The Claim (19 page)

“What’s your fucking problem?”

“You,” the one on his left said. He found his arms grabbed and the distinct clicking sound of handcuffs. Before he could say a word he was hustled into a car. It skidded from the pavement and into the empty road.

“What the fuck!” he yelped. Struggling to release his arms, even though he knew it was futile, he glanced to the passenger on his left. Rocco Mamione gave him a polite smile.

“Good morning.”

Norcross struggled harder, opening his mouth to call attention to anyone on the street. Someone in front of him turned around and brushed a white cloth under his nose. He sneezed and retched all at once. Rocco Mamione wasn’t looking at him, only tugging on black leather gloves. The last thing he heard before he passed out was, “We can do this in fifteen minutes, right?”

Chapter Twenty

Freezing cold water raked at Norcross’s face. Where was he now? It was barely lit, but he could tell he was in a warehouse, from his upside down view. He recoiled when his eyes connected with Rocco Mamione’s black gaze.

“You haven’t got a long time left on this earth.” Fear choked him suddenly. All the time he’d chased the Mamione family, their danger to him hadn’t crossed his mind once. “So think of me as your priest.”

“What would I know that you don’t?” he spluttered. “You got me off the force, isn’t that enough?”

Rocco gave the barest of smiles. “No. It’s not. I told you, strike three.”

“I can’t do anything else now!” he lied.

“Forgive me if I don’t want to take that risk. What do you have on my firm?”

“Nothing!”

“That can’t be the case. As soon as that money was transferred to Ms. Taylor, you jumped on her. It was a private settlement.”

“It was a guess.”

“No, that’s not altogether true, is it.”

Norcross found his spine. “See, it’s frustrating when someone doesn’t tell the truth, isn’t it?”

He suddenly heard the echo of a gun chamber being loaded. It echoed across the warehouse like a firework. “Bored!” someone called out.

“Good point,” Rocco agreed. “Someone must have told you, so who?”

“Enzo Vitale’s solicitors,” he said quickly. There had to be a bargain to get out of this. “They told me that their client had concerns.”

“That is bullshit. No one, not even Enzo Vitale, is that stupid.”

Norcross swallowed, desperately trying to moisten his arid throat. Hanging upside down was making him feel nauseous and dizzy. “If I tell you...”

“No deals.”

“You can’t just—”

“Finish that sentence and I’ll put a razor blade under your fingernails. Who?”

“Me! I’ve been tracking you for years.”

Rocco leaned back on his heels. “Why don’t I believe you? See, fact of the matter is, you’re not that good at your job. You never were. You just. Got. Lucky. So, for the last time, who told you?”

“Imogen,” he gasped, “Imogen Barnes.”

“I told you that bitch was crazy!” another voice in the dark blazed.

Rocco didn’t take his eyes from Norcross. “She used her husband’s details with your firm’s bank and gave me a copy of the statement. Her husband can access company accounts, so she accessed your firm’s and told me. Now you know. Now let me go.”

“Why would I do that?”

“No one’s going to believe that I’ve just vanished.”

“Your misfortune, Norcross, is that no one cares,” Rocco said simply, turning away. “As far as anyone else is concerned, you’ve gone on a long and well-deserved holiday.”

When the bullet struck him in the forehead, Norcross was asking God for forgiveness.

Anna had been staring up at the ceiling for the last three hours, pretending that she was all right with Rocco gone. Birds were chirping with the dawn. Lights from passing cars roved from one end of the room to the other. For some reason, she thought she’d be able to go back to sleep, but her mind was on hyper-drive. A variety of scenarios were plaguing her, all featuring Rocco close to death or dead. She had a shower to calm down. It didn’t work. She made herself a hot chocolate with so much whisky in it, most of it ended up down the sink after she coughed the alcohol up. Funny how despite their history, it didn’t even occur to Anna that Rocco could be with another woman. In fact, she’d love to see him try to have sex with another woman after what they’d done tonight.

She made her way back to her room to pull on clothes and bundled her hair up to the top of her head in a careless knot. Rocco’s first mistake was to tell her where his spare gun was. His second was to abandon his phones. The passcodes were burned into her brain. It would take seconds to unlock them and find out where he’d gone. Rocco was a planner. Everything would be somewhere for him to record, even if it needed to be deleted at a later date. She tapped the gun against her thigh impatiently. With a sigh, she exchanged the gun for her own phone and dialled Beppe. It went straight to his answering machine, but she left a stirring message. “You’ve got five minutes to call me back and tell me where my man is.”

