Page 22 of Wounded King
He misunderstands. "I have no idea about the medial jumbo mumbo, but Violet caught on to the drug Wasp?—"
"Her getting hurt," I clarify. I've sported a few bruises and black eyes over the years, but she's such a little thing, a woman. That someone dared lay a hand on her sends inexplicable rage through me. Whoever touched her signed their death warrant. They just don't know it yet. But I'll make sure they beg before they die.
Guilt rushes over his face, rattling me. He cares about Chirps.Well, I'll be damned. "It's my fault, I went to grab something to eat, and the bastards came in?—"
"Are they dead?" I interrupt.
"Deader than dead," he nods.
"Too bad."
A look passes between us. It doesn't happen very often, but every once in a while, it would be nice to have the ability to kill someone twice.
I remember something else. She asked about the doctor, and my throat tightens with anger. "What's with her and the doctor?" I ask Luciano, not liking the idea of her and a man I have yet to meet, but whose life hangs in the balance depending on a word from me.
I've never ordered a man killed based on emotions, not even when I hated them. Definitely not because I was jealous. Jealous?
Luciano's answer thankfully stops my train of thought. He shrugs, "Nothing as far as I know. He's married, has a toddler and a baby at home."
He fills me in on what transpired while I was out. "Someone blackmailed him."
"Do we know who?" I ask.
"Not yet. I figured I'd wait with the questioning until you're up and running. Besides the one incident, he came highly recommended."
I chuckle, then our conversation shifts to the events that put me here in the first place, the doctor's fate forgotten for the moment.
"I never did find my phone, boss; I'm sorry I left you. I had no idea Casimo?—"
I wave him off. He was the one who distrusted Casimo from the beginning. "Your phone was in Casimo's jacket."
"The bastard," Luciano snarls.
"He wanted you out of there," I point out.
"I'm sorry, boss. I swear, I wasn't?—"
"I know." No matter what, Luciano is one of the few men who have my full trust.
"He didn't want to kill you," I muse.
"I have no idea why." He shakes his head.
"Is he dead?"
Luciano nods sadly. "I didn't have a choice. It was him or you."
"So we have no idea whose pocket he was in or why he didn't want to kill you," I summarize.
"I can only figure that he thought I might go along with whatever his plan was once you were dead," Luciano theorizes.
It makes sense, except that Luciano is one of those rare, loyal-to-the-death men. I'm not sure why Casimo thought even for a second Luciano wouldn't kill him, but Casimo is dead, so speculating on what was going through his head is damn useless.
"When I came back down, Rick, Stefano, Tony, and Marco were all dead, as well as three others. I heard shots and found Casimo bleeding and bending over to shoot you one more time."
I feel ashamed for not terminating Casimo before he reached that point. "You saved my life, Luciano. I won't forget that."
He shrugs. "You got him in the gut. He was a goner either way. Besides, that's what you pay me for."
