The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2) (31 page)

“Why her brother?” Tino asked.

“I don’t want to go into details and implicate Wyatt, but let’s just say he’s a loose end. Considering he sold Tabitha to the asshole who raped her, I’m not too torn up about it.”

Tino coughed. “He
sold her
? His sister?”

“He drugged Tabitha, let the guy have her in exchange for whatever got him loaded. He did it for the fix.”

Chuito met Tino’s gaze again. It wasn’t the greatest thing for two ex-addicts to hear. Granted, neither of them would have done that, but it still sort of felt like guilt by association.

“You can’t have one of your guys do it,” Chuito said when he found his voice. He considered the situation for a moment and knew he was right. “It has to be me. Wyatt’s a cop.”

“We can’t help law enforcement,” Nova agreed. “It’s a rule.
A big one
. Technically, Tino and I should’ve been ousted when Romeo married Jules. He put law enforcement in our family, but she’s more lawyer than cop. I’m already on thin ice with the old man for killing my father. I get busted helping a sheriff, and someone will sink me for it. Guaranteed.”

“But you are helping him,” Chuito pointed out, because that took some serious cojones when Nova was already under the microscope.

“I’m making a small exception, but I can’t fucking whack these assholes,” Nova argued as he looked at them. “And I can’t get anyone in the family to do it. I really need a third party, and Tino says he trusts you.”

“I can whack them,” Tino said before Chuito responded. “Just let me do it, and it won’t leave the room. No one in the
Borgata
needs to know.”

“Wyatt doesn’t know I have to do this. He thinks I’m just helping him get his story straight,” Nova argued. “We really can’t afford to have him suspect you, Valentino. He sounds like a redneck, but he’s smart. He will figure it out if you do it. I need you to be home.
All the time
. Be where the Conners can see you until it’s done.”

“What makes you think he won’t suspect Chuito instead?”

“I just don’t think he will.” Nova shrugged as he said it. “Chuito’s a successful fighter. He’s not part of this family. Wyatt has no reason to suspect him.”

“What does Cosa Nostra think of you hanging out here all the time?” Chuito asked curiously.

“They think I got Wyatt in my pocket,” Nova said with a smile. “I mean, he did keep me from going down for whacking my father and my cousin. That’s not a hard idea to sell. We’re not supposed to help them, but we can sure as fuck buy them.”

Chuito nodded at that, because he knew Wyatt wasn’t in anyone’s pocket. At least not yet. Chuito wasn’t so certain where Wyatt would stand after all this.

“What are you gonna expect from Wyatt if I do this for you?” Chuito gave Nova a harsh look. “I’m not gonna do something that’ll stick Wyatt in bed with you guys. He’d hate that.”

“He won’t owe me anything,” Nova promised him. “I
owed him
. I’m paying it back. I’m paying back Tabitha too.”

“Why do you owe Tabitha?” Tino asked.

Nova looked away and rubbed at the back of his neck again. “I just do.”

“Did you fuck her?” Tino asked.

“What?” Nova turned back to him with a glare. “No, I didn’t fuck her. Why is it always about fucking with you? She did something for me when I was a kid. She used to live in New York. She gave me a hundred bucks once. I almost fell on my face when I saw her at the hospital.”

“Tabitha is the chick who gave you a hundred bucks at the bar? Even I remember that,” Tino said in surprise. “That was her? No shit?”

“Yeah.” Nova smiled at his brother. “How friggin’ weird is that?”

“That
is
weird,” Tino agreed. “Let me whack these fuckers. Chuito doesn’t need to get his hands dirty.”

“No, I’ll do it,” Chuito said before Nova could answer. “I want to do it.”

“I’ll pay you,” Nova said as he took a deep breath of relief. “I’ll pay you well.”

“I’m sure you would.” Chuito raised his eyebrows, almost curious what the price tag would be on it if he got a quarter of a million just for letting Tino crash at his place. “But I’d prefer if you didn’t.”

“I don’t want to owe any favors,” Nova said with another hard glare at Chuito. “As you can see, debts are bad for my health. I’m stuck helping a cop because of a debt.”

“No favors. I promise,” Chuito assured him. “Wyatt is part of the reason why I’m not dead or in prison right now. He took a chance on me when it was more than a risky gamble for him. I was a strung-out gangster when I moved here. I have a good life now. I have a lot of legal green in my bank account because of the Conners and Clay. I can take care of a problem for Wyatt.”

