Lucky Boys (Il Fortunato #1)

17. Luca

CHAPTER 17

LUCA

We chose a moderately upscale restaurant that was nearly halfway between our offices and Covington’s main building. It was nice enough that we would be given our privacy and a discrete staff, but not so fancy that it would raise questions.

I dressed in an Armani suit, but skipped the jacket and the tie, which someone like Covington would take as an insult, but he was the one on interview, not me. I shaved, which Skye had complained about endlessly this morning, but I did have to uphold some kind of appearance.

Maverick was dressed similarly, though because of his bulk, he always looked more like a bodyguard, no matter how expensive his suit was. He played up the look with aviator sunglasses and rolled-up sleeves that showed the tattoos on his forearms.

In the end, it was decided that Skye would stay back to protect Brooks and Diego. We didn’t know what this meeting was, and if it was a ploy to get us separated, we didn’t want to play into their hands. He was in the office with them now, listening to everything. Diego had even hacked the cameras in the place, so we had eyes everywhere. If they tried anything, we’d know.

I hadn’t talked to Brooks this morning like I’d initially planned. It hadn’t been intentional, but with everything that had happened yesterday, he’d slept in, and then when he’d woken up, it was time to get ready and leave for this meeting. I’d talk to him tonight. No matter what.

I was surprised to see Lewis Covington had already arrived when Maverick and I walked in. We had reserved a private table in the back, where it was less likely for anyone to overhear anything. It was quiet at this time of day, as they only opened for already reserved business meetings, so it worked out in our favor.

Lewis was sitting at the table with another man, who I recognized from our searches yesterday as Jackson Santiago. The younger man was bent over an iPad and talking quietly.

Lewis had tracked us from the moment we’d walked in the door, his eyes on us.

I greeted the hostess, letting her know our guests were already seated, and we walked back to meet them.

Jackson stood as we approached. Lewis didn’t. Asshole.

“Mr. Castellano?” Jackson greeted in a polished, polite tone. “I’m Jackson Santiago, and this is my employer, Mr. Covington. Thank you for meeting with us.” He held out his hand, and I begrudgingly shook it. It wasn’t his fault his employer was a jerk.

“Yes, well, it sounded like an urgent matter. This is my partner, Maverick.”

The greetings continued, and finally Lewis deigned to greet us, though he could never completely hide his judgmental gaze. He was a big man, and I always got the impression when I saw him in interviews and press conferences that he used his size, as well as his wealth and standing, to intimidate. He had a very noticeable receding hairline and his hair was mostly graying.

The waiter came by once we were all seated. Lewis ordered a drink, but Maverick and I just asked for waters. It made a statement. I didn’t plan to stay long, and I didn’t owe anything to Lewis Covington, even courtesy, because he’d bought me a drink. The waiter left, and I went right to business.

“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this last-minute meeting?”

Covington’s eyes turned cold. “Is this how you always treat potential clients?”

I took a sip of my water. “No.”

Maverick stayed quiet, but his shoulders lifted with a barely constrained laugh. I leaned back in my seat and waited. I didn’t trust this bastard as far as I could throw him, and even without knowing the stuff I did now, I wouldn’t normally have taken this meeting. Covington had always been known to be a shady piece of shit who was blatantly biased and who implemented policies that hurt certain groups of people more than others. I could afford to have standards and make sure I stood by those. I was only here for Brooks and Diego.

Jackson hid behind his hand, trying to suppress a smile, which I took as a positive sign. Maybe there was a personality behind the mindless corporate drone act.

Covington’s face turned red, but he managed not to explode and shoved a folder toward me.

I had to pat myself on the back that I kept my face neutral when the contents of said folder were nearly identical to what we’d found on the flash drive. Pictures of Matthew Covington, signed copies of NDAs, and the altered birth certificate were the first things I saw. Behind them were letters that were obviously blackmail. I glanced up at Covington with my eyebrow raised.

“What is this?”

Covington shifted uncomfortably before glancing around. Satisfied that we were alone, he started speaking in a hushed tone. “Nearly seventeen years ago, my older daughter, Leah . . . ran into some trouble . . . and ended up getting pregnant at seventeen with Bradley Fieldburg’s child. Due to their . . . age difference, the families decided it was best that my wife and I raise the child as our own.”

It was a practice in patience to stay calm. Ran into some trouble? That poor girl had been raped, had her child ripped away from her and had essentially been thrown somewhere and forgotten. However, as sick as this bastard made me feel, I didn’t think he was trying to trap us. He didn’t seem to know of our involvement at all. Whether he was aware of Brooks and Diego remained to be seen.

