Page 84 of Shameless in Vegas

Thirty-four bullets total.

I don’t think I’ll need them all, but it’s always good to have a little cushion.

With everything in place, I retrieve the secret phone and dial Xavier.

He answers with a mumbled degrading name for me as usual, and that ends today.

“Change of plans,” I say, deadpan and robotic, which will also end today, “I had to subdue him early. Where should I take him?”

Xavier wheezes a pleased chuckle and tells me the location. I know it well, and because of that, I know exactly how this will go down.

That is, if it doesn’t completely go to shit first.

TWENTY-THREE

JOAQUIN

SOMETHING HARD COLLIDES WITH my face, triggering a flash of white light, and my eyes blink open. There’s nothing but darkness at first, but as the reflexive blur clears, my surroundings come into view, and my gut wrenches with dread and dismay.

“Rise and shine,primo!” Xavier crows, pacing backward away from me, crossing a concrete floor in a large room and rubbing his hands together. Flood lights are attached at sporadic positions on the ceiling of the cavernous space, and this could be anything from a warehouse to an empty arena or an out-of-use conference center—that is, if I’m still in Vegas—but where or what it is matters very fucking little because my eyes zero in on the only thing that does.

Natalia.

She’s about fifty yards from me. Her diminutive frame appears tall and proud as she stands with sultry, defiant confidence; chin high, shoulders back, hips thrown to one side in her tight, white leather pants and cherry-red stilettos. She’s surrounded by a dozen or so of my cousin’s shitbag bootlickers. She’s uninjured; not a scratch on her. She’s also not shackled with cuffs and strapped to a chair—likeIam.

The last thing I remember is her hands going to my neck in the car.

Her words.

Forgive me.

And now this.

We had a plan. We had discussed it at length. I knew all the angles, ins, and outs. This—what I’m staring at right now—isnotit.

This looks a hell of a lot like I got fuckingplayed.

My gaze focuses on hers as I attempt to glean some kind of reassurance thatthatisn’t actually the case, but I get nothing in return but an icy blue stare, void of everything Iswearwas there before.

“Querida,” I call out to her without really thinking, and Xavier responds on her behalf with a sardonic chuckle.

“Oh, that’sadorable.” He tugs the lapels of his black suit jacket, adjusting it over a maroon button-down shirt as he angles his body toward her in a smug, possessive stance. He points at her and then drags his finger toward me to waggle it in a chastising manner. “You still think she’s actually, like,in thiswith you.” He laughs again. “I’m kinda impressed with myself knowing you so well even though we’ve never actually spent any quality time together.”

Xavier slinks back across the smooth concrete toward me while I discreetly test the cuffs behind my back.

Yep, actual cuffs, and fucking A.

“You really are a simple guy, aren’t you,primo?” Xavier says, inclining forward to level his face with mine. “All it takes is a perfect female specimen and a few weeks of candy-coated words to totally trap you by thehuevos, right?” He cocks his head. “We know you like playing the hero, yeah? Swooped in like a white knight to rescue your sister and parents. Yeah, we all remember that, which is why we knew you couldn’t resist trying to rescue a hot-as-fuck damsel in distress.

I stare unflinchingly back at him because,yeah, I fuckingknow thatbecause she already told me all this shit. What I don’t know is exactly what the fuck is going on right now. What I don’t know now is if the letter Natalia left when she disappeared was what I believed it was, if everything that went down from the moment in the rotted-out motel all the way until I passed out while driving was what I believed it was, or ifall of itis just part of the same big scheme. And I’m guessing the only way I’ll ever know is if Xavier’s gonna be one of those totally predictable villains who goes on a tirade and reveals all his evil plans right before he kills me.

And yeah, barring some kind of miracle, right now it’s looking like I’m a fucking dead man.

Maybe I should’ve gone to talk to Papá after all. Maybe I should’ve gone to the fucking feds instead of hiring a fucking P.I. Because maybe Natalia really is just a fucking liar.

But I don’t know that yet. All she’s doing is standing there.

“Anyway.” Xavier stands up straight again, pacing in front of me while he tugs at his lapel again and then rubs his shaved head. “Thischulitabelongs to me, and I only loaned her to you so that you and your papá could finally get what’s coming to y’all. Which you will. Her job was to get access to all that money that belongs tousand then kill you, but your greedy-ass papá has his shit locked up too tight, so we’ve had to rework our logistics a little. And since we had to do that, I thought it would be more fun to watch your sentimental little heart break right before your wifey slits your throat.”

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