Page 71 of Till Death Do Us Part
“Four Russians. They killed one of their guards, Luis Bosco.”
“The Ruizes?”
“Alive.”
“Russians?” I asked.
“Three dead. Emiliano wounded the fourth. Now, he has him in the basement at Wanderland.”
I inhaled and looked at my brother. “Sounds like we have some questioning to do.”
Interrogation was our specialty. For the record, we didn’t follow the wartime rules of the Geneva convention. There was no humanity in our tactics.
“This invasion was meant to send two messages,”Padresaid, “one to us and one to the famiglia.” Andrés’s eldest daughter was now married to the Kansas City capo. “Get all the information you can from him. The bratva is getting bolder, and it’s going to stop. I want the other three bratva soldiers delivered to their doorstep in pieces. Give them a message that the Roríguez cartel is done with this fucking game.”
“Their doorstep,” Rei repeated. “Do we have a location?”
Padregrinned. “No, but I trust the two of you will have one before the fourth is dead.”
Rei and I nodded.
“I need more clothes,” I said, looking at Rei dressed and ready to go. “When did you call for Rei?”
“Earlier. I wanted details before interrupting you and your newnovia.”
“Yeah, that wife. In the future, send a message. No one walks in our suite when Mia is asleep. You almost lost a guard tonight.”
Mi padre’sforehead furrowed, and his eyes narrowed.
Patr?n didn’t take orders from anyone, including me. I knew that. One day, it would be me not taking orders. In the meantime, I had a few ground rules to make clear. Entering my suite with my wife present was a hard no. Beforemi padrecould respond, I turned, headed out of the office, and handed the guard back his gun.
Mia was still sleeping when I returned to the suite. I wasn’t certain how she slept through the intruder, but I was glad she did. Before our night went south, I’d wrung multiple orgasms out from her. My lips curled as I thought about what I’d said, telling her she’d sleep a dreamless slumber. Hopefully, she was because Rei and I were about to enter a nightmare.
In less than five minutes, I was down on the lower deck with Rei.
“Too bad this shit is taking you away from all the action in your suite,” Rei said.
I was too tired to pretend, besides this was my brother, the one person who always got my truth. “Most of the action has been with my own hand.”
Rei’s eyes opened wide. “Hey, fuck. I’m sorry.”
“Me too.” I shook my head. “Her asshole first husband did a number on her.” A smile curved my lips. “She gives off a confident air that’s sexy as hell.” I sighed. “I’m biding my time. If I forced her, I’d be no better than him.”
Rei patted my shoulder as Joaquín, one ofPadre’sguards and boat captain pulled a forty-eight-foot cigarette boat up to the floating platform. Rei and I stepped from the deck to the platform and down into the boat. This mode of transportation would allow us to get back to the mainland under the radar.
“Diego and Felipe will meet us at the docks with supplies,” Rei said as Joaquín pulled away from Bella and accelerated through the darkness. The five outboard engines roared to life as we skimmed over the waves with the wind in our faces. The sun wouldn’t rise for another two hours. There’d be no sightings of us coming on land. When the sun rose, Joaquín and the cigarette boat would be back out to sea.
Wanderland was closed to the public by the time we arrived. With Diego and Felipe as our backup, Rei and I entered through the back of the club.
Nicolas met us with a solemn expression. He scanned our backup. “You brought company?”
“Diego and Felipe go most everywhere with us.”
“Out on Bella?”
“Mosteverywhere,” I replied as I looked around. “It’s quiet in here.” Down a long hallway on our right was where the whores slept and lived. It was like a fucking sorority house with dorm-style sleeping and common areas such as a kitchen and television room. I didn’t like the setup for the way it dehumanized the sex workers. That subject was one of the issues I’d recently brought up to Nicolas.
“Whores are sleeping, except the two in my office. Cleaning crew won’t be here until eight.” He inhaled. “It’s quiet down in the basement. The moskal isn’t talking.”