The Hitwoman and the Chubby Cherub (23 page)

Ignoring him, I asked my father again. “She who?”

“His daughter.”

“Cupid’s daughter?”

“Delveccio’s daughter,” Dad revealed.

“The one who’s locked up in the same loony bin as Mom?”

He shook his head. “The other one.”

“The one who pretended to be Dominic’s mother,” I murmured. “But how would she know?”

Dad looked away, not wanting to tell me what he knew, I was sure.

“Dad?”

“She hired Cupid to kill her father,” Dad confessed. “She wanted him scared first, which was why she had his friend killed.”

There was a certain kind of twisted logic to his story, but I still wasn’t sure I believed him. “So what you’re telling me is that Delveccio’s daughter had Cardinale killed and is trying to knock off her father?”

Dad nodded.

“But why kill Belgard?” I hadn’t gotten the impression that the cop and the mob boss were tight.

Dad shrugged. “Maybe because he was closing in on Cupid?”

I wondered if that was why the red-suited killer had been in Belgard’s house. Had he been looking for evidence that the cop had? I really wished I’d read that diary.

“You do believe me, don’t you Maggie May?”

He sounded so sincere, that I almost fell for his act. Catching myself, I shook my head. “What does Mom have to do with any of this?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?” I squeaked.

“The sheer idiocy of this conversation is like a blade being driven straight through my brain,” the lizard complained.

“For once I won’t even accuse him of being melodramatic,” Piss mewled.

I glared at my father. “You said--” I began.

“You asked what my connection was with Belgard and Delveccio and I answered, but that has nothing to do with Cupid,” Dad clarified.

I squinted at him, knowing that there was still something he wasn’t telling me. “Why would Delveccio’s daughter tell you any of this?”

A telltale wrinkle appeared between his eyes. I knew the look well. I’d seen it on his granddaughter’s face when she’d tried to convince me that she should have ice cream when she’d already had a cookie.

“Why would she tell you, Dad?”

He shrugged.

“Dammit, Dad.”

“I
may
have done some work for her in the past,” he admitted grudgingly. “But I have nothing to do with this, I swear.”

I closed my eyes and focused on what I knew, assuming I believed him.

There was a contract out on Delveccio. Cupid would try to kill him again.

I had to warn him.

“You stay here,” I told my father. “There’s plenty of food and it’s safe. I’ll come back for you when the coast is clear.”

“But--” he protested.

Ignoring him, I turned to the dog. I ordered, “Doomsday, if he tries to leave, bite him.”

“Bite! Bite!” DeeDee barked excitedly. “Hungry.”

“Piss, you help DeeDee keep an eye on him too.”

“You got it, sugar.” She flexed her claws in Dad’s direction.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I promised them all.

With God on my shoulder, I ran out.

For once I had to stop an assassination, not pull one off.

I headed straight for the hospital hoping that Delveccio would be there.

“You should ask someone for help,” God urged again.

This time I listened to him. I called Angel.

“Hi Maggie,” he answered easily.

“I need you to meet me at the hospital,” I told him, forgoing polite niceties. “It’s a matter of life or death.”

“Is this about your father?” Angel asked.

“No. It’s about your uncle.”

“I’ll be there in five minutes,” he pledged.

I disconnected the call so that I could focus on weaving in and out of traffic.

“Families,” I muttered. “They’ll be the death of me.”

“I’m sure Delveccio has his security detail on high alert,” God soothed.

“But what if his daughter decides to do the job herself now that Cupid’s failed? She’s part of his inner circle, they won’t be guarding against her.”

I squealed around corners and bumped over curbs as I sped toward the hospital. I’d grown fond of the mob boss and his quirks. Whatever his relationship with my mother might have been, he’d enabled me to provide the best possible care for my niece and that wasn’t a debt that could easily be repaid.

I parked illegally in a handicapped spot close to the hospital entrance and raced inside, skipping the security desk and racing toward the wing where Dominic stayed. I heard the rent-a-cop security guards yelling at me, but I just kept sprinting.

There wasn’t time to wait for the elevator so I ran up the stairs, lungs and legs burning by the time I reached the desired floor.

“Breathe,” God coached as I hurried on with all the grace of a herd of galloping elephants.

People heard my pounding footsteps, or maybe it was my desperate wheezing and moved out of my way.

