Page 32 of The Mobster’s Daughter (Massachusetts Mafia #2)

Grady

G rady sat in the passenger seat, fuming and biting his tongue.

It took all his self-control not to yell at Caitlin for being so stupid.

He told her to stay in the car for a reason.

She could have been killed. It was bad enough that he’d let her come with him to find Chertok, but he would not consider taking her into the line of fire. Of course, she didn’t list en to him.

When they reached the Mercedes, Grady asked her to pull over. She parked the SUV on the side of the road and shut down t he engine.

“Follow me in the Mercedes,” he said. “There’s a rest area not far from here. We’ll stop there, clean Chertok up, contact Moretti, and arrange a time to meet him.”

Caitlin nodded. She climbed out of the Escalade without a word and got into the car. He slid into the driver’s seat, adjusted it, and started the vehicle. He watched in the rearview mirror as she pulled out b ehind him.

Twenty minutes later, he pulled into the rest area and drove to the darkest part of the parking lot. A few minutes later, she parked beside him an d got out.

“It looks like we lucked out. Nobody’s here,” she said.

“Let’s get Lev out of the car and see if we can find a first-aid kit.” Grady opened the back of the SUV.

Lev squinted as the overhead light hit his face. He was deathly pale; even Grady could see that in the dim light. He grunted in pain as Grady put his hands under his arms and dragged him out of the back.

“ мудак ,” Lev muttered. “You and that little сука are going to regret this. Do you know who I am? Who my cousin is? The Bratva does not take things like this lightly.”

Grady snorted. He itched to tell Chertok his cousin Dmitry was the one who told them where he was, but he remembered his promise. He wouldn’t tell the Russian anything.

“I’m going inside to see if I can find a first-aid kit,” Caitlin said. “There must be something somewhere.” She stopped at the back of the Mercedes, opened the trunk, and grabbed her tote bag. Then she jogged across the grass and into the building.

“Did you hear what I said? My cousin will kill you,” Chertok repeated. “It will not be pleasant.”

“Dying never is,” Grady retorted.

“What are you going to do to me?” Cher tok asked.

Grady propped Chertok against the back of the SUV and kneeled in front of him. He ripped the Russian’s pant leg until he could see the wound o n his leg.

“We’re taking you to Aldo Moretti, ” he said.

If it was possible, Lev paled more. “You … you can’t do that.”

The wound wasn’t as bad as Grady feared.

The bullet hadn’t hit a major artery; it had hit the meaty part of Chertok’s thigh, passing straight through it.

If Caitlin could find medical supplies, they could wrap it up, give him pain medication, and hand him off to the Italians.

Grady checked his watch. They had eighteen hours until Moretti’s timeline expired. Plenty of time to get Cherto k to them.

“You are not listening to me,” Chertok snapped. “You cannot turn me over to Moretti.”

Grady grabbed Chertok’s collar, yanking him forward.

“I don’t give a shit what you want. You fucked with the wrong family and the wrong girl.

You are going to stand in front of Aldo Moretti, and you will tell him what you did, just like you told Caitlin what you did.

After you do that, I hope Moretti serves you to his attack dogs for b reakfast.”

Chertok entire body trembled. “I … I have information. If you let me go, I can tell yo u things.”

“I don’t want to hear what you have to say,” Grad y snarled.

“You will want to hear this.” He glanced around, as if afraid someone might overhear him, before he looked back at Grady. “There is a traitor in the O’Reilly family. I know w ho it is.”

Grady crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Chertok. “You’ re lying.”

The Russian shook his head. “How do you think my men found you in Connecticut? I had this person follow your every movement, using the GPS in your Bronco and reporting it to me.”

Intense fiery anger turned Grady’s vision red. He reached out, wrapped his hand around Chertok’s throat, and squeezed. “Listen, you piece of shit, tell me who it is or so help me, I will take your dead body to Moretti.”

Grady released him. Chertok sucked in a desperate, gasping breath, then he coughed, his face purple. Once he could breathe, he stared at Grady for a few seconds before he spoke.

“His name is Ang us Hayes.”

Out of the corner of his eyes, Grady saw Caitlin jogging across the grass. She had a blue box clutched in her hands. She had changed her shirt, and her jacket was gone. He clenched his fists, stepping away from Chertok. He intercepted her at the back of the Mercedes.

“Do you have a gun?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, it’s on the seat.”

“Grab it,” he ordered. “Give him the first-aid kit. Let him fix his leg. You keep an eye on him and keep your gun ready. I’m going to call you r father.”

Caitlin’s shoulders stiffened at his words. “Why are you calling Daddy?” she asked.

“Because I have information for him,” Grady replied. “Important information about someone who works for him.”

“It ca n’t wait?”

“No.” He nodded his head in Chertok’s direction. “Don’t take your eyes off him, Cait. I’ll be ri ght back.”

Sean screamed at him for the first five minutes of the phone call, using every foul word he could think of.

Some Grady hadn’t heard since his Irish grandfather passed away.

Once he calmed down, Grady filled him in on their apprehension of Lev Chertok—leaving out the fact that Caitlin had been in the room with bullets flying—then he told his boss what Chertok said about a traitor in t he family.

