Page 40 of Queens and Monsters

My time was supposed to be spent up north. I wasn’t as familiar with the crews down in Southern California, and I couldn’t stop thinking of some Russian with his hands on what is mine…

“Rei, focus,” Jano said. “Manuel Garcia.”

I shook my head. “Skinny kid, deadly accurate with a pistol?”

“Yeah, that’s him. Nick discovered Garcia is a plant from Herrera.”

“Well, fuck.” We were losing soldiers left and right to Herrera. We didn’t need to lose them to our own knives too. There’d be no other option if it’s proven he’s a traitor. “Is Nick positive?”

“Nick’s taken over some of your web lurking for our region. He’s good. Not as good as you, but he was able to triangulate cell signals and pick up text messages, even found deleted texts.”

“Well, fuck. I guess you’re right. I’ll be talking to Jasmine instead of texting. If Nick can dig that deep, I’m sure the famiglia can as well.”

“Focus, asshole,” Jano said. “You and I are going down there. Nick and Em don’t think he’s the only spy. We need to learn what he knows.”

Gathering information through torture was one of our favorite brotherly activities.

I gritted my teeth, seething with rage as we entered Wanderland through the back door. Looking around, I saw the crowd was sparse. Probably because it was still early in the day, only a few of the bars were open, andless than a fourth of the girls were present. “It’s nice not having the whores around all the time.”

Jano smiled. “That old school is working well as an apartment building. Mia has some great ideas. The whores like her.”

“Is Mia going to keep working over there after thebebéis born?”

“We have over a month, but nonetheless, it’s a point of contention. Liliana Ruiz is helping her. I’m not sure Liliana can take the lead. She’s not much of a take-charge woman.”

Opening the door to the basement, we were met with a hideous rotting odor. “Fuck,” I said, lifting my hand to my nose. “Are they storing dead bodies down here?”

Jano shook his head with a shrug.

I reached for his arm. “Hey, before we start cutting off body parts, would you talk toPapáabout Jasmine?”

“You realize the capo is my brother-in-law, right?”

“You’re right. Talk to him. Tell him if he marries her to Myshkin, I’ll kill the Russian and any thoughts of an alliance with the bratva are gone.”

“Not interested in the younger Luciano cousin? Mia was shocked that Carmine would agree.”

“Remember after Cat’s wedding telling me that Jasmine was a scared little girl?”

Jano nodded.

“She isn’t anymore. I haven’t met Isabella, but Jesus, she’s barely legal. Jasmine is the woman for me.”

“I’ll say something toPapá.”

Four and a half hours later, I stripped down and cursed at myself for not changing shoes. These werethousand-dollar Italian leather loafers, and now they needed to be burned with the rest of the bloody clothes. After stuffing them all in a garbage bag, I stepped under the hot spray of the shower, in Nicolas’s private office upstairs at Wanderland.

Blood combined with the water, leaving crimson-hued liquid swirling down the drain. I washed my hands for the fifth time—the damn rubber gloves broke at some point during the interrogation. The last thing I wanted was to have Garcia’s blood under my fingernails. As I scrubbed my fingers raw, I concentrated on Jasmine. Hearing her crying ran on repeat in my mind. I wasn’t even sure I heard Garcia’s pleas for his life.

To my shock, the door to the bathroom opened.

“The fuck. I’m in here,” I called beyond the foggy glass doors. Squinting my eyes, I saw a smaller person only a few feet away. My first instinct was to reach for my knife. I wasn’t wearing a fucking knife in the shower.

Cursing under my breath, I looked around the shower stall for a weapon. There was shampoo, conditioner, bodywash, a cheap disposable razor, soap and the washcloth I’d brought in with me. The shampoo bottle was big, but not hard enough to do damage. That left me one option, my hands.

My thoughts filled with calculations.

I would need to distract the assassin.

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