Kane's Ransom: A BWWM Mafia Romance Novel (23 page)

"Took your sweet time, didn't you, Jiggs?" Killian asked, but he still smiled, letting go of Alicia with one hand to reach out and shake Jiggs's. "I was starting to think that you might let us die!"

"Well, I won't say that I didn't consider the idea," the other man, Jiggs, responded, smiling back. His smile put Alicia in mind of a shark, she thought. Predatory. "But then I figured that, considering the rates I have to pay for medical treatment, maybe I oughtta keep a doc alive who owes me a favor." He shook Killian's offered hand, pumping it heartily.

"So, this is the 'friend' of yours you wanted to help out, is it?" he went on, turning to look at Alicia, running his eyes up and down her without an ounce of subtlety. "I was wondering why you'd stick your neck out, but now it makes a bit more sense."

"I've already shot one of these Curanos," Killian warned Jiggs. "Don't make me add another body to the count."

"Yeah, yeah, big deal," he returned without animosity. "And I've shot two, so I'm already up on you. Now, any other messes you want me to clean up for ya?"

"Hey! Someone explain things to me!" Alicia burst out, making both men turn to look at her. "What's going on? What happened?"

After an exchanged glance with Jiggs, Killian took a step back, releasing his hug around her. "Alicia, I told you about my past life, with the Zerelli Family," he started. "This villainous rogue is Jiggs, a contact of mine from that time. He's the man I contacted last night to get information on the Curanos, the new family who kidnapped your brother. And since I suspected that we might have trouble at the exchange, I told him that I wanted him to come, watch from the wings for signs of trouble."

"For a price, of course," Jiggs interrupted, grinning broadly. "After all, I don't do nuthin' for free! Not even for an old buddy."

Killian rolled his eyes. "Like you weren't happy to clean up some of the competition for your business in this city."

"Clean up? Competition?" Jiggs protested, putting on a comically fake offended expression. "Why, I would never think of doing anything against these new guys, trying to make their own living in this big city! But it ain't my fault if sometimes these guys don't know what they're taking on when they try and pull these dangerous jobs. Sometimes, that sorta thing gets them killed. Cost of doin' business."

Alicia couldn't hold in a snort at how transparent the man's affronted attitude was. "Well, I still owe you a huge thank you, no matter why you decided to help," she said, stepping forward and holding out her hand. "I'm Alicia."

"Pleasure," Jiggs returned, taking her hand and pretending to lift it up to his lips. His wink at her swept downward to look at her body, and she knew that he was undressing her with his eyes. Given that he'd just saved their lives, however, she felt she could overlook his lecherous attitude.

Jiggs released her hand and turned to Marcus, who had also climbed up to his feet. "And you're the hostage, huh?" he asked. "Pulling jobs for the Curanos? Technically, that would make you my competition."

Marcus, to his credit, didn't break eye contact as he looked back. "Technically, since they just tried to kill me, I'm your ally against them," he responded. "I tend not to want to work with people who kill me over a refused deal."

For a moment, Jiggs kept up his dangerous glare - and then, abruptly, he threw his head back and laughed. "You got balls, kid," he said, still chuckling. "And while I wouldn't dream of getting involved in any business of the Curanos, maybe you and I might want to have a bit of a chat about knowledge you've got rattling around in your head, just rotting away. Eh?" He raised his eyebrows and grinned.

"Later," Killian interrupted. He took a step away from the group, over to the Curanos' SUV. He pulled open the back door and grabbed his briefcase from the back seat, clicking it open for a moment before closing it and carrying it back to where the rest of them stood.

Approaching, he held out a bundle of bills to Jiggs. "Your fee," he said.

Jiggs took the offered sheaf of bills, flipping lazily through it before sticking it in a pocket. "Ten grand, not bad for a half hour's work, climbing up on some roofs," he commented. "But next time, I'm sending someone else. Nearly broke a damn leg trying to get back down off that roof."

After a moment's silence, Killian cleared his throat. "Well, we should probably get out of here," he said. "Marcus, can we offer you a ride?"

Marcus nodded. "If you're offering," he replied. "Although after saving my life, I'm pretty sure I'm already in your debt by far too much to ever pay you back."

The three of them turned towards Killian's Maserati. "I'll see you later, Jiggs," Killian called out, as they headed away.

The Zerelli grinned back at them, still looking down at the bodies. "Oh, I'm sure you will," he said, his words dripping with implication.

As she climbed into the passenger side front seat of the Maserati, Alicia considered those last words. Jiggs had already turned around, walking out of the warehouse to wherever he'd parked his own car, but his words still hung in the air for a moment longer. Killian might have been totally out of the Mob, she considered, but after making the deal to have Jiggs cover them for the hostage exchange, she suspected that they may contact him again, try and drag him back in once again.

He'd been willing to do that, too, for her. She could feel her sense of debt to him growing even deeper. She truly owed him, more than she'd ever be able to repay.

But looking over at the man as he climbed behind the wheel, she didn't think that Killian saw it that way. When he'd looked at her while they both were on their knees, certain that they were about to die, she'd seen a new light in his eyes, one that seemed to kindle a matching, echoing warmth in her as well.

Even now, when he glanced back at her, she could still see that light, glowing behind his blue eyes. The hard, powerful lines of his face seemed to soften, ever so slightly, whenever he looked back at her.

