TEN YEARS AGO, I’D LEFT New York in a car I’d stolen in Queens. I dropped it in Pennsylvania and stole another one to get me to Cleveland. With every mile I’d driven, I plotted my revenge, rage and despair tearing through me.
I’d been so fucking cocky, thinking I could win enough counting cards to pay off the loan shark and set us up so we wouldn’t have to worry. When security had come, I’d told Abby to run, but neither of us made it. They’d beaten the fuck out of us both, making it clear that they’d hunt us both until they’d been repaid double. Then they left us in an alley like trash, and Abby was dead by the time I came to. I’d carried her home, tears streaming down my face, as the acrid smell of smoke grew stronger and stronger. The tattoo shop and our apartment above it had both burned with my uncle inside.
Abby’s body had joined my uncle’s in the van to the morgue, and I’d made my plan. I knew they’d be back for their first payment. And I knew I had no way to get it to them.
I had nothing to lose.
So I bought a gun off the street and went looking for the man who’d ordered it all. He took what mattered to me, so I’d take his life.
His offices weren’t far from the shop, and I went looking for him there. Standing in front of a brownstone in Hell’s Kitchen, I’d leveled the gun at his chest as he’d stepped out of the front door, my finger on the trigger.
Until a blond girl had come rushing out of an SUV, raced up the steps, and thrown herself into his arms.
Surprised, I’d jerked, and my shot went wide. Casso’s thugs had swarmed him and rushed the girl into the building.
Now I knew the blond girl I’d almost shot.
Eden.
And now I was going back, ready to trade my life for hers. I didn’t have any false hopes that I’d be making a return flight on the Titan Industries jet.
No, this was coming full circle and ending here.
I was a dead man walking when I stepped off that jet, and I didn’t give a fuck. All that mattered was making sure she was safe. I just didn’t expect everything to come full circle quite like this.
When Simon brought the jet to a stop on the tarmac just before sunrise, we all rose, armed to the teeth and with duffels slung over our shoulders as we waited for Titan to open the door.
“I never have to do this shit myself,” he grumbled as he pushed it open and lowered the steps.
Another jet was parked under giant spotlights a hundred feet away, and Rix stopped short on the tarmac as he studied it. “Same tail numbers as the one that left NOLA. That’s Casso’s jet.”
We all froze.
“Why is it still on the tarmac? Looks like it’s getting ready to fly again,” Con said.
I ran back up the steps to the cockpit as Simon was removing his headset. “Can you check with the tower, ask if that jet is leaving?”
He looked at me and pulled the headset back down. “They might not tell me, but I can try.”
I stood behind him as he radioed and asked for information.
“Roger that.” He lifted the headset off again. “It’s set for takeoff as soon as the passengers are aboard. No more than fifteen minutes.”
Con stood behind me in the doorway. “You think it’s him? Taking your girl somewhere else?”
“Don’t fucking know, but I’m not leaving until we see who’s getting on it.”
Con called the other guys back inside, and I explained.
“Change of plans,” I said. “That might be them. We’re not leaving until I know my girl isn’t here.”
Lord leaned against the cabin wall. “Want to set up a couple sniper positions? Me and Con can take ’em. That way, if shit goes down we can take them out.”
I thought of the airstrip. “Where the hell are you going to do that?”
Lord laughed. “Let us worry about that.”
“We got less than fifteen minutes, so we’re going now.” Con unzipped the duffel and pulled out two rifles. “I’ll keep it low so we don’t get any interest from the tower.”
Con and Lord exited the plane.
“Simon and I can cover you from here. There’s no point in not being totally prepared.” This came from Rix.
“And what about me?” Titan asked.
“You’re with Bish. Don’t let him die.”
“Thanks,” Titan drawled.
We headed down the stairs and Con and Lord were nowhere in sight, already having disappeared to God only knew where. It was easy to forget the brothers had been lethal in the military in their day. Simon and Rix stood like sentries at the stairs, sidearms out of sight.
“Here comes someone,” Rix said as headlights cut through the darkness.
A blacked-out Escalade pulled to a stop next to the jet, and the driver jumped out to open the back door. A man stepped out that I recognized all too well. It had been a long fucking time, but Dominic Casso wasn’t someone you forgot.
A flunky in the front passenger seat had circled around to open the other back door, revealing a second man. Both doors were shut after the two men exited, and it was clear there was no one else inside.
“No Eden.”
“But you’ve got the boss man, and you’ve got questions to be answered about where the fuck his goon took his girl. I say, no time like the present to ask them.”
I inhaled and slipped my gun into the back of my jeans.
Dead man walking.
The two bodyguards carried suitcases up into the plane, and Dom and the other man stood on the tarmac.
It was time. Fuck it.
“Where the fuck is Angelo Francetti?”
Both men spun around to face me as I stepped into the light, and one bodyguard came back to the stairs and drew a weapon.
“Who the fuck are you?” Dom demanded.
He looked exactly the same as I remembered. It was like the man hadn’t aged a day, despite running an empire that should have aged him years ahead of his time.
“Doesn’t fucking matter who I am. What matters is he’s got your daughter, and I’m not leaving until I find them both.”
Dom’s face pinched with confusion. “My daughter? What the fuck do you know about my daughter?”
