Текст книги "Dirty Little Secrets"

Автор книги: Erin Ashley Tanner

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Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 13 страниц)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Ava clutched her hands in her lap. Sleep had been all but impossible after the phone call she’d received. Drifting in and out of consciousness, her dreams had been ones that she’d rather forget. She still shivered at the memory of them. But she couldn’t let dreams affect her. Not today of all days. She had to be on her guard. The enemy who’d stalked her, who’d dared to take her child would be revealed and Ava had no idea what to expect next. Today could be the last day of her life.

No. You can’t let that happen. You have a child to protect.

Not only Maia, but the man she loved as well. She glanced over at Dominic as he drove. His face betrayed no emotion and that scared her more than anything. She knew that look. She’d seen it on Joseph’s face many times and it could only mean one thing: death was coming and she was staring at its wielder. Reaching over, she touched his hand. He never took his eyes off the road, but he softly squeezed her hand. He was still in there somewhere. The man she loved hadn’t completely been claimed by his killer instincts. Ava tried to remove her hand but he held on to it tight.

“I told you not to worry. I’m going to protect you,” Dominic said.

“I can’t help but worry. We both know that there’s a strong chance we’re walking into an ambush.”

“Yes.”

“Then how can you be so calm?” Ava asked.

“Because I’m prepared for whatever happens.”

“What does that mean? The way you said it…it sounds like what a man resigned to die says.”

Dominic laughed. “Ava, you should know me better than that. Do you really think I’d let myself get killed and leave you alone?”

“No, but neither one of us knows what we’re about to face.”

“Yes we do. A man so cowardly he had to kidnap an innocent little girl to coerce you into meeting with him. He’s going to pay for this, Ava. I swear to you.”

“Of course he is. If you don’t get him I will.”

Her free hand touched the purse on her lap. She wasn’t going into this defenseless. Her pearl-handled pistol lay comfortably inside her purse. Ava was ready to use it at a moment’s notice.

Dominic cracked a smile. “I know you will. That’s one of the reasons I love you so much.”

Ava blinked back a tear. “Please don’t get emotional on me now. I’m barely holding it together as it is.”

“It’s time to keep holding it, Ava. We’re here.”

Ava looked around. They were parked in the alley behind the old Woolworth building. The empty store loomed in front of them, menacing and terrible. She swallowed. The moment had finally arrived.

“Let’s do this,” Ava said. She made a move to open the door.

“Ava, wait.”

She looked at Dominic. “Yes?”

“Remember the plan. You go in and I’ll be right behind you. Whoever this man turns out to be, you keep him talking long enough to find out where Maia is and for me to get a shot at him. Then it will be all over. Can you do that?”

“I’ll do whatever is necessary to bring Maia home.”

Dominic leaned across and kissed her. Their lips met in a hungry kiss as both conveyed through passion what they were afraid to say out loud.

“I’ll see you inside,” she said.

With shaking hands, she opened the vehicle door and climbed down. Shutting it behind her with a final slam, she walked towards the back door of the building. Ava clutched her purse as she looked at her surroundings. She didn’t see or hear anything but she wasn’t dumb enough to believe that she was alone. There was someone out there aware that she had arrived. As she reached the back door, she glanced back. Dominic was waiting for her to enter. A black Beretta rested easily in his hand. He nodded at her.

Ava licked her suddenly dry lips and then she opened the door. It came open with a loud creak. No chance for the element of surprise now. Taking a deep breath, she stepped inside the warehouse. She tried to be as quiet as possible as she walked across the concrete floor. Rotted wooden pallets lay on the ground to the right and left of her. Dimly lit bulbs hung from the ceiling casting an eerie glowing light throughout the warehouse as she walked. Ava could hear her heart beating wildly in her chest, but she had to ignore it. Fear was one emotion she could not afford to show today.

“Where are you, you son of a bitch? You wanted me. I’m here. Show yourself.”

