“What?” She coolly holds my gaze. “Time is of the essence. We need to leave.”
I nod, but something about this doesn’t sit right with me.
Chang was about to say something important.
I feel it in my bones.
“Everyone out now,” I command, bending down to retrieve the bullets from my wife’s gun. We don’t usually leave any bullets behind, even if we use untraceable weapons, but there isn’t time to do a proper cleanup of the scene. Still, I’m making sure to remove all the bullets from my wife’s gun as I don’t want anything linking back to her. As for the rest, Don Mazzone has the police commissioner on speed dial, so I’m sure he’ll make sure any remaining evidence never sees the light of day.
Our men troop past us as Catarina bends down, joining me in the hunt for the bullets.
“What was Chang about to say?” I ask as we work quickly together.
“I’m not a mind reader.” She doesn’t look up as she speaks. “But I think it was pretty obvious. He knows my coming to the city set all this in motion. He knows I was the brains behind this operation.” She straightens up as I do, holding out her hand for the bullets I collected. I dump them in her palm. “Does it matter?”
I watch her deposit the bullets in a small clear Ziplock bag and tuck it in the back pocket of her pants. “No.” I take her hand. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
Upstairs, the room is half cleared out. Ricardo and a couple of my men are holding fort at the door while a few othersoldatiare checking the bodies to ensure they are all dead.
We are making our way across the space when Catarina pivots and sends a dagger flying across the room. It lodges in the heart of a small man wearing a white apron. His startled eyes meet mine as the gun in his hand drops to the ground, and he crumples in a heap on the floor. A high-pitched yell emerges as a taller, younger man charges from behind the man from a door that must lead to the kitchen, I’m guessing. He is also wearing a white apron and wielding a baseball bat as he rushes toward my wife.
She yells, “No!” when I lift my weapon, training it in his direction. I watch in horrified shock as she runs toward him, leaping over dead bodies strewn on the ground. She ducks down as he swings the bat, jumping up and landing a punch on his nose before he can swing it again. “I don’t want to hurt you,” she says, sweeping his legs out from under him. He loses his balance, slipping on blood, and takes a tumble, landing hard on his back. Rina grabs the bat in her gloved hands and shoves it under his neck as she sits on his chest. “Stop fighting if you want to live.”
“Get off me, you bitch!” He spits in her face. “You killed my bà! You killed everyone. I will tell the cops! You are going down for this!”
“Mia amata,” I say, stepping up behind her.
“I know.” Her voice holds resignation as she withdraws her gun. “It didn’t have to be this way,” she says as the man spouts a string of words in Chinese. The shot is precise, and he dies instantly.
Sirens wail in the near distance. “We must go.”
I nod at my men. “Check the kitchen. Ensure there are no more survivors.”
Taking my wife’s hand, I lead her out of the restaurant. “I know you wanted to save him, but we can’t leave any witnesses.”
“I know. I just hate killing innocents. He only worked in the kitchen. He didn’t have anything to do with this.”
Ezio opens the back door, and we climb into the SUV.
“You don’t know that for sure. Anyone who works for criminals, no matter in what capacity, understands the risks.”
“Let’s go home,” she says, nodding at Ezio when Ricardo is seated and we are ready to leave. The privacy screen goes up, and I relax in my seat. I move in closer, sliding my arm around her back, pleased when she rests her head on my shoulder. “I know you might not feel like celebrating, even if it was a great win, but how about a distraction?” I waggle my brows as I cup her pussy through her pants.
Some of the stress leaves her features as she peers at me with an instant lustful look. “I like how your mind works, husband.” She leans up, planting a lingering passionate kiss on my lips. “Distract me, Massimo. I would like to forget.”
ChapterTwenty-Six
Catarina
I’m on edge, and Massimo can tell. He is way too observant, and it concerns me. The Mexican-Chinese takedown was a massive success. The Commission is pleased and has approved me to implement the new supply chain model. It has gone a long way toward earning their trust. I should be pleased, but this unexpected Russian complication has me so worried I have been having trouble sleeping.
Twice in the past week, I’ve had bad nightmares, waking Massimo in the middle of the night when I come out of it, sweating, shuddering, and screaming. I twisted the truth when he asked what was causing them, saying memories of what Paulo did to me often return to torment me.
The truth is, my nightmares are rarely about my ex-husband.
Carlo Greco is the monster who haunts my dreams.
A combination of therapy, meditation, exercise, and melatonin or my prescription sleeping meds usually keeps them at bay. Times of heightened stress can dredge them to the surface, like now. It doesn’t help that I’m not feeling like myself. I’m still torn over what to do about Don Mazzone and Massimo and his family.
