Page 38 of One Dark Kiss (Grimm Bargains #2)

THIRTY-THREE

Alexei

A mere few hours after being arrested, I find myself back in the prison wearing a starchy, orange jumpsuit. The door clicks shut, and I stare across the cell at Urbano Reyes.

He stands against the rear wall, his arms crossed. This can t be a coincidence.

It s not, I agree. I had to pay a fortune to make this happen.

He blinks. You killed your brother?

Man, gossip reaches fast, doesn t it?

Yeah. He eyes me warily, a big, beefy man with a whole gang behind him, but right now it s just two of us in this cell.

I didn t kill my brother, I say, knowing that there are ears everywhere. So if you re trying to think of a way to get out early, that ain t going to be it.

His smile lightens his eyes. I didn t figure. You obviously want to talk.

I do. Did you get the money?

Yes. Thank you for your kind gift to my commissary account, he says. I may have a couple of favors I need from you.

No more favors. I set my feet and roll my neck.

I was happy to get out of prison, but even so, this feels familiar, much more familiar than that penthouse I recently purchased. The only place I ve felt at home since getting out has been with Rosalie.

The odd thought hits me hard, and I blow out air. I didn t want to care for her. I didn t want to have that kind of liability. But I m not a stupid man, and it s too late to worry about it. She s in my heart, and that s where she ll stay.

Reyes crosses his arms. Thank you for checking on my four businesses.

You re welcome. Those kills were easy. The fifth one has been a bit of a problem. I think you should cut your losses with the restaurant. I throw out a business type. If anyone s listening, they won t know what we re talking about, but he has to understand that I won t kill Ella.

Oh, no. I really need that restaurant to succeed. His bushy eyebrows rise. It s important to me.

I let my gaze harden. I understand that. I m sure you have a lot of money invested in it, I say. How about I buy the place from you? I have no problem purchasing a business like that one.

He cocks his head to the side. Normally, I would accept such an offer, but this restaurant is personal to me.

I checked it out. My guess is that you have some high-enders who like to eat there. Say somebody like Sylveria Rendale? Ella s stepmother is my most likely suspect.

Reyes grins. Yes. She likes to eat there often.

Okay, so he has no problem letting me know that Sylveria has put out a hit on Ella. They seem like a nice family. Have you met the youngest one, Ella?

She s the oldest one, Reyes responds. And no, I haven t. I don t believe they re a close family.

I hate double talk but continue anyway. Does Mrs. Rendale eat often at your restaurant? Just how many murder for hire contracts has this woman taken out with Twenty-One Purple?

Off and on. She s a good client, he says. Which is why I can t accept your offer to buy the restaurant.

So he won t let me buy Ella s contract. Do you have a lot of competition for the restaurant in the area?

No, he says. So far, I m the only one making money on that street.

Another good fact. So far, this is the only contract out on Ella, at least that Urbano knows about. Are you positive that you don t want to sell? I will give you more money than she can ever pay you, no matter how many times she calls for reservations.

He winces. No, it s not just the money. It s the reputation of the place, you know?

I understand.

His shoulders relax as if we reached an agreement. Good. I was hoping you could also do me a little favor.

Really. What s that? I ask silkily.

He stops talking in code. My girl and daughter have disappeared.

I keep my expression blank. Excuse me?

Yeah, I don t know what happened to them. You have a lot of resources. I m hoping you can help me track them down.

In exchange for what? I ask.

He shrugs. I ll owe you one.

I can see that he thinks that s a big deal.

In other words, his entire gang will owe me a favor.

That could come in handy sometime. Unfortunately, I m the one who gave his woman the money to get out of town.

I m glad she took my advice. You know I m happy to help you. We ve been pals for years, I lie.

I appreciate it. He nods toward an old checker set that we played too many times to count. You want to play checkers or chess?

Sure. Why not? We re going to be here awhile.

He cracks his neck in a sound that would drive Rosalie crazy. They re not going to let you out until Monday?

No. I m too dangerous to keep in the local jail, apparently, I mutter.

His laugh is booming. They don t know how dangerous you are.

That s true. You set up the game.

Sure thing. He moves toward the board on the tiny little table attached to the wall and pulls it to the center. A drawing floats out from beneath it.

I catch the sketch of Rosalie before it lands on the floor. What s this?

He grins. You. Always drawing and then destroying the paper. You forgot to destroy that one.

I stare at my woman sitting in her cute suit in the meeting room that first day.

I became so caught up in her that I actually allowed the drawing to remain in one piece?

Now Reyes knows about her. About my interest in her.

She can make a man forget his own name, I admit, ripping the drawing into several pieces.

Reyes snorts and starts setting pieces in place.

I check the security camera to note the light off. Yeah, that cost me plenty as well. I pull the handmade shiv out of my sleeve. Barely shifting my weight, I stab myself in the bullet wound I sustained the other day. Pain slashes down my arm. I bite back a groan and move toward him.

His gaze lifts from the game to my shoulder where blood is already flowing. What the fuck, man?

I raise my voice and smash into him. No. Stop it, Urbano. It s okay. I m not here to spy on you. Stop it. Fuck. That hurts. I bellow for the guards, yelling for help.

He frowns and tries to get me away from him. His eyes darken, first in surprise and then in fear. I m on him then, taking the weapon and jamming it into his throat. I pull fast, and his artery spurts blood in every direction.

His hand slaps over the wound. Blood pours between his fingers. His chin lifts. Dread and an odd acceptance crosses his face.

I jam the weapon right above his hand and into his neck. He s too weak to stop me. An alarm blares, and running feet clip through the shrill squeal. I leave the shiv in his throat and back away, hands up, dropping to my knees. The door slides open, and two of the guards run inside.

