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Rudy agreed with his cousin for a change.
A six-year stint in prison for a crime he had been nowhere near had earned Chester a hell of a boon. But this . . .
Rudy shook his head as he propped his arms on the back of the chair he was straddling. Six years in prison for the rape of Rudy’s rival’s mistress came nowhere close to the millions of dollars in diamonds, sapphires, and rubies that were now missing.
The slightest awareness of another presence behind him had Rudy waiting patiently, the familiar lack of sound in his son’s movements pleasing.
“I checked the security tapes. She arrived about ten minutes before we did, messed around in the backseat, looks like she knocked over a bag onto the back floorboard. We found a receipt pushed beneath one of the seats for a craft seller for colored crystals and stones. There’s a chance the woman doesn’t know what she has.” There was no opinion either way in the boy’s voice.
Well, perhaps Andre wasn’t a boy anymore, but as his mother would say, he would always be Rudy’s boy.
“And her name?” Rudy asked.
At his son’s lack of an answer, Rudy turned to stare back at him with a frown. Rarely had Rudy seen this expression on Andre’s face.
That look of concern.
Trepidation began to tingle in Rudy’s gut.
“Piper Mackay, from Somerset, Kentucky.” The words were a harsh rasp of anger from a man who rarely allowed himself to show any emotion. “The investigation I did on the family after Marlena’s disappearance says she’s James ‘Dawg’ Mackay’s sister.”
But now, Rudy knew why his son had hesitated to give him the information.
Dawg, Rowdy, and Natches Mackay had not just been instrumental in foiling Marlena Genoa’s plot to kill John Walker Jr. for breaking their engagement, but had also managed to kill Gerard Andrews, the sponsor backing her acceptance into the Genoa family.
“Coincidence?” Rudy asked.
“She’s staying at a hotel no more than two blocks from here,” his son answered. “Chester knows the manager there, from what I’ve gathered.”
Andre didn’t confirm or deny the theory of coincidence, though Rudy knew he didn’t believe in such a thing. Rudy believed, though. He’d seen far stranger occurrences in his lifetime that could be explained no other way.
“This is a complication.” Rudy sighed, turning back to glower at Chester. “Why is she here, in the city?”
“According to our contact at the hotel, she’s a clothing designer. She was here for a meeting with a backer,” his son informed him as Rudy stared at Chester, his eyes narrowed with a fury he found hard to control. “Getting into her room won’t be a problem. Once I get in, I’ll restrain her and reacquire our property. That should be the end of it.”
“Take two men with you,” Rudy ordered as he glanced at the brute standing behind Chester. “Send them in. This is a matter you oversee, not one you do yourself.”
The boy had a tendency to micromanage shit.
“I’ll take care of it,” Andre promised, and Rudy knew he could depend on him. Of all the men he commanded, it was Andre he trusted above all others to ensure the job was taken care of quickly and correctly.
“Very well.” Rudy sighed. “And, Andre, don’t let your men kill the girl. Make it look like a random burglary. We don’t need the Mackays and their government sidekicks in our town.”
“Agreed.” Andre nodded shortly before turning and leaving the room once again.
Rudy turned back to Chester.
“See, it wasn’t my fault, Rudy. It was that girl you hired. She let the car out and I told her not to,” Chester whined. “You don’t have to kill me.”
“True,” Rudy agreed, ignoring the hope that suddenly filled his third cousin’s abused features. “This is very true.”
The girl was Rudy’s illegitimate daughter. She was his favorite child, and this incompetent fool thought to place the blame on her? The poor bastard had just signed his own death warrant.
His gaze flicked to the heavily muscled ex-boxer, the Brute, as Rudy called him, standing behind the other man. The one whose fists had made hamburger out of Chester’s face earlier.
The large head nodded as the ex-boxer, Jones Morley, read the silent look in Rudy’s eyes. The weapon he carried with its silencer attached came up as Rudy moved away from the other man.
A second later, a heavy pop sounded behind him, and Rudy knew he would never have to worry about Chester screwing up again.
