Chapter 9
Marcel
My phone rings, and I answer it, hoping it’s a lead. Isabella is in the hotel gym working out while I do more digging to find out about this missing Falcone brother. She has made me promise not to make anything obviously link back to her as well as try to leave the Clans out of it. That’s kind of hard to do when most of my connections involve the Clans, but I suppose Aria’s husband will do as long as he doesn’t say a word to her or to his sister.
"Hello?"
"Marcel Funar, isn’t it?"
I don’t immediately recognize the voice on the phone, and it didn’t come from any known number, so I am certainly curious. "Funny how you know my name and I don’t know yours."
"Christian Steele ring a bell?" he asks.
"The gunrunner?"
"That would be the one. Now that we have the formalities out of the way why the fuck don’t you tell me what the hell has you digging around to find information about Vinny Falcone?"
He sounds good and pissed. I have to play this right so I can get him to tell me what he knows, but the Steeles are often known as loose cannons, they don’t answer to much of anyone other than each other even if they do work for the MCs and even the Clans on occasion. But they are on no one’s side, not really. They are worse than the Arcane when pissed off.
"Let’s just say I have found myself a little too involved with the Falcones and need a little dirt to get them off my back," I tell him, hoping not to give away too much.
"If it were up to me, I would see them all dead. Luckily, I have already seen one of them kick the bucket," he answers.
"What do you mean by that? Are you saying that Vinny isn’t just missing?"
"Hell no, he’s dead as a fucking doornail. Vinny is dead.Wekilled him."
By his word 'we', I am assuming he is referring to him and his brothers. Although, something tells me there’s more to the story.
"Would you like to tell me the reason you offed him?" I press, but I know I’m probably going to hit a brick wall with this one.
"We had our reasons. Look, if we figure out anything you can use, we will be in touch, but I can’t really help you. Got to protect my own and all in this. Clearly, they still don’t know he is dead if all you know is that he is missing."
I sigh. "Understood."
I hang up just as Isabella comes back in the room, a little sweat stain coming around the front of her pink tank top. If we weren’t in the middle of trying to keep her from sleeping with an Italian crime boss, then I might give her a reason to keep sweating, but this has gotten out of control.
"I think we are over our head here with the Falcones. I just heard from one of the Steele brothers, and apparently they offed Vinny. He wasn’t forthcoming as to why, but he wants to see them all dead. Look, Falcone has plenty of enemies but also a lot of secrets he has kept close to his belt for too long. Maybe we should just go to Ion."
"Ion!" she screeches. I don’t think I have ever seen Isabella truly angry. "We cannot tell the head of the Clans that I am a CIA agent. Not only will the CIA and original FBI agents that captured me come for me then, but my father and I will both have our heads chopped off by the king and queen of the mafia. It doesn’t matter what kind of people they are, a CIA among the Clans means they could get in deep shit. It makes me enemy number one!"
"You need to calm down, Isa. I don’t think it will be like that. It isn’t like they assigned you to come after the Clans. It would be in their monetary interest to take out the Falcones anyway."
She shakes her head, her lip stiff. I know she has made up her mind here. She is scared of the repercussions.
"Don’t try and convince me of this, Marcel. It’s a hell no! If my secret gets out I’m screwed. Did you not remember what I did? I signed for a fucking gun shipment to Tehran!"
"I hate to break it to you, domni?oara, but you’re about to tell an entire hotel that you did that. Don’t you think Ion can make that go away."
"I am sure he can, but it would be easier to make me go away." She runs to the closet and begins to pull down clothes, a pile on the ground.
"What are you doing?" I ask her several times as she quickly changes into something else.
"Going to see my new boyfriend. He is waiting for his little girl."
She leaves and slams the door leaving me in both anger and agony, just like every time I think she is going to let that man touch all over her. I just want her to be mine now. The most painful thing in the world is being so close to someone you can’t have.