Nova shook his head, not swayed. “Garcia—”

“I don’t like motherfuckers who rape women,” Chuito cut him off. “I don’t like ones who sell their sisters for drugs either. You’d be doing me a favor by letting me take them out. Help me cleanse my soul a little.”

“I don’t understand,” Nova said, as if he picked up something in the undercurrent of Chuito’s threat. “I mean, no one likes motherfuckers who rape women, but—”

“My mother was raped,” Chuito admitted to the two brothers something no one save his cousin knew. “I take that shit personally.”

“What happened to the guy who raped her?” Tino asked with a frown. “No teeth?”

Chuito looked at the table. “She’s never told me who it was. She knows, but she won’t give me a name.”

Nova snorted in disbelief. “Why the fuck not?”

“Probably because he was my father.” Chuito shrugged. “I mean, obviously, it was a long time ago. The pendejo’s likely dead, but I sure wouldn’t mind taking a trip to Puerto Rico if he wasn’t. My mother was
fifteen
. She’s got a whole fucking lifetime of issues from that shit. She’s never been able to commit to a man. She doesn’t trust them. Any of ’em. She just uses them and throws them away before they can hurt her. I know it’s his fault. If I can’t find him, I can sure take it out on someone else.”

He glanced up when he sensed a silent communication between the brothers. Their eyes were wide as they stared at each other, and then Tino looked back to him.

“You can take ’em out,” Tino agreed, because the Italians were nothing if not great at understanding his mentality. “Cleanse your soul, brother.”

“Yeah, okay, Garcia.” Nova nodded as he met his brother’s gaze again and then turned back to Chuito. “You want to take them out for free, that works for me, but you gotta do it my way. I’m sorry; they gotta keep their teeth.”

Chuito shrugged again as he gave Nova a smile. “Your hit. I’ll do it how you want.”

Chapter Thirty-One

“Those babies are so cute,” Alaine said as she sat across from him at his kitchen table, because tonight was his night to cook. She took a bite of rice and grinned. “Are you coming with me to the hospital tonight?”

“Um.” Chuito stared at his own food, not feeling hungry. Instead his mind was on the issue with Wyatt, and the commitment he’d made to Nova the day before. “Nah, she probably doesn’t want me there.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “She’s still recovering from surgery and—”

“Since when does Jules care ’bout things like that,” Alaine said with a laugh. “Come to the hospital with me. You want to see the babies again. So tiny. I just wanna cuddle ’em forever.”

“Ay carajo.” He groaned and glanced up at Alaine, who was practically glowing with excitement over Jules and Romeo’s new twins. She looked so pleased; he couldn’t help but agree. “Fine, I’ll come.”

“Okay.” She gave him a wide smile. “Are you gonna hold one of ’em?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Come on,” she urged. “They’re more durable than they look. I got to hold Charlie this morning after they moved Jules up to maternity to be with the twins. He just slept the whole dang time.”

“Alaine, no,” he said firmly, because the last thing he wanted to do was touch Jules’s new sons the same week he’d agreed to commit not one, but two murders to protect Jules’s brother. It felt like a dark taint that was sticking to him, and there was no blow to erase it. “I’ll go, but don’t put me in the position of having to hold them.”

“Are you okay?” she asked as she tilted her head and studied him. “You’re not eating.”

“I’m just not that hungry,” he admitted and pushed at his food again.

“You didn’t eat last night either,” Alaine mused and then sat up and reached across the table, putting her hand on his forehead. “You think you’re coming down with something?”

“I don’t get sick.” He pulled her hand off his forehead, refraining from snapping at her not to touch him, because he didn’t want the darkness to stick to her either. “But go wash your hands just in case.”

Alaine arched an eyebrow at him. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” He pointed to the kitchen sink. “Go. You can’t afford to miss school.”

* * * *

Jules had a lot of visitors since she was moved out of ICU, so Chuito wasn’t surprised to find Wyatt leaning against the wall outside her room in the maternity ward. His arms were wrapped around Tabitha, his head resting on the top of her head as the two of them just stood there in silence, a blanket of tension and sadness throbbing off them so potently Chuito could almost taste it in the air.

“Hey.” Wyatt grabbed Chuito’s arm but didn’t release Tabitha. He looked from Chuito to Alaine seriously. “We’re not telling Jules ’bout the shooting.”

