Chapter 11

MINA

I looked up from the book I was reading, a romantic comedy about ice hockey players, to see Gianni step into the room.

His gaze swept over me, followed by a smile. "Morning, sweetheart. Guess what?"

"Asher would have responded to that with, 'You're mad and I'm not.'" I closed the book.

Gianni chuckled. "He might have been right there. But no, that wasn't what I was going to say. We have a lead on Kurt." He looked like a kid who was let loose in a chocolate shop.

I stood up so quickly the book slid off my lap and onto the floor. I shook off a wave of dizziness and leaned over to scoop up the book.

"We found him?" I asked. I placed the book on the table beside the chair and clasped my trembling hands.

"Not yet," Gianni said. "But we found some associates of his. We're on our way to have a friendly conversation with them."

"I'm coming," I said immediately. I'd been here for a couple of weeks and felt a lot stronger already. My clothes fit better and I could move up and down the stairs faster. I could do this too.

He grinned. "I was hoping you'd say that. If Reuben or Damon say you can't come, I'll set them straight."

"Or I will," I said. The way he took care of me was sweet, but I was better able to stand on my own two feet each day. Literally and figuratively.

"Or that," he agreed, his smile unwavering. "Between us, we'll make sure you can come along." He offered me his hand.

I looked down at it for a few moments before slipping my hand into his. Touching another person didn't feel as uncomfortable as it had. The idea didn't make me break out into a cold sweat as easily. His respect for my boundaries led me to expanding them, bit by bit.

We walked down to the back of the house, to the door that led to the garage. Reuben was already there, dressed impeccably as always.

Damon stood beside him, checking over his gun.

They both looked up when Gianni and I approached.

"This isn't the time for—" Damon started.

"I'm coming with you," I said firmly. I slid my hand out of Gianni's and crossed my arms over my chest. They were all taller than me, but I wasn't going to let myself be intimidated. Not by them nor anyone else.

Reuben closed his eyes tightly for a few moments, before opening them and nodding. "If any of us tell you to do anything, including wait in the car, you obey. Understood?"

"Within reason," I said. "I'm not some sort of delicate flower."

He looked at me like he thought that was exactly what I was. Delicate anyway, if not a flower.

"I'll decide what's within reason or not." He nodded to Damon, who led the way out to one of the cars, a dark SUV.

Like when they brought me here, Damon and Reuben took their places in the front, Gianni and me in the back.

"It's been a long time since we've been on a road trip," Gianni said.

"We've never been on a road trip." Damon backed the car out of the garage and onto the road.

Gianni snapped his fingers, making me flinch slightly. "That's right. We should go on one sometime. Just for shits and giggles."

"Being in a car with you for hours on end would definitely give us the shits," Damon remarked.

"And giggles," Gianni said with a grin.

I shook my head at both of them. "Who are these people we're going to have a conversation with?"

Reuben sighed. "It seems Lasalle had his own network for running drugs and weapons. It's a lot more extensive than we suspected."

He sounded beyond irritated. Not just because Kurt was operating behind his back, but because somehow they missed the extent of it. He was the kind of man who didn't like to overlook anything. He wanted to be aware of everything that went on in his proximity, and way beyond it.

"How extensive?" I asked.

"Extensive enough," Reuben said. "We'll be making an example of them. After we learn what they know."

I leaned back and left it at that for now. What mattered to me was finding Kurt.

We sat in silence except for Gianni occasionally humming some random tune I couldn't recognise. Not the one he played for me the other night. He hadn't tried to play any more music for me after that. If I stepped into a room while he had any on, he quickly turned it off.

I didn't remark on it. No matter what I would have said, he would have done it anyway.

We drove for maybe thirty minutes, before pulling into a side road. Damon stopped the car in front of what looked like an ice cream parlour, and killed the engine.

"According to my sources, this was a front," Damon said.

"I like it," Gianni said. "No one would suspect an ice cream parlour." He steepled his fingers and pressed them to his lips. "Why didn't we think of this?"

"Because we already have a winery, several restaurants and a car wash," Damon said. "Those assets are sufficient and more profitable."

"But much less fun than an ice cream parlour," Gianni said. "Except the winery."

"If I ever decide to invest in one, you can run it," Reuben said dryly.

I wasn't sure if he was serious or not.

Gianni grinned. "Promise? Actually, I don't want to run it, but I will frequent it. Maybe the twins can run it. That sounds more like their jam."

Reuben smirked and pushed his door open to get out of the car.

I followed close behind, anxiety starting to get the better of me. I pushed it down. Reminded myself who I was. Chances were, Kurt wouldn't be here. He'd spent the last couple of weeks lying low, he wasn't going to stick around if he got wind of us coming.

What if he didn't? I asked myself. What if he had no idea we were here? We could walk right through the front door of the ice cream parlour and find him sitting there, eating a sundae. The kind with chocolate sauce and a sprinkling of nuts.

Before the anxiety became a full-blown panic attack, one of the twins stepped out of the front of the building.