Her voice rang out, echoing inside the building. She clutched her purse tighter. Taking a few more steps she stopped. The echo of footsteps was coming her way. It was time for a showdown. Reaching inside her purse, she gripped her pistol tight. Her mouth was dry as she waited. A shadowy figure appeared in the distance. At an unhurried pace, the figure came towards her. A hanging light cast a spotlight less than two feet in front of her. As the cloaked shape finally stepped into the light, Ava pulled her pistol from her purse and aimed.

“It was you? This whole time?”

Angelo Martelli stood in front of her. A vein throbbed in his neck. His face was flushed and a bead of sweat ran from his forehead. His eyes were wide and crazed.

“You drove me to this.”

Ava cocked the hammer of the gun. “I drove you to kidnap your own niece? I suggest you tell me where my daughter is.”

“You still don’t understand, do you?” Angelo asked.

“No I don’t and what I don’t have time for is mind games. Where is Maia?”

“I didn’t take her. That part of the plan was not my doing.”

“What do you mean not your doing? Tell me what is going on before I put a bullet in a place that will make you wish you were dead.”

Angelo raised his hands in the air. “All I wanted was for you to turn to me. For you to finally realize that with Joseph gone you and I should be together. That I could be everything to you that you missed with him, but you wouldn’t have it. You pushed me away at every turn. You turned to Joseph’s bastard instead of me.”

“So that was an excuse to stalk me, try to kill me and kidnap Maia, your own flesh and blood? You’re sick Angelo, sick.”

“You still aren’t listening. I didn’t do that. Any of that. All I did was create a situation where I knew you’d turn to me, but you didn’t, even then.”

“Angelo, what are you talking about?” Ava shouted.

“Gina.” He lowered his arms and stared at her. “Gina.”

“You mean how you showed up and stopped the police from taking me to jail?”

He shook his head slowly. “No.”

An icy chill went up Ava’s back. “Then what are you talking about?”

“I’m the one who had your friend killed.”

Ava nearly dropped her gun. Gina. The one friend who’d understood what it was like to be a woman in the business world run by men. The woman who’d had a zest for life. Gina. Angelo had taken her away. Steadying her gun, Ava aimed and fired. Angelo fell to one knee. He held his right leg. Blood bubbled where she’d shot him in the thigh.

“You bitch.”

“You just admitted you killed Gina. Why did you do it, Angelo? What did she ever do to you?”

He looked up at her, clutching his bleeding leg. “Nothing. She was just a means to an end. I had one of my guys kill her and point the police in your direction. The Sambarino kid was supposed to go down for her murder and you were supposed to turn to me, distraught over the loss of your friend and grateful to me for clearing things up with the police.

“I would’ve gotten Dominic out of your life once and for all and you would’ve been mine. Things would’ve been the way they were supposed to be.”

“You are well and truly out of your mind. Nothing on this earth could ever make me want to be yours. My skin crawls just being in the same room with you. You killed an innocent woman for nothing. I will never be yours, Angelo. Never.”

A tear slid down Angelo’s face. “I see that now. It was all a waste, but love will make you do crazy things.”

“You don’t know the first thing about love. Don’t you dare call your sick obsession with me love. Now tell me where Maia is before I put an end to your miserable existence.”

“I don’t think you’ll be doing that,” a voice called out from the darkness.

Goosebumps rose on Ava’s arms. That voice. She knew that voice. At least she thought she did.

“And why wouldn’t I put him out of his misery?” Ava asked out loud.

“Because for all his intentions he is still family.”

“Not mine,” Ava said.

“Yes. You were never too fond of him, were you?”

A figure stepped into the spotlight. Ava gasped, taking a step back. A man stared at her with black, dead eyes. His slicked-back hair was slightly peppered with grey. A crisp black suit fit his frame as if it had been made for him. Ava wanted to scream.

“Joseph?”

He laughed. The same menacing laugh she’d heard all those years ago as he ordered her father to be beaten to death. Her late husband had risen from the dead and from the look in his cold eyes, this reunion was not going to be a pleasant one.

Chapter Thirty

“What’s the matter, Ava? Surprised to see me?”

