Fire Bound (Sea Haven Sisters)(72)

“Seriously?” Casimir continued, shouldering the man. “You can’t be that stupid. He’s gotten rid of everyone else. That niece of his will do Aldo Porcelli, and he’ll do her. You’re the last thread leading back to him. With you dead, no one is going to know he murdered his own brother and the heads of the Porcelli family. He’s next in line. Once he’s accepted as the boss, Angeline disappears and he’s the golden boy. He has it all.”



He opened the door of the training hall, went through and kicked the door closed behind him. “If you’re thinking, why wouldn’t he kill me too? I do you and disappear. I come in for the hard jobs, and I’ve worked with Luigi in the past. He can’t find me unless I want to be found. I like money, not women or boys or power. It’s that simple. You’ve always been a risk because you can’t resist hurting the women you get under your control. He told me all about you and after watching you with the little widow these past few days, I’d say he was right to get rid of you. You’re blackmail waiting to happen.”



Casimir dumped Arturo in the middle of the sticky blood where the young woman had died. Arturo tried to scoot out of the puddle, but Casimir caught his arms and yanked them up, securing the cuffs that had bound the widow to the chains. With a flick of his knife, he cut away the zip ties and pocketed them.



“It’s just business to me. That’s all. I get in and get out. Disappear.” He yanked the tape from Arturo’s mouth and replaced it with a ball gag before moving around him to the mechanism to lift the body from the floor and hang him by his wrists. “The clothes are going to have to go. You and your little friend were playing and she accidentally killed you before flinging herself off the cliffs. The cops will probably suspect her of murdering her husband, but she’ll have to bear that little burden. Luigi will most likely be able to supply evidence that you and the widow were seeing each other and you both liked kink.”



Arturo shook his head savagely, his body writhing, legs trying to kick out, but they were tied together at the ankles. Casimir smirked. “You don’t think the cops will buy that? They will accept circumstantial evidence. It’s been my experience that they accept what seems believable, and this scenario is close enough to the truth to make it look very believable.”



He clamped his hands around Arturo’s legs and removed his shoes and stocks, stripped off his trousers, cutting them away with his knife, uncaring that every time Arturo fought to get free, the tip of the blade sliced open skin. “Whoa, looks like Carlotta liked knife play.”



Arturo shook his head adamantly, making all kinds of noises around the ball gag. Saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth in a steady stream. Once he had cut the clothes away from Arturo, leaving him stark naked, Casimir locked the bodyguard’s ankles into the tethers and again, removed the zip ties and pocketed them. He tossed the remnants of Arturo’s clothes to one side.



“The widow’s vehicle, the one you’ve been using, is at her home, but your prints are all over it. The suicide note tells how in love she was with you. How you loved to tie each other up and flog each other, but something went wrong and you died. She burned down the building and threw herself off the cliff where you both had thrown her husband over.” He made little clucking noises and shook his head. “You certainly have a lot to answer for. Luigi will be properly ashamed when all this comes to light.”



Casimir casually pulled plastic overalls and a jacket from his bag and donned both items over his immaculate clothing. He picked up the whip and held it up for Arturo to see. “To make this scene believable, we’ll have to make it very authentic. Don’t worry, I learned at the hands of masters, although it’s been years since I practiced this particular art. I’m fairly certain I can do as much justice to this art form as you did on Carlotta.”



A half an hour later, Casimir exited the building. If Arturo could have screamed around his ball gag, he would have. Flames were already licking at his feet and rushing up walls, responding to the direction of a true fire element.





11



Luigi rubbed his hands together, more than pleased with the evening’s event. His niece had done her job efficiently, the way she always did. He really regretted having to kill such a competent and resourceful tool, but he wasn’t going to take any chances, not now when he was so close to his goals. He sauntered out to his car. He couldn’t celebrate with the lovely widow. He didn’t like that he’d lost her, but maybe this worked out better. He would see that the men he paid such good money to every week would be assigned to her tragic case. No one would ever suspect Cosmos had been killed on Luigi’s order. No one. Not when the tragedy surrounding his widow would become the number one topic of gossip.