Part 45 (2/2)
”What's going on?” Nunzio asked, slumping against Kim at the sight of Remi standing there. ”I saw you die.”
”You saw me get shot, there's a difference.”
Cain watched as Kim started to draw her gun. ”Simon didn't disarm you, but if your hand goes up any higher I'll have Lou cut it off.”
”Cain...Ramon, come on,” Nunzio said, his palms up. ”You touch me and my father's going to come after you, and that should scare you. Our business has increased his power.”
”He has the bigger d.i.c.k, huh?” Cain asked, making Remi and the others laugh. ”You took your shot, Nunzio, and nowit's Remi's turn.”
”I came here in good faith,” Nunzio said.
Remi got close to him as Simon moved behind them. ”You think we lured you here to kill you?” She laughed and shook her head.
”No, I want the answer to the question my father asked you. Who ordered the hit on me?”
”How can I tell you something we had nothing to do with?”
”Nunzio, have you met Jorge Cristo? Or have you just talked to him on the phone?” Cain asked. ”If you haven't, you were missing out. We talked to Jorge and he was very forthcoming about who gave him his latest half-million-dollar deposit.”
”It was business, Remi. I've got nothing against you, butme and my father needed Cain and Ramon to come back to the table.” He backed up some more and ran into Simon. ”You and Ramon would've done the same thing.”
”That's true, Nunzio, we would've done the same, but ask yourself this. If we'd missed, what would've it cost us?” Remi asked, but Cain wasn't watching Nunzio. Her eyes were on Kim as she again tried to reach for her gun, only to have Katlin stop her. Cain knew why she was starting to get nervous.
Cain had known that kind of fear only one timewhen she was on the floor of her warehouse after Kyle shot her. Death was something they were familiar with, but Cain would never consider it a friend.
Watching Emma's face fade from her consciousness had terrified her. Even though on that night they were still estranged, what she felt for Emma and her children was what had made her fight back.
Did Kim have that kind of motivating force in her life?
The phone in Remi's hand rang and only Nunzio glanced down, looking as if the thing was about to blow up.
Remi put it on speaker. ”h.e.l.lo.”
”It's done, and my debt's paid,” Jorge said.
”Just remember the rest of our deal,” Remi said, putting the phone to her ear. ”There'll be no forgiveness next time.”
”What's he talking about?” Nunzio asked.
”Jorge did a job for you, and now he did one for us,” Remi said.
”He paid your father a visit, only I asked him to make the shot through the head. Junior's dead.”
”You're dead,” Nunzio screamed and lunged toward Remi.
”You're f.u.c.king dead,” he said again from Lou's arms.
”Actually it's my turn to hit back,” Remi said.
Nunzio stopped struggling and watched as Simon took a blade from her belt and sunk it into Kim's chest as if she stabbed soft b.u.t.ter. Kim let out a small gurgle and coughed, which sprayed her white s.h.i.+rt with blood.
She dropped to her knees and Simon took her knife back before Kim fell forward, dead before her head hit the ground. Simon wiped the blade on Kim's back before putting it back in her sheath.
”It might be hard to hear this, Nunzio, but it's important for you to understand,” Cain said, making Lou tap Nunzio's face to make him stop staring at Kim's limp body. ”The casino is ours. We're letting you go, but if you return to Mississippi with thoughts of causing problems, that's where you'll end up.” She pointed to Kim. ”You tried and it didn't work out.”
”The casino's mine,” Nunziosaid, his voice despondent.
”Richard was who we needed,” Remi said. ”That was your last strike.”
”If it takes me the rest of my life you aren't getting away with this,” Nunzio said.”Why Kim?”
”Why Remi?”Cain asked in return. ”We all have our reasons and we have to live with the results of our decisions.”
”This has you written all over it, so I'm coming for you first,”
Nunzio said to Cain. ”When I'm done, you'll lose people you”
Katlin's phone rang and Nunzio shut up. ”What? Slow down,” she told whoever was calling.
Cain's phone rang next, followed by Lou's. ”Cain, hurry, it's Emma,” Carmen said when Cain answered. ”They took her.”
Cain felt like Simon had stabbed her through the heart. The panic rose so fast she came close to throwing up. Lou stopped her from running out the front door, but they sprinted the entire way back to the office where Nick already had the car running.
”What the h.e.l.l happened?” Cain asked, part of her afraid to hear, and she didn't expect answersnot yet.
”Do we have enough escorts for the movers?” Emma asked Merrick. They were in the den at Jarvis's house and Emma had her date book out. ”I made that mistake already and I don't want a repeat.”
”I took care of it. Since we're only moving small stuff, we didn't need to hire that many guys.”
”If that's the case, let's go pick up Hayden's gift.”
”The gunsmith called about that already?” Merrick asked, sounding surprised as she pulled her jacket on to cover her double holster. ”He must've put in some time to finish soquick .”
”One of his a.s.sistants called this morning after Cain left and said he worked late last night to get it done. I would've thought all that engraving would take more time too, but I guess he wanted to make Cain happy.”
Emma followed a foot behind Merrick as they walked around the workmen, her hand on her stomach the entire time. The morning sickness hadn't kicked in until she'd actually eaten something, making her regret she'd chosen waffles.
”It's Hayden who's going to be thrilled.”
Emma laughed. ”I think my boy's thrilled most days just with the fact that he's Hayden Casey. The shotgun's an added bonuslagniappe, as Cain likes to say.”
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