When Grady was done speaking, Sean was quiet for so long that Grady checked his phone to see if they’d gotten dis connected.

“Are you positive?” S ean asked.

“I only have Chertok’s word,” he replied. “But he is desperate to keep himself out of Moretti’s hands. He could be lying. But it needs to be checked out. Talk to Declan or Finn. They’ll be able to find out if Angus tracked my Bronco using the GPS.”

Sean sighed. “Did you set the meeting with Mor etti yet?”

“No. He’s the next ph one call.”

“I want to be there,” Sean said. “Once you have the details, let me know. If I’m there, maybe he won’t hurt my daughter.”

“ Yes, sir.”

He was about to disconnect when Sean added, “One mo re thing?”

“Yeah.”

“When this is over, you and I are going to have a long talk,” Sean continued. “I’ve known you for years, which means I know there are things you aren’t telling me, things about you and my daughter.”

Grady cleared his throat. “I’m not sure what you m ean, sir.”

“Cut the shit, McCarthy,” Sean muttered. “Stop hiding behind your job as my second. We’re friends and that is important to me. I hope you feel the same. I’m trusting you to take care of my little girl. Do you under stand me?”

He knew. Grady didn’t know how he’d found out, but he knew. This wasn’t a boss asking his employee to take care of his kid; this was a father asking the man who loved his daughter to take ca re of her.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “I’ll protect her with my li fe, Sean.”

“I know you will.”

The line went dead.

“Grady!” Caitl in called.

He shoved the phone in his pocket and hurried to the vehicles. Chertok was stretched out in the back of the SUV with his eyes closed and a coat thrown over his shoulders.

“Is he okay?” Gr ady asked.

“I think so,” she said. “He’s cold. By the way, he said he told you who betrayed us. It’s someone in th e family?”

Grady nodded. “Yes.” He pointed at the car. “Pop t he trunk.”

Caitlin hit the button on the remote to open the trunk. “Is that what you needed to tell my father? That someone betr ayed him?”

“Yes. It needs to be investigated and handled.”

“W ho is it?”

He sighed. “You don’t know him, so it doesn’t matter.

” He took a package of zip ties out of the trunk, slammed it closed, and returned to the SUV.

He grabbed Chertok’s ankle and secured a zip tie around it, then he did the other ankle before he connected them together with a third zip tie.

Then he did the same with Chertok ’s wrists.

Caitlin ran her fingers through her hair and stared at the ground. “I’m sick of the secrets. It’s such bullshit.”

Grady ignored her grumblings. Her frustrations came from the goddamn shitty situation. Nothing he said would make her feel any better. Not right now, anyway. He needed to get her mind off it, so he held out his phone.

“Call Moretti, tell him we have Chertok and we’re ready to meet.”

Caitlin’s eyebrows shot up. “You want me to call him?”

“He doesn’t want to talk to me,” Grady said. “He wants to talk to you. You saw how he reacted when I said something at the meeting. Unfortunately, this is about you, not me. Set up the meeting. Tell him you’re bringing you r father.”

“What?”

“Sean insisted, and I will not argue with him.” He wiggled the phone back and forth. “The number to the strip club is in t he phone.”

Caitlin plucked it out of his hands, pulled up the number, and hit send. She walked a few feet away, far enough that Grady couldn’t hear what she w as saying.

He leaned against the side of the SUV, crossed his arms, and waited. He watched her face, but it was emotionless. To his surprise, she didn’t roll her eyes once. Once she’d disconnected the call, she came and stood in fro nt of him.

“He wants us there at midnight. When I told him Daddy wanted to be there, he acted like he’d expected me to say that. He said, ‘He’ll be here, trust me.’ Then he hung up on me.” She looked up at him. The exhaustion was clear on her face. “It’s almost over, right? I want it to be over.”

Grady held out his hand. “C ome here.”

She took his outstretched hand and let him pull her into his arms. Her head fell against his chest, and she sighed. He hugged her close, his lips pressed to h er temple.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“What? Why are you apo logizing?”

“Because this is my fault,” she mumbled. “If I hadn’t been so determined to defy my father at every turn, I never would have dated Bobby. I was only with him because I thought it would piss off Daddy. Look what tha t got me.”

“This isn’t your fault,” he said. “I think Chertok would have figured out a way to fuck with the families no matter what. If he hadn’t used you, he would have used someone else. If anything, you’re unlucky.”

A sardonic laugh sputtered out of her, and she shook her head.

“That’s me, unlucky.” She dropped her hands to her side and stepped back.

“In love, life, and everything in between.” She dug the keys out of her pocket and wiggled them.

“We should go. I don’t want to be late.” She turned her back on him and got into the Mercedes.

He went around to the driver’s side of the SUV, got in, started it, and pulled out of the parking lot, checking the rearview to see if Caitlin was b ehind him.

An ache had settled in his gut. Grady wanted to tell her the truth about his feelings for her, but now wasn’t the time. They had to stay focused, keep the end goal in mind, and make sure nobody ende d up dead.

He’d tell her he loved her once he was sure she was out of h arm’s way.