Page 131 of The Slayer
“Well.” She looked ahead to the road and thought about it. “Two hundred dollars an hour. Fourteen-hour drive. Twenty-five hundred. Family discount.”
“Are you shitting me right now?” He laughed. “You’re fresh outta law school. You think you’re worth twenty-five hundred?”
“Yes, I am.” She grinned at him. “I’m actually really smart, Tino. I specialized in criminal law because Jules couldn’t practice it.”
“You specialized in criminal law?” He sounded shocked now. “Are you a criminal defense attorney? Is that what you want to be now that you’re out of school?”
She nodded. “Yup. I can do just about anything, but I focused on criminal law because it was the one thing Jules can’t do.”
“Holy shit.” He sounded stunned as he considered that for a moment and then turned to her, giving her a wide, dazzling smile. “Do you take cash?”
“I love cash.”
“You better,” he said with a laugh. “’Cause criminals pay with cash.”
“I’ll e-mail you a bill,” she said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. “So it’ll be on record.”
She e-mailed Tino a bill as he drove; then she set down her phone and said, “Tell me everything.”
“I can trust you,” he asked her uncertainly. “You’re not going to sell me out? You’re my lawyer now. Youcan’tsell me out.”
She nodded, though it wasn’t wholly true. Legally, she could sell him out, but she wouldn’t, not if it hurt Chuito. “I won’t sell you out. If you’re Chuito’s enforcer, I want to help you. He’s my love story, Tino.”
“How’s that working out for you?” he asked curiously.
“I don’t know.” She sighed as she looked at the road. “But I guess I’m gonna find out, because there’s no turning back now.”
She had dreamed last night of asking the devil how exactly to get a ticket to hell to be with Chuito.
It showed up faster than she’d expected.
One-way.
Piloted by an Italian enforcer in a black Ferrari.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Miami
There was something oddly freeing about driving all day and into the night with his phone off. It gave Chuito time to think. To make a plan, because stealing Tino’s car had been a rash decision.
But as he lay awake staring at the ceiling in Tino’s place, he had decided he couldn’t let Tino come with him. He didn’t want to risk that. Not after Nova suffered through what he did to get Tino out. It couldn’t be easy to be a mafia boss after losing the one guy he truly trusted as backup.
Chuito didn’t like to waste things.
And that would be a big fucking waste of an enormous sacrifice on Nova’s part.
Plus, like Nova, Chuito didn’t want to see Tino sink in deep again. He didn’t want to find out what Tino had been snorting blow to hide from.
It scared him.
For a lot of reasons.
He searched the car when he stopped for gas and found that Tino prepared for the worst. There was a .38 Beretta in the glove compartment, and that was a bonus, because the only thing Chuito had on him was a shirt he had stolen from Tino, his wallet, and his phone.
Then he searched the back of the SUV and found something more interesting.
A suitcase full of cash in a hidden compartment where most people kept a spare tire. He also found three more guns, ammunition, a holster, a smartphone, and the car charger that went with it.