He called her back in two. “It’s the Master.”

“Where is he?”

“Chill out, woman, we’re just coming to the house now.”

She breathed out slowly, tears of relief stinging her eyes. “Good.”

“You shouldn’t worry so much. We wouldn’t be able to stay in trouble if we got Rocks into some.”

“Now I can tell you to shut up.” She heard the gentle roar of a car outside the house and without a thought for keys, she threw open the front door. The car had barely stopped moving before Rocco was out and heading toward her. If any doubt lingered in her mind that they weren’t meant to be or she was fooling herself by being with him, it vanished the moment she was in Rocco’s arms. Wrapped around him like a python was a more accurate description of how she clung to him, legs locked at his waist and arms tight on his neck. Her fingers automatically began to search for injury. She inspected his scalp, and then peered down the front of his shirt.

“Annie, what are you doing?”

“Making sure there’s nothing that needs medical attention.”

He grinned. “Not medical...” She nudged him with her knees in disapproval. “I’m fine, I promise. It’s only what I needed to do. Just this once,
Tempesta
.”

“Damn right. Let me go a minute.”

He released her and, barefooted, Anna padded to the car. Beppe rolled down the window and begged, “Don’t hit me, Annie, he made me drive.”

She instead leaned down and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for bringing him back.”

Beppe went tomato red. “Er, there are some other dudes who’d appreciate that thanks. Especially since you’re braless.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” she muttered. “Which car?”

He pointed in the direction of where a second car was resting on the other side of the road. A quick look across the road and she skipped over. She’d only met Tony and Nick once, and honestly, she’d forgotten how big they both were until they got out of the car.

“I hope you’re reserving the violence for your boy over there,” Nick offered. “We just followed him along.”

“Stop lying,” Anna admonished. “I heard you’re going to be a dad soon.”

He shrugged. “As I’ve told my wife, the kid’s screwed.”

She smiled and went on tiptoes to catch his cheek with her lips. “Not really. Thank you.”

Tony didn’t let her say thank you before she was dangling in the air from his arms. “You’re welcome. I did all the work, Rocky just watched as per usual.”

Anna hadn’t seen Rocco even cross the road, but he had a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Mate, let go.”

“You’re going on like I haven’t got a wife who wouldn’t hesitate to cut my balls off.” Tony snorted.

“Thank you,” Anna said again, as Tony put her gently down on the tarmac. Rocco picked her up and said something in Italian to the two men, who bent over laughing in response.

“You understand I have to tie you to a bed for at least twenty-four hours to compensate for tonight?”

His dark eyes glinted in the streetlights. “I’ve got no problem with that.”

Revenge was all very well and good, but it all came down to the same thing. Imogen Barnes had a baby. “I know it doesn’t make up for a thing that bitch did, but what else can I do?” Anna asked, rubbing her hands on her face. Rocco felt it was only right that Anna knew what Imogen’s role had been in her arrest and about Norcross’s unnatural interest in them both.

“Set her straight,” he said.

“Or you will?”

Rocco’s mouth flickered with a smile. “Let’s just say, if I had my way, she’d be a pile of ashes floating in the Solent. Like Norcross.”
Too much?
he thought, watching Anna’s eyes widen with surprise. “She’s your friend. I’m leaving it to you.”

“Her son’s eight months old. Barely.”

“Do him a favour then. Set her straight so she can be a better mother.”

Anna made a growling sound in her throat. “I want to kill her. Dude, how do you not just end people on a daily basis?”

“What makes you think I don’t?” He grinned.

“You’re actually good at your job,” she dismissed.

“Which one?”

“The legit one.”

He nodded. “Ah. It’s a trial of patience. But haven’t you given her enough chances?”

Anna sighed. “Plenty.”

“There will always be someone who can take advantage of our situation unless you know their weak points. What’s hers? She’s always had yours down pat.”

She shrugged. “Money.”

“Is that all? Annie, you’ve got her over a barrel.”

Turning away, Anna presented him with her profile. “You need to come too.”

“I like watching you in action,” he said gently.

“Uh uh, it’s so you see what’ll happen to you if you cross me.”

Rocco’s smile widened instantly. “You know you’re just turning me on.”

Chapter Twenty-one

Imogen’s panic showed the minute she laid eyes on Anna. “What do you want?”

Rocco imagined that it was the tone of utter defiance in Imogen’s voice that set Anna off. She punched her. In the face. Again. Imogen went flying into her own corridor. Rocco picked up Anna’s fire-hot hand and kissed the soon to be bruised knuckles. “Witnesses,” he suggested.