Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Enzo exhaled slowly as the three siblings faced down the Callahans, anger radiating from them like heat off pavement. He’d hoped this could be handled cleanly, quickly. Instead, it was turning into something messier than a pig rolling in mud.
It didn’t help that the police and palace security had forced them all to scatter. They were lucky to have gotten out of Versailles at all.
Worry settled heavily in his chest.
Matteo was gone.
They’d only discovered it when he, Kathleen, Mitch, and Griff had doubled back to the hedge where Mitch had stashed him. An empty space. No body.
The traitor’s disappearance didn’t bode well.
God only knew what Matteo, loose in the world, would bring down on them next.
They’d left Versailles separately and regrouped here—standing on the narrow strip of grass and sidewalk in the median of Avenue de Saint-Cloud.
Traffic hissed past on either side, cars blurring as they sped by, the ordinary world pressing in as if nothing monumental had just happened a few blocks away.
Enzo glanced at Kathleen.
She looked exhausted. Pale. Dark circles smudged beneath her eyes. The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving the damage behind. Guilt washed over him, sharp and unwelcome.
He should have listened to Jamie. Put her on a plane the moment she’d been mugged. Maybe all of this could have been avoided.
Or, more likely, not.
If Vitale had orchestrated this from the start, he would’ve accounted for contingencies. He always did. Kathleen had been a pawn—useful, disposable—and now it was breaking her.
Enzo needed her out of this. Out of France. Out of reach. The primal urge to fight to keep this woman safe nearly made him unsteady on his feet.
The fact that they’d only met a few days ago felt unreal. He’d never believed in love at first sight or any of that romantic bullshit, but here he was—thinking about her safety before his own, imagining a life that had no business forming in the middle of chaos.
Stupido!
This had to end.
“Okay,” Enzo started, “how about we start with names.”
Griff nodded reluctantly. “Griffin.” He jerked his chin toward his sister.
“MacKenzie,” she said.
Their brother—who had arrived minutes earlier—stood slightly apart. Kathleen had been right. The resemblance to Mitch was unsettling.
“Callum.”
Enzo turned to the Callahans, but before they could respond, Callum cut in. “We know all about you.”
Logan arched an eyebrow. “Well, you are news to us. Care to elaborate?”
Callum said nothing.
“Look, people,” Enzo ground out, “we really don’t have time for this shit. Obviously, there’s some weird family crap you all need to work out, but let’s get the treasure sorted since there are people willing to kill for it.”
“Fair enough,” Gage said as he entered the group. His jaw dropped as he took in the siblings. “Jesus,” he breathed, “you weren’t kidding about the look-alikes.”
“No, I wasn’t,” Logan confirmed.
“Back to business.” Enzo tried once more to get everyone focused. “Griff, how can you work for both Carlotta and Vitale?”
Griff glanced at Callum, who immediately looked pained.
“We were hired by Carlotta to steal the statue, but then Alessandro Vitale called us and told us we needed to put the statue in Kathleen’s purse.
Carlotta was on the line with him and told us to do what he said. We resisted, but Vitale threatened us.”
Griff stopped speaking, and Enzo knew instinctively that there was more to the story. Callum was fidgety, which probably meant it had something to do with him. Whatever. That was a ‘them’ problem.
“Okay, so what was your job?” Enzo asked.
“At first, it was to involve Kathleen. But then Carlotta called us back, without Vitale on the line, and said she wanted us to take the statue back and bring it to her…without telling Vitale.”
“When did Vitale reach out to you? There’s no way he would let Carlotta be in control.”
Griff nodded. “After the failed hand-off in Paris, when that one”—he pointed at Kathleen—“changed her flight plan. He told us to wait for further instructions.”
He wanted to snap the man’s finger the minute he gestured to Kathleen. He killed the emotion and focused on the interrogation. “And Carlotta? What did she say?” Enzo probed.
“She did the same after the mess in Lake Lugano. After you arrived in Milan, she called and said you were going to be at Versailles and to go there.”
Enzo nodded. “So, chances are good Vitale doesn’t know we’re here.”
“Uh, no,” Callum shook his head. “Vitale called me when you all were playing stick ’em up by the fountain. He instructed us to bring you to Mallorca.”
Enzo cursed. “I’d been hoping that we could get there without him being on top of us the whole way.”
Kathleen started looking around frantically. “Does that mean Dominic and his men are coming for us?”
Callum shrugged. “Vitale didn’t mention them. Just said to bring you and the treasure to Mallorca.”
As if on cue, Callum’s phone rang. He glanced down at the screen and sneered at the screen. “It’s Vitale.”
“Answer it,” Griffin said.
Callum raised the phone to his ear and said, “Yes?”
Then he walked over to Enzo. “He wants to speak to you.”
Enzo ground his teeth. Fucker. He glanced at Kathleen. The way she hugged her middle, a frown etched deep between her brows, made his stomach knot. She couldn’t take much more. This needed to end.
He took the phone. “Vitale,” he growled.
“You disobeyed my instructions,” the smooth voice on the other end of the phone commented.
How dare the man treat him as if he were a school lad and Vitale was the head master? Fucker. “Yes. I have the treasure and, in the end, isn’t that what you want?’ he taunted. “You didn’t think the cartels would really go for a treasure map as payment, did you?”
The sharp hiss on the other end of the line was supremely satisfactory.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find out what this is really about?
You’re in trouble. You need to be bailed out, and you’re hoping this treasure will do it for you.
The map gave you time to bargain with the cartels.
” Enzo had kept his voice smooth, hiding the condescension he was feeling.