"So, where to?" Killian asked, as he started up the car. "Marcus, we could drop you back off at your apartment-"

"Actually," Marcus interrupted, clearing his throat, "I'm starving. Since they were planning on killing me, the Curanos didn't feed me much. Is there any chance we could swing by some restaurant, get some food to eat?"

Now that he'd brought up the idea of food, Alicia felt her own stomach piping up, offering its own assent. "That sounds great to me, too," she confessed.

Killian opened his mouth to reply, but his own stomach chimed in with a gurgle of its own! "Well, looks like we all agree," he joked, as they all burst into laughter. "Let's go get some food!"

They kept on laughing as his car peeled out from the warehouse, laughter that was filled with relief. They were alive, they'd made it out! That huge, heavy weight of anxiety that Alicia had felt constantly hanging over her like a Sword of Damocles was no longer present, and she felt blessedly light with it off of her.

Marcus was back, safe and sound. Killian hadn't had to give up all his money for her. And every time that his eyes met hers, Alicia felt a little shiver of tingling excitement and anticipation shoot up and down her spine.

Yes, she thought to herself as she relaxed backward in the seat, letting her eyes close as she smiled, things had certainly worked out in an amazing way, better than she'd believed possible.

And, she smiled to herself, the best was still yet to come.

*

Jiggs popped open the trunk of his car, a black Cadillac parked a block away from the warehouse, and dropped the rifle into the open hole. He'd emptied the gun of ammunition, and he dropped these into the trunk as well. A couple of the bullets bounced out of the magazine and scattered across the trunk, but Jiggs didn't worry about chasing them down. After all, this was his car, and he'd get one of his flunkies to clean it out.

He stretched his arms across his chest as he headed around to the driver's seat, feeling one of his shoulders pop. He was getting too old for this shit, he thought to himself. He really ought to think about retiring at some point, or at least taking more of a backseat role. Maybe Kane was onto something when he'd decided to get away, leave the whole business behind.

He climbed into the driver's seat with a grunt, pulling the Cadillac's door shut behind him. He stuck the key into the car, turning the engine on and cranking up the air conditioning to full blast. A black car looked intimidating, sure, but it heated up fast, especially in the Dallas midday sun.

Once the cold air had started blasting out from the vents, he pulled out his phone, unlocking it and scrolling through his contact list. He found the number he was looking for, saved under "John's Dry Cleaning," and hit the call button.

Two rings later, the other end of the line picked up. "Yeah, got a place that needs some cleaning," Jiggs said, as soon as the voice said hello. "Three loads, and one vehicle that needs a wash."

He waited a moment, and then gave the address of the warehouse. Out here, away from any open businesses, there likely wasn't anyone around to hear the gunshots. Still, the sooner that the place got cleaned up, the less likely the cops were to stumble upon the scene and start poking their noses where they didn't belong.

Once the man on the phone confirmed the address, Jiggs hung up. He put the car into drive, pulling smoothly away from the curb and heading away from the scene of the shooting.

He'd definitely have to follow up with Kane, he thought to himself as he drove. The ten thousand dollars felt secure in his pocket, but even more valuable was knowing that Kane was alive, around - and had strings tied to him. That girl, her brother. Jiggs didn't like thinking of people as pawns - pawns had a tendency to turn into more powerful pieces when his back was turned - but he knew how to use people.

Previously, he hadn't had any leverage on Killian.

Now, however, he had buttons that he could push. If necessary, of course.

Jiggs hummed a little wordless tune to himself as he drove away.

Chapter twenty-seven

An hour and a half later, Alicia groaned, pushing her plate back away from her. "Oh man, I'm stuffed," she complained. "I don't think I could eat a bite more if my life depended on it!"

Next to her, Marcus glanced over at her plate with interest. "Maybe I'll help you out with that, then," he offered, already reaching out to swipe the last little half of her big sandwich off of her plate and taking a bite.

Marcus had already cleaned his own plate, even eating the last little burnt French fries. Clearly, he hadn't been lying about feeling famished! Now, he dug into Alicia's sandwich - but after swallowing the first bite, he turned back to Killian.

"Really, man, I can't thank you enough times for getting me out of there," he insisted, looking as if he wanted to reach across the table and grab the white man's hand and shake it - again. "I would have died if it wasn't for you! I don't know how Alicia got you to agree to help her-"

"Hey!" Alicia jumped in, catching the unspoken implication behind her brother's words. "Marcus, I wanted to save you, but I didn't go out and sell myself for it!"

"Whoa, whoa, that wasn't what I meant at all, sis!" Marcus protested, shifting his attention over to her. "But look, I'm a simple dude, but you can't look at me and tell me that there's nothing going on between the two of you, is there?"

Alicia bit her lip before answering, but she felt the blood rush to her cheeks, turning them bright enough for her brother to see her blush, even through her dark skin. Marcus smirked as his suspicions were confirmed.

"That's what I thought," he said, grinning. He glanced back over at Killian. "Now, why don't you tell me everything - after all, if you don't, I'm not giving you my approval!"

"I didn't realize I had to win your approval, after saving your life," Killian commented, raising an eyebrow.

Marcus's smile vanished, and he directed a frown back at the man across the table. Before the two of them could get into a testosterone-fueled verbal sparring match, Alicia decided to intervene and rescue the situation.

"Here, I'll tell you," she said, taking Marcus's hand. "Actually, I knew Killian for a while before this whole series of events. I've been working at the diner for the last couple of years out in Commerce, you know that, and a few months ago, a new man turned up, wanting a booth. He soon became a regular..."