“Yes. I saw him. It all happened so fast, and I was just behind you, Alejandro. I saw him, spun around, and I must have taken two steps before I noticed the grenade. I was too late to get away. It really did happen so fast.”
“Fuck,” I hiss. “Well, now we know there’s no doubt he’s a traitor.”
“Yes, and I only didn’t ask for Thiago because I don’t think I can exclude him just yet. I’ve spoken to the doctor already. He’s said Lorenzo was checking on me by the hour. I’ve told him if he calls again to tell him I’m the same and it’s best I don’t have any visitors. He wanted me dead.”
“Well, now we know who to focus on,” Marcus states.
“Bring him in, Marcus. I think the time for watching is over.”
“I do as well, Boss. I’ll report back in an hour or so.”
He leaves us, and Cristiano stares at me.
“How are you holding up, amigo?”
“Me? Don’t worry about me. I’m just glad you’re awake.”
“I’ll be back on my feet soon.”
“Don’t even think about that.”
“I seem to always be down when you need me most.”
I shake my head. “If not for you, I’m sure I’d be dead.”
He can’t argue that because he knows I’m right.
“The letters got blown to hell. We didn’t get to look through all the boxes.”
“No, but I spoke to Estelle, and I do think we’re dealing with either my father or uncle Sebastiano. The people I remember would never want me dead, but something happened along the way to fuel greed. Or perhaps it was when I got the cartel. That’s what changed. Either of them should have been the cartel king, but Grandfather chose me. It can turn love to hate.”
“I agree.”
“We’ll just have to see what happens next.”
During the next few hours,I get two phone calls.
The first is from Marcus, letting me know he’s still on the hunt for Lorenzo. Conveniently, Lorenzo is not at any of the places we thought he would be.
The second is Eric, and it sends me to his beach house.
We sit in the living room, and the moment he grabs papers to show me, I gear myself up for more bad news.
“Alejandro, after our call earlier, I called in reinforcement from L.A.,” he informs me. I told him about Lorenzo. “Massimo and his brothers are on the way, along with Aiden Romanov and the Voirik.”
Aiden Romanov is his Pakhan and the Voirik the brotherhood in the Bratva to which they belong. The knowledge that they’re on their way means that we’ve reached a point where we can’t keep going as we are.
“The Chicago members of the Syndicate are on standby should we need them to mobilize.”
“Thank you for doing that. What more has happened?”
“My methods no longer work, or at least they’re no longer reliable.”
“Not reliable?”
“No, Alejandro, because the way things are set up, I should have been able to at least hack into the surveillance at the storage facility, but what I saw was what they wanted me to see. They seemed to have the footage on a loop, so the bombing isn’t even on the system.”
“Fucking hell.”