Four Months Earlier
When it came to doling out consequences, Matthew thought of it as teaching a lesson. With Sasha, however, he was simply covering his ass.
James and Lawrence Garafola were both captains in Las Vegas, brought in substantial money for the Family, and followed orders without hesitation. When the brothers called and asked if they would be able to partake in Matthew’s fine hospitality in Atlantic City, he immediately granted their request and decided to meet with them for dinner over the weekend. It was during this dinner that Matthew found out Sasha had recently been seen in Las Vegas. Lawrence’s comment made every fiber of Matthew’s being feel like it had been hit with a jolt of electricity. Stunned and shaken by what he’d just heard, he decided he needed to hear it again.
Lawrence was trying to swallow a hunk of steak he had just shoved in his mouth so James repeated it for him. “He said he recognized her because they hooked up a few years after we took care of your problem. She worked for you back then, right?”
“She did.”
James nudged Lawrence with his elbow, a grin on his face. “If this guy can remember a hook-up from that long ago, she must have done something right.”
Matthew attempted a smile to show he found the humor in the comment, but it just wasn’t coming out right. He wiped his mouth with his napkin in an attempt to gather his thoughts, and realized that if he wanted to get more information about Sasha’s secret visit to Las Vegas all those years ago, he would have to feign interest.
“Well,” Matthew said, “Sasha did have a knack for putting a smile on men’s faces long after they had parted company. It’s too bad you only got one night of her expertise.”
Lawrence shook his head, his fork poised in front of his mouth. “We didn’t leave the room for three days.” He gave himself a congratulatory smile and shoved the fork in his mouth.
Matthew quickly tried to recall how long Sasha usually went away on business trips and calculated the longest he could remember her being gone was no more than five days, and never recalled her visiting Las Vegas.
Lawrence had a smile and a thoughtful look on his face. “Yeah. I wouldn’t mind getting together with her again. It would be nice to get another video.”
Matthew’s head snapped up and he stared at Lawrence. “Video?”
“He likes to watch,” James clarified.
Lawrence shrugged his shoulders. “Eh. It’s just a hobby.”
Matthew was getting impatient. “What video?”
“Oh, I have a digital camera set up at the foot of the bed.” Lawrence let go a proud laugh. “We had plenty of footage. Three days is a long time.”
“Do you remember any of the conversation you shared over the course of three days?” Both James and Lawrence looked confused and Matthew let out a frustrated sigh. “Did you happen to mention anything about our business arrangement?”
Lawrence gave an uncaring shrug of his shoulders as he scooped up another forkful of food. “I don’t know. Damn, now that I think about it, I wish I could go back and watch the video again but she took it with her when she left. Or, I guess she did. It was gone when I tried to find it a few days after she left.”
***
Matthew was in Las Vegas within a week, Crescent and Tucker in tow, to hunt down Sasha. Matthew was hoping to find her quickly; they were in somebody else’s territory, unannounced, and had to tread carefully. While Matthew convinced Neil Parsons, underboss of Vegas, that he was there for pleasure, he sent Crescent and Tucker in search of Sasha. Within twenty-four hours, she was found.
In the basement of an abandoned auto repair shop, Matthew sat down in front of Sasha, full of sorrow and disappointment. Sasha was one of the few women he trusted and was genuinely hurt when she left Boston. It pained him to see her tied to a chair, shaking and scared to death, taking in her surroundings and most likely knowing any one of the numerous auto parts and tools would probably be used to inflict a lot of pain. Crescent and Tucker stood on either side of Sasha while Matthew calmly assessed her, trying to decide the best tack to take. He could see was desperately trying to be courageous and unafraid of the inevitable.
Matthew’s tone matched the look on his face—he would get what he wanted from her. “I understand there is a video. Tell me where it is.”
Matthew could see from the way Sasha’s eyes popped wide open that he had learned a secret she never wanted him to know. Sasha spoke through the tears choking her speech. “I don’t have it.”
