Page 82 of Devil's Claim

Gio run his shaking hand through his hair. “Family shit.”

I twisted the gun and he threw his arm out.

“My mother is sick. She wanted to see me. I’ve heading to Morocco tomorrow.”

“You do realize you’re being used by Fassi. Correct? He’ll pay you more than you made being employed by Jago Torres for the shit job he gave you. Soon, he’ll invite you to handle an assignment to test your mettle. You’ll pass of course and that’s when he’ll start asking for information about your past. Including your former employer. Once he gets whatever it is he’s looking for, he’ll live up to his reputation as a butcher.”

I was dangling a carrot. At least Navarro wasn’t laughing his ass off.

Gio licked his lips nervously. “So what now? You want me to work for you. Right?”

Navarro grunted. “You’re not so stupid after all.”

“You’re going to head to your job with some priceless information that you’ll dole out at the right time. If you’re lucky, you’ll still be breathing by the end of the conversation.” Maybe I was being somewhat pickier about the phrasing I used, but wasting time with a putz like Gio wasn’t tops on my agenda.

He swallowed. “What information?”

“It’ll be truthful enough and nothing you need to know ahead of time. We’ll get that to you prior to your departure tomorrow. Where are you staying?”

The man was nervous as hell, shifting back and forth from foot to foot. “At my mom’s place.”

I glanced at Navarro who nodded. “Okay. We’ll drop it off there. We’ll leave it up to you how to use it, but you follow through with the deal. If you want your family to live.” I’d allow Navarro to make that judgment call. As long as Gio let it slip we’d gotten into the diamond business, that should be enough.

“Just don’t hurt my family.”

Now he was begging. Prison life certainly hadn’t hardened the man. He’d be eaten alive by Fassi. I wouldn’t elaborate on the point with him. “You do your part and I have no intention of hurting your family.”

“Fassi will know something’s off. He’s not a stupid man.” Gio was insistent.

I thought about what he was saying. “True. He would also realize we’d hunt you down once we learned you’d been freed from prison. We need to fix that, so he thinks you barely escaped and are pissed.”

“How?” I’d never worked with Gio directly, but I could tell he had a feeling I’d chosen the good side of the good and bad cop routine.

Pop!

The single bullet went through his thigh. I’d spared his kneecap. The man did need to continue working for this plan to work.

He dropped and howled as expected and at this point, my work was done for the night. I started to cross behind the club toward the parking lot when Navarro stopped me.

“You shot him.”

I laughed. “You’re observant.”

“We need to work on our communication skills, brother.”

“Yeah? Maybe we do, but not tonight. I have more important things to do.Brother.”

CHAPTER 20

Christine

“Malcolm is dead.”

The bluntness and meaning of Kruz’s words hit me hard, more so than I could have imagined. I hated Malcolm and had since being treated like a whore the day he’d found out about my pregnancy, but had I wanted him dead? The answer wasn’t one I was willing to accept.

My knees felt as if they were going to cave out from under me. Fortunately, even with a dotted haze crawling across my eyes, I managed to take two steps forward, gripping the edge of the kitchen island.

“Why?” Had I asked the question? Did it even matter? “Because he threatened you?”