Page 36 of His Brother's Wife
Raff’s fist smashed into the man’s jaw a second later, his temper unleashed. He beat the man almost to unconsciousness before Como pulled him back. Como bent his mouth to Raff’s ear.
“My friend …stop now. Look at his accomplice …he’s scared. He’ll talk.”
Raff nursed his battered hand and stepped away from the coughing and breathless man on the floor. He looked at the accomplice, who turned wide, terrified eyes on him.
“Please,” said the man, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I helped him …I promise you, I thought he was going to torment her …I didn’t see the knife.”
Como made a disgusted noise. “Filthy liar.”
Raff took a step toward the man and he cringed backward. Como’s guard kicked him in the small of his back and he groaned. “I swear, friend, I didn’t know…”
“…Who paid you?” Raff said in a grim tone. “And don’t lie.”
“Jackson Gallo. That’s what he,” he jerked his head towards his injured companion, “told me. He told me Gallo said he needed a distraction so he could send a message to his ex-wife. We were supposed to go kidnap your lady. That’s what he told me …he told me to grab her and hold her arms behind her. He had a camera. Said Gallo wanted to see her scared. What he meant was …he wanted to see her die. When he stabbed her …I panicked. Thought if I did anything, he’d kill me too and take the money for himself. I’m sorry about her. I am.”
The man was jabbering now, and Raff felt pain shoot through him at his words. So, needless. So, cruel. He turned back to the stabber. “You. Talk, now. Anything. And I’ll think about sparing your life.”
The man spat blood on the ground. “I don’t know anything. Except what he just said. Gallo wanted her killed. Said it sent a message to not fuck with him. I asked him why he didn’t do it himself. He told me he couldn’t leave the States—that he was in ‘seclusion.' That’s the word he used.”
Raff chewed his lip. “Was this a phone call or video call?”
“Video.”
“You record it?”
The man shook his head. His nose was streaming blood. “No.”
Raff sighed in frustration. “Tell me about where he was calling from. The room. What was outside the windows? What was the room like?”
The man hesitated. “I got the impression it was …I mean, there were no windows that I could see and his voice sounded echoey. If I had to guess, I would say it was underground.”
Raff studied the man’s eyes. He had no reason to lie now; he faced almost certain death the minute Raffaelo gave the order. Even a hardened criminal like this man knew the only way to save himself was by helping them.
Raff turned away and walked back to Como. The other man leaned into him. “What do you want to be done with them?”
Raff didn’t answer, struggling with his morality, and Como saw this. “Raff, whatever you need …we’ll deal with it. There need not be any link to you. Let me deal with them.”
Raff bowed his head and rubbed his eyes. It would be so easy to just let Como kill them and deal with the bodies. But Raff knew of old how much the weight of responsibility would weigh on him. He’d had to kill before to save Inca’s life, and it hadn’t sat well with him, although he wouldn’t change a thing. Knox Westerwick had been stabbing Inca when Raff had killed him. This was a different situation.
He looked at Como. “No. They might know more. Give them to the police.”
“Are you sure?”
Raff nodded. “Very. Too much blood has been spilled already. They can go to jail.”
He knew he had made the right decision for himself, for Inca, and for Amalia. Any information was critical now, and as he drove back to the hospital, he called Enda and relayed the information he had discovered. A tired, shattered-sounding Enda thanked him.
“Is there any news, Enda? Anything?”
“Nothing as yet, Raff. But this will help …we know now they are in California somewhere. If your contact is right and they’re somewhere underground, it narrows things down, assuming there’s a record of it somewhere.”
Raff heard the desolation in his friend’s voice. “I’ve been there, Enda. I know what it’s like. We’ll find them, I promise.”
Enda gave a strangled sob. “God, I hope so … I don’t know what I’ll do if we don’t.”
Ama’s head was screaming with pain, and for a long moment, she debated whether or not to open her eyes at all. Her mind was fuzzy, her chest felt tight, and she became aware of her wrists being tied, plastic biting into the skin. Her mouth was tinder-dry, and she couldn’t get a sense of time or place.
She opened her eyes. There was a harsh strip light above her and it made her eyes water. She blinked rapidly, then saw him. Jackson.
