Page 23 of Nauti Siren (Nauti 7)

“Take two men with you,” Rudy ordered as he glanced at the brute standing behind Chester. “Send them in. This is a matter you oversee, not one you do yourself. ”

The boy had a tendency to micromanage shit.

“I’ll take care of it,” Andre promised, and Rudy knew he could depend on him. Of all the men he commanded, it was Andre he trusted above all others to ensure the job was taken care of quickly and correctly.

“Very well. ” Rudy sighed. “And, Andre, don’t let your men kill the girl. Make it look like a random burglary. We don’t need the Mackays and their government sidekicks in our town. ”

“Agreed. ” Andre nodded shortly before turning and leaving the room once again.

Rudy turned back to Chester.

“See, it wasn’t my fault, Rudy. It was that girl you hired. She let the car out and I told her not to,” Chester whined. “You don’t have to kill me. ”

“True,” Rudy agreed, ignoring the hope that suddenly filled his third cousin’s abused features. “This is very true. ”

The girl was Rudy’s illegitimate daughter. She was his favorite child, and this incompetent fool

thought to place the blame on her? The poor bastard had just signed his own death warrant.

His gaze flicked to the heavily muscled ex-boxer, the Brute, as Rudy called him, standing behind the other man. The one whose fists had made hamburger out of Chester’s face earlier.

The large head nodded as the ex-boxer, Jones Morley, read the silent look in Rudy’s eyes. The weapon he carried with its silencer attached came up as Rudy moved away from the other man.

A second later, a heavy pop sounded behind him, and Rudy knew he would never have to worry about Chester screwing up again.

The nerve of him anyway, blaming an innocent child for a mistake that should have never happened.

“I hardly think my precious little Asta was at fault in the least,” he said as Jones followed him from the room. “What do you think?”

“Asta’s no dummy,” the other man stated, bringing a glow of pride rushing through Rudy. “I kind of doubt she would have rented the vehicle if she was told specifically not to do so. ”

Moving ahead of him, Jones quickly opened the door leading from the office and stood back as Rudy stepped through.

“Get rid of the body,” Rudy ordered the two men waiting outside. “Then return to the house. ”

Striding from the office, Rudy left the building and walked quickly to the black SUV his driver, Danny, was standing beside.

The moment the doors to the office had opened, his nephew, Danny, was striding around the vehicle. Tall and imposing, Danny was as much a bodyguard as a chauffeur. Dark Italian heritage was reflected in his features, while strong American stock was reflected in his tall, stout body. Before Rudy could reach it, his door was open, the comfortable leather interior and an even more comfortable silk-skinned mistress awaiting him inside.

The mistress held no appeal for him tonight, though. The potential for disaster was rising with each minute that Andre hadn’t called him to report he had the gems. Every second those jewels were out of his possession, the closer disaster came in the form of some very nasty members of the Russian Mafia.

The Mackay woman would end up destroying Rudy’s base of power if he wasn’t extremely careful.

Or rather, the woman’s family would.

That damned brother, Dawg, and her cousins, Rowdy and Natches, and the men and women they called friends who were part of the Department of Homeland Security were dangerous. Especially that little misfit Timothy Cranston.

They were a force no criminal wanted to call the attention of. Rudy’d lost a very influential lawyer and a rather promising family member he was very fond of to the Kentucky natives.

His niece Marlena Genoa, and her sponsor back into the family, Gerard Andrews, had been taken out with such efficiency it had been shocking.

They had gone to Kentucky to seek retribution against Marlena’s ex-fiancé when he had broken their engagement five years before. Neither had returned, and Marlena’s body had never been found.

Poor Marlena. First her father had turned against the Genoa family, effectively ensuring she was no longer part of the base of power and wealth Rudy controlled. Then, she had let the prominent fiancé she had managed to snare slip from her fingers. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if she hadn’t promised to secure him, and his father’s prestigious law firm, for the Genoa family. When a promise was made, it must be kept. Or retribution must be established and restitution made. Once John Walker broke their engagement, the Genoa family demanded restitution, a small portion of the promised funds and prestige John Walker would have brought to the family, or Marlena had to seek retribution to prove she was strong enough to be part of the Genoa family in an age of betrayals, double dealing, and technological deceptions.

The family needed insurance that she would never do as her father had and turn on them—turn evidence over to the authorities and attempt to destroy the family. She was to have killed John Walker and Sierra Lucas before the life insurance policy she had taken out on him, and he had forgotten about, expired. The funds would have been given to the Genoa family, and the blood on her hands would have given at least a small assurance of her loyalty.

She had done neither. She had instead gotten a highly successful and very beneficial attorney killed and she had ended up, most likely, under Timothy Cranston’s control.

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