Page 27 of A Wife’s Duty
There were multiple ways to dispose of a body.
When it came to women who meant nothing, they were just collateral damage, Valdez didn’t dispose of them through the proper channels.
Boone figured this was because every dead body went through the Bonaldi channels.
Killing women as they served no purpose would alert Bonaldi to the waste of resources and further cause Valdez a headache.
He had it on good sources that some of the women that had been killed were also pregnant with Valdez’s offspring. All they had to do was look at the bloodwork, and it would lead back to Valdez.
Thanks to Lucia’s information and knowing everything he did about Valdez, finding his dumping ground wasn’t hard. He was surprised that in less than twenty-four hours, they had uncovered four women, two of which were pregnant. Only Valdez would know why he had killed them.
From the grocery store, to the vet’s, Betty was in perfect shape.
She was pregnant, and from the scans, it looked like she was going to have a litter of five pups.
All looked good, but if any showed signs of weakness when Betty gave birth, the vet gave him his card, and that was the end of it.
He carried Betty back to the car, and Lucia looked pale.
“What’s up?” Boone asked.
“He just told us to call him if anything is wrong with the pups,” Lucia said.
“Yeah, she could give birth any day now.”
“Exactly, when a woman is pregnant, she goes to the hospital. They give her drugs and help bring the baby out, and if there is a complication, they operate.”
“And?”
“They have just sent us away with Betty. What are we supposed to do?”
Boone laughed. “We do what they did in the olden days for women—we nurse Betty through, and keep an eye on the pups. That is all we have to do. Betty will do the rest, and nature finds a way.”
“But what if Betty rejects her pups? What if there is something bad? What if something bad happens to Betty?”
“Okay, I think first you need to calm down, as you’re panicking and you’re going to scare Betty. Secondly, everything is going to be okay. Trust me, Betty will let us know if she needs anything. We’ll have five little pups running around, getting under our feet in no time.”
“I don’t know how you can be so calm,” Lucia said. “I’ve never taken care of a dog before in my life, and I’ve never even considered pups.”
“And you’re doing a great job of it now.”
She still looked panicked and they climbed into the car, and Boone looked out the window, toward the vehicle he had seen at the supermarket. There was a man inside, he wore glasses, along with a suit, but something wasn’t sitting right with Boone.
He was now near the vet’s as well.
Lucia reached into the back and stroked Betty’s head. “You’re a good girl.”
Boone didn’t want to scare or alarm Lucia to his suspicions. He pulled the car out of the parking lot and headed in the opposite direction of his home. The car that had joined them at the supermarket and the vet’s was now taking a nice little stroll along with them.
He had been driving a good twenty minutes, before Lucia glanced around.
“Boone, where are we going?” Lucia asked.
He slowed the car, and that was when he saw the glint of the gun.
“Get down!” he yelled and reacted, pushing Lucia’s head down. She let out a scream as the gun went off, shattering the back window.
Betty was on the back seat and Lucia cried out. Boone knew this was a danger, but the car wasn’t going fast enough. One glance in the mirror, the man was distracted, and Boone hit the brakes.
“Hold it,” Boone said.
The car crashed into the back of his, but it wasn’t going too fast to make much of an impact. The airbags went off for his car, as it did for the man behind him.
“Boone?”
“Stay here,” Boone said. He climbed out of the car and got to the driver’s side, opening the door. He stepped out of the way as a shot was fired. Taking the arm, he slammed his elbow down, and the man released the gun.
Within seconds, he was out of the car, and Boone had his arm around the man’s neck, cutting off his air as he struggled to breathe. He saw the mark on the man’s neck—this was Valdez’s man.
“How did you find me?” Boone asked.
The man choked a little more. He relented and allowed him to breathe.
“Fuck you,” he said.
This time, Boone kept hold of him a little longer while he struggled to breathe. He counted down the seconds in his head. One, one thousand, two, one thousand, three, one thousand, and then he let him go. The man coughed.
“Are you going to answer my question?” he asked.
“Valdez asked me to keep an eye on you. I’ve been trying to get in contact with him, to alert him to your location. I’ve got nothing. I need to know what to do with you.”
Boone snapped the man’s neck, grabbed his cell phone, and used the man’s thumb to get into the cell phone.
Checking through the texts and calls, he saw the instructions to follow Boone and not to report any location through text.
He shook his head. There was no place safer for Lucia, and he only had to hope this piece of shit hadn’t alerted Valdez.
He was not going to step up his timetable, but he had the next three days to prepare for an attack.
Shoving the man back into his car, he went to the trunk of his own. He glanced in to see Betty on Lucia’s lap.
“Is she okay?” Boone asked. “Do we need to take her back to the vet?”
“No, I think she’s fine. The glass hasn’t cut her.”
“Good. I’ll just be a moment.”
With that, he pulled out the gasoline he kept, tossed it over the car, and set fire to it.
Taking his now empty gasoline can, he tossed it in the trunk, climbed back into the car, and took off in the opposite direction.
They were several feet away when the car exploded, and the fire got even more fierce.
“What the hell?” Lucia asked.
“That was one of your father’s men,” Boone said.
He drove back to his home. Typing in the code, he drove down the long driveway, heading toward the main house.
“Boone! Boone!”
He turned to look at Lucia, who was staring down at his shoulder.
