28. Chapter Twenty-Eight
MATT
Matt was ready to lose his fucking mind.
Covered in sweat, Matt ran through another sequence, his muscles taxed to the limit. When he sensed Kieran at the door, he completed his kata and reached for a towel.
“When did that happen?” Kieran said, looking pointedly at the seeping wound on Matt’s side. When Matt didn’t answer, Kieran’s voice got a little deeper. A little angrier. “You’ve been sparring with that?”
Matt neither wanted nor needed a lecture on wound care. “It’s nothing.”
Kieran snorted. “Yeah, I’ve had a couple of those nothings myself. You should have Mick take a look at that.”
Maybe he would. Later. Continuously reopening the wound wasn’t doing him any favors, but he had other things on his mind at that moment.
He was angry and frustrated, which was probably why he said, “I know you didn’t come down here just to get on my case. What do you want?”
Kieran’s eyes narrowed, just like they used to when Matt had been a teenager and mouthed off. And just like then, Matt felt like he’d disappointed Kieran somehow.
“I’m going to let that slide,” Kieran said, “because I know you’ve got a lot on your mind.”
Like knowing he was only in Pine Ridge to see his family, say his goodbyes, and then close this chapter of his life? Or how hard it was to think about severing ties because anyone he cared about could be used as a weakness against him? Or maybe he was referring to his preoccupation with Anna and that whole clusterfuck.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Did he? Yes, he realized, he did. He wanted to lay everything out. Get Kieran’s advice. Have Kieran tell him that he was making the right choice in leaving. That his desire for Anna was a distraction, created by a need to escape his reality and nothing more. That everything was going to work out exactly the way it was supposed to.
But he knew that wouldn’t happen. Faith was the love of Kieran’s life. He would never be able to support Matt’s decision to leave, knowing what it would do to his mother. Nor would he blow smoke up Matt’s ass about this thing with Anna. Fuck, he’d probably say Matt was feeling those things because she was his croie or some shit like that.
“Talk about what?” Matt said.
Kieran eyes bored into him. “So, it’s going to be like that, huh?”
When Matt said nothing, Kieran exhaled. “It doesn’t have to be me, you know. You can talk to Jake, Ian, Mick, Sean, Shane, even Kane. We’ve all been through it.”
Kieran’s phone vibrated. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. “It’s Ian.” He lifted the phone to his ear. “Hey, what’s up? Now? What—yeah, okay.”
He looked at Matt. “Ian wants us to meet him at the pub. He’s calling everyone in.”
“Did he say why?”
“Only that he’s got news and it’s a game changer.”
When Matt and Kieran arrived at the pub a short while later, they entered through the back, bypassing the public area and going directly to one of the private upper floors. They found not only Ian, but Jake, Sean, Shane, and Michael as well. The only one missing was Kane.
“All right, everyone’s here,” Jake said to Ian when Kieran and Matt stepped in. “What’s this about?”
“I got a call from Cage an hour ago,” Ian said without preamble, his usual joviality absent. “You know the software that lets us zoom in on satellite images with enough clarity to see a blade of grass? He combined that with a graphic design tool that sharpens images and applied it to the downloaded photo Anna had been looking at in the library. Then, he blew it up even more and ran multiple iterations against every person there until he had a series of high-def close-ups.”
“Uh-oh, he’s geeking out again,” Shane said.
“Fuck, I think he’s going to come,” said Sean.
Ian ignored them. “Bree showed those images to her cousin Toni on the off chance that they jogged a few memory cells. Turns out, they did. Or rather, one did. Toni recognized someone who, for all intents and purposes, shouldn’t be there.”
“Who?” Jake asked. “And why?”
Ian tapped a few keys and brought up the original image on the large flat screen, much as he had at Sanctuary. He used his pointer to circle a guy in the background, barely distinguishable from everyone else. Black hat shadowing the upper half of his face, black coat, collar pulled up against the wind.
Then, he clicked again, and Nick’s refined image filled the screen. The clarity was incredible. The blurry figure now had black hair, dark eyes, and a five-o’clock shadow that didn’t completely conceal the thin scar that ran the length of his jaw, down his neck, and into his collar.
