Savage Redemption (The Caraksay Brotherhood #10)

Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

A dan

“But you can’t. It’s too dangerous.” Rosie is horrified. “It’s… it’s murder.”

“Yes, it is. But if anyone is to be murdered, I prefer it not to be me. Or you.” I pause, then deliver the clincher. “Kaminski went after Baz.”

“Oh.”

“And that could easily have been us. If we’d left here…” He can’t reach us on Caraksay, but Kaminski will be watching and waiting for his chance. “Baz was in Brazil.”

“Brazil? But that’s the other side of the world.”

Not quite, but I get the point.

“What did he do?”

“Baz said it was a drive-by shooting. Some thug in a car, with a semi-automatic machine gun, sprayed them with bullets when they came out of a shopping centre.” I gathered more details from Baz when I phoned him back. “They were all hit, and two passersby died in the gunfire.”

“Oh my God! That’s… that’s…”

“Exactly. It has to stop.”

“How can he be sure it was Kaminski?”

“He recognised the driver. One of Kaminski’s foot soldiers. Baz recruited him.”

“Oh.” She gazes at me, wide-eyed. “Right. Two people killed? Just innocent bystanders?”

“So I understand. Bullets don’t discriminate.”

She shudders. Her face is ashen. “You said ‘they’. They were all hit.”

“That’s right. Julia and Lily were with him. Julia was hit in the knee, and Lily in the back.”

“Julia? And… Lily? Oh, no.”

“I know Julia was your friend. Is your friend. Baz says she’s going to be all right.” Eventually, maybe. I know from first-hand experience that knee injuries are notoriously difficult to fix. My money would be on a permanent limp.”

“And Lily?” she whispers.

“That’s more complicated. It’s not certain if she’ll regain the use of her legs.”

Tears glisten in her eyes. “But she’s just a kid. How old is she? Fourteen?”

I shrug. “About that, probably. Erin’s even younger, even more vulnerable.” I can’t even start to imagine my beautiful little baby girl surviving such an attack. “So, you see…?”

She nods slowly, then lifts her face to meet my gaze. “It’s him or us.”

So, we’re in agreement. I’m relieved, I didn’t relish doing this without her knowledge or support. I would have. It needs to be done. But this isn’t just about keeping my family safe. It’s about new starts, being free. I didn’t want to achieve that based on lies from the outset.

That’s not us, not anymore.

“Will this ever end?” she whispers. “This violence?”

I wrap her in my arms. “For me, and for us, this will be over when Kaminski is dead.” I have no aspirations to take over his empire anymore. Looking back on it all now, I don’t think I ever truly did. It was about revenge, about doing what was expected of me. No more. I have other plans now, and they don’t involve getting embroiled in my old life all over again.

I’m not so sure about Bartosz.

“Just him,” she says, clutching at the lapels of my jacket. “Not Janey or their baby.”

That’s an assurance I can give. “Definitely just him.”