“You’ve been shot!”
The adrenaline had been coursing through his body, and he hadn’t even felt the gunshot.
“It’s fine.”
“Fine. This is not fine. Boone, you have been shot.”
He climbed out of the car and went around to pick Betty up.
“You shouldn’t be carrying her,” Lucia said.
“Don’t worry about it. Come on, there’s a first aid kit in my office.”
Once they were inside the house, he let Betty go and followed Lucia into the office. Removing his jacket, he let out a wince as the movement was quite stiff. Lucia’s hands were shaking but she looked at him with such concern.
“You’ve been shot,” Lucia said.
“Did it go through?” he asked.
He’d already tried to look out the back.
“Through?”
“Yeah, see if there is an exit...” He thought he had dodged the bullet that came out of the gun, but seeing as it was in front, it must have caught him. Little fucker.
“No, there is no wound out the back. We have to get a doctor.”
“No, there’s no need for a doctor.”
“Boone, come on, you cannot be serious right now.”
“I am serious, and I don’t need a doctor. Just help me. Grab the things that look like pliers.”
“Boone?” she asked.
“Trust me, Lucia. I know what I am doing.”
She looked ready to argue, but then it was like she gave up, reached into the bag, and pulled out the pliers. He took them from her and placed them against his wound, feeling around.
“Stop. Stop!” Lucia said. “You’re going to hurt yourself. You’re crazy! Has anyone ever told you that?”
“Yeah, I’ve been told many times.”
She watched as he pulled out a torch, shined it on his wound, and then started to work the tip of the pliers inside. He grabbed the bullet and pulled it out.
“How did you know this didn’t require a doctor?” she asked.
“It’s not the first time I’ve pulled a bullet out of my body. You’re going to need to sew it up for me,” he said.
“You’ve been shot before?”
“Multiple times. It’s why I’ve got all the ink.”
“Have you ever thought about trying not to get shot?”
“My charming personality gets in the way.”
Lucia laughed but he heard it was close to hysterical.
“I never knew you had a sense of humor.”
“It would appear being shot at by one of your father’s men brings out the humor in me.”
“I’m so sorry. Did he say what he wanted? Besides killing us?” she asked.
“Yeah, he just wanted to say hello and I was the one who said goodbye.”
“What does this mean?”
“It means your father is a giant pain in the ass,” he said.
Lucia laughed. “We already know that. Does that mean you have to leave before the three days?”
“No, I don’t have to leave just yet. Besides, I don’t want to do that to Frank.”
She sighed.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked, holding up the needle.
“Yeah, I’m sure. I can handle it.”
She shook her head, but she got started on stitching up the hole. “You know this could get infected.”
“It’ll be fine,” he said.
“You’re crazy.”
He laughed and watched as Betty strolled in and went to one of his sofas, jumping on it, and getting settled.
He had no doubt in his mind she was the reason he hadn’t spotted them being followed.
Lucia had been so upset and he’d been so distracted in fixing the problem that he had been shot.
Not that he blamed the dog. Betty was as protected as Lucia was.
Whatever his woman loved would be protected.
Lucia tutted. “I have never sewn anything in my life. I think it looks ugly. You’re going to have a scar.”
“Babe, I’m covered in scars. Why do you think I’ve got all the ink?” he asked.
“You’re scared?”
“You don’t get to where I am today without getting hurt. Trust me.”
“Is that why you’re not reacting? I mean, you’ve got to be in pain, right? It looks pretty painful.”
“It is painful,” he said. “But it’s no different than what I have felt before, so don’t worry.”
Lucia nodded and he watched her take a breath. He saw that in the beginning, she had panicked, yet as the seconds passed, her focus had stayed. Her hands stopped shaking. Once she tied the string into a knot, she clipped the edges and then grabbed some wipes.
“Hold on,” he said.
Stepping toward the drinks’ cabinet, he found the strongest scotch he owned, pulled out the stopper, and poured it onto his wound.
“Damn it, Boone. You’re getting that all over the place.”
His wound stung, and Lucia was there, guiding him back.
“You’re insane,” she said. “Alcohol. Seriously?”
“It’s strong and got a high content that will help.” Boone smiled at her.
“You’re getting your wound drunk?”
This made him chuckle. “You’re adorable,” he said.
“And you’re a pain.” She pressed a sanitary wipe to the wound, pressing on it gently. “You better not die on me through infection. I will be so mad at you.”
“You’ll have to take care of me.”
She cupped his face. “I’m already taking care of you. Maybe, in three days’ time, you shouldn’t leave?”
“Lucia?”
“Maybe, you and I can go. We can leave this house and go someplace where no one knows us. Where no one knows we exist, and we can be free?”
He saw the hope in her eyes, and he wanted to do that.
It would be easy to get them both new identities, to start a life somewhere away from all this crap.
However, if he didn’t finish what he started, Valdez and Bonaldi would rise up again.
Not only would they get bigger, they would get stronger, and there would be men or women who would come hunting for them.
That was not acceptable. They could have a life together, one that didn’t involve them constantly looking behind them.
“One day, we will have that. That’s not today,” he said.
Lucia sighed. “But it could be.”
“Lucia, I’ve got to do this.”
“You don’t have to do this. You’re choosing to do this.” She pressed a hand to his cheek.
What was she not telling him?