Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Kathleen leaned back in the chair. “So now we have to find the treasure.”
Enzo cocked an eyebrow. “Now we have to get the map to Alessandro.”
Kathleen shook her head. “No, you’re wrong. We have to get the treasure—”
“Stop.” Enzo cut her off before she could make another comment. He was losing patience. “Vitale is a killer. If I don’t do what he wants, he will kill Bianca. I will not be responsible for Bianca’s death.” He didn’t want to be responsible for Kathleen’s either, but that was another conversation.
“I get that,” Kathleen began quietly. “But the real power is in the treasure, not the map. You want to be able to negotiate from a place of power.”
Enzo ground out, “And what do you know about negotiating from a place of power?”
Kathleen’s face paled, and he instantly regretted letting his temper get away from him. The situation became more complex and frustrating with each new revelation, and he was struggling to remain calm. What he wanted to do was hunt down Vitale and squash him like the cockroach that he was.
Kathleen straightened her shoulders, seeming to regroup.
“You’re not thinking straight. Trust me, I know.
I’ve been there. It’s hard to think straight when someone close to you is being held hostage.
My son, Connor, was taken from me at one point.
That fear clouds your thinking. It’s like you can’t breathe. ”
“Kathleen, I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” Now he really felt like a heel. Had he forgotten that Connor had been kidnapped? Had he ever known?
She waved off his apology. “But here’s the reality: the map is not a good bargaining chip.
You give him the map, and he still doesn’t have the treasure.
He still doesn’t have what he ultimately wants.
In the end, once he has the map, he can do whatever he wants.
What’s to stop him from turning around and saying, ‘Okay, now get me the treasure’?
We get the treasure, and it’s the final bargaining chip—the ultimate bargaining chip. It’s the only thing he really wants.”
Enzo gave her an assessing look. She was right, of course.
Well, wrong about who was clouding his judgment.
It wasn’t Bianca being kidnapped that was screwing with his reasoning.
Kathleen’s pale cheeks and the dark bruising under her eyes were what was getting to him.
“I see where you’re going. Finding the treasure also heightens the danger, and I don’t want to put you—”
“It’s too late for ‘I don’t want to put you in danger.
’ We’re already there. It’s not going to change.
Trust me, I have more regret than you can imagine.
I should’ve just taken the statue to the cops regardless, or we should’ve left it in the square.
Whatever.” Her hand flashed upward. “That’s all over and done with.
We can’t change the past. We’re in this now, so this is what we have to do.
The treasure is the ultimate bargaining chip. It’s what we need.”
“Say I agree with you,” Enzo commented as he got up from the sofa and walked toward the bar.
“Say we do look for the treasure. What do you think he’s going to do?
Vitale is not the most patient of souls.
He’s violent and mean.” He went behind the bar and poured himself two fingers of scotch.
He raised his glass toward Kathleen. At her nod, he poured her a glass too, then brought it over to her.
He leaned his butt on the desk beside her and crossed his legs at the ankles.
“Here’s the thing, I don’t think we have a whole lot of time,” Kathleen continued. “I think we have to get the treasure, and we have to do it quickly, because he’s going to know. How much time did he give you to get to Mallorca?”
“He said he’d give me a ‘couple of days’.”
“All right, so we have a three days tops, right?”
“You’re forgetting,” Enzo said as he took a sip of his drink. “He probably has people watching us. So, he’s going to know that we’re not coming to Mallorca, that we’re looking for the treasure.”
Kathleen made a dismissive sound. “You and I know there are ways around that. I’m quite sure you can find a way to make him think we’re on the way to Mallorca or still here.
You seem to have lots of resources. You said this is your turf.
I believe you. I think you can make that happen. And then we can look for the treasure.”
Enzo took another sip of scotch. She was not wrong. It was the right play, but damn if he wanted her involved. It was just too dangerous. He couldn’t have anything happen to her. Jamie would kill him, but that wasn’t the real reason for his hesitance.
His mind flicked back to the kiss.
Kissing Kathleen was a stupid thing to do, but that connection of their lips had been like a drug, and now he was an addict.
He wanted her more than he’d wanted any woman in a long time.
He needed her away from danger because she was clouding his judgment.
She was the one making him think crazy thoughts.
Most of them pertained to taking her to bed.
“Supposing I agree with you,” he said finally. “Where do we look?”
Kathleen sipped her drink. He knew it was the one question she didn’t have an answer for. He didn’t either, and that was a major problem.
“I don’t know. You said the map looks slightly familiar. Any ideas on it?”
He shook his head.
She leaned forward, “Maybe we can use AI for this?”
“AI?”
“If we feed the map in, can’t we ask an artificial intelligence program to tell us what it is a map of?”
He shook his head. “It’s a novel idea, but there aren’t identifiable markings on it. I’m quite sure AI could come up with fifty million different places on this earth that would fit it, or close to it. We wouldn’t have that kind of time.”
Kathleen sighed.
“AI,” Enzo said, “much like all computing, is only as good as what you give it. Garbage in, garbage out.”
Kathleen nodded. “That’s true. So maybe we ask someone else.”
“And who do you think we should ask?”
“Maybe we could call Carlotta back. It was her father. Maybe she knows something, even if she doesn’t realize she knows it. Maybe he had favorite places or something like that.”
“Maybe,” Enzo conceded, “but the more information we give her, the more likely she is to be involved or get more involved. If she tells her brother, her cousin—”
“Well, I don’t think she’s going to tell her cousin. She didn’t seem too keen on him.”
“Yeah, but in situations like this, you’re talking about treasure, you have no idea what alliances people will make.”
