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“Chester the child molester?”
“Yeah, Don Diavonte hates that he’s that way, especially after what happened to our don’s niece. Our don decided to tag him with a name that would alert anyone with half a brain about what he is.”
“I’m twenty-seven. Why the hell did our don think it was a brilliant idea to marry me off to him?”
Anthony’s eyes slid down my body and back up again. “He clearly thought it was a compromise between what his bookkeeper wants and what he’s allowed to have.”
A sick feeling twisted in the pit of my stomach. My body was smaller, my chest was flatter, and I was lean on curves. I might have been twenty-seven but for someone who didn’t like womanly curves then maybe I was some sort of compromise. “I didn’t know any of that.”
“Your fiancé does, and that’s why he sent you here. He wants to prove you’re more valuable as his wife than as Chester’s consolation prize. I’m telling you this, so you understand the seriousness of your situation. Being asked to get up early is a small price to pay for Chester not getting an opportunity to use you to farm his own victims.”
“Why does everything in our lives have to be so twisted?” The words slipped out before I thought the situation through. I hadn’t even considered that Chester wanted to use me as a breeding machine.
Anthony’s hand slid from my arm. “Be smart, Aprilia. You’re in a prime situation to solve all your problems at once.”
My eyes lifted to his and lurking in their murky depths was some kind of emotion that I couldn’t readily identify. “What do you mean by solving all my problems at once?”
“The next time Chester texts you something, just respond with a heart emoji. He’ll see that as a yes to his sick game. I’ll make sure he knows the best time to snatch you is at this meet up the Slayers are planning in eleven days.” He tapped his temple. “Think about it, Aprilia. Our don is surely going to take the opportunity to eliminate the Slayers and prove to the people of this town why they shouldn’t buck the system he put into place. Things will be chaotic. The Slayers would love to kill us off, so there’s every chance that if you stick close to the Slayers, they’ll take care of your problem for you. Chester the child molester will simply be another mobster who got caught in the crossfire.”
I was nodding before he even finished speaking. “I’ll do exactly that and hope it works.”
“If the Slayers don’t put a bullet in his brain, I will. Solving your Chester problem once and for all is my thanks for saving my life today. Afterward, we’ll be square, okay?”
“Absolutely. And thank you for that. Now, let’s get you out of here. Follow behind me and don’t make a sound. They Slayers are probably deep in conversation at this point, which makes it best time to make our move.”
I closed my hand around the keychain to keep it from jingling as we headed down the hall, through the downstairs bar, and back up the stairs. I slipped out first to make sure the coast was clear. I knew it was because Storm had planned for it to be. We heard voices from the Slayers’ meeting room as we made a hard left and slipped out a rarely used side door that was reserved for emergencies. This door normally had an alarm that sounded if the door was opened. But that had been disabled so we could pass through it without drawing notice.
As we were walking through the door, Anthony reached up and pulled at some wire sticking out of a little box near the top of the doorframe. It was clearly what triggered the alarm. “Did you do this, Aprilia?”
I shook my head, unsure why a wire was sticking out that way. Thinking on my feet, I whispered, “Keep your voice down. The Slayers aren’t all that worried about details. The door locks once it closes. Since they can get out but people can’t get in, it’s just one of the dozens of things that fall to the bottom of their list of things that need to be done.”
Anthony, like all mobsters, was suspicious as hell. As the door closed behind us, he asked quietly, “Don’t their prospects take care of shit like this?”
I motioned for him to follow me and made for the forested area alongside the building. “When would the prospects have time? The brothers have them watching the front gate, cooking all the meals, shopping, escorting the wives, around and every damn thing else around here.”
“They aren’t running a very tight ship,” Anthony commented as we jogged into a thicket of trees.
“If you go straight back, you’ll see a river. If you follow it to the left, you’ll see it begins to run parallel to the interstate. You can probably hitch a ride.”
Anthony nodded. “Don’t forget what I said about luring Chester in. The only way to kill a made man is in battle, or making it look like an accident. Dying in battle is common, while accidents are always suspicious.”
“Got it. You’d best get going before anyone realizes you’re missing. Thanks again for the heads-up about Chester.”
“Get back to the clubhouse, put back those keys, and lay low until our don brings you back home. This is no job for a girl like you, Aprilia.”
I looked him in the eye. “This is most I’ve ever heard you say.”
“There’s no use speaking when no one listens or gives a shit what you have to say. We’re each trapped in our own hell, Aprilia. If I can’t break out of mine, the least I can do is help you break out of yours.”
Before I could respond, he turned and dashed away. Truth be told, I was feeling conflicted about my conversation with Anthony. Ever since I’d learned what a cleaner was, I assumed he was just some dead-eyed creep who loved cleaning up crime scenes. I’d give anything to know how he was trapped, and for a moment I wondered if maybe he was secretly rooting for the Russo brothers, and biding his time until the old guard was removed.
I cut through the patio and went through the back door. Several brothers were milling about, and one barely lifted his chin in acknowledgement. It was Grit, the Slayers’ sergeant at arms. I was pretty sure he and the others had been looking out for me as I escorted Anthony off the property. I gave him a weak smile and slipped inside.
A small group of Slayers were sitting around the meeting room waiting for me. I noticed Hacker had his laptop open and they were watching as Anthony made his way to the river.
“I’m surprised he didn’t see the drone hovering overhead.”
Everyone turned to look at me, but it was Hacker who responded to my question. “I use high altitude drones. They carry cameras that enable us to zoom in on the terrain below.”
