Page 31 of Hidden Ties (Made Men #11)

TWENTY-FIVE

YOU SURE YOU’RE JUST A LAWYER?

C lick.

“The only person whose time is up is yours, motherfucker,” Sal said, pushing the barrel of his gun into the back of Edmond’s skull. He would have blown his brains out sky high over the Kansas City skyline if Valerie weren’t so close to the edge of the roof.

Unable to concentrate on Valerie, he could only hope his soldier wouldn’t fail him, like he hadn’t yet. If it weren’t for Vincent, she’d be dead already—never would they have gone to the roof.

“Put the gun down, and I’ll let it be quick, Edmond. If not, you’ll have to answer to Lucca.”

Sal knew those words were about the only thing that could put enough fear into the man to drop the gun. Edmond was out of his mind and thinking irrationally, but he was certain the man was of sound enough mind to understand that much.

“Last chance to drop the gun and meet the devil instead.” Sal pressed it harder into his skull, trying to entice him into making a decision. “Or you’ll be taken to a visit with the Boogieman soon.”

Still afraid to pull the trigger, as it might cause Valerie to fall to her death, Sal was only going to give Edmond another moment more to decide, when the sound of a rock falling to the ground made Edmond turn his head toward it.

Using the distraction to his advantage, Sal pistol-whipped the asshole in the same moment he saw a flash of Vincent’s form running for the edge of the building, toward Valerie.

Bang !

Certain the bullet that whizzed above her head would have taken her out if it weren’t for the man squishing her into the rough ground, she could have cried realizing who it was.

“Vincent! You got my messa—”

“Stay down!” Vincent ordered before leaving her.

Doing as the made man asked, she quickly knew why he had left her so suddenly when another shot rang out.

Bang !

Sal had only looked over to Valerie for a second to make sure she was still on the roof and hadn’t gotten shot when Edmond turned the gun on him.

His mistake was not letting himself hit Edmond hard enough in the head, wanting him to live for the torture he was about to endure for the rest of his short life.

Looking down at his abdomen, he saw the pool of red blood beginning to coat his white shirt under his suit jacket. The image was reminiscent of the wound his mom had suffered those many years ago under a full moon.

He lifted his eyes to the current moon as his knees dropped to the ground with one final, lasting thought that he finally understood why his mother hadn’t been able to tear her eyes away from the moon as she’d died.

What a beautiful night to die.

“Sal!” Valerie screamed, running toward his fallen body with tears streaming down her face. “ What do …? What do I do ?” she screamed out for help, but Vincent was still beating Edmond senseless.

She needed a hero to come save Sal, and her prayers were answered as yet another man joined them on the rooftop.

“Apply pressure to the wound,” Kent carefully instructed her, moving into action like he had done this only a million times before.

“Sal! Sal!” she sobbed, realizing how precious life was and that it was definitely nothing like in video games. “Is he dead?” she cried out hysterically to her lawyer. How he had gotten up here and was involved, she had no idea.

Kent turned Sal ever so slightly to check for an exit wound. “No, it went right through him. Beside it hurting like a motherfucker, he’s just had the wind knocked out of him.”

“How do you know?” Valerie sniffled, desperately trying to blink away the flood of tears rolling down her cheeks while his blood began to cover her hands.

“There are no major organs it could have hit there, Valerie, I promise,” he assured her, trying to make a tourniquet from ripping off the sleeves of Sal’s suit jacket. “He’s probably just in shock, but he should be coming around.”

Valerie started shaking Sal’s shoulders. “Sal! Sal!”

“I’m okay. Stop shaking me.”

Valerie started crying harder, letting her head fall to his chest. “I thought you were d—”

“I thought so, too,” Sal told her, opening his eyes. He looked back up at the beautiful orb in the sky. “There’s a blue moon tonight.”

“You’re not going to die tonight because there’s a fucking blue moon out!” Kent screamed at him.

“My mom told me—”

“I don’t give a fuck what your mom told you. I’m not going to let you die tonight.”

She felt like she was missing the importance of the moon when the three couldn’t help but turn their heads to the sound of flesh hitting bones.

“What the fuck is wrong with him?” Kent asked, watching Vincent punch the obviously dead man to more of a pulp.

Valerie had played a lot of Mortal Kombat, but seeing a fatality like this happen in real life, right in front of her eyes, was eye-opening, to say the least.

“It’s a long story,” Sal told them. He himself was in awe watching his soldier go on proudly. It appeared Vincent seemed to think this was a better punishment than Edmond visiting the Boogieman.

“Sal, you good enough we can get the fuck off this roof?” Kent asked, reaching into his pocket to take out another magazine of bullets. “I might have created a problem retrieving the flash drive.”

“Yeah, fuck—” He got up with a groan but made it to his feet, picking his own gun back up. “Vincent, that’s enough. We have bigger problems than a dead man right now.”

As ordered, a crazed Vincent got off the carcass and slicked back his hair, coating the blond strands red.

Valerie couldn’t help but notice the intent way a bloody Vincent was eyeing Kent’s gun. “Sweet piece you have there.”