“Possibly. But what choice do we have? We need to identify where it is first, and then we have to search for it.” She took another sip and swallowed.
“And that’s another thing. We have no idea what the treasure is, so we can’t guess as to where he’d hide it.
I mean, if it’s gold bars, then he would need a huge space.
If it’s diamonds, then he could have hidden them just about anywhere.
That means the map could be an overview of a huge space, like a city, or a small one. ”
“What do you mean by a small one?”
Kathleen licked her lips, and Enzo immediately felt a tug below his belt.
“What if it’s not a map of a town or a city but a map of a backyard or a garden, something like that?”
He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Garden,” he said. There was something about a garden. A faint bell rang in the back of his mind. Did the map have something to do with a garden?
Kathleen raised her eyebrow. “What about a garden?” she prompted.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “When you said… It’s like a little flash. A little ding. A recognition. Something to do with the map. But I’m not sure.” He shook his head. “It’s gone.”
“Okay, well… in the meantime—”
“In the meantime, we need to get some rest. You’re exhausted, and so am I. Let’s regroup after we get some sleep.”
Kathleen hesitated and then nodded. She got to her feet and set the tumbler down on his desk.
He stood and put his down as well. She looked up at him, and it took everything he had not to pull her to him and pick up where they’d left off earlier.
She seemed to be thinking the same thing because she glanced at his lips.
“Kathleen,” he said her name in a mere whisper. He leaned down toward her when Aldo cleared his throat. Enzo immediately straightened.
“Sorry, sir, but there is a situation that needs your attention.”
Saved by the bell…not that he wanted to be saved. “Fine.” He dropped a quick kiss on the top of Kathleen’s head. “Sleep well. We’ll continue this in the morning.”
Without a backward glance, he followed Aldo out of the room. God only knew what new crisis had arisen, but his thoughts immediately returned to Kathleen. She had to go home. Had to, for his sanity. Any more time around her and he wouldn’t be responsible for his actions.
Aldo opened the door to the back terrace, and Enzo bit back a sigh. Sylvester Blankenship stood there waiting. His comb-over looked greasy, and he looked like he’d slept in his clothes. His beady eyes lit up when they landed on Enzo.
“Sylvester,” Enzo acknowledged the other man, “I thought you were going to call.”
Blankenship snorted. “I was going to call, but I thought I’d better bring this news in person.”
“You think I’m going to pay you more for the personal touch?” Enzo growled.
The other man did not reply. No quick quip or immediate insult. As a matter of fact, Blanks looked downright regretful.
Enzo’s gut tightened. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“You and me, Enzo, we go back a long way. We give each other a hard time, but we have a certain respect for one another.”
That was news to Enzo. He’d always thought of Blanks as a pimple on the butt of a rhino, but he wasn’t about to share that with the man in question. “Uh-huh,” he acknowledged as he wondered where this was going.
“I wanted to tell you in person… Alessandro Vitale is after whatever it is you have.”
“Old news, Blanks. I just got off the phone with him.”
Blanks started slightly. “Then you also know he has Bianca Rinaldi hostage. I know she was…important to you.” He emphasized the word important as if it were some big secret that he and Bianca had dated.
Enzo grimaced. “So, he mentioned. Is there something else? Do you know who the guys who were shooting at me are? Or who they work for?”
Blanks shook his head. “No, the shooters aren’t from here. I’m working on finding out who they’re working for, but it’s not Vitale. Seems you’re a popular guy. Lots of people want you dead.”
“Lucky me,” Enzo growled. “You got anything else for me? The names of any of the players?”
“Still working on the thief you were meeting. There are three of them, siblings. They’re good. Well respected. Have a reputation for getting the job done, but I don’t have names. They keep to themselves. Very low profile. Word of mouth only to hire them.”
“Well, if that’s all you got, Blanks, I’m going to pass on paying you. I—”
“That’s not all,” Blanks said with a smug smile. “You will have to pay me for this bit.”
Enzo wanted to drive his fist through Blanks’ face, but he refrained… just barely. “Spit it out, man.”
“Rocco knows Vitale has his sister. My informant tells me that he doesn’t really care what happens to his sister, but he’s using it to get back at you.
He still sees you as a threat. He’s running all over town telling the world it’s your fault Bianca is in trouble.
That he is negotiating with Vitale to get her back, but it’s delicate because of his connection to Vitale.
He’s trying to make it seem that he’s all about business, but if push comes to shove, it’s family first. And it’s you who has put La Famiglia in this position. ”
“Figlio di puttana,” Enzo ground out. “What the fuck is that son of a bitch thinking? His grandfather must be beside himself. Massimo would have burned everything down to get Bianca back, not negotiate. Family always came first with him.”
“Yeah, he’s not pleased, but he’s not putting up a fight.
He’s standing with Rocco, posing as a united front.
Bianca has been getting into a lot of trouble lately.
The old man had to pull some strings to get her out of Morocco.
She’s out of control. Her brother says she’s made her choice, and he’s not going to let her bring the family down.
He’s telling the world it’s all your fault that she is the way she is.
This is your mess. And that you’re going to have to pay. ”
That news made Enzo go still. If Rocco really said that, then the situation just got a thousand times worse.
Not good at all. He’d be on Rocco’s hit list as well as Vitale’s and whoever else wanted the map.
If the old man was backing his son, then Enzo was well and truly on his own.
His stomach plummeted to his knees. He had to get Kathleen out of town ASAP.
This was getting out of control. It was one thing when it was about the treasure, but now La Famiglia is involved and out for blood…
His blood. This wasn’t good. Not at all.