Everyone steered clear of my path.

Everyone except Vinny.

The steroid-fueled bodyguard snarled when he saw me and jumped in front of the door like a hockey goalie protecting his net at the end of a championship game.

He wasn’t going to let me pass.

And I didn’t have the time or oxygen to try to explain things to him.

“Oh my,” God murmured worriedly. “This won’t end well.”

And it didn’t.

Chapter Twenty-seven

For some reason I got it into my head that I’d be able to slide right between Vinny’s legs, through the open door and straight into the room.

So that’s what I attempted.

Key word
attempted
.

What actually happened was I slid right into Vinny, knocking him over, so that he fell right on top of me, forcing any remaining air out of my lungs and making my body hurt in a dozen different places.

I’m pretty sure from the hatred I glimpsed on the bodyguard’s face that he wanted to hurt me in a dozen more.

I cowered against the cool tile of the floor as he raised his fist over me.

Vinny paused, savoring the moment.

That’s when I heard Patrick’s voice in my head, repeating the lesson he drilled into me. “
Eyes. Nose. Throat. Groin. Eyes. Nose. Throat. Groin.
”

Vinny’s face was out of reach, but his groin was a prime target.

As his fist crashed down toward me, I kicked out with everything I had, connecting with his groin with a satisfying thud.

He crumpled forward like a paper cup.

And I kept attacking, kicking his nose and throat.

There was blood, a weird rasping sound and an animal-like cry of pain.

And none of them came from me.

Having disabled the bodyguard, I looked up.

Gino, an IV stuck in his arm, had thrown himself between a wide-eyed Dominic and the adults grappling on the floor. The action had reopened his wound and I saw blood spreading across his hospital gown.

“Where is he?” I gasped, still breathless from my impromptu run. “Where’s Delveccio? He’s in danger.”

Gino looked from me to Vinny. “He went up to the roof with his daughter. She wanted a smoke.”

“Tell Angel,” I panted and then ran out of the room.

“Stop!” God bellowed as I stumbled down the hallway.

I did as he ordered, looking around for him.

“Over here.”

Spotting him, I bent and scooped him up. “They’re on the roof.”

“So I heard. What are you waiting for?”

Once again people cleared a path as I staggered wildly toward the stairs. I had to use the railing to haul myself up the two flights of stairs to the roof.

Throwing the door open, I stumbled onto the roof, the cold night air smacking me in the face.

Spotting Delveccio and his daughter, I rushed toward them. “Watch out,” I warned weakly, unable to catch my breath.

Delveccio’s gaze widened and then narrowed. “What?”

I stumbled toward him without taking my eyes off his daughter. I saw her expression harden as she realized who I was and that I knew her secret.

“Look out!” I gasped as she reached into her pocket.

“Behind you!” Delveccio warned.

“Cupid!” God shouted. “Duck!”

I fell to my knees as an arrow whizzed past my head.

“Stop! Police!” a man yelled.

I glanced in his direction and saw Detective Brian Griswald aiming his gun. Looking back toward Delveccio, I saw that his attention was on Cupid.

A fact that his daughter was using to her advantage. She pulled a gun from her pocket.

“Drop it!” Brian yelled at Cupid.

“Stop her!” God shouted at me. “Use the handcuffs.”

So I took his advice and did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed the handcuffs and chucked them at the daughter’s head.

The action didn’t stop the woman, but it did redirect Delveccio’s attention toward her.

Two gunshots rang out.

I covered my head with my hands as though that would somehow protect me from flying bullets and arrows.

As I huddled there on the roof, waiting for the shooting to stop, it occurred to me that I’d never opened the diary I’d found at Belgard’s house. I might never find out what secrets it held. I might never find out what happened to Darlene.

“Maggie? Maggie are you okay?” Brian asked.

Slowly I raised my head and looked around. 

Delveccio had his daughter’s arms pinned behind her back.

Twisting around, I saw Brian standing over Cupid who was lying on the ground clutching his shoulder.

“You okay?” Brian asked again.

“I’m good,” I groaned, as I struggled to get up.

“Just stay there,” Brian ordered.

Considering I was still gasping like a fish from my run, I was happy to do as he asked.

As I tried to regulate my breathing, I looked back to Delveccio and then to the gun that lay on the ground a few feet away from him.