counter idly scrolling through a phone, looking bored, and perks up when I approach him.
“Afternoon, are you here to buy or sell?”
“I’m here to buy something specific.” I look him over carefully. He’s rounding in the middle, clean-shaven, buzzed head, decent clothes. “Are you the owner?”
“Sure am. That’s my name on the sign. What can I do for you?”
“A while back, a woman came in here.”
“I get a lot of those, believe it or not.” He grins at me. It’s meant to be charming, but I find it very irritating.
I take out my phone and show him a picture of Kira’s mother. It’s a candid I snapped while she wasn’t paying attention. It’s not good, but her face is clearly visible.
Lenny’s lips press together. “Can’t say I recognize her.”
“She had rings, like any other jewelry, might’ve been in here with a skinny asshole with a blond mustache. There would’ve been a key in the mix too.”
“Blond mustache? You’re not talking about Scotty and Flora, are you?”
I glance at Kira. She’s listening intently now. “Actually, we are,” she says, cutting in.
I don’t like the way Lenny looks at her. His eyes are appraising, and he licks his lips ever so slightly like he thinks he found something valuable. “Don’t tell me you’re Flora’s daughter?”
“You know them.” She beams happily. “Do you still have what she brought to you?”
“Unfortunately, I sold most of it already,” Lenny admits, shaking his head. “Sorry, I hope it wasn’t anything sentimental, but those two have been nothing but unresponsive and a total pain in my ass. Had to move that junk on.”
“What about the key?” Kira leans forward and gives him a pretty smile. My blood fucking boils when his eyes flit down to her chest. “Do you still have that one?”
“I don’t know—” He rubs the back of his head, looking bashful.
I lean in closer, my voice low. “You should go check.”
He glances at me and must not like the look on my face. Instantly, he straightens up and doesn’t glance at Kira again. “Sure, I can do that. You got any specific attachment to it?”
“It was mine. She stole it. I’ll happily buy it back.”
“I don’t truck with stolen property. Besides, if it’s just a key, it’s not worth selling anyway. Hold on a second.” He walks off to the back and is gone a long while. I’m in a shit mood, which Kira must notice. She gets close and puts a hand on my arm.
“Are you acting jealous right now?” she says, voice quiet so Lenny can’t hear.
“No. I don’t do that.”
Her eyes sparkle with amusement. “No? So that wasn’t you acting all macho and alpha right then?”
“That’s not necessary. I don’t have to act.”
“Oh, big man, so strong and masculine.” She squeezes my forearm. Her cheeks turn red. “I mean, uhm—”
I lean in close. “Nobody looks at my wife like that. Do you understand?”
“Yeah, I understand.” She’s blushing like crazy and still touching my arm. “Where’d all this muscle come from, by the way?”
“Good genetics. Hard work. Clean diet.”
“Amazing. The trifecta.”
Lenny comes back out and interrupts our conversation. He dumps a big bucket down onto the counter and gestures. “Go ahead and dig. If I’ve got that key, it’ll be in there.”
Kira’s jaw drops. The bucket is filled with keys, dongles, carabiners, and all sorts of keychains. “We’ll never find it in that thing,” she moans.
“Ah, no worries,” Lenny says happily. “I’m not closing for a few hours. Go ahead and take your time. We’re not busy.”
I thank him and carry the bucket to the corner of the room. I dump half out, spread it thin, and kneel on the carpet. Kira joins me, hands pressed to her head.
“Do you even know what it looks like?”
“Like a safe deposit box key.”
“We’re screwed.”
“It’ll have a small chit attached to the key’s ring with 387 stamped on it. That’s the box number.”
“Well, okay, maybe less screwed, but still.” She sifts through the mess. “This is a nightmare.”
“We’d better get to work.”
She’s right, it really is a nightmare, but we manage to fall into a good workflow when Lenny offers us an empty container to dump the stuff we’ve checked already.
I pull a handful out, we sift it together, Kira drops everything in the second bucket, and the process repeats.
Slowly, we make our way through the pile, looking at every single object one at a time.
It’s excruciating. Kira yawns loudly. Lenny ignores us mostly. Some customers come through, and he deals with them. A couple of old ladies give us a weird look as they browse a stack of guitars.
“Ah! Ah! Holy shit!” Kira suddenly leaps to her feet, bouncing up and down on her toes. “Stellan. Stellan! Holy shit!”
I climb up and take the key she’s got in her hand. It’s flat, gold, and has a tag at the end.
“387,” I read, heart hammering in my chest. “This is it.”
“It’s got to be it, right?!”
“Could be just another key with a similar tag,” Lenny calls from behind the counter, barely looking up from his phone. “Might want to keep looking.”
Kira looks distraught, but I shake my head. “This is it.”
She throws her arms around me and hugs me tight. I hold her, kiss her cheek, and shove the key into my pocket.
“You two gonna clean all that up?” Lenny calls as I head to the door with Kira on my arm. “Hey, hold up!”
“Next time, don’t eye-fuck another man’s wife,” I say, looking back over my shoulder. “You’re lucky I’m just leaving a small mess.”
Lenny has the good manners to look slightly ashamed. “Good luck to you folks,” he says with a wave. “I’ll straighten up, don’t you worry.”
For the first time since my father died, hope blooms in my chest. I never really thought I’d find this key. I kept thinking I’d have to rob the damn bank just to get the book back. But this makes my life so much easier. Bank robberies come with way too much risk these days.