“You don’t tell us who you are, you’re gonna catch a bullet to the skull in five seconds.” This came from the other man.
“You really don’t care where she is? Or that Angelo Francetti knocked her unconscious and dragged her out of a shop in New Orleans and put her on this same plane?”
Dom’s head jerked back and he looked at the other man. “What the fuck is he talking about, Vin? New Orleans? You told me she was safe. Why the fuck would Angelo dare lay a hand on her?”
“Get on the plane. I’ll take care of this fuck. He’s stirring up shit he has no business stirrin’.”
“I’m not going any fucking place until you answer my question. Where the fuck is my daughter? You’ve been puttin’ me off for days.”
“She’s safe. She’s fine. No one will bother her.”
“She’s not safe,” I said. “She sure as shit didn’t ask to be knocked out or kidnapped. And neither of you is going anywhere until I have my answers.”
Dom turned to Vin. “You’ve got sixty fucking seconds to get Eden on the phone or I’m gonna put a bullet in your brain. I don’t give a fuck how long I’ve known you.”
Vincent bristled. “All due respect, Dom, but you’ve got a lot more to be worried about right now than where your daughter is. You need to get on this plane and get the hell out of the country before the Feds catch up with you.”
“You’re not hearing me. Why the fuck aren’t you hearing me?” Quiet, yet lethal, anger edged Dom’s tone.
“Yeah, answer the fucking question, Vin.”
“Shoot this guy,” Vincent yelled to the bodyguard, his arm flung out toward me, but Dom held up a hand.
“Don’t fucking shoot anyone until I give the word.” He looked at me. “Now, tell me why I shouldn’t leave you bleeding out on this tarmac right now?”
“Because I’m here to find your daughter. Because apparently I’m the only fucking person who’s worried about her.”
Dom looked at Vincent. “New Orleans? I told you I wanted her in a safe house, and you said it was taken care of. What the fuck is your problem? Are you deaf?”
“She was taken care of. You wanted her out of the way; I told you, I got her out of the way.”
“In fucking New Orleans? Where the fuck is Angelo now?”
Vincent shrugged. “Busy doing what he’s told.”
Dom’s voice dropped into a harsh whisper. “You give me a fucking straight answer, Vin, or I will shoot you myself. Where the fuck is your kid, and where the fuck is my daughter?”
Kid?
Vincent looked at me closer, and recognition finally hit me. Ten years ago, he hadn’t been the number-two guy. He’d been climbing the ranks and carrying out orders.
He recognized me at the same time. “I remember you. You’re the one who ran like a fucking coward and never stopped. You’ve got balls of brass, boy, to come back here. You didn’t have so many fucking tats or as much hair then, but I remember you.” He leveled the pistol at my head. “Time for you to pay in blood.”
Two red dots popped up on his chest.
“That would be a really poor idea on your part,” Titan said, stepping up next to me. “Two ex-Special Forces snipers will take you out before you can pull the trigger.”
I looked at Dom. “And if you let your guys shoot me, I won’t be able to tell you about the burner phone we found in Vin’s kid’s hotel room and all the interesting numbers it has on it. Like the Feds.”
I’d been saving that piece for leverage, and it worked.
Dom held an arm out in front of Vin. “Put the fucking gun down.” To me, he added, “What the fuck are you talking about? You trying to tell me Angelo is a rat who kidnapped my daughter?”
Before takeoff, I’d tried every number on the burner phone we found in Angelo’s room, and had two conversations with very special agents who were ready for the information Angelo had promised to deliver.
Vincent didn’t notice, but from behind him, both bodyguards leveled their weapons on his back.
“This fuck doesn’t know jack shit.”
“All I want is to know that Eden is safe, and you can have everything we found and do your own investigation, Mr. Casso.”
Dom looked at Vin. “Get Eden on the phone, now. No more fucking excuses, or I will end you. I don’t fucking care who you are. And you.” He raised his gun at my head, and one of the little red dots jumped to his chest. “You’re going to tell me why the fuck you’re so interested in my daughter.”
“Can’t you tell the guy’s in love with her? Jesus, why else would he face down the mob boss who had his family killed ten years ago?” Titan’s drawl was thicker now. “That’s storybook shit right there.”
“He telling the truth?” Dom asked.
“Fucking right, he is,” Titan replied.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Vincent laughed. “What the fuck is it about that girl?”
“You better start from the beginning, boy,” Dom told me.
“Don’t have the luxury of that kind of time, Mr. Casso. Right now, Angelo Francetti has your daughter.”
“Angelo isn’t going to hurt her,” Vincent said. “He’s protected Eden for years.”
“Where the fuck did he take her, Vin? I want answers. Now.”
“He’s got a place in Jersey. He wanted some time alone with her.”
Dom turned to Vincent, his gun held loosely in his hand. “Wait. You knew your boy took my girl? What the fuck else did you know? That she was kidnapped? What about the Feds on your kid’s phone? You got explanations for all of that, my friend?”
“You’re gonna believe this guy over someone you’ve known for years?”
“This kid that walked up to us with the balls of a fucking elephant to make sure my daughter was safe? What motive does he have? Because the fact that you’ve been giving me the runaround for fucking days tells me that you’re the one I’ve got to worry about right now. Get her on the phone or my bullet goes in your brain.”