“Nothing. He’s like a fucking phantom. Vanished into thin air.” Cruz slammed a fist on the desk. “It’s so frustrating.”
Jared looked at his cell phone when the ringtone indicated an incoming skype call. “I’ll be fucked,” he muttered as Luca Boneiro’s face appeared on the screen. “Speak of the devil. Pull the call from my phone and put it up on the monitor, Cruz,” Jared snarled as he glowered at the smiling face of his traitorous brother.
“So, you decided to crawl out of the hole you’d been hiding in for the past four months.” Brock’s lips curled into an angry sneer as soon as the image flashed on the screens. “Let me guess, now that Marco has been found guilty and locked up, you feel it’s safe to show your face again.”
“I always said you were the clever one, Brock, my man,” Luca taunted.
“Fuck off, you little prick.”
“Tut-tut-tut… such anger is not good for your blood pressure, Brock,” Luca laughed. “I suppose you’re wondering what happened at the cabin, brother?”
“The question crossed my mind.” Jared’s expression remained stoic. “I thought you wanted your death staged? We went to a lot of trouble to have everything in place and then you did a runner.” He stretched out his legs, appearing totally at ease and unconcerned. “What changed?”
“Yeah, I never really intended to stage my death. C’mon, Jared, think about it. What good would it do me? I’d have to leave the country and start over somewhere else. Why on earth would I do that… especially now with the old man locked up for good, along with the four leaders of the Five Families, I’m the best candidate to lead The Commission into a new era.”
“I knew this shitbag was lying to us,” Brock sneered.
“Power is a very enticing commodity, my dear man.” Luca smirked. “And now I’m in the position to use it to my advantage. Yeah, Cobras, I’ve unanimously been voted in as the new chairman of The Commission. In fact, I am now officially called… wait for it…Il Capo di Tutti Capi nel Mondo.I have more power than anyone in the Mafia has ever had before. I’m global.” His expression turned serious. “You would do well to remember that. My father might have been feared but he didn’t have the respect of all the groups across the world. I do, and that gives me an edge. I am not only feared; I induce terror in those who oppose me. Always have… even as an Underboss. No one will cross me, Jared. No one… not even you.”
“Dream on, little brother. I don’t scare easily. Least of all by a man whose insecurity manifests itself in a pathetic display of loud-mouthed self-puffery. The ones with the real power are those who work quietly in the shadows. You just failed that test.” Jared sat forward, his hands hanging loosely between his legs. “I’m going to make it my sole mission to wipe the earth clean of the Boneiro Crime Family Syndicate starting with the most corrupt of all. That being you, of course.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Isabella Boneiro is directly linked to the sex and pedophile rings operating throughout the U.S. and, we have enough evidence to lock her away alongside your father.”
Luca laughed. “I thought Cruz Parker was more clever than that. C’mon, Jared. Surely you knew all of that was just a set up?”
“Yeah, and I also know that contrary to how it appears, you’re the one who is behind it but since I can’t prove it, I’ll have to settle for second best.”
“By threatening to lock up our mother? I think the actual question you have to ask yourself is whether I am the one who set her up... or if she’s the mastermind after all? I guess you'll never know.”
“Believe me, I’ll find—”
“Maybe you will, but one thing I know without a shadow of a doubt, my dear brother, Angelo, is that you’ll never hurt your own mother." His evil cackle echoed through the room.
“Good luck finding me. But for now, I wish youciao,il mio amato fratello.” The connection was abruptly cut.
Cruz cursed. “Fuck, I almost had him. His IP bounced off towers all over the globe but it was so close… if only he’d been on a minute longer.”
“Do you believe him?” Brock's tone was dour.
Jared didn’t respond immediately. He was struggling with how sincere Luca had sounded when he’d called him his beloved brother before he’d ended the call.
“Jared?” Brock prodded. “Well? Do you believe him?”
“That Isabella Boneiro is the mastermind? Fuck if I know but I guess he knows me better than I thought,” Jared said as he started to pace. “Unless we can find undeniable proof that she is responsible for the sex trafficking rings, I won’t be able to have her incarcerated.”
“Then we have to increase our efforts to find Luca. My gut tells me he’s the one behind it all and since he’s now in charge of all things criminal… I cringe to think what that future might bring.”
“You said it, Brock. You said it.”
The United States Federal Supermax Penitentiary, Florence ADX, in Fremont County, Colorado where Marco Boneiro was transferred.
Boneiro was distraught. The last thing he’d expected when he’d entered that courtroom was to be found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. The proof against him and the four leaders of The Commission had been damning. Every criminal activity, assassination and bombing they had ordered had been uncovered. Worst of all, they had damning evidence that could only have come from... Luca.
“Goddammit! My own son!” His fist slammed against the concrete wall until the red splotches dotted the cream-colored walls of the seven by twelve foot cell. He nursed his bleeding hands as he looked upward. The narrow window in the roof was the only view he had of the outside. “How could he have betrayed me like that?”
Marco heard the coarse devastation in his voice echo like a loop tape. He wondered why he had been so surprised by the eventual betrayal. Nonetheless, he continued to believe that it was all a bad dream and that his attorneys, having filed appeals, would find a way to get him released. The realization that Luca was the only one who had access to all the electronic files and hard copy documents completely stumped him. It hit him so hard that it felt like the air was sucked out of his lungs. He sank down on the hard bed feeling defeated for the first time in his life.