The O’Kelly woman was making things difficult for him by not doing what she was supposed to: die. It wasn’t personal and if she wanted to blame anyone it was that stupid prick Enzo De Fiore.
Enzo should have stayed dead. He had enough money to get out of the country. Or he should have had enough if he was smart. All those years as top dog, the man should have been squirreling away funds. But Enzo thought the woman had a bunch of diamonds and wanted them, had refused to leave the country without them.
Too bad for Enzo she didn’t have jack.
Unfortunately for the woman, she needed to die because of Enzo’s belief. She was a loose end and her death had to be violent and spectacular. To make it look like her nonexistent partner had killed her.
That way Enzo would just walk away. She’d be dead and, without any leads, the fool wouldn’t have anyone to hunt anymore. He would leave the country and be out of their hair. Or he’d just keep hunting her imaginary partner until he got caught by the Feds.
Of course, Alec could just kill Enzo and be done with it, but his boss didn’t want him to do that. Not unless he had to.
Stupid code of honor or whatever. Alec didn’t agree with it, but that was just the way it was with these old school gangsters sometimes. They had rules they liked to follow. At least when it suited them. Because if Enzo got in the way, Alec knew his boss would order him to kill the guy.
Hell, he might kill Enzo regardless. Just because he could. He could make that one look like an accident. Or just kill him and dispose of the body so that no one would find it.
It was certainly something to think about.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, he saw that he wasn’t being tailed so he started heading back to his temporary residence.
The good news was, if the woman had a police detail on her place, she was home. Or it was more likely that she was. Nothing could stop Alec when he was on a job, so a little thing like a bodyguard outside wouldn’t save her.
He’d just have to break in and kill her. Then set her house on fire, making sure the entire place was razed to the ground. It was one option.
Tomorrow he’d head to where she worked and see if he could get to her there. Unfortunately, if she had a police detail it would make his life more difficult.
Which was just as well. His jobs had started to get boring anyway. Livening things up a little wasn’t such a bad thing.
He just wished he knew for certain if the woman was home. He’d tried tracking her phone but couldn’t get a ping on it. She’d probably taken out the battery.
Something he found very interesting. Most people wouldn’t have thought to do that.
But she had been on the run from Enzo for a couple of years so she was adept at hiding. Clearly. Going off grid the way she had would have been difficult for most people. But humans could do amazing things in an effort to stay alive. The survival instinct in some was a powerful thing. Maybe taking out the battery was a habit she’d picked up. Alec just hoped she didn’t go on the run again.
Because if she did, Enzo would try to track her and he’d have to track her, too. All he wanted to do was wrap up this job and head home. Not hunt after some bitch who should already be dead.
Chapter 6
Aaron crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the wall outside Carlito’s office. He couldn’t hear anything going on inside other than the murmur of voices. He didn’t like that Tegan was in there without him. At least Carlito had insisted on being in there—and he’d been stubborn about it, too—because the Feds had wanted to speak to her alone.
Aaron understood why he’d told Tegan not to let the FBI bulldoze her, because that was exactly their MO. When he’d been in the Corps he hadn’t dealt with them, but since working for Red Stone he’d had the occasional interaction with an FBI agent. With the exception of the HRT guys, who were solid, most agents he’d come in contact with were dicks. It was like it was part of the FBI’s employment requirement. He’d rather deal with any other agency than them.
They liked to showboat and get their names in the news for closing a big case. Finding out that Enzo De Fiore was alive and then nailing him to the wall with a lengthy prison sentence was just the type of thing that would have the Feds salivating.
Aaron didn’t care about any of that shit. He didn’t care if De Fiore was dead or alive. He just wanted to make sure Tegan was safe, protected.
This need to take care of her, to look out for her, had taken him off guard. Yeah, he’d been attracted to her since pretty much the day he’d met her. He couldn’t deny that to himself. And after seeing the friendly, genuine way she was with customers, he’d started to simply like her. But now that he knew what she’d been through, he flat out respected her. Not many people could have gone on the run like she had and come out of it okay.