Kent eyed the one Vincent took out from under his hoodie. From the expression on Kent’s face, he not only wasn’t going to return the compliment, but he didn’t think the soldier should have one.

That thought clearly changed, however, as they heard the heavy footsteps of security men run up the rooftop escape. All three men on the rooftop went into position to block Valerie from the single door.

“Jackal, Ice, we’ve got company.”

Valerie swung her head around, wondering who the hell Kent was talking to. When she didn’t see anyone, she asked, “Who are Jackal and Ice?”

“A few buddies of mine,” Kent answered as the men all pointed their weapons at the door. “Get ready.”

Valerie was so terrified she closed her eyes and covered her ears as bullets rang out.

“Wraith … we’re running out of bullets,” Kent announced as they waited for the next horde of security to make their way through.

“Who the hell is Wraith?” Valerie couldn’t help but yell, officially having lost her hearing.

“Another buddy,” Kent answered.

“How many buddies did you bring with you?”

“Last count, a couple dozen. They should be coming up behind the last of them right about …”

More gunshots rang out, this time from inside.

“Now.”

“You sure you’re just a lawyer?” she asked in disbelief.

Kent gave her an amused grin as he pulled something out of his pocket. “I don’t know, Valkyrie. You tell me.”

Her jaw dropped as she stared at the flash drive that only one other person knew about. “Justice?”

Kent slowly nodded.

She couldn’t help herself; Valerie gave the man a bear hug. When she noticed the jealous rage overtaking Sal’s face, she pulled back. “You told me you were a veterinarian.”

“I didn’t lie, technically.” He shrugged. “I’ve been known for putting a sick animal down when I had to.”

Sal just rolled his eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She smacked him on his chest. “You ass!You only brought me a single Nutty Buddy when you saw me in jail!”

Defensively, he moved away from her smacking hands. “They wouldn’t have let you take them back to your cell.”

Hurt, she averted her gaze from him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Valerie, you want to make money by building a make-believe world. I make my money by building a world where no one knows who I am.”

Thinking that was one hell of a line that she needed to use in a video game, she wasn’t able to be too angry after he had helped save her life.

“Thank you, Justice and Vincent .” She gave them both a hug. “I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay you both. I thought I was a goner, for sure.”

“And what am I? Chopped liver?” Sal scoffed, motioning to the bullet wound he had taken for her.

Valerie wound her arms around Sal’s neck before placing a tender kiss on his lips. “Oh, I know exactly how I plan to repay you.”

“Lucca is waiting outside the front of the Casino Hotel with his men,” Kent told him once they reached the casino floor of the Horseshoe with an armed escort, via a motorcycle club he represented that had currently also been staying at the Casino Hotel.

Sal had to give them credit; their weapons were putting the Caruso family’s to shame as he and Vincent now stared in envy.

“How did you manage to keep Lucca outside?”

“I called and told him I had it under control and to keep his men back, that I wasn’t going to spend the next five years defending him in court if he left the casino. Which one do you want?”

How he had planned to cover up this clusterfuck of a mess, Sal had no fucking idea, but he was grateful it wasn’t going to be the Caruso’s problem.

He’d let Kent take the responsibility of cleaning up Valerie’s sticky situation this one time, at least considering he was certain Justice had orchestrated the Caruso’s involvement with Valerie in the first place.

“Is it possible for me to take the flash drive?” Sal’s interest had been piqued about what kind of bug it must contain.

Kent’s lips quirked into a smile at the endless possibilities The Great Salvatore might conduce with it in the future. “I don’t care how justice gets carried out, only that justice is done.”

Sal was grateful Valerie hadn’t heard Kent say that line. She was a few feet ahead, asking a man covered in facial scars that went by the name Jackal to model for her next video game.

Holding out a hand, he decided to let bygones be bygones. “Thank you, Kent.”

“Don’t thank me.” The lawyer happily accepted the handshake. “You were the one who had the bright idea of splitting up just in case she got off on the tenth floor.”

Shaking his head, Sal had to swallow his pride for what he was actually thanking him for. “Not that …”

“Oh.” Kent silently understood. “So, you no longer hate me for pushing you to buy that house next to Valerie?”

Hearing Valerie ask Jackal if he had scars anywhere else on his body had Sal giving the hand in his a death grip. “I wouldn’t go that far just yet.”

“I’m coming,” Valerie huffed out to Sal, waving bye to her dozen new motorcycle friends while he dragged her along toward the ambulance.

“We really got to step up our game.” Vincent also gave one last appreciative look back. Not at the men but their weapons.

“I’ll get Lucca right on it,” Sal hissed out, already planning on how he was going to use his new weapons to eradicate every good-looking man on Earth who came within a five-foot distance of Valerie.

As they crossed the street, Sal looked up at the blue moon one last time, grateful to still be alive.

“So, what’s the deal with you and a blue moon?” Valerie asked curiously, noticing him staring at it.

“For fuck’s sake …” Vincent just shook his head and rolled his eyes heavenward at the superstition that Sal hadn’t yet told her about.

“It’s a long story.”