Page 144 of The Slayer
“They’re gonna get married,” Tino said before Alaine could say anything else, and then pointed to her. “And she’s a lawyer. I hired her. It’s attorney-client privilege. She can’t narc on me.”
“Is that what she told you?” Nova laughed manically. “Did she tell you that you can just spill your guts to her about a crime that hasn’t happened yet because of attorney-client privilege? And you believed it?”
“I’m not going to say anything. It wasn’t nice to trick Tino, but I needed to know everything Chu was facing,” Alaine said in a rush. “I wasn’t lying when I said he’s my love story.”
Nova ran a hand over his face and took a deep breath before mumbling against his fingers, “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.”
“They’re gonna get married,” Tino said again. “If they get married, she can’t testify against him. I know that. Everyone knows that.”
“But shecantestify against you.” Nova dropped his hand and looked at Tino. “This is an issue. And now there’s fucking Russians.” He walked away and put a hand to his face again. “Cazzo.”
“I wouldn’t say anything, Nova,” Alaine promised. “Jules knows—”
“No, she doesn’t,” Nova argued. “Do you think we sit around talking about whacking people in front of Jules? We would never put her in that position. We would never put Romeo in that position either.”
“Wyatt knows things. I mean, he doesn’t know. But he knows,” Chuito pointed out, his dark gaze narrowed at Nova. “I can’t let you hurt her, Nova. I won’t let you do that. Shit will get real very quickly. I will get scary in a way you can’t imagine.”
“Of course you will. It’s a fucking love story,” Nova said bitterly. “I have insurance on Wyatt. I have insurance on you. I have insurance on everyone who is part of my inner circle except for you.” He looked at Alaine sadly. “I don’t have any insurance on you.”
“She could’ve sold me out,” Chuito said as he looked to Alaine. “She came with Tino instead.”
“Okay, sweetheart.” Nova walked up to Alaine and put a hand over her eyes. She heard Chuito move, but Tino must have held him back as Nova went on. “I want you to stand here and close your eyes and imagine being arrested.”
Alaine didn’t want to, but she did. She closed her eyes behind Nova’s hand and imagined it.
“You’re a lawyer now. They hold you to a higher standard in the courts, but it’s not just the courts that are an issue. The Feds are questioning you, and they are assholes. They will say shit that scares you to death. They will paint the grimiest pictures imaginable. Life in prison in the most horrific conditions possible. They will lock you up and throw away the key, but they give you a choice. You could give them information—”
“I would never betray Chuito,” Alaine said, knowing it was true. “Even if it meant going to prison.”
“Oh, it’s okay, though. They’ll give Chuito a free pass. They’ll send you two off somewhere tropical and romantic. You’ll never have to work another day in your life. You can live out your love story, or you can rot away in prison. Your choice. All you have to do is give them some key information about Tino”—Nova lifted his hand and looked at Alaine, the sadness etched over his handsome face—“or me.”
Alaine stared back at him, feeling something horrible lodge in her heart.
“Nova—” Tino started.
“There is no way the WASP princess is going to stand up to questioning. She has no reason to be loyal to us,” Nova assured all of them, and Alaine couldn’t even argue with him. “She will cave in five minutes. She is a liability. You two fucked up. Now you need to find me insurance.”
Alaine turned to Chuito, who looked like he might be sick.
“How the fuck—” Tino huffed as he stared at his brother in horror. “She just freaked out at the idea of throwing away dead rats. She can’t give you insurance. Look at her.” Tino pointed to Alaine. “She can’t do it.”
Nova held up his hands. “Figure it out. Come up with something else.”
Tino let out a laugh of disbelief. “Like what?”
“I don’t know.” Nova sounded like he meant it too, like this was genuinely a problem he didn’t have an answer to. “I have no fucking idea, but I hope you figure it out, because I don’t need that shit on my conscience. It’s your rule. It’s my fucking rule too. I don’t want this to be happening, but you know, if it comes between you and—”
“You let someone off before,” Tino argued. “If you did it once—”
“I regret that,” Nova growled at his brother. “I regret it every day of my life. I lie awake nights staring at the ceiling thinking about it. It eats at me that she is out there, knowing what she knows. I am not doing it again. You spent your love-story ticket, Valentino. You spent it a long time ago.”
“Sei uno stronzo!” Tino shouted at him. “Un enorme fottuto stronzo!” He threw up his hands at his brother. “You have no heart! You have nothing!È morto.”
“It’s not dead,” Nova argued with a cold, hard stare. “It beats, motherfucker.”
“You let him win,” Tino said simply. “He won a long time ago. He killed my brother. You are dead. I don’t even see you anymore, but I still cling to this reflection ’cause you look like him.”
Nova folded his arms over his chest, and Alaine could see tears actually glistening in Nova’s eyes, as if Tino’s words had struck a painful nerve. “I didn’t do this.”
