“No, should I?” She glanced at me then back to Bobby.
“Interesting.” He sighed as he leaned back in his chair. “Vinnie, what is my number one rule?”
Vinnie stood straighter. “Honesty.”
I smirked. “That’s rich, coming from the mafia.” Bobby let out a little laugh, but I noticed his fingers rubbed together. It was something Bobby normally did right before he—
“Shit!” I shouted as Tommy’s head slammed down on the marble table, and his eyes popped wide open. The sound was so horrid that Sydney held her stomach.
Bobby opened his pocket knife and reached inside Tommy’s mouth and yanked his tongue out. Tommy screamed and saliva started to drain from his lips.
“I have rules, don’t care who you are, nephew or not.” He sliced right through the muscle and dropped half his tongue onto the table with a splat. Tommy bucked and wailed but didn’t dare move.
Sydney buried her head in my shoulder as she gripped my jacket for dear life. She didn’t scream, but she was clearly terrified.
“Rats.” He nodded at Sly to take Tommy away. “Send my sister his tongue. She’ll see what her boy really is. Now…” He wiped his hand free of blood, before sitting back down as if nothing happened. “Where was I? Sydney—” He waited for her to raise her pale face. “—answer me something.”
Shit…
“You said you lived with your aunt? Does she have any other kids?”
Oh shit…
“Yes.”
“How many?”
She tried to look at me, but Bobby shook his head.
I wanted to bump her leg, but Vinnie caught my eye.
“A daughter.”
“Tell me this. What happened to your grandparents?”
Fuck me.
“They died.”
“How?” He leaned forward, and I knew he saw it.
Oh fuck…
“Car crash.”
In a flash, he pointed his 9 millimeter in her face. I felt the tip of a rifle dig into my neck as my gun aimed at Bobby. This was a nasty triangle to be in. Mob, mob, Fed.
“Wrong answer, Sydney.” Bobby shook his head. “Really, after what just happened, you’re going to lie to me?”
“I’m not lying,” she muttered. “My grandparents were killed in a car accident.”
Well, that’s true.
Bobby rubbed his head with his free hand. He lowered his gun as I did mine. Though Vinnie kept his gun pinned to my neck.
I’ve had enough of this shit.
“I’m not entirely sure why we’re here this weekend, but I think we’ve overstayed our welcome.” I stood, but Bobby raised his hand, then nodded at Vinnie, who placed two gun shell casings in front of me.
A weight suddenly lifted off my chest.
“I knew Charlie,” Bobby muttered. My hands went out to touch the warm steel as his words sank in. Sydney reached for my arm. “He knew about something we were planning and didn’t want any part of it. He left and ended up in Nashville, where he fell in love with some diner bitch.” My eyes stayed locked on the casings. I was afraid to move in case he stopped talking. Answers, I was finally getting answers.
“Vinnie found him and brought him back, but he didn’t want any part of it. So he left again, vanished. He resurfaced a year later, and he had gotten married in Vegas. When I sent Sly to speak with him to remind him that he had duties to uphold, they slipped away.” Sly shifted. “Not before Charlie left Sly with a…parting gift.” Sly craned his neck, and I saw a scar along his shoulder. “Three years later, they popped up at a party, and their picture ended up in the newspaper. Three days later, I paid him a visit, but they knew we were coming.” His finger traced in Tommy’s blood, spreading it outward. “I’m starting to understand how they were tipped off.” He waited a beat.
“So, I followed them home one night. Only they caught on and tried to make a run for it.”
“Into the scrap yard,” I whispered with my palm held up to my face to get a better look at the casings.
“I knew Charlie would hide the girl, and sure enough, when we were close to her, he showed himself. Vinnie dragged him through the dirt to my feet. He didn’t beg. He was smarter than that. He just closed his eyes and said a prayer. It had never made sense to me, and when I thought I understood it, I was proven wrong.” His glance moved over to Sydney then back to me. “It wasn’t easy, but it had to be done. He knew too much.”
“How did his wife play into all of this? Why kill her?” My mouth was dry.
“She saw. If she had just stayed put, I would have let her be…maybe.” He smirked. “But instead she dropped to his side and died right alongside of him. True love and all that shit, I guess. I don’t like loose ends, Agent Colin.”
I cleared my throat and set the bullets upright. My pointer finger rested above my lip while I chose my words very carefully.
“One last thing.” I felt an eerie calm pass over me. “How was Charlie connected to you?”
Vinnie laughed behind me as Sly smirked at Bobby.
“He was my son.”
“Hmm,” I mumbled, then in a blink, I grabbed my knife and jammed it in his throat. Sydney grabbed my gun and held Vinnie and Sly at bay. I moved around the marble and watched as the blood squirted from his main artery, soaking his expensive dress shirt and pooling on his lap. His eyes showed me his life slipped from his grasp. “Sorry, Grandfather, but you had to know it would end like this.”
“Holy fuck,” Vinnie gasped behind me. “He’s Charlie’s boy.” His expression changed as he glanced at Sydney. You could see as it all clicked together for him, “you’re not their daughter.”
I ignore him and look over, “Syd,” I called over my shoulder, “call it in.”
I looked back at the man I hunted for years. I knew he was connected, but I never had enough proof, until now.
“This is Agent Sydney Claire, badge 768 with the Santa Monica agency.”
I looked down at my blood-soaked hands, then at a body that struggled to live, and finally at the woman I love who agreed to help me with this case, and follow me through until the end.
“I can’t believe I’m looking at Charlie’s boy,” Vinnie grunted as he tossed his gun at my feet in a state of defeat. “He would have been—”
Pop, pop! Two bullets burrowed into his flesh. I turned to Sly and did the same. No loose ends.
I bent over Bobby’s lifeless body and pulled his ring free of his fat finger and slipped it on my own.
I looked at Sydney, who gave me a wicked grin and joined me at my side.
I finally got what I wanted—justice and my seat at the head of the family table.
I had mafia ties, and I planned to use them.
The End