Of course. Reuben wasn't walking through the front door without anyone knowing he was coming. The closer we got, the more of his people I saw inside, surrounding several men and one woman, who sat on the floor in the middle of the parlour. Each had a gun pointed at their head.

Reuben was the boss, he would have sent people here the minute he got word of Kurt's involvement. Possibly hours ago. They would have secured the area before he stepped foot out of his house.

That meant two things: I was safe here, and Kurt wasn't present. That didn't mean we couldn't learn his whereabouts.

I followed Reuben and Damon into the building.

Damon slid a side-eye glance at Gianni, when Gianni peered at the tubs of ice cream behind the glass panel.

Gianni grinned and turned his attention to the people who sat on the floor, taking in each one with interest.

It was an act, I realised. Pretending to be more interested in the ice cream than the people who worked for Kurt. He was letting them think he was harmless, nice even. For him, they might let their guard down. The truth was, he was more dangerous than Reuben and Damon. Subtler.

Reuben nodded for an older man to be brought forward. Two of his men grabbed him and dragged him closer.

"None of them have been helpful," Hunter said. At least, I thought it was him.

"Depending on your definition of helpful," Parker said. "A couple have promised to tell us everything, in return for keeping their toes."

"What Parker said," Hunter said. "But if any of them know where Kurt is, they're keeping their mouths shut."

"I swear on anything you want me to swear on, I have no idea where he is." The man at Reuben's feet looked up at him with begging eyes. "He hasn't been here in three weeks, maybe four." He glanced over his shoulder.

"Lionel is right," the woman said. She was the calmest of them all. "He rarely came here himself."

I took a step back. Gianni put out a hand to steady me. I shook my head. "I'm okay. I just…" I stared at the woman. I'd never seen her before, but I knew that voice.

"He didn't come here because you went to him," I said.

She turned a gaze on me that was so cold it was brittle.

Reuben's look was slightly warmer. "She went to him?"

"One of the voices I heard above the basement was hers," I said. "I heard it several times. She worked for him. She knew where that house was."

Damon had his gun out, aiming at her. The twins had theirs trained on her too.

"Did you know about the basement?" Reuben asked, an underlying warning in his tone. Warning of what, I wasn't sure. If she knew about the basement, she was dead. If she didn't…

I couldn't guess what he'd order to be done with her.

She looked confused. "What basement? All I know is that I went to one address to keep him updated with the operation here. Benny went too, at different times." She jerked her head towards another man, his hair cropped close to his scalp.

"You never went down into the basement?" Gianni asked. "I thought that was where Kurt kept all the weapons?" He spoke lightly, like maybe Kurt kept pinball machines down there or something.

"We were never allowed down there," Benny said.

All the guns were now pointed at him.

"Oh, you knew about the basement," Gianni said with a smile. "Did he tell you why you weren't allowed down there?"

Benny's eyes shifted back and forth. He swallowed physically.

Hunter cocked his gun. "Answer the question."

"He once said something about keeping someone down there," Benny said, his voice high. "He didn't say that to me, I overheard him talking to someone else. He laughed about it. I thought maybe…maybe he was trafficking women and kept them down there. It was none of my business."

"You never thought to check, in case there was something else going on?" Damon asked. "He might have had his mother down there."

"Like I said, it was none of my business." Benny raised his chin defiantly. "I wasn't paid to stick my nose into his personal business. If a guy wants to keep his mother in the basement, that's up to him."

I flinched at the sound of a gunshot and a spray of blood and brains. The back half of Benny's head was gone before he slumped down onto the floor.

"Oops," Hunter said. "My finger slipped."

"If yours hadn't, mine would have," Parker said. "What sort of asshole doesn't care if another asshole has his mother in the basement?"

"A dead one," Damon said. He looked around at the remaining prisoners, most of whom were cowering together. "Anyone else want to supply some useful information?" He raised his eyebrow at the woman who seemed to know more than the rest.

While silence fell, my eyes went to Benny. His eyes were open, staring. I should have been horrified, but I'd seen enough death that it hadn't bothered me, not for a long time. If anything, the idea of someone who might have been able to help me, but didn't, lying dead near my feet was arousing. Almost as much as if I'd done it myself.

I looked back up and locked eyes with the other woman. She tried to look away, but not before I saw something in her expression.

"You knew, didn't you?" I said softly. I was vaguely aware of everyone turning to me. "I don't just recognise your voice from hearing it above me. I heard it before that. When I was drugged and taken down there. People carried me and you were giving them orders to do it."

"Orders on Kurt's behalf," she said calmly.

"You still followed them," I said. I took a step towards her. "You knew I was there the whole time and you did nothing. You knew what he was doing to me."

"I had an idea," she said. She offered no further explanation.

"Fucking hell," someone whispered. I thought it might have been Parker.

"Damon—" Reuben started.

I put up my hand towards him. "No. Gianni." I held out my other hand until he placed a knife across my fingers. I curled my hand around the hilt, feeling the familiar, cool steel.

I took a step forward towards the woman.

The twins took steps back, but their guns remained trained on her head. They didn't need to. The woman didn't flinch as I sliced open her throat.