Page 18 of A Wife’s Duty

“T wo glasses?” Lucia asked, lifting her head up from the toilet.

She felt so gross.

“Two glasses.”

She looked at Boone and then felt her stomach roll over, and she groaned, immediately putting her face into the toilet and vomiting everything she had. Another moan left her.

“I’m pathetic.”

“You’re not.”

“Who passes out and then vomits on two glasses of scotch?” It was pitiful. “I thought most people were supposed to have like dozens and dozens of glasses of tequila or scotch, or vodka.” She groaned. “The movies got this all wrong.”

“You’re not used to it, is all.”

“I’m never drinking again.” She pouted and then threw up some more.

Boone held her hair out of the way. His office had a small bathroom, which consisted of a toilet and sink. She was still dressed in the clothes she went to dinner in yesterday.

Just remembering that experience from the previous day, she was ready to have a heart attack. They had gotten through it, but it had been scary.

Boone rubbed her back, and she couldn’t quite remember last night’s conversation.

What did she say to him? What did they do?

They drank and danced, and then it kind of went fuzzy.

She didn’t like not knowing. What if she had made a real fool of herself?

There was no way she would be able to live with that.

“I think I’m good,” she said after a couple of minutes. She flushed the toilet, because she didn’t want him to see that.

“I’ve got a toothbrush and paste for you,” Boone said. “Do you think you’ll be ready to leave?”

She nodded.

“I’ll give you a couple of minutes.” And he stepped out of the bathroom, leaving her alone.

Getting to her feet, the world was not spinning, and although she had been sick, her stomach was no longer doing a dance. She glanced at her reflection and winced. The makeup Sandra had so painstakingly put on her was melting off her face.

She grabbed some soap and quickly washed her face, trying to seem normal again.

It took her several attempts, and thankfully, the mascara was not waterproof.

Once her face was clean and no longer looked like a melting mess, she picked up the toothbrush, squirted some paste on it, and got to work cleaning her teeth.

This was starting to help her feel normal.

After brushing her teeth, she rinsed her mouth and stepped out.

She had run her fingers through her hair.

“How do I look?” Lucia asked.

“You look good,” Boone said. “Come on, let’s go and get some breakfast.”

He held his hand out, which she took. They left the nightclub before any of his staff had even arrived. Outside, she saw the same two guards as last night. Boone looked at them, gave them a nod, and it was their time to leave. They just got into their car and left.

“Wow,” Lucia said. “They stayed all night?”

“It’s their job.”

She climbed into the passenger side of Boone’s car, and blew out a breath.

“How does Howard and Nancy’s sound?” Boone asked.

“Great, it sounds great.” The world was no longer spinning, and eating breakfast sounded ideal to her.

The traffic in the city was not too bad. It was still before eight, but as they approached the café, it was starting to get worse. Lucia frowned as she saw Ronald outside the café. Something was going on. One glance at Boone, and she knew something had happened.

He got out of the car and didn’t even look at her. Climbing out, she quickly moved to Boone’s side. Ronald didn’t look at her, strangely.

“What happened?”

“Last night, Howard got a call at home, saying he was needed. Nancy told him to go and she’d close up. Something about the kids being sick, or something. He left, three men walked in, trashed the place, beat Nancy up pretty bad.”

Lucia couldn’t believe it.

“Where is she?” Boone asked.

“In the hospital. Boone, you’re not going to like it.”

“I don’t give a fuck if I like it or not. Make the necessary arrangements to have this place cleaned up. I want the security footage, the works.”

“Will do,” Ronald said.

Within seconds they were back in the car and on the road. She saw the anger in every cell of Boone. She stayed silent. She had never seen him like this before.

Nancy had gotten hurt last night.

They arrived at the hospital, Boone parked the car, and Lucia followed him inside. No one stepped in his way, just keeping up with him. He reached out and took her hand, and they stepped onto the elevator, going toward one of the wards. Everything was a little fuzzy.

They moved quickly, and then she saw Howard coming out of one of the wards. The moment he saw Boone, the two had a quick embrace.

“How is she?” Boone asked.

“Stable. She was ... she has a couple of broken ribs, a broken leg, and a broken hand. She is bruised. The doctor said they will heal but it is going to take time.”

“Do you have any idea who did this?” Boone asked.

“Not a clue.” Howard pressed his hands to his face. “That should have been me, but the babysitter said the boys were calling for me.”

