Chapter 20
“After all this is over, you will kill Johnny Rusk,” I tell her in a tone that leaves no room for argument.
Because the fucker has to die.
She nods hesitantly. “When this is over. You mean dealing with whoever attacked you.”
“I have to.” I pause to look at her. Can I trust her? At this point, I need to trust her. “The man I believe attacked the casino… His name is Gideon Black, but we call him the Ferryman because when he kills someone, he places pennies over their eyes.”
“Who’s we?”
“The Sinacore Alliance,” I say. “We’re a group of men that have come together to fight Gideon. For months now he’s been terrorizing the heads of certain families for revenge. I’m on that list.”
She adjusts her position so that she can better see me. “What did you do to him?”
“Not me. My older brother, Sean. He was heavily involved with Giuseppe Tadesco, the Don that planned the murder of Stephen Black. Gideon’s father.”
“Where is your brother now?”
“He died two years ago. Fucking quit drinking only to be killed by a drunk driver.” I smirk at the irony.
“I’m sorry,” she says, and I believe she truly means it.
“I wish I could say the same. He was a fuck up most of his life. Sean was much older than me. Our mother had him when she was sixteen. He was already twenty when she became a widow. She remarried, but my dad died before I was born. Unfortunately, my mother put a lot of pressure on Sean to take care of us and he resented me for it. The first chance he got, he bolted.”
“And your mom?”
I shrug. “She didn’t really want to be a mom. Not the first time, and definitely not the second. Most of my memories are of her at work or at home using up the money she just made to get drugged up. I don’t remember her with me much. I spent most of my childhood at home alone, hungry, dirty. Until I was old enough to go out and make friends on the streets. The wrong kind of friends, of course. But they introduced me to the right people. Men that hired me and showed me how to make money fast.”
“Criminals, you mean.” She huffs. “It’s always the criminals that come calling.”
“It seemed like I was made for it. I was really good at fighting. I did it for a living in underground clubs. Won enough matches that I got noticed and set as part of the security detail for a drug dealer in Pittsburg. That’s when Sean finally remembered he had a little brother and came to me one day with a job offer. To work with him in Chicago under Giuseppe Tadesco. I did for a short while.
“Tadesco was fine, but my brother was still an asshole. When I discovered he was stealing from me, I went into a state of sheer rage. My own brother taking what I had worked so hard for. So I left. It was that, or kill my only living relative. So, I took what I had and drove to Las Vegas. But all this happened after Stephen Black’s death.”
Her brow furrows. “What I’m not getting, is why the Ferryman is coming after you if it was your brother that was involved in his father’s death.”
“These attacks by Gideon have been going on for months. Long enough that we have been able to spot a pattern. All the targets seem to be either the men responsible for Stephen’s death, or a successor so to speak.”
“You’re Sean’s successor?”
“Not exactly. Everything I built was on my own. Except…” I deliberate what I’m about to say. “The only thing I can think of, is the house we grew up in. Sean passed it on to me, probably because he felt guilty about everything else he took. I mortgaged it to begin construction on The Red. If Gideon searched far back enough, he could consider that an investment on Sean’s part.”
She looks away, keeping her sight on something distant as she ponders all the facts I’ve stated. “So you really did live on the streets. You were poor. And alone.” The last she whispers as if it pains her to say it.
“It was a long time ago.”
“Everything seems like a long time ago, till it doesn’t.” She sighs. “There’s no doubt the Ferryman is coming after you?”
“No,” I say. “The alliance has been keeping tabs on him. Or, trying to at least. We discovered he’s purchased a few buildings nearby. And just before the attack, he was spotted across from the casino.”
“Shit.”
“Exactly.”
“Did you know he was going to be there the night of the attack?” she asks. “Is that why there was so much security?”
“I got an anonymous tip just before. I tried to get you out.”
She glances away and stares across the room in thought. “That’s why you were on the way to the bathroom.”
Sudden determination flitters through her expression and she stands. She goes to the kitchen and digs through a cabinet, behind the spices, and produces my phone.
Handing it to me, she says, “I think it’s time you end it.”
* * *
I didn’t end it. Not yet.
“It’s late,” I told her. “First thing tomorrow, after Lola goes to school.”
We’re both exhausted. Tired of pretending we don’t want each other. That we don’t want to simply touch.
When she gave me the phone, I glanced at the screen, saw the many missed calls, voicemails and texts. But I didn’t read them.
Instead, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her on top of me. We didn’t have sex, though my body was primed for it. All we did was lay, listening to each other’s breathing.
I traced my fingertips over the soft skin of her back, until she fell asleep. Then I dozed off too, content and comfortable even though my legs hung off the end of the old couch.
It was a selfish concession I made to myself. I should have known better than to relax my defenses. Should have never allowed myself to become vulnerable.
But when I hear the footsteps outside the window at three in the morning, I realize my mistake.
My eyes open and I stare into the darkness, listening intently, my heart beating erratically. There it is again.
Quietly, I reach for the gun Andie left on the coffee table.
I gently swipe the hair from her face. “Andie.”
“Mmm.”
There’s a click in the lock of the front door and my blood rushes to my limbs, urging me to run.
