Page 43 of Heartfelt Pain
“You worked for the Irish, right?”
It’s one of the few details I managed to figure out before Isolde met him. They hired him on as a gun despite Trevino growing up in a different neighborhood.
His eyes appear darker thanks to the ghostly-looking sheet mask. “Yes.”
“What do you think about Cain Murray?” It’s still not a good idea to get in between Cain and Boris, but I’m curious.
Trevino doesn’t answer at first and I don’t push, but then the show goes to a commercial break.
“He’s a selfish bastard.”
My spine twists at his voice. In the sheet mask, I shouldn’t take him seriously, but he’s deathly still. Trevino doesn’t swagger about with confidence, but deep self-assurance runs through his veins. I already know when he speaks, people listen.
“He was born in Dublin, right? Does he still have family there?”
Trevino doesn’t laugh, but there’s a small snort. “He wasn’t born in Dublin.”
“He wasn’t?” I’m on my knees now so I can face him as we talk. “But I thought he came here when he was a teen.”
He’s still got an Irish lilt.
The sheet mask blocks what I know must be an unimpressed facial expression. “He was born in London to an Irish mother. For obvious reason he doesn’t like to mention the fact that he grew up in England. He landed in Dublin when he was a teenager. Fucked shit up so bad, he jumped ship to America. His dad is American so he legally obtained citizenship twenty years back.”
I love Trevino’s candor despite his crossed arms. “What shit did he fuck up?”
“I never got a concrete story, but knowing him, I imagine it had something to do with being a cocky bastard.”
“Well that’s not changed.”
Trevino lets out an aggrieved sigh. “No. It’s not.”
“You know anything about him and Boris Akatov?”
It’s subtle, but Trevino reels himself in.
“Come on,” I prod.
“Some shit isn’t worth talking about.”
“That statement only makes me more nosy. What happened?”
“It’s just rumors.”
“I’ll take unverified. It’s just for my own curiosity’s sake.”
But I can admit what comes out of Trevino’s mouth takes me aback.
“Boris always thought Cain had something to do with his wife’s kidnapping.”
I choke on my Coke. “Holy fuck.”
If Trevino is my age, then we both weren’t alive when Gia Akatov got kidnapped. Rumors and stories have pervaded the city since then. The bloodiest ones are all about what Boris did to find his wife. How red the city went with his fury.
“He thinks Cain kidnapped Gia?” My mouth drops open.
No one has ever publicly claimed the kidnapping. Boris took down every person in the building when he found his wife. But who the men truly belonged to remains a mystery.
“He’d be dead already if that were the case,” Trevino says.
