“There’s something else, Gino, and the price will be steep.”
She summoned the newcomer over with a wave of her hand and waited for him to walk the length of the pool before continuing. “The information about the rest of my family was useful, but you haven’t answered for one more person.”
Cain accepted the bundle and kept it hidden from Gino’s view.
Mook’s brother, Patrick, who worked for Vincent Carlotti, stayed close.
“Marie, my sister, is who’s left, Gino, and after my talk with Stephano I don’t need to ask anything else, do I?”
“That was all Danny.”
Dragging him back a few inches shut him up.
When Katlin stopped, Gino was forced to tilt his head back to keep his face out of the slime. “If Stephano told you different, then he’s a lying bastard.”
“The lying bastard was high as a kite when I talked to him, so lying was out of the question.”
Her voice settled around him, making Gino force his head back farther in an effort to see her again.
“That’s the one redeeming factor of the shit you put on the streets. It lowers your inhibitions enough that your answers aren’t important because you don’t fear any repercussions. The high must really be euphoric enough to make you feel invincible, but all it did in the end was snap his brain and his body like a twig.”
Gino stared to the left, and Cain finally came back into limited view, since the only illumination in the dank place was moonlight. The whimper coming from the bundle in her arms made his blood run cold. “Please, God, no.”
“Funny you should say that. I remember uttering that same phrase only three times in my life.” Cain pushed the child’s blanket back. He resembled his mother, the waiflike woman in the restaurant. “I remember all three vividly since I was standing in front of a coffin each and every time.”
“Cain, he’s just a baby.” Gino glimpsed his son’s hand as a little fist came up, almost as if he were trying to entice Cain to play with him.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be much more merciful with him than you were with Marie. She was as innocent as this infant no matter how much longer she had on this earth before you stole her life in the most degrading way your twisted little brain could come up with. Her innocence didn’t stop you, did it?”
“I’m telling you, I wasn’t there.”
Cain’s intense glare made him fight harder to free his hands.
“And even if I was, what does that have to do with my son?”
With one last kiss to the baby’s forehead, Cain handed him off to Patrick. “We were raised by two very different men, but my father always tried to impress one thing upon me.”
“What, to go around and fucking kill little babies?”
“To always live my life so that my sins wouldn’t be visited on my children. Even people like us can live with honor. To have a code means we all promise to consider people like your son and my sister. When someone breaks that code of honor, though, the innocent pays the price of those actions.”
Cain nodded, and from behind Gino came a splash, then an eerie silence.
“No!” It was the last word he uttered as Katlin pulled the final couple of inches needed to get the job done.
Resigned to his fate, Gino locked eyes with his judge for one last moment before the urge to fight took over and he struggled to break free as his lungs started to feel like they would explode from trying to hold his breath. Katlin had positioned him so that just his eyes and forehead were above the water line.
As the reality of his fate dawned on Gino, Cain could see the horror in his eyes and kept looking until all movement ceased.
Then Katlin pulled him farther into the deep end and retrieved the rope she’d used. When the property was razed, Gino would either be part of the foundation, or the mystery of his disappearance would be revealed. Either way, nothing at the scene could tie Cain to his demise.
Cain slid the fourth and final ring Giovanni had made for his sons into her pocket as she strode back to the car. “You live like a slimeball all your life, Gino, and sometimes it’ll drown you.”
The jingle of the ring in her pocket assured her that she’d almost won the game. She was missing only one piece.
Chapter Forty-Three
“I know what you said, boss, but I can’t find him.”
Giovanni slammed his hands down on the desktop and glared up at his guard.
“We looked everywhere in town. We even shook down the woman he had on the side, but no one’s seen him.”
“No one just disappears into thin air. Did you go by his house?” Giovanni took his gun out of the top drawer and checked the clip.
“The only thing moving around Gino’s place is the feds parked outside. I sent Chops inside, but the place was empty. Wherever Gino went, he took the baby and packed light.”
When Giovanni stood up, he shoved the nine-millimeter into his waistband at the back. He’d wasted enough
