AllFreeNovel
Share Us
21
NICO
The woman was crazy. Not that Nico hadn’t suspected it before he asked Emmy to accompany him to the Starlight Lounge, but now that she was snacking on birthday cake and a selection of canapés with Vito Cavallaro, he had no doubt.
Had he made a mistake in hiring her? The jury was still out on that. Her team had found Kaylin, and Blackwood had an excellent reputation. Plus Emmy’s ethics were firmly in the grey zone, which was what Nico needed for this task. Attempting to rescue Kaylin alone would be a recipe for disaster. Maybe he could get her to safety, but the child and the dog as well? That added a whole other layer of difficulty.
Years had passed since Nico had undertaken that kind of work, and even then, he’d done it grudgingly for the most part because it hadn’t been his fight. The last man he’d killed had been a thug, a petty criminal who’d been sent to murder Nico’s father. Nico had put a bullet through the man’s head, and then done the same to the former business acquaintance who hired him. They’d been too clumsy to succeed. He’d briefly considered taking them aside and giving them tips, but in the end, disposal had been the only option. Fortunately, Viktoria had made her appearance soon afterward.
Emmy returned to her seat. “Show time.”
“You’ve finished consorting with the opposition?”
“Haven’t you heard the old saying? Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”
When Kaylin walked onto the stage, Nico’s breath hitched. She’d been a cute kid with an infectious smile who hadn’t cared about her puppy fat. Now? Now, she was beautiful. An angel under the thumb of a devil who didn’t appreciate her.
The question was, did she want to stay with him?
Kaylin had changed into a short sequinned dress that glittered in shades of purple under the lights. She clasped the mic with both hands, her knuckles white.
“Before we start, I hear we have a very generous guest in the house tonight. Won’t you all join me in singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Rico?”
She wasn’t shying away from him. That was good. Did Kaylin remember that his birthday was in August? She’d sung “Happy Birthday” to him when he turned sixteen, he recalled, and his father’s friends had applauded before they returned to discussing their underhanded deals. One of them had made a lewd comment about her—a fucking eight-year-old—and his was one of the few deaths Nico had taken pleasure in causing. Business was business, but kids were off limits.
Emmy angled herself so her right hand was hidden from the audience and began signing, as they’d discussed during the intermission. Do you want out?
But Kaylin didn’t sign back. Instead, she cut her gaze toward Vito’s table, and Nico noticed one of the men focused on her. Alonzo. Damn. Had he spotted their earlier communication? Or was he naturally the suspicious type? Perhaps he just had the hots for his brother’s wife?
“There’s a problem,” Nico murmured to Emmy. “Alonzo’s watching.”
“Then we wait. Kaylin’s clever. If she wants out, she’ll send a message somehow.”
“You’d better be right.”
“I’m always right, dude.”
“And modest. You forgot to mention modest.”
Emmy just laughed and leaned into his side. Meanwhile, Nico’s stress levels rose sky-high, and when ten o’clock came and went, the ever-increasing tightness in his chest had him considering a trip to the ER.
“Relax,” Emmy told him.
“How can I fucking relax?”
“Try breathing exercises?”
The only breathing exercise that would help right now would be putting his hands around Cesare Cavallaro’s throat and choking the life out of him. At least Alonzo had stopped watching quite so intently. He was deep in conversation with Fausto now, his gaze only flicking in Kaylin’s direction every so often.
Give us a sign, zollotse.
“Thank you, New York! I’m going to finish with one of my favourites, but first, can you all put your hands together for the Divas?”
The audience broke into applause, and Emmy whooped and hollered for good measure. She was acting drunk, but in reality, she’d barely touched her champagne. By ordering enough drinks for everyone, she’d managed to pour most of the alcohol into other people’s glasses instead of her own.
But sober or not, she’d been wrong about Kaylin, who hadn’t tried using ASL again, or semaphore, or Morse code, or asking a server to slip them a note. Nico was ready to tell Emmy that in this instance, she’d misjudged, but then the sign came.
Kaylin launched into the opening line of “Rescue Me.”
