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“Take her?” My gaze flicked to Angelo’s, and I saw the same confusion. We thought this was a mugging gone wrong. Maybe an attempted rape, not a kidnapping.
Luckily, the kid’s fear kept him spilling his guts. “I was low on my quota, and she seemed like an easy target walking alone at night. I thought I’d snatch her real quick.”
Quota? Fuck!
“Who do you work for?” I asked, but it wasn’t necessary. There was only one group trying to take women in the city. All the other families had given up on sex trafficking. But around Christmas, almost a year ago, someone new had moved in and picked up the trade.
His eyes grew shifty as he realized he said too much. “Nobody.”
“Liar.” All it took was walking to the table of tools and grabbing the cleaver, and he let it out.
“Aaron McCabe!” He screamed as I strolled towards him.
Angelo lurched forward. I was quicker, jumping between him and our captive. My hands slammed to his chest, the cleaver locked between us as I pushed him back.
“That fucker.” He raged. His dark eyes went black as he tried to get past me. “He keeps popping up in our city. Our lives!”
“Hey, hey. Isla is safe.” At his wife’s name, he looked at me. “But to keep her that way, we need all the information we can get. Then you can kill him.”
“God, no,” our captive whimpered. When I was sure Angelo was calm, I turned back to him. Crouching down, I mirrored my cousin’s crazed gaze. The weapon hung in my grip, but the threat was clear.
His eyes landed on the blade, glinting in the flickering light. One swing, and I could have his head on a platter. Or other body parts. I’d seen Cole’s handiwork with this very knife. He’d once used it to sever a man’s dick.
The thought still made my gut clench. But he’d deserved no less like the bastard in front of me.
“There’s no God for you.” My voice was cold, uncaring. My eyes devoid of emotion. I felt nothing for him. “He doesn’t like men who hurt women.”
I would make it my goddamn mission to rid my city of all of them.
23
Vander
“We should consider a similar deal to the Gallos and Vancinis,” I said as I wiped the blood from the knife and my hands.
They’d had a run-in with our friend Aaron shortly after he moved into town. They’d come to an agreement. He could be in the city if he left their families alone. It might be time we made a truce as well.
Angelo’s only response was a low growl. I understood his rage. Aaron had once held a claim over Isla. But we had no proof he was involved in the attack on their property.
“He’s not going anywhere.” I grabbed my jacket, ignoring the dead body as we walked to the door. “Without knowing who’s bankrolling the operation, killing him won’t solve the problem.”
Silence filled the night as we walked back. Frost clung to the grass as we climbed the hill towards his house.
“How’s it going with your wife?” Angelo changed the subject. I let him for now, understanding whatever we did with Aaron would be my decision. And hating the responsibility. The weight of protecting my cousins and their families.
I longed for the simpler days when I was just a killer. When that was the best way I could keep them safe. Now, I made deals that left me feeling dirtier. But I did it. I’d do anything for them.
“She’s okay.” Her face when I scared her earlier popped into my mind. Her fragile features contorted in pain as she looked at me. “Working through it all with Alessandra.”
It would take time for her to see me as anything but a monster. The specks of blood on my hands gleamed in the moonlight. If she ever could.
I was a monster. A criminal. A gangster. Everything she said I was. But I wasn’t those things to her. I never would be. With her, I could be gentle. Loving. She just needed to see it.
“What about you?” Our breath fogged in the night as I glanced at him.
“What do you mean?”
“Are you working through it?”