Crescent’s hand flashed out and his fist violently cracked Sasha’s face, blood spraying from her nose as the force jerked her head from one side to the other. Matthew patiently waited a few moments to let her regain her senses before asking again. Sasha, though taken with white-hot pain, straightened herself in the chair, tried to control the tears, and looked at Matthew with angry defiance in her eyes.
“Who else knows about it?”
“Nobody!”
“If nobody else knows about the video, then where did it go?”
When Sasha didn’t answer, Tucker put his full force behind swinging a torque wrench across her left thigh. Matthew knew the pain was immediate and excruciating, and Sasha let out a wailing cry of pain as another blow hit her leg with enough force to break her tibia. She quickly sucked in shuddering breaths, closing her eyes against the pain, her tears freely falling. When she looked at Matthew once more, the fire in her eyes was still there, but there was something else. Something that told Matthew she had information he never wanted her to have. Suspicious, he asked her, “How much do you know?”
Sasha barred her teeth against the pain and gave a pained smile. “Everything.”
***
When Sasha learned Matthew’s secret, the first thing she wanted to do was tell David, but she wouldn’t be able to go to him without proof. Her opportunity came when a delivery of compromising photographs needed to be made in Arizona and Matthew sent Sasha to personally deliver them. Once her errand was completed, she snuck over to Las Vegas. It didn’t take long to find the Garafola brothers. Hastily seducing Lawrence and suffering three days in his company got her the information she needed.
“Your boss didn’t like this guy he was partners with. I mean he really didn’t like him. Apparently, he had been stuck with him because he’s the son of someone important and your boss was sick of his friend fucking everything up.” Lawrence undoubtedly got a rush of excitement from telling the story, and an even bigger rush from being the person responsible for taking care of the problem. Sasha could see the enthusiasm both in his face and between his legs. “So, your boss paid us a little extra—two hundred and fifty thousand each—to take this guy out to the desert and make him disappear. We roughed him up a little bit but I got bored, so I put two shots in him. Afterward, we went to the casino and I won a grand at the blackjack table.”
Lawrence shrugged to indicate his indifference, then reached for Sasha and quickly replaced the conversation with his excitement. She didn’t expect to be able to get physical proof, but Lawrence’s fetish for making videos of sexual encounters was simply an added bonus. On the third day, after Lawrence finally left the room to meet his brother, she showered and gathered her things, including the digital footage, and boarded a plane for home.
***
“If you have had this information all these years, why haven’t you told anyone?” Matthew asked.
“Because even though you are an arrogant, selfish, murdering son of a bitch, I couldn’t let her grow up without a father.”
Sasha had succeeded in infuriating Matthew. He shot a commanding look and Tucker dealt another blow to Sasha’s face. This time her head snapped backward, her neck threatening to break. She bit her tongue and blood dripped out of her mouth. Another fist connected with her face before Matthew held up a hand and gave Tucker a look that said to wait for further punishment until instructed.
“Where is the video, Sasha?”
“I locked it away,” she said through clenched teeth.
His exasperation was beginning to show. “And where is the key to its hiding place?”
A cracked smile formed on her face through the blood and the pain. She definitely had another secret, and Matthew was determined to know everything she knew. Instead, she left him curious.
“I passed down one key when I left Boston.”
Surprised, Matthew asked, “There is more than one key?”
Sasha glared at Matthew with a hardened look that informed him she was done talking. Instinctively, Matthew knew Renee would have one of the keys, and he had one more reason to find her and force her to come back. After he had used Renee to get what he wanted, he could dispose of her and never look back.
Matthew gave Sasha a disappointed look, then turned to Crescent. It actually hurt him to cause Sasha pain, but he wouldn’t let that deter him from his quest. “Find out where those keys are and then make sure she will never be able to repeat that story. I’ll meet you at the airport in a few hours.”
Matthew turned and walked out of the basement, leaving Sasha alone with Crescent and Tucker, where begging for her life would be completely pointless.