Page 90 of The Pretenders of Copper County
Dante looked like he would protest, but Bob laid a hand on his arm. “Do as he says, Danny. He’s the man’s husband, for fuck’s sake.”
“Husband?” Dante’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “The hell he is.”
Because Chris eventuallywouldbe my husband, if I had anything to say about it—and, yeah, that was a mind-fuck revelation I did not have time for at the moment—I leaned toward Dante and bit out, “Get used to it.”
Then I headed for the woods.
Cabin 13 was nestled in the center of a grove of fir trees not far from the edge of Watt Bartlett’s orchard. Our run through the forest was mostly silent, thanks to a thick carpet of pine needles, and the trees grew so thickly, the ground was barely damp, which helped us move faster… but “faster” was a relative term when you were traveling with The Centrum Silver Squad.
I drew my gun as we reached the clearing in front of the cabin, but Dante grabbed my wrist to stop me.
“What the fuck?” I hissed, yanking it away from him.
“No guns,” he said firmly. “Those are my nephews in there.”
“Chrisis your nephew. Nicky is the asshole who’s got a gun on him,” I corrected.
But Dante shook his head insistently. “Nicolas is…” He sighed. “There’s no denying he’s gone down a bad path. And maybe that’s my fault. But he’s still my boy. And I don’t want him hurt.”
I’d wondered how Chris had become the person he was, growing up with Dante as an uncle. Now I could sort of see the resemblance… though it seemed Dante’s belief in the goodness of humanity only extended as far as his family.
“Stay back and stay out of my way,” I told him.
Staying behind the tree line, I crept around to the south side of the cabin, where there were no windows, and darted across the small lawn. The grass was spongy and slippery but I managed to keep my footing… barely.
I moved around the corner to the western side of the cabin and, with the worn cedar shingles biting my palms, I flattened myself to the wall. I stepped cautiously toward the single window.
I heard the voices before I got close enough to peer in.
“—all your fault, Chrissy.” Nicky’s voice was shrill and fast. “I don’t want to do this, okay? But they’re going to arrest me.Me! This shit never would have happened if Uncle Danny had left the business to me as he should’ve.”
“You keep saying that. And I keep telling you, he could have left it to you. I wouldn’t have cared.” Chris sounded a little scared and a whole lot angry, but unhurt. A bolt of relief nearly brought me to my knees. “I didn’teven know this side of his business existed. All I wanted was the Cellar.”
“You can’t have one without the other. Jesus, Chris, you’re so fucking stupid. All those years…”
As Nicky went on, I crept closer to the window. The bottom sill was level with my shoulder and I wished like hell I had a mirror so I could look inside without letting Nicky know I was there. But because luck was on my side—and Nicky was kind of an idiot—he’d turned on the camping lantern Chris had brought out here after he’d disconnected the electricity. I was able to see in far better than they could see out.
Unfortunately, what I saw was not good.
Chris was huddled into one corner of a dilapidated wooden bench built into the wall of the cabin, his hands tied behind his back and his glasses askew on his nose. Chris had taken out most of the wood paneling on the walls and ceilings earlier this week so he could update the wiring and replace the ceiling fan, which meant he was propped against rough timbers, sharp nails, and a bunch of electrical wires that were no longer stapled to the studs.
Watching him track movement on the other side of the room, the side I couldn’t see, it seemed that Nicky was pacing back and forth across the small space, probably agitated and definitely dangerous, while Chris was a sitting duck.
“…and once you’re out of the way, Uncle Danny will stop caring about trying to ‘restore honor to the family’ before he dies. In fact, he’ll have every reason to stay in the game.” Nicky laughed. “For revenge.”
“I d-don’t know what you’re talking about.” Chris fluttered his lashes the way he did when he was lying. If his hands had been free, I was sure they’d have been fluttering a mile a minute. “Please, Nicky, tell me the whole plan. In detail.”
I closed my eyes. Chris wanted Nicky’s villain monologue, and I knew why. Because when we’d talked about John Ruffian, I’d told himif a villain monologues it gives his captive a chance to get free.
Jesus fuck, I loved that man. I loved that he was planning his own escape. And I wasn’t going to let him out of my sight for a solid month after this.
Make that two months.
Make thatforever.
I just needed Nicky to walk past the window so I could get a clear shot…
“Myplan? My plan is to fucking get rid of you. You have any idea how hard it’s been to watch Danny go weak because of you? You got in his head.” Nicky’s voice hardened as he tapped his temple with one blunt finger. “You and your sweet-and-innocent bullshit.”