“Something like that.” Her response was barely a whisper.

“No ‘welcome back?’ No, ‘Joseph I’m so happy you’re alive’?” he asked in a mocking tone.

“I saw you die. I saw all the blood. I felt your pulse. You were dead.”

Joseph shrugged casually. “What can I say? I had good help.”

“You faked your own death. How did you pull it off?”

“And why couldn’t you stay dead?” Angelo asked under his breath.

Joseph turned his attention to his bleeding younger brother. “If I were you I’d shut the fuck up. You’re not off the hook for any of the shit you pulled either.”

Angelo glared at his brother but wisely kept his mouth shut. Ava’s mind was reeling. Her husband was alive. Had faked his own death. Had left her and Maia behind without a second thought. Her anger started to slowly rise to the surface again amidst the shock of her current situation.

“Well how did you do it?” Ava asked in a stronger tone.

“Blood bags. I had them taped to my chest. There was a sniper waiting for us in the garage with instructions on where to shoot me to make it look authentic.”

Ava swallowed. “And what about your pulse? You weren’t breathing.”

Joseph laughed. “Blowfish poison. One of the bullets that hit me contained a tiny needle that injected it inside me. I admit that part of the plan had me nervous. Too much of it and you’d be dead for real. Lucky for me I worked with a pro. I stayed dead long enough for you to have my funeral and then I rose from the dead and went on my merry way.”

Ava’s eyes narrowed. “Well bravo for a death well played. You sure fooled all of us, especially the daughter you left behind who’s been grieving for her father. Who’s had to endure all the snide remarks people say about you even though you were dead. Way to go, Joseph.”

Her husband took a step forward. “Don’t you get mouthy with me. I love Maia. She’s my angel.”

“Save it, Joseph. Now tell me why you faked your death.”

“It came to my attention through certain channels that some of my associates wanted to take me down. I couldn’t let that happen. So I made a deal with the Feds. I’d give them enough information on my fellow mob guys to take them down while I faked my death. When the job was done I’d resurface.”

“You rat,” Angelo said.

“For once we’re in agreement, Angelo,” Ava said before facing her husband again. “I thought you lived by a code. Respect, loyalty and above all else never go to the law. You sold out everything you believed in to stay on top.”

Joseph took a step forward. “Don’t you dare talk to me about respect and loyalty. You don’t know the meaning of the words, you whore.”

Ava felt like she’d been slapped in the face. “Whore? Who do you think you’re calling a whore? I was never unfaithful to you before or after you married me. You were the one who couldn’t keep your cock in your pants.”

Joseph laughed. He laughed like her words meant nothing. Like he was in total control. The hand holding her gun began to shake.

“I see you haven’t lost your balls. Nice to see someone around here still has some.” Joseph tossed a pitying look at his brother.

“Somebody has to since neither of you still seem to have them,” Ava said, ice in her tone.

“I’ve never lost my balls. Only someone with balls of steel would pull off what I did.”

“If that’s how you want to look at it go right ahead, frankly I don’t care what you do anymore,” Ava raged. “I just want to know why you did this? Why you stalked me, tried to kill me and then kidnapped our daughter? Tell me Joseph, was this part of your game when you decided to play dead?”

“No, Ava. I planned to come back to my wife and my daughter, but you had to go and screw everything up, didn’t you?”

“Me? What did I do?”

“I don’t know what you did to Angelo to make him lose his mind. To forget that you were off limits, no matter if I was dead or alive. Once something belongs to me, it always belongs to me. Apparently that wasn’t a lesson neither of you understood.”

Ava shook her head. “No. I belonged to you a long time ago. Then I was just a scared girl doing what I needed to do to save my family. I put up with a lot from you Joseph, but that’s over. I have my own life now and you are not going to rise from the dead and ruin it. You and I are done.”

“You’re damned right we’re done. At first the phone calls were just to scare you, to see if you were still on your guard. Still the ballsy broad I married. And then I saw you with Dominic and I knew it was over. You betrayed me with my own son. You’re going to have to pay for that, Ava.”

