Page 63 of Bulletproof Baby
There's nothing that’s going to stop me from killing Saul Caputo. I can't wait to put a bullet through his brain because this shit is unforgivable.
29
LIA
The shabby, rundown shack of a home on the edge of Brooklyn makes me despise Hera and Saul for what they're doing.
"You know the funny thing is, this is where they were supposed to take you originally," Saul says after nearly an hour of silence. There's a wooden chair I get to sit in while feeding Ava. Once she finishes, I wrap her against my body once more. If I have to make a run for it, I won’t be able to bring that car seat.
"What do you mean?" Hera asks Saul.
I shake my head. "What? You didn't know this is his second kidnapping attempt?"
"Second?" Hera glares at Saul from head to toe as he stands beside a window, peering out every so often from behind wooden slats nailed over them to keep vagrants out. She laughs. "What's the matter? Couldn't get it right the first time?"
She has to antagonize everyone around her.
"Shut the fuck up, or you can leave," Saul warns her.
"You wouldn't even know this bitch was still alive if it weren't for me. You better show me some Goddamn respect," Hera curses at Saul and turns to me. "And you. How the hell did you bait my son into putting a baby in you?"
"She did it to spite me," Saul replies.
"You?" Hera's disbelief matches my own. "Ha. I can look at you and tell that you ain't got shit on my Valley boy. He's good stock. You? You're the leftover spunk and garbage your parents decided to shit out into this world. My baby's a billionaire. Whether he hates me or not, loves me or disowns me, you're a lesser man, Saul Cuh-POO-Toe."
"Are you high?" I ask her.
"Always," Hera says with a wicked grin. "Who the fuck wants to live this life sober?"
I do.
"Have you always been high?" I ask her.
"Nope. After Vincent put my face through my first wall, they gave me the good stuff. Fifty milligrams of somethin'." Hera nods at the fond memories of drugs first coursing through her blood. Which, of course, she has to share. "It's like, well, you know. You just had a baby. Imagine the epidural numbness without the needle. It doesn't last as long and it's damn near not as strong, but holy shit. I remember it like it was yesterday."
Saul cuts her off. "Please spare us episodes from a junkie. What are you doing here, anyway? I told you that you'd get your cut as soon as Valentino calls and drops the money."
"He's coming for her, and I want cash," Hera says.
To that, for the first time ever, Saul and I both burst into laughter. However, I quiet down quickly to avoid jostling Ava around.
"You're out of your fucking mind if you think you're getting cash out of Valentino," I tell her, shaking my head.
"Oh I am, because I got you babe," she sings.
Saul eyes me and shrugs. "I have no plans of hanging around once that notification hits from Dimitri."
"Dimitri? The owner of the club. He's in on this too?" I ask Saul. The man looks like an extra from an ’80s cop show, but somehow, traitor doesn't ring true for him.
Saul tips his head back and forth. "Not really. I just told him to give Valentino my account information for the transfer. He doesn't ask questions."
"But the global banking system does. Hell, even those crypto bros are going to hit Reddit asking about a large transfer like that, right?" I ask him. I don't know how wealth works, but something tells me that twenty million dollars doesn't just change hands from one person to another.
"It's a setup, darlin’," Hera says out of nowhere.
Saul turns to her as if she just peeked under his skirt.
I gasp. "Of course it is. He's the CEO of an international corporation. He can't touch that kind of money without setting off all kinds of alarm bells."