“And the babysitter called you?” Boone asked.

“Yeah. The cops think it was a burglary that had gone wrong, but they trashed the place and didn’t take any money.”

“I want your babysitter’s name,” Boone said.

“Why?”

“I just want to make sure the cops are following all the necessary leads.”

Lucia knew for a fact the cops were not going to get that name. Boone was about to take care of this.

Had her father done this? Had he arranged for a hit to be put on one of Boone’s places? Or Bonaldi? She felt sick to her stomach, not because she didn’t have any food, but because of the reality her family was capable of.

****

N ancy was a mess. Her face was covered in bruises and she was broken. They hadn’t raped her, but that was no consolation. The sight of her set Boone’s blood boiling.

Nancy woke up as he and Lucia sat there. Tears were in the one eye that was open. The other was swollen shut.

“It’s okay,” Boone said.

“Hey, you,” Nancy said.

“Don’t.” He reached for her hand and Nancy took it. “You’re going to be okay.”

“I know. Bruises will fade,” Nancy said. “How is Howard?”

“He is talking to the doctors.”

“We can’t afford this,” Nancy said.

“Stop it, you don’t have to worry.” He’d pay all the necessary costs. He didn’t know who had done this, but by the time he was through, they would all pay.

Nancy sighed and she saw Lucia. “Hey, you,” she said.

Lucia came in close. “You don’t have to talk. You just need to rest and get better.”

“They had baseball bats. Did they take the money?”

“Don’t worry about a thing.”

“I told them they could take the money. Just to leave the shop alone.” She sniffled. “They busted up the shop and then turned on me.”

He didn’t tighten his hold on her.

“I’ll fix this,” Boone said.

“I know,” Nancy said. “One of them, after he broke my hand, told me to give you a message.”

Boone leaned in close.

“Everything you love is going to die,” Nancy said.

He nodded his head.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

Howard came in, and Boone got to his feet.

“Don’t worry about a thing. I’ve got Ronald fixing up the shop.”

“Boone, you don’t have to do that.”

“I do and I will. Just get well.” He reached for Lucia and she took his hand. He needed to take care of business.

They left Howard and Nancy and made their way out of the hospital.

The moment he was outside, he got a text from Ronald.

The main security footage had been trashed inside the café, but the morons hadn’t figured out how to remove themselves from outside.

There was an image, and he saw the two men.

Ronald had also done the work and found where they were, and they were connected to Valdez.

With all of that information, he waited for Lucia to get in the car.

“What’s going on?” Lucia asked.

“I’m going to drop you off at my place. You will stay there until you see me again,” Boone said.

“I want to help.”

“Lucia, your father put a hit on two of my friends. He separated them and attacked Nancy. He paid the babysitter. What I am about to do is not going to pretty. I’m not going to ask questions.”

“You’re going to kill them?”

“Yes, and I’m going to make sure they scream and they hurt, and that they know what real pain is like.”

He watched her swallow. “And I am not going to allow you to see that side of me.”

“I want you to kill them,” Lucia said. “What they did to Nancy, I want you to make them suffer.”

This surprised him.

Pulling out of the hospital parking lot, he drove with purpose, heading toward his building. One of his men was already waiting to take Lucia to his apartment.

He reached out before Lucia could leave, gripped the back of her neck, and pulled her in close to kiss her.

“I don’t want to fuck any kind of mistress,” he said. “If you want to be my wife for real, then we’ll make it so, but I won’t cheat on you.”

And with that, he let her go, leaving Lucia speechless. She climbed out of the car, and he waited for them to head back into the apartment, before driving out and getting Ronald on the phone.

“Talk to me.”

“The café has been broken to shit. It’s going to take a couple of weeks to get it running again.”

“Make it happen. I don’t care what it costs.”

“I’m already on it. Our tech guy has been in touch. Ten thousand dollars was wired into the babysitter’s account last night.”

“Is this a minor?”

“No, it’s a twenty-nine-year-old male,” Ronald said.

“Send me the address.”

The man was going to get two choices, one of them would allow him to live a long healthy life, another would have him six feet under.

With the address of the babysitter, Boone arrived in the neighborhood.

Nancy and Howard lived in a nice place. This was one of the reasons they struggled, as they wanted a good home to raise their sons.

The babysitter was Donald Snow, twenty-nine-year-old male who lived in his parents’ old home. It would appear the parents died within months of each other, leaving everything to Donald. How convenient.