Packing Heat(54)

“You’ll see,” Vince answered, and crossed his arms. I got the machine set up and turned the television on.

Without further ado, I hit play.

Watching Ernesto’s face was one of the most satisfying experiences I had ever had in my life. He went from bored and annoyed to shocked to terrified to angry as fuck in the span of about thirty seconds.

He whirled on Vince, practically shaking with rage. “What the fuck is this?”

Vince looked at me.

“I found it just before the Spiders almost killed me,” I said. “I think it’s their way of stirring the pot.”

“It’s a fucking lie,” he spat, “a dirty fucking lie. My boys wouldn’t do that.”

“Wouldn’t they?” Vince shrugged. “Seems like they would, Ernesto.”

“You piece of shit.” He stepped up to Vince, who just smiled. In a fight, Ernesto was toast. I fingered my gun just in case. “You two cunts better leave.”

“Ernesto, please,” Vince said. “Don’t overreact here. Nobody is blaming you.”

“I hear the implications. I can see them.”

“Nobody is implying,” Vince said.

“I am,” I said.

Vince laughed. “Rafa, stop.”

“You piece of shit.” Ernesto stepped toward me, and I just smiled at him. “That bullet should have ended you.”

“It didn’t, so I’m here to take you by the balls and squeeze.”

“Play nice, Ernesto,” Vince said, “or else we’ll take this to Arturo.”

“Good. Show him. Show him what a cunt you are.”

“I’m being kind by coming to you first,” Vince said. “I’m giving you a chance to make this right.”

“Get out,” he roared. “Get out now.”

I ejected the tape and headed toward the door. Vince gave Ernesto one last look. “Reconsider this reaction and come see me soon.” He waved and then we left.

Out in the hall, Vince laughed, and I couldn’t help but laugh along with him. That had been such a ballsy move, a really fucking ballsy move. We had no real proof that any of what was on the tape was real, but I was betting by the way Ernesto had reacted that every single word was true.

“Now what?” I asked him.

“Now we wait for him to realize that he’s up shit creek and for him to try to paddle on back.”

I laughed, and we walked down the hall together. I felt elated and good for the first time in a long time, despite the pain in my leg.





27





Cassidy





I was nervous as I waited for Vince and Rafa to get back from confronting Ernesto.

I was out of my depth with all of this. I knew I didn’t really understand mafia politics, but I couldn’t help but feel nervous about all the moves Rafa was making. So far, he hadn’t been wrong, and he had kept me safe. I still found it hard to let go and let him take care of me like I knew he wanted to, though.

From what I could tell, being in the mafia was deceptively normal. They had offices and mansions and a beautiful compound right out in the open. I was sure they had other stores to act as fronts for their money laundering, but some of them probably made real money.

Underneath it all, though, was the threat of violence. It was impossible to ignore that lingering danger in everything that was happening, even in a normal conversation. Violence suffused everything and gave even the simplest of actions a deadly tint.

I didn’t know how these men survived it. Rafa even seemed to thrive in the constant danger. He had nearly died only a few days ago, and yet he was already up on his feet and acting like nothing had happened. He was running off headfirst into more danger, and that scared me so much.

Fortunately, I didn’t have too long to wait. I didn’t have to sit around and stew and let my own fears get the best of me. After maybe ten minutes or so, the boys came back, both of them grinning big.

“Well?”

They looked like triumphant athletes back from a big win.

“Went perfect,” Rafa said.

“So he’s going to back down?”

“Not at all,” Vince said, heading over to his desk. “He’s pretty pissed.”

“Isn’t that bad?”

“No,” Rafa said. “We want him to be mad. We want him off balance. He thinks he’s invincible, but we’ll show him he can bleed.”

“What he said.” Vince laughed.

“What are we going to do now?”

“Now, we’re going back to our room so I can get some lunch.”

I sighed. “I mean after that.”

“We wait and see.”

“Wait and see?”

Rafa nodded. “Right now, we need to see how Ernesto is going to react to this before we make another move.”