“No, we wouldn’t,” Alaine said in a hushed whisper, because they had all been in the hospital when the Department of Justice had shown up to question Wyatt. Alaine didn’t know what Chuito did, that Wyatt had likely gone after the asshole he shot out of revenge, but she was aware he shot him. She just assumed, like everyone else did, that this prick, Vaughn Davis, had tried to shoot the sheriff, and Wyatt had defended himself.

“Thanks, darlin’.” Wyatt hugged Tabitha once more. “We appreciate that.”

Alaine held up her hands, making it clear she planned to keep it to herself until Wyatt could tell his sister. What version he was going to tell Jules, they might never know.

“Okay,” Alaine whispered and then pointed to the room. “You coming, Chu?”

Chuito nodded as he stared at Tabitha, who was so small in Wyatt’s arms, short and slight, with bright red hair bobbed at her chin that glowed under the fluorescent hospital lights.

They’d all been surprised when Tabitha crashed back into Wyatt’s life earlier in the year. She was his first love. Perhaps his only love and had left him a week after they got married thirteen years ago.

Chuito knew that because Jules had been bitching about it for the past four months. She was bitter toward Tabitha for hurting her brother, but like so many stories, Jules didn’t know everything.

Most people didn’t.

Everyone had secrets.

And demons.

For the first time, Chuito realized this tiny redhead was Wyatt’s Alaine. The woman he would do anything for, even try to kill a man, but he was still Wyatt. He hadn’t succeeded, because life had taught him to follow the rules instead.

Look at where that bullshit had got him.

Facing prison, just for trying to protect his woman.

That was probably the most unjust thing Chuito could think of, because Wyatt didn’t deserve that. He was one of those guys who tried to make the world better.

And someone had hurt his wife.

His Alaine.

Tiny and sweet, with a smile that told the world she trusted it even though she shouldn’t.

“Chu—” Alaine pressed.

“I’m coming.” Chuito walked past Wyatt and punched his shoulder lightly. “It’ll be okay.”

“Yeah,” Wyatt whispered, but he didn’t sound like he meant it. “Thanks, buddy.”

The shock of walking from the darkness in the hallway to the absolutely boisterous joy that was Jules’s hospital room was jarring.

Tino jumped up from a seat he’d been sitting in, holding one of his new nephews. “Look at this bambino.”

“Valentino!” Romeo shouted from his seat on the edge of Jules’s bed. “Stop hopping around with him. We’re going to take him from you if you keep doing that.”

“Nah, he’s strong like his zio.” Tino walked over and showed the baby off to Chuito and Alaine. “He’s handsome like his zio too. You wanna hold him?”

Chuito held up his hand. “I’m good.”

“I’ll hold him.” Alaine took the baby from Tino. Then she turned to Jules, who was sitting up in bed. Her hair was tied back, and she was still pale from her surgery, but it looked like she was healing. “Who is this?”

“Freddy,” Jules said as she pointed at the baby in Alaine’s arms.

“How can you tell?” Alaine asked, smiling ear to ear. “I can’t tell.”

“I don’t know. I just can.” Jules laughed and then gestured to Nova sitting in another seat, with another baby in his arms. “Have you met Nova? He always breezes in and out of town. I wasn’t sure if you’d met him.”

“I’ve been to your office, Jules,” Nova reminded her and then gave Chuito a wide-eyed look. “And we were all here when you had the twins.”

“This morphine has me so fuzzy,” Jules complained. “I hate it.”

“Enjoy the ride, mama.” Tino laughed and then walked over to Nova. “Give him to me.”

Nova jerked back, holding the baby in his arms tighter, giving his brother a glare. “Back off, Tino. I’m leaving in a week. You’re staying here. Let me hold my nephew.”

Chuito actually laughed at them, because it was sort of shocking to see them being so fucking domestic. This was the Nova and Tino that Jules saw, and he understood why she didn’t see anything else.

For the first time he was really glad for it.

Chuito didn’t want Jules to have to see the darkness of the world any more than he wanted Alaine to see it.

Even if it lived under her roof.

“Can you two not shake the babies?” Romeo growled at both of them. “I’m serious. If you—”

“They’re fine,” Nova said dismissively. “Strong.” He looked at Tino and gestured to himself with his free hand. “Like their zio.”

Jules laughed. “Are you sure you can’t stay longer than a week, Nova?”

“Yeah, I’m sure; I got business to take care of,” Nova said, his eyes on his nephew in his arms.

That one statement sort of sucked the joy out of the room, making it very clear that everyone was aware of what that meant.