Covington went on to explain what we already knew. Then he finally got to the crux of the issue. “Marshall Fieldburg and I made sure his son wasn’t aware of the pregnancy. The man had always been volatile, and for everyone’s safety, we thought it best for him to stay in the dark.” Or he could’ve been in jail like he deserved . . . or, you know, buried six feet under. I had still been in the military at the time, and Skye, who got extreme pleasure in handling jobs like that, had only been 12, but there are others who would’ve been happy with that job. Anyway . . .

“About 2 years ago, we started getting anonymous letters claiming that they knew the truth about Matthew, and threatened to expose us if we didn’t live up to their demands. At first I thought it was Marshall himself. He had guilt about our initial deal for years, and recently at the time had been expressing more interest in Matthew than we liked. But there was never any proof of that, and it honestly wasn’t his style. Eventually I started to believe that Bradley somehow found out.” Covington shrugged. “It started with those blackmail letters.” He gestured to the folder. The first few were dated two years ago. “It began to escalate, and we worried for Matthew’s safety, so we sent him somewhere safe with someone we could trust. We didn’t tell anyone and just kept up the pretense he was away at boarding school.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Is he with his mother?”

Marshall’s eyes widened before he schooled himself. “No. His mother . . . hasn’t been stable for a long time.”

“So, why did you call us, Mr. Covington?” Maverick asked as he leafed through the file that I handed over to him. “It seems like you have it in hand.”

Covington cleared his throat. “Because a few months ago, Damian Larsen, the man who has Matthew, stopped making his monthly call as was arranged, and just two weeks before Marshall was murdered, the payment I sent to him in an offshore account was bounced back to me. The account was closed. I have contacts in the area who drove by the house and confirmed it was empty. I have no idea where Mr. Larsen or Matthew are.”

I kept my composure while I stared at the man in front of me. There were no obvious signs that he was lying. He looked a little uncomfortable and kept glancing around, but given the circumstances, that was understandable. It was a completely plausible explanation for everything. In this world, it was normal to handle anything like this quietly to avoid a scandal. It was why groups like mine existed.

Still . . . “Why didn’t you go to the police? And why wait months to try and find him?” If that was my son, adopted or not, I would’ve fucking turned the world on its head to find him. Full on Liam Neeson until I had him safely in my arms.

Covington shot me a baleful look.

“Come now, Castellano. You were raised in this world. You know why I didn’t go to the police.” He cleared his throat, “As far as the other part. Well until the payments came back, I hadn’t thought much about it. Typically, Jackson took the calls from him.” Wow, what a fucking prick.

I was tempted to walk out, but between the as yet unknown connection to Brooks and Diego, and my now concern for this kid, I forced myself to stay civil and calm.

“Do you think the murder and Matthew’s disappearance are connected?”

“It’s possible. If the blackmail was from Bradley, I do believe he may have found out where his son was, and killed his father if he tried to interfere or go to authorities.”

“So, what would you like for us to do?”

Covington sighed. “Isn’t it obvious? Find Larsen and my child. If he is safe, find out why Larsen stopped taking payment from me. I worry that someone else gave him a better deal and it’s only a matter of time before he exposes me.”

God this guy was a fucking scumbag. I was tempted to tell him to fuck himself and go on my own to find Matthew, but I didn’t want to make Covington suspicious. I was starting to believe he truly had nothing to do with the murder, and he might not even realize Brooks had stolen the information. If it was Bradley who had been blackmailing him, as well killed Marshall, than it was much more likely that he was the one who had them attacked and their home destroyed.

“Do you have a starting point at least?” Maverick asked.

Lewis slid over a piece of paper with coordinates on it. “This was where the original home was. Larsen has roots in Scandinavia and spoke several Scandinavian languages. I would have to imagine he stayed in the region.” There was fault to that logic, but it was better than nowhere to start.

I glanced at Maverick as we considered. There were so many red flags about this job, but I did know one thing, there was a kid missing. Based off what Covington told us, and what Diego found out, that seemed to be true. I wasn’t going to let this go and possibly have this fall into hands that would also be willing to harm the child or look the other way for a bigger paycheck. Plus if Covington really was an Academy Award winning actor and had us fooled, turning down the job could put Brooks at risk.

Maverick gave me a slight nod.

“Do you mind if I take this all home? I’d like my man to corroborate the story.”

Covington wasn’t amused, but his PA whispered something in his ear that had him relenting. “Fine. I am trusting your reputation that this stays between us.”

“Yes, of course.”

He pushed the file toward me. “Then you may have it. You would do well to remember that I am not the only one with secrets I’d like protected.”

He was threatening me, but I couldn’t tell if it was a bluff, or if he had something on me, and if he did, what it was. Not everything I did was legal, so it could have been a number of things. But I took the poorly veiled threat for what it was. He won’t spill my secrets if I keep his.