Then he made his voice harder. “Too fucking bad. I’m on my way.
You will stick to the deal. The treasure for Bianca.
Try to screw me, and you won’t live long enough to regret it. ”
Callum took the phone back and stared at Enzo as he listened. Then he hung up without ever uttering a word. He turned to his brother and gestured that they should leave the circle and chat.
“No,” Enzo growled. “This is your moment. Choose a side. I don’t know what’s up with you and the Callahans, and I don’t give a fuck, but this is where you draw the line in the sand.
With us or against us.” They wouldn’t like the end result if they chose against them.
Vitale wasn’t the only badass in the world.
Enzo would make anything Vitale did in retaliation look like child’s play.
Callum looked at Griffin and then at his sister. Griffin did the same.
No one said a word.
Fuck. He really hoped it would go the other way, but so be it. He reached for his gun.
“Wait,” Mackie said, holding up her hands. “Just wait. It’s not that easy for us. Vitale…he…”
“For fuck’s sake,” Enzo snarled. “Spit it out. He what? Has something on you?”
Mackie hesitated and then nodded. “Yeah.”
“What is it?” Gage asked.
Griffin snorted. “Like we’re gonna tell you.”
“Why wouldn’t you? What if we can help?” Gage pushed.
“Why should we trust you?” Griffin shot back.
“Because,” Logan cut in, “apparently we’re family.”
Griffin snorted. “We may be related, but we’re not fuckin’ family.”
“You have us at an advantage,” Mitch commented.
“You seem to know more about this situation than we do. You knew we existed, which is one up on us. Until the failed heist at the Museum in New York, we had no clue about you lot. You can be sure the minute this is over, we’re going to get answers, but whether we like it or not, we’re family.
Tell us the issue, and if we can help, we will.
” He spoke directly to Griffin. “I have no idea why you hate us so much, but I respect it. Don’t let your hatred stop you from getting the help you need. ”
Enzo wanted to bellow at all of them to sort their shit out later.
They needed to finish this, but his frustration was irrelevant.
This needed sorting first—either by talking or by bullets—it didn’t matter to him.
He just needed to keep going. Kathleen needed to be free of this, and all these fucking people were standing in the way of that.
“Look—”
“It’s a video,” Mackie blurted. “It shows me stealing something from a small museum in the south of France. I missed a camera, apparently.”
Griffin stared at his sister, and his eyes narrowed. Then he switched his gaze to Callum. “You said it was you.”
“I lied,” Callum declared, deadpan.
Mackie sighed. “I knew you’d freak out, so I didn’t tell you. But I told Callum, and then when Vitale called, he threatened to expose me to the police unless we did what he wanted. I knew you would just go along if I said I wanted to do this job, so Callum told you it was him who screwed up.”
Griffin swore.
“What museum?” Gage asked as he dug out his phone. “And on what date?”
“What does that matter?” Griffin demanded.
Mackie ignored her brother and gave Gage the information.
Gage nodded. “Hey, hon, how are you feeling?” he said into his phone.
“Good, I’m glad to hear you are getting some rest. I hate to ask, but can you do something for me?
” He filled her in on the details. “Think you can erase the video and make it like it didn’t happen?
” He grinned. “Sorry, didn’t mean to imply you couldn’t. Let me know when it’s done.”
He got off the call. “My fiancée will take care of it.”
“Just like that?” Callum asked.
“Yes,” Gage said with pride. “She’s one of the top hackers in the world. If it can be done, it will be.”
“But Vitale still has the video,” Mackie pointed out.
Logan smiled. “Yes, but if it doesn’t show on the original, then who’s to say he didn’t create that video with AI?
It’s a deep fake. That’s your story, and you have to stick to it.
Whoever knows about it at the museum won’t open their mouth; otherwise, they’ll be pegged for knowing something was stolen and not blowing the whistle.
They won’t want to go down for it. You will be in the clear. ”
“Enough!” Enzo growled. “I have to head to Mallorca, and now Vitale knows I’m coming.
He must know you are all here as well. Mitch, Gage, what do you think?
” Enzo knew what he wanted to do, but honestly, the Callahans had been helpful to this point, so he figured they might offer something he hadn’t thought of.
“I think,” Mitch began, “that you should go with Griffin and maybe Callum. Gage and I will follow separately. Logan, do you mind staying here with Kathleen until we get it all sorted? I’ll call and see if Dragan is finished and can join us.”
“That works,” Logan agreed. “MacKenzie, you are welcome to stay with us if you like.”
“Mackie,” she corrected, then looked at her brothers.
Enzo wanted to argue. He hated the thought of Dragan being anywhere near Kathleen, but it wasn’t up to him, and it was the most sensible option. “Maybe you and Kathleen can head back to New York. I’m sure you have some security that could join you.”
“I was thinking along those lines, but it might take a day or two,” Logan said. “We should be fine at the hotel. It’s a Jasmine Door, so Drake will make sure we’re safe.”
Enzo didn’t bother to point out that Callum had broken into the Jasmine Door in Lake Lugano. Whatever the weakness had been, he’d lay odds that Jamie had it fixed already.
“Good. Does everyone agree with this?”
Kathleen leaned against a tree. “What happens in Mallorca? Won’t Vitale be angry I’m not with you?”
“The game’s changed,” Enzo said quietly. “I know his weakness now. You’re safer here.”
He didn’t add that if Vitale was dead, there was no threat at all. That option was looking better by the second.
“So,” Enzo said, voice steady, resolve set, “are we good?”
Everyone nodded.
And Enzo knew the next move was his.