“Too bad for you I’m not going to let that happen.”

Ava turned. From the shadows emerged Dominic, his weapon trained on Joseph. His eyes were icy green chips.

“Now if this isn’t a regular family reunion. Nice to see you…son.”

Dominic moved Ava behind him. “I’m not your son. What I am is Ava’s new man.”

“Well this just got weird. What’re you trying to prove, son? That you’re as much of a man as I am? That loyalty means nothing?”

“I don’t need to prove anything to you. Contrary to what you think not everyone and everything revolves around you. And you want to talk about loyalty. Did you show me any when you didn’t leave me anything in your will?”

Angelo rose unsteadily to his feet. His hate-filled eyes settled on Dominic. “Bastards are entitled to nothing. You’d know this if you really knew how the business works.”

Dominic swung his gun at Angelo’s chest. “Unless you want me to drop you permanently, I suggest you shut up and mind your own damn business.”

“Why you…”

“Shut it, Angelo.”

Angelo glared between his brother and Dominic. He looked like a rabid dog trying to decide who to pounce on first.

“You can save the fake paternal hurt and all the other crap you tried to feed to me. I’m not your son. My mother and I had a nice, long talk and she admitted the truth. Andre Bonasario was my real father and you had him killed in a jealous rage so not only am I going to make you pay for killing my father, I’m also going to make you pay for trying to kill the woman I love and taking her child. Your days are numbered, Martelli,” Dominic said. There was no warmth in his tone.

“Mighty big words from a pup who’s never been to a real gunfight. But thanks for the heads-up. When I’m done here, I’ll be sure to stop by and put a bullet between the eyes of your lying mother,” Joseph said.

“Enough of this,” Ava yelled.“Where is Maia?”

“Don’t you worry. She’s safe.” Natalie walked out of the shadows to stand beside Joseph.

“Natalie? What are you doing here?” Ava asked.

“Isn’t is obvious?” Joseph leered. “She works for me.”

Ava gritted her teeth. “I trusted you with the most precious thing I have, my daughter, and this is how you repay me?”

Natalie rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so melodramatic. This was about business. Joseph and my family go way back. When he came to me I saw this as an opportunity. Besides soon the dust will settle and Joseph will rise again, more powerful than before. When it became evident that you no longer deserved him, I was more than eager to take your place.”

“And what a wonderful job you’ve done, Natalie.” Joseph pulled her to him and kissed her.

Ava nearly gagged as she watched her husband tongue down Maia’s former nanny. “Both of you are disgusting.”

“And what about Mrs. Valdez? Is she safe as well?’ Dominic asked.

Joseph smiled. “No. The old bat put up too much of a fight when we showed up to get Maia. Besides, we couldn’t have any loose ends.”

“You’re a monster. I knew you were ruthless, but I always thought that buried somewhere inside of you was a shred of decency. I see now that I was wrong,” Ava said.

“Yeah. Well we both were wrong about a lot, but you know what? It doesn’t matter anymore. This has been a nice little reunion but it’s time to end things. But don’t worry, Natalie and I are going to take very good care of Maia. She won’t even miss you.”

“Over my dead body,” Ava snarled.

“That is about to be arranged,” Joseph said.

He snapped his fingers. From the right and left of the warehouse emerged a group of men with guns, all aimed at Ava and Dominic.

“Not so fast,” Dominic said. “Boys.”

Ava heard footsteps. Daring to glance behind her, a breath escaped her lips when she saw that Dominic had brought his own army. A row of men quickly came to slide in place beside him. No wonder he wasn’t as worried as she’d been. He’d never planned to come alone.

“Oh, so you want to play with the big boys? You just got what you wanted,” Joseph said.

The next thing Ava knew she was careening to the side as Dominic pushed her out of harm’s way. The warehouse burst into a litany of gunfire. Ava tried to regain her balance as her body moved to hit the concrete. She couldn’t allow that. She had to stay alive to save her daughter. While holding onto her gun, somehow Ava managed to land on her backside. As she looked up, she saw Natalie scampering away amidst the gunfire. She wasn’t about to let her get away.

