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Raul Guzman’s gaze zeroed in on me when I moved out of the shadows. “Nico Romano,” he sneered. His voice carried through the darkness. “To what do I owe the pleasure of a meeting with the great Don?”
There was definitely no love lost between this guy and my brother. That made me feel a little better. The stuff that the Guzman’s were responsible for were things of nightmares. We’d all heard the rumors of how they liked to dispose of their enemies. They chopped them up, stuffed them in barrels, and delivered them to family members.
“I heard a rumor that you were responsible for my wife’s death, Raul,” I told him calmly, while keeping an eye on both brothers. I stuck to the darkness and made them come closer toward me. Our eyes were the biggest difference between Nico and me—if you didn’t count our moral compass. An inch of height here or there was easy to miss, but the eyes were unmistakable.
“And I heard you killed eight of my men,” he replied. Gone was the anger. It was as though he’d buttoned that up, hiding it beneath the cold mask that fell over his face.
I shrugged. “Penance for their crimes.” I didn’t actually know if Nico had killed those men, but Raul thought he had and I wouldn’t put it past Nico. If they were responsible, he would murder them.
Raul’s mask slipped and fury washed over his face. “You think you can come here and gloat about taking the lives of eight of my men?” Raul clasped his hands behind his back and started pacing. “How untouchable do you think you are, Romano?”
“Tell me it was you and we’ll put an end to this,” I told him reasonably. I didn’t bother to answer his question. Playing the part of my brother wasn’t hard. He was cold, ruthless, and unshakeable in the face of his enemies. It was easy to play a monster. Our selfish cores made it second nature. All men had the capability of evil inside of them. It was those who chose to rise above it and had to fight that nature everyday who had the tough job. Men and women who set aside those inclinations and protected others were the people who should be admired.
I’d grown up in the same life—the same family as Nico. Yeah, returning to my roots and playing the bad guy was easy enough—it felt like coming home.
Raul scoffed in my direction. “Maybe I don’t believe it was you. I’m well aware of how hard you’ve been searching for my men.” His eyes danced with a madness I recognized. It spoke of power and his assumption that he was untouchable. All of these men had the same look. Lorenzo wore it now, even with his silence an aura of danger and malice hugged him like a shroud.
“Rafael Santos, knees smashed with a hammer and his throat slit—amongst other knife wounds. Mario Pérez, dick sliced off. He bled to death.” I cocked my head and stared at Raul unblinkingly. “Shall I continue?” We’d never released those details to the press. The only reason I knew them was because I’d been helping the detectives with the investigations. They thought it was a serial killer. How wrong they were. I knew once everyone involved in the car bombing was dead and rotting, the detectives’‘serial killer’would disappear.
Raul was breathing hard and Lorenzo’s eyes had narrowed. The man was unnerving in his silence. I wasn’t sure when I started describing the deaths if he would even know the details. There was recognition in their eyes, however, so I knew they did. That also meant we had corrupt cops in our precinct working for the cartel.
It’s always assumed they are there, but it was still disappointing to get confirmation. The only way Raul Guzman could know how his men died was if someone with insider knowledge told him.
“Why don’t you save us some time and admit you orchestrated the attack on my wife, so we can finish this?”
A smile crept over Raul’s face. He was flip flopping between pissed and giddy so much it was starting to make me nervous. I didn’t show that it bothered me outwardly, but I was starting to sweat.
“Alright. I ordered the attack on Maria Romano.”
“Why?” I snapped out the question.
“I’m sure Nico would love to know the answer to that,” Lorenzo said. He’d chosen a bomb for his first sentence to say to me.
Shit.
“What I want to know,” Raul said as he made a motion with his hand, “is why Nico would send his pig brother out here instead of coming and dying like a man, himself?”
I tensed up as ten men stepped out of various hidey holes and circled around us. They were all armed to the teeth and I had more rifles pointed at me than was really necessary.
“My backup is already on the way, Raul,” I replied, pressing the emergency button on the radio hidden at the small of my back. The flare of his nostrils was the only indication that he was worried. “If you kill me, you’ll have every NYPD officer hunting you. There’s nowhere you will be able to hide. You may have someone in our precinct working for you, but even they won’t interfere when the others are hunting a cop killer.”
“Unfortunately, there won’t be any backup, Dante.”
My blood ran cold and I froze as John Reeves stepped out of the shadows and joined us. He and the Guzman brothers shook hands. Shock coursed through me. He’d set me up. He let me come here tonight, thinking I had a team of men to back me up.
“Was there ever a task force?” I asked him.
He snorted derisively, answering my question.
“What did you do to Ciro?” My partner had insisted on being a part of the task force and would’ve never stabbed me in the back like this. He was like my brother.
Reeves laughed. “That was easy enough. I just gave him the wrong time and location. I even sent a few of my men with him in case he became too much of a problem.” John’s eyes flashed with hatred.
“Why did you do this?” The idea that one of my brothers in arms would betray me made me physically ill. We were honorable men and women, who’d chosen to protect others. He’d shit all over that and it made me hate him.
Reeves laughed, an ugly, harsh sound. “You’re going to pay for your brother’s crimes against me.”
I had no idea what he was talking about. As far as I knew he’d never had any dealings with Nico or my father. I didn’t have a chance to question him further, though.
