CRISTIANO
“What else did you find out?” I keep my gaze fixed on Levi. We’re sitting on the terrace and I have the crisp morning air surrounding me, but I’m burning up with rage. I feel like an idiot for not doing my checks on Megan.
I don’t want to think about what could have happened last night if I hadn’t saved her. I was only on that side of the building because I’d ran into Salvatore Giordano, Mimi’s husband. We had a brief exchange where we arranged to meet up and it was when he left that I heard Megan scream.
“It’s not good, Cristiano.” Levi bites the inside of his lip. “First of all, Bill was working with Sergei Baranov from the Korolev Bratva.”
“Fuck.” There are only certain Bratva brotherhoods we work with and the Korolev is not one of them. Mainly because they’re into the flesh trade and are a bunch of savages, who will kill their own mothers just to prove a point.
“Bill had no intention of releasing her from her debt. He had big plans for her.”
“Like what?” I ball my hand into a tight fist.
“He and Sergei planned to sell her. Sell her for sex until she’s all used up, then kill her and sell her organs.”
My chest tightens like a large hand is clamped around my lungs squeezing the air out of them.
“Last night happened because she paid all that money,” he adds. “He wanted her for himself, but he also knew that she could only get money like what she was paying from someone powerful.”
Fucking hell. “I’m going to have to make a few calls.” Because Sergei won’t speak to anyone in La Cosa Nostra, I’ll have to liaise with some of the Pakhans—Bratva leaders—I know in the alliance. Mikhail Dmitriyev is the Pakhan of the New York Brotherhood, so he’d be the best option, but I’m closer to Aiden Romanov, who leads the Voirik in L.A. Lucca Dyshekov is also in L.A. and another good option because of the work he’s done across the Bratva as a whole.
I’ll speak to all three of them and see who can help me the quickest. One or all of them will be close enough to Sergei to reason with him so I can get Megan off his radar.
“What about Hunter? Do you know who killed him?”
“No, but I have a few ideas. The week before his death, I found emails between him and a dealer from the Perez Cartel. He seemed to be arranging a drug drop, but he was going to steal a box of heroin from Xio Wong of the Yakuzza.”
What a fucking idiot Hunter was. Chances are, someone found out about that drug drop. Did he seriously think he could steal from people like that? “So it could be the Yakuzza?”
“It would make sense on the mystery around his death. If it were anyone in the Sicilian mafia, I would have known by now. Probably the same with the Bratva. But, I also saw messages mentioning people like Emilio Vittorio, Judas Kane, and Barabbas Ponteix. It seems Hunter stole from them too or fucked with their clients.”
My eyes go wide. Aside from Emilio, who is one of the leaders of the Camorra, the others work with terrorist organizations and motherfuckers who deal with anything black market-related. Essentially, people no one wants to fuck with. This could officially be above me, but I won’t allow it.
“This is fucking bull shit.”
“Yes, and you know how this works when serious money is owed to certain people.”
Yes, I know all too well how things work. There are those like Bill and Sergei who will strike at the first opportunity to recoup their debt. Even if the debt is a fucking dollar, they’ll take everything. Then there are others who feel like they’ve been wronged so severely that they’ll lie in wait until you have something they think will fully compensate them. They’re the ones to worry about because they do shit like kill your firstborn or massacre an entire family, or kidnap and torture you and the most vulnerable people you know.
“I’ll speak to Emilio,” I say, formulating a plan. Emilio Vittorio hates my guts, but he did business with my father many years ago. Hopefully, that will count for something. He also loves selling on the black market, so maybe I could kill two birds with one stone if he knows how to reach Judas and Barabbas. “You find a contact for the Perez Cartel and the Yakuzza. Tell them Megan Porter is under my care and the protection of the Syndicate alliance. She is not to be harmed in any way.”
Levi nods. Anyone who goes against that will officially start a war. I don’t know anyone who wants that because the threat of a war will fuck with businesses and allies alike, not just in the US but internationally.
“There’s one last thing.”
My interest piques. “What is it?”
“She’s been looking for her stepfather because she thinks he killed her mother.”
“What the hell?”
“I know. Her mother died of a heart attack when Megan was eighteen. Her mother was an actress and made quite a lot under her name. Megan’s stepfather took everything that belonged to his wife and Megan’s inheritance then disappeared.”
I grit my teeth when I think of what she must have gone through.
Levi pulls in a breath. “A friend of hers hired Gibbs to find her stepfather.”
“Gibbs?” I raise my brows. That’s a big name to know in our world.