As the gun battle raged all around her, Ava got to her knees and crawled on the concrete following the fleeing Natalie. Moving as fast as she could, while holding onto the gun, Ava saw red as the babysitter tried to escape. The gunshots continued to echo behind her, but Ava had to trust that Dominic would handle whatever came his way. It was the only way she’d be able to hold herself together.

Feeling safe enough to get to her feet, Ava gathered herself and ran after Natalie. The young woman turned and saw Ava behind her. She ran faster, but not fast enough. It was if Ava’s feet had wings as she hawked Natalie down. With less than a foot separating them, Ava raised her gun and shot at Natalie’s feet. The woman went down in pain, clutching her bleeding left foot. Ava stopped running and stood over her.

The nanny scooted away from her. Fear shined in the woman’s eyes. Ava didn’t care. She’d trusted Natalie, had come to care for the young woman and still, she’d been stabbed in the back. Aiming her gun at the frightened girl, Ava kicked her hard in the side. Natalie cried out and Ava was sure she heard bone crack. But she didn’t care. She was long past caring.

“Please, Ava. Please,” Natalie begged.

“Why shouldn’t I kill you? Give me one good reason.”

Natalie held up her hands in a defenseless manner. “Because I do love Maia. Regardless of whether or not I was working for Joseph I care about her. She’s the little sister I never had.”

Ava kicked her again. “If you really loved her, you would have never done what you did.”

“I had no choice. You know what kind of man Joseph is,” Natalie pleaded.

“Yes I do. Now how did you find Maia?”

“I called Mrs. Valdez. Told her I was frantic with worry over Maia and I got her to tell me where they were. I called Joseph. He had a couple of his guys go with me. After I’d gotten Maia away, Mrs. Valdez tried to stop us so one of the guys tied her up. Then they shot her and dumped her body in an alley. I tried to stop them. You have to believe me.”

“I don’t have to believe a damn thing and trust me I don’t. Goodbye.”

Ava aimed the gun at Natalie’s head, but the younger woman surprised her by kicking her in the leg, hard. Ava fell to the ground. Losing her grip on her gun, it clattered away from her on the concrete. Natalie made a move towards it, but Ava stopped her with a hard right hand to the face. Natalie’s head snapped back and Ava was on top of her banging her head into the concrete floor.

“You’re going to pay for how you betrayed me,” Ava screamed.

“No, Ava. You will be the one that pays.”

Ava looked up. Joseph came towards her brandishing a smoking pistol. This was it. She closed her eyes and waited for death. The blast of the gunshot made Ava cringe, but no bullet ever pierced her flesh. Her eyes opened. Joseph lay at her feet. Blood poured from a wound in his head. Her husband was dead. Her savior stood over her. Dominic looked like a Roman god come to save her. She smiled at him. Natalie scrambled to Joseph’s lifeless body.

“Joseph. Joseph. No. No.”

“He’s all yours now. Bitch.”

Dominic reached down and helped Ava to her feet. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m…” The words died in Ava’s mouth.

Bleeding and battered, Angelo raised his gun and squeezed the trigger.

“Dominic, no!”

With all her strength, Ava pushed her lover out of harm’s way. The force of the bullet striking her flesh was like a freight train filled with lightning hitting her. She fell on the floor next to Dominic. Her hand touched her side. It came away coated in blood.

“Ava. Ava.”

Dominic’s voice seemed so far away. She felt feverish and suddenly tired. Her eyes flickered as she turned and saw Dominic rise to his feet. Angelo stood still, too shocked to move as he stared down at her. Dominic shot him at point-blank range. Blood started to pour from his chest. As he fell to his knees, Dominic shot him in the head. The Martellis would rise no more. Now they both were dead. And soon she would join them. But at least Dominic and Maia were safe. That was all that mattered. She closed her eyes and greeted the darkness.