He stabbed me. I look down at my shoulder. I m not sure if he hit an artery.

One guard quickly cuffs me while the other drops near Urbano, but he s already dead. The room begins to waver around me. I may have stabbed myself a little deeper than I planned, and then everything goes dark.

I wake up in the infirmary with a bandage across my shoulder, my wrists shackled to bars on either side of the bed, and a beeping sound above my head. The scent of vanilla tugs at me, and I open my eyes to see Rosalie sitting by the side of the bed, her face pale, an attorney s badge on her lapel.

Hi, Peaflower, I say.

She leans toward me, worry in her eyes. What in the world happened?

Got in a bit of a scuffle. It had cost me an absolute fortune to pay off the guard to get that weapon, and he promised me that Reyes s prints would be on it when they investigated the death. The guy better keep to his word.

I ve already asked for the security feed, and somehow, it went down. Do you think Reyes bribed somebody?

My shoulder feels like I stuck a hot poker in it. Reyes had friends everywhere in this prison. It s the truth, and there s no need to tell her I bribed the security guard for not only the shiv but to take down the cameras. He has a sick dog and needs the money for surgery.

She shakes her head, her face pale. I ve already made a motion to get you out of here. It was irresponsible for you to be put here in the first place after your entire ordeal.

It actually had cost me quite a bit. Thank you.

I can t believe you were attacked. Don t worry. We ll create quite the lawsuit over this. Now, red highlights her sculpted cheekbones, and I quite enjoy her anger on my behalf.

I don t want to sue, Rosalie. I just want out.

She sighs. I can t get you out until Monday, but at least you can stay here in the infirmary until then.

I look down at the bandage covering my left shoulder. How bad is it?

Twenty stitches, she says.

Interesting. I did stab myself deeper than I thought, but at least this masks the bullet wound.

She holds my hand, worry screwing up her face. Don t say anything here. You re under drugs.

I didn t kill Hendrix, Rosalie, I say. I promise.

She blinks once. It s not like you have an alibi.

I lean toward her. I do but you re not going to like it.

She pales. You were with another woman?

I don t want to lie to her, but I m going to protect her from my world as much as possible. I ll give you the truth this time because we re still new at this, but after that, you re away from my business. Completely. It won t touch you unless it s in a way to protect you.

Her strawberry-red lips purse as she moves her ear closer to my mouth. Where were you?

Killing a guy named Howard Fissure, I whisper. Her chin drops. He was a drug dealer and a child trafficker. Although I probably would ve killed him anyway, considering I made a deal with Reyes and hadn t decided to renege until it came to Ella.

Rosalie s eyes widen. I don t want to know that. Yet she looks relieved, anyway. The idea of me with another woman would crush her. I like that. We re on the same page.

In addition, she needs to trust me. The last thing in the world I would do is implicate you by using your letter opener to kill somebody, Rosie. You have to know that.

She slowly nods as realization dawns in her expression. Yeah, it s from my office.

You need to figure out who got their hands on that.

She shrugs. It could be anybody. We have people coming in and out of the law firm all the time. If somebody wanted to set up one of us, they could have easily dodged into my office and grabbed the letter opener. I always leave it on my desk.

Has there been anybody new around lately?

She frowns. In fact, there were a couple delivery guys the other day I didn t recognize, bringing stuff in throughout the offices.

You received a package?

Yes, she says. It was just a book I ordered, though. But, there s usually only one guy, and this time there were two. I didn t think anything of it.

I blink and try to focus my gaze. The drugs are mellowing me, and I don t like it. I see. You have cameras, don t you, in your office?

We do in the reception area, but not anywhere else, she says. I ll get my hands on those and see who s been in and out of the office for the last several days. She blinks. Blythe Fairfax was there.

Does Blythe want revenge? I did reject her. She visited you in your office?

Yes. An odd expression crosses Rosalie s face. She wanted to talk about you and showed off the many amethyst rings that you bought for her.

Amusement lingers just beneath the drugs in my system. Are you jealous?

A very pretty pink wanders from her chest up over her face. Of course not.

My girl s jealous. I like that. I never bought a thing for Blythe Fairfax.

Not even dinner. She lied to you about the rings.

Her eyes soften, but Rosalie still looks a little panicked every time she stares at my bandage.

She cares more than she wants to admit—even to herself.

I don t like that you disappeared on me for a full night, I say quietly. Don t do it again.

Her pupils constrict. Even so, she leans forward to whisper into my ear. Don t kidnap my friend again.

It s a fair request. She ll probably never know exactly what I just did for her friend, and then I realize, I didn t destroy the source of the murder contract—I only took out the weapon. So, I try to think of the right way to tell her. You need to warn your friend Ella.

Why, are you going to kidnap her again?

That s as safe as she s been in quite a while, I say quietly, forcing her to place her ear near my mouth. I doubt anybody is listening, but why take the chance? My former cellmate accepted a contract on her.

Rosalie sits back. How do you know that?

I don t answer.

She studies me for several long moments and then realization dawns across her angled face. Alexei, she breathes.

I shake my head. Now is not the time to go into specifics. I whispered most of it to her, and with the loud beeping from these stupid machines, if anyone s listening, they didn t get the details. We ll talk about it later.

Tears glimmer in her eyes. I keep forgetting how smart she is. Obviously, she s put together exactly what happened. She reaches out and slides her hand into mine, providing more comfort than she ll ever realize.

Visiting hours are probably about over, I say. I want Garik with you for the rest of the weekend—until I get out on bail. I won t consider the possibility that a judge might refuse bail.

Rosalie scoots forward and rests her head next to mine. I think I ll stay here with you for a little while.

Simple words. Soft words. But they hit me harder than a freight train. She might not fully understand it yet, but she s always going to stay with me.