“Oh my God,” I wheezed.
“What happened in that meeting with you women and him?” Gabe asked.
“We walked in. Titus and him hugged. He introduced us. We said the money was his but asked for some to give to Duane to paint his house…uh, Gabe?” I called when he closed his eyes.
He opened his eyes.
“What?” I asked. “What did we do wrong?”
“Baby, you face a tough guy, you face a hard guy, you face a guy who’s cold as fuck and values human life so little, he’s two steps up from an animal, one of those steps is he has opposable thumbs, the other is he wears clothes instead of meeting the world in his natural pelt, and that’s it, you show him a bunch of beautiful women with steel backbones and soft hearts, you expose way too fuckin’ much.”
This didn’t sound too good.
“Duane really needs his house painted,” I whispered. “Though, when we gave him the money and made him promise that was what he had to use it for, and he made that promise, I think he lied.”
Gabe tucked some hair behind my ear and answered with a simple, “Yeah.”
“Did we fuck up?” I asked.
He sighed.
Then he curled his hand around the side of my neck and answered, “Now you Angels got the guys at NI&S, Titus, every sex worker on the street, every homeless person in the state, a marker from a US Congressman, and the loyalty of the head of the Russian Mob in Phoenix. No. I think you’re doin’ all right.”
“But Dex and Dillon and…do you think Amy is dead?”
“Dimitri Alexeyev was never going to do business with William Dexter, babe.” Gabe shared. “He was toying with him. Whether or not he’d let Duane out of his inner sanctum still breathing is anyone’s guess and probably entirely dependent on Alexeyev’s mood. But he wouldn’t have walked out with anything but his life. Dexter was forty-four years old, never got even close to building the criminal empire he was all fired up to create, and he’d pissed off pretty much everybody he’d come into contact with. He still didn’t stop. His time on this earth was limited, and not to take responsibility from where it sits, but the truth of it is, he put himself on his knees in the end.”
“Okay,” I said.
“As for Amy, the mob doesn’t call hits on women, or usually anyone, unless they’re in play. That’s the only good part of organized crime being organized. She might have played with Duane, but she wasn’t in play. A guess, she was there when they did Dexter, and they impressed on her she should find somewhere far from here to land. She’s a ghost, but not a real one, and she’ll never come back to Phoenix again.”
Well, at least that was good.
“Bottom line, Willow, even if they didn’t take out what was left of that crew, even if someone is still out there and looking for vengeance, Dimitri Alexeyev made it clear the Angels are untouchable.”
“But you guys and Titus already did that.”
“Yeah, and that would have done it. Alexeyev’s gig is overkill. But can’t say that a man lying naked by his bed with two holes in the back of his head isn’t a bigger statement.”
Good God.
“Do we need to be worried about this?” I asked.
Gabe gave my neck a reassuring squeeze. “Hopefully, you won’t need to cross paths with Alexeyev again, and he can admire your work from afar.”
Hopefully.
“Babe,” he called.
I focused on him again.
“You played that smart. It worked out for who it should. My concern is a man is dead. It isn’t at your hand, and it isn’t your responsibility. But I gotta know you understand that and you’re okay.”
Ah.
My Gabe.
I nestled closer to him. “I don’t condone violence in any form, though the caveat to that is if Ariana ever gets anywhere near my sphere. If that happens, I’ll say now I might not be responsible for my actions.”