I tilted my head in acknowledgement. “Understood.” Maverick and I stood up. I looked at Covington. “I will take this home. If I can corroborate this information, then my team will take the job. We’ll be in touch.”

Once again, Covington’s face reddened. “When?” he spat.

“Hopefully tomorrow.”

Mav and I said goodbye to Jackson and left with Covington fluttering in frustration behind us.

We stayed quiet until we were safely in our car. I looked over at Mav.

“Well, what’re you thinking?”

He shrugged. “It’s very believable. Very on brand for you rich fuckers.”

I snorted, not offended. My own father had a similar situation, though the woman in hiding in Europe was his mistress, not his daughter. When she’d started to cause trouble for my mother, he’d shipped her to the Swiss Alps and forgotten her there.

“But . . . ” I prompted. There was definitely a but.

Maverick grinned and pulled out. “But, the fucker is an asshole and a terrible father. If the kid is in danger and we find him, are we giving him back to him?”

“Let’s cross that bridge when we get there. There is too much we still don’t know, and I hate working from a disadvantage.”

“Fair. So you’re going to take the job.”

I sighed. “I think so. If Diego is able to at least give us possible locations for Larsen, and we can corroborate this story, then I’d like to take it. There’s an innocent kid involved in all this that likely needs help. I’m willing to take some risks for that.”

“Agreed. Let’s see what Diego can do, and as long as we’re not chasing our fucking tails all over Europe, we take the job. Just stay ready.”

I nodded in agreement. It wouldn’t be the first time we didn’t completely trust the person who’d hired us. We had ways of keeping things from them and protecting us and any innocents while still completing the contract.

“We’ll talk to the others and make a decision.”

Everyone was waiting for us when we got home. Obviously, they’d all been watching the feeds, and Diego was chomping at the bit to look at everything. While he ran into his new office to work, Mav and I took Skye and Brooks to my office to get their opinions on everything.

Skye got comfortable on the leather loveseat. I pretended not to notice that he dragged Brooks down with him and how Brooks leaned into his side. I was absolutely not staring at Skye’s arm wrapped around Brooks’s shoulders or how his thumb was caressing his bicep. Not at all.

By Skye’s grin, I wasn’t fooling anyone.

I was thrilled that Brooks was finding comfort in Skye and Maverick. That boy was touch starved and he deserved all the cuddles he could handle. I just couldn’t help how badly I wanted to be the one giving them to him. Soon. I would talk to him soon and hopefully he’d give me the chance to prove myself.

“So, what do you two think?” I asked, pushing my personal feelings to the side.

“You know I’m down, boss. If Diego gives the stamp of approval, I’m ready to go. We’ve been sitting around here for too long anyway.”

True. Even I was ready for another job, and I wasn’t nearly as antsy as Skye.

“Brooks?” I asked.

He startled like he wasn’t expecting me to ask him. “Oh, um. Whatever you think is best, I guess.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Cut the crap, Brooks. I’ve never known you not to have an opinion. You’re a part of this. Of our team.” Those dark blue eyes widened in surprise, even as he lit up. Did he not realize we were headed that way? “So, what do you think?”

Brooks fiddled with his bracelets. I dug my fingers into the armrest of my chair to keep from stopping him. “I think if this kid is really in danger, we need to find him and help him. If it turns out that Covington is playing you, well, that can be dealt with after Matthew is safe.”

Nobody could ever say I didn’t have willpower after I somehow managed not to go over and hug Brooks after that. Especially after Mav did just that, sitting on the armrest next to him and ruffling his hair. Skye kissed the side of his face. And I . . . didn’t fucking move. I hated it. I hated not knowing if my touch was welcome. The longer I spent with Brooks, the more obvious it became that he was mine. If I could just prove to him that I deserved him. Which would never fucking happen if I didn’t talk to him. Fucking coward.

We chatted for a little longer, settling on a plan. By the time we were done, Diego was back, stating that everything looked legit. He was able to confirm Larsen’s last place of residency, the closed bank account, and that at that time Matthew was with him. He already had some searches in place to hopefully locate where they were now.

After one more talk, this time with Diego, who also agreed we should go, we all made the decision to take the job. I looked at the guys. “I’m gonna call Covington and accept this. The sooner we go, the better, and it will likely take a few days to get everything settled. Brooks, can I talk to you when I’m done?”

His eyes widened, but he nodded. I left the room to make the call and get details settled. It took longer than expected. By the time I got back to the office, Brooks was sound asleep on the couch, curled up on Skye and Maverick like a puppy.

I couldn’t bring myself to wake him, so I told the guys we were set and left. Tomorrow we’d talk.