Now I can walk right in and take what I need.
The book is mine again. The Corsetti Famiglia is saved.
The Turks will fucking burn for this.
“Stellan.” Kira’s voice slices through my fantasy. Her tone’s fraught with terror. “Oh, shit, Stellan.”
I look ahead toward the car. The driver’s standing at the end, hands raised in the air. Five men stand around him.
“Get behind me,” I say an instant before they open fire.
The driver goes down. His brains are blown out in a spray of blood and bone. His corpse crumbles to the ground, blood spreading out on the pavement.
One of the men steps forward.
He’s older than me. Near my height. Dark hair, dark eyes, thick eyebrows, and a cocky smirk.
He’s wearing a suit and carrying a steaming pistol pointed at my chest. I stand between Kira and these assassins, head spinning through possibilities.
Can I draw my weapon? Can I get her to safety?
We’re caught in the parking lot without any cover.
“Stellan Corsetti. I’m sorry it took me this long to come have a conversation.” The man puts his gun away. “It’s been an eventful few weeks.”
“You followed me.”
“Wasn’t easy, if it makes you feel any better.”
“You’re Vural, aren’t you?”
His grin widens. “You can call me Isak. Everyone else does. I wish we had more time to get to know each other, but—” He holds out a hand. “You found the key, didn’t you?”
I reach into my pocket. The men behind Isak raise their weapons expectantly. “I’ll die before you take it.”
“I believe you,” he says cheerily. “But would you let her?” He gestures at Kira.
She’s pale. Her body’s pressed to my back. “Don’t listen,” she whispers. “Please, Stellan. Don’t give it to him.”
My jaw tightens. All the elation I'd felt moments earlier fades. My heart thuds, and I start to do the math.
If Isak gets this key, it's over. My family's finished. He'll get the book, and we're fucked. I won't be able to fix this.
But if I don't hand it over, Kira could die. I'm outnumbered, outgunned, and caught in the open.
Even if I had a chance at winning this fight, would I take the risk? Would I really put my wife in danger?
“I swore I’d keep you safe,” I whisper, squeezing the key in my fist.
“No,” she says, voice shaking. “After all this? Stellan, please don’t.”
I take the key out and dangle it by the ring. “You’ll let her live,” I call out.
Isak holds up one hand. “I swear on my honor. Which I know doesn’t mean much to you, but I take that sort of thing seriously.”
“I mean it. She walks from this. No matter what.”
“I don’t care about the girl. I just want that key.”
I toss it to him underhand. It glitters in the sun, all my hope, my future, my family, turning end-over-end as it flies toward my enemy.
Isak catches it. “Well, that was easy.” He turns his back on me. “Kill him. Leave the girl alive. But hurt her a little bit.”
“You motherfucker,” I snarl.
“No!” Kira says, grabbing my arm.
Gunshots snap the air. But not from the Turks. They shout in alarm and surprise, and I turn rapidly, grabbing Kira and yanking her to the side. I throw her down to the ground near some bushes and fall on top of her, covering her body with my own.
Lenny's in the doorway to his shop, firing an automatic rifle at the retreating Turkish men. He's screaming like a psycho, the gun bucking against his shoulder. I'm pretty sure he misses every single shot, but it forces the Turks back into their vehicle. They speed off, tires kicking up smoke.
The gunfire tapers off. Lenny chases them as far as the street, waving the gun in the air like a madman. He turns, showing teeth in a vicious grin. “Nobody fucks with my customers,” he says, leaning the rifle on his shoulder.
I push myself to my knees. “Kira, are you okay?”
She brushes herself off and nods. “I’m fine. I’m totally fine. But, Stellan—”
I get to my feet. Take one step. And collapse in pain. “Fuck,” I snarl as I touch a wound in my leg, right above the knee.
A bullet ripped straight through. My pants are soaked in blood.
“Looks like you need a doctor,” Lenny says, already taking out his phone to dial.
“No,” I say, shoving myself to my feet. “No doctor. Kira, you’re driving. We have to stop them.”
“Stellan, you’re hurt.”
“They’ve got it. They’ve got the key. I can’t let them go.” I stagger to the car, heart racing. Every step is agony.
“Hold on there, partner, you can’t just run off.” Lenny looks around wildly. “I just got into a firefight! I need witnesses to back me up!” He gestures at the driver. “I’ve got a corpse here!”
“Show the cops your security footage.” I start the SUV as Kira climbs in beside me.
“Shit!” Lenny screams. I pull out, nearly running him over. “You’re leaving me with an even bigger mess!”
I hit the road going fast. Kira has to steady the wheel.
“This is a bad idea,” she says quietly. “We have to patch you up.”
“Isak’s going to get away.”
“But you’re going to pass out from blood loss. Please, just let me fix you up; then we’ll catch him. We can still get on the plane, right?”
“He’s got one too. He’ll beat me to the bank.”
“Call Prime. Have him watch the place. We’ll figure it out, but please, Stellan. Let me help you.”
I hit the steering wheel, but I know she’s right. “The plane has medical supplies. You’ll do it when we’re taking off.”
“Stellan—”
“No more arguments.” I grit my teeth and drive faster for the airport. “I’ve got bandages in the glove compartment. They’ll keep me alive until you can stitch me closed.”
She doesn’t like it, but she doesn’t argue.
I have one goal now. There’s only one thing that matters.
Find Vural. Get the key back. Stop him from stealing the Black Book.
Everything depends on it.