“Don’t make a sound,” I whisper. “Your life depends on it.”
“What?” She makes to bolt upright, but I snatch her by the arm and tug her back to me.
“Shh.” My mind racing, I think through all the possible exits. There’s only one. “The bars on the bedroom window, you can open them from the inside?”
“Yes.”
We both stand quietly, and begin to walk in that direction. Meanwhile, the front door handle rattles as the lock is released and whoever is out there begins to work on the deadbolt.
When we move through a stream of light from one of the nightlights, I check the gun’s magazine and tug back on the slide. Six bullets, one in the chamber.
I stay pressed to the walls, with Andie beside me. Although I’m sure she’s anxious to reach Lola, she doing what she’s supposed to by letting me guide the way.
First, I clear the room. Then, I move to the window and move the curtains aside only enough to check there’s no one there. As I thought, it wasn’t worth the effort of trying to break through the bars.
“I’ll get Lola,” I tell her. “You open this thing.”
She nods and goes to work as I bend over Lola. “Hey,” I say in a calm low tone. “Wake up.”
Lola blinks sleepily at me. “Gav?”
“You’re a big kid, right?”
“Yes.” She rubs her eyes and glances at her mother and back.
“Good. I need you to be a big kid. And a brave one.”
Now her lids fly all the way open and I can tell she’s scared. “Why?”
“Get on.” I turn my back to her.
Quickly, and with more trust than I’ve ever had, she climbs on me. Her small arms cling to my neck as her legs wrap around my waist.
“Got it,” Andie says. There’s a pop as the bars open and she releases the emergency ladder at the same time that the front door explodes.
Lola screams and her hold on me tightens.
“Go!” I hiss at Andie. She complies, but her movements are clumsy and shaky.
I’m no better as I throw my leg out the window and begin to descend the ladder. Andie reaches the ground and I’m halfway down when a shot rings from above.
“There escaping!” a man yells. “First floor, now!”
Without a second thought, I drop the rest of the way, landing hard on my foot. Pain lances up my leg, but I don’t pause. I grab Lola, bringing her forward as shove her mother toward the building.
“Don’t stop. Go. Go!” I push her to run harder, faster, moving between cars.
We don’t stop. Don’t wait for the men to leave her apartment and catch up.
It’s not until we reach the darkened loading area of a closed restaurant, that we pause to catch our breaths. Lola is crying softly into my neck, her body shaking uncontrollably.
“You’re okay, baby.” Andie tries to take her from me, but Lola is latched on.
Only then do I realize that my hold on her is just as tight. “I got her.”
Andie nods and takes a breath. She looks around. “We didn’t get far enough.”
“Agreed.” I try to take a step, but the shooting pain has me crying out, “Fuck!” and Lola is so scared she doesn’t even call me out on it.
“What’s the matter?” Andie asks, scanning me for injuries.
“I think I sprained my ankle.” Or broke it.
“Crap.”
“I can’t go any farther.” Now I do try to disengage Lola from me. “You guys go. It’s me they want.”
“No. We’ll find another way. Hang on.” Keeping close to the wall and in a low crouch, Andie moves to the edge of the building. She peeks around for a moment before returning to us. “There’s a Honda. Must belong to one of the employees.”
“You’re going to steal it,” I state.
She tugs her hair back and ties it in a knot. “Are you going to condemn me for it?”
“No.” I shake my head vehemently. “I’m for it.”
“Okay. God, I hate doing this.” She shoves her long sleeves up her arms. “Promise me that if we get out alive, you’ll make it up to whoever we’re taking this from.”
“Me? What about you?”
“I don’t have money,” she says.
“Fine. Get us a car.”
With a short nod, she takes off a run.
Lola snuggles into me. “I’m scared, Gav.”
“Don’t be. We won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Do you promise?” She pulls away slightly, enough to peer into my face as if she needs to make sure I’m telling the truth. “Even with your bad foot?”
“I ran all the way here with it, didn’t I?” As I ask her that, I realize that I did in fact run with a bad foot without once letting go of her. And I would have gone farther if we hadn’t found a place to stop.
She nods. “Okay.”
A few moments later, I hear the sound of an engine starting. Then, a white Honda Civic comes around the building and screeches to a stop in front of us.
“Get in!” Andie yells.
I limp to it, and shove Lola into the back before sliding into the front passenger seat. I haven’t had a chance to settle fully when Andie steps on the gas and we’re off.
“Where to?” she asks once we hit the highway.
“Just keep driving.”
Tugging my cell phone out, I finally read through all the missed messages. And there are a lot.
Gustavo: Sir, you must meet me at the safe house.
Luca: Please confirm you’re alive.
Noah: Arran and I are in Vegas. Where the fuck are you?
Arran: Heading back. Something’s not right.
I stare ahead, in my mind seeing a fork in the road. One side leads to Gustavo who might still be waiting for me in our safe house outside of Las Vegas. The other, to the alliance.
The choice would be so much easier if I was alone. It wouldn’t have mattered as much if I made the wrong one. But now…
Exhaling, I run my hand through my hair. If I were alone, this would be thrilling.
Instead, for the first time in a long time, I’m afraid.