Matt had to admit, it was an impressive improvement.
“This is Luca Bianchi,” Ian said, answering Jake’s question. “And his presence here is notable because he died ten years ago.”
“Pretty solid-looking for a ghost,” Jake muttered.
The name meant nothing to Matt. Judging by the blank expressions in the room, it meant nothing to any of them either.
“Why do we care?” Sean grunted.
“Excellent question,” Ian said. “When Matt and I were at Sanctuary, Bree mentioned that there had been a power shift in the Chicago syndicate about a decade ago. Two prominent families were vying for power: the DiGiorgios and—wait for it—the Bianchis. There was lots of bad blood between them, so the dons arranged a marriage to unite the families. Same sitch as Cage’s parents. Anyway, Paul DiGiorgio—yes, the guy running for governor—was the sacrificial groom, and Giovanna Bianchi, the only daughter of Luca Bianchi Sr., was his betrothed.”
Sean made a rolling motion with his hand.
“Patience, bro. I’m getting there. As you can imagine, not everyone was stoked about the plan. The families had been enemies for years. Even those who wanted peace weren’t crazy about the union. For one thing, Giovanna was barely legal, and Paul DiGiorgio was twenty years her senior. Plus, he had a reputation for not being—shall we say—gentlemanly toward the fairer sex. There was dissent in the ranks, particularly on the Bianchi side.
“Before the wedding could take place, the head of the DiGiorgio family was killed, taken out old-school gangster-style. Naturally, the DiGiorgios believed the Bianchis were behind the execution. To avenge the don’s death, they sent their own enforcers over to pay the Bianchis a visit. Only, instead of the traditional eye for an eye thing, they took out the whole family. It was a massacre.”
More clicks. A series of gruesome crime scene photos appeared on the screen, one after the other.
“Obviously not the whole family if Luca Jr. survived,” Shane said.
“Exactly!” Ian said, nodding in approval. “Here’s where it gets really interesting. The bodies of Luca Sr. and his wife were recovered, as well as those who were in the house that night, but not those of Luca Jr. or Giovanna.”
Sean frowned. “So, why were they presumed dead?”
“Because their bloody prints were found at the scene.”
“And they knew it was their blood because …” Jake prompted.
“Genetic testing,” Michael chimed in. “It’s possible to compare genetic markers in the blood to the known DNA of the parents. Direct descendants wouldn’t be an exact match, but it would be very close.”
“Give the man a cookie,” Ian said. “The theory was—is—that Luca and Giovanna were taken as a final fuck-you to the Bianchis. It wasn’t good enough to take out the don. They wanted to wipe out his bloodline out of future generations as well. Apparently, that’s a thing, and the DiGiorgios were known for being ruthless that way. No one believes they survived. There was no reason to.”
“Until now,” Jake said.
“Until now,” Ian agreed.
Matt was growing impatient. As interesting as all this was, he didn’t understand what any of it had to do with Anna.
Ever the voice of logic, Shane was shaking his head. “A guy in the crowd who resembles Luca Bianchi is not proof of life.”
“Maybe not by itself, but taken into account with this …” Ian pointed his clicker, and the screen shifted to an engagement announcement.
The couple looked as if they were posed in front of a church, dressed in their Sunday best. DiGiorgio was recognizable as a younger version of the man currently running for governor in Illinois. The bride-to-be was harder to make out. She was slim and clearly much younger than DiGiorgio. Her head was tilted downward toward her hands, which were clasping a small designer handbag at her waist.
Ian zoomed in until the woman’s image dominated the screen. “Look familiar?”
Matt visually traced the parts of her he could see. The familiar set of her shoulders. The curve of her neck. The line of her delicate jaw.
“Anna,” he breathed.
Matt was vaguely aware of a slew of curses muttered around him. His brain was busy putting together the pieces. His instincts had told him Anna had secrets, but he’d never envisioned this.
“Fuck. Slain Mafia princess wasn’t on my bingo card,” Sean mumbled. “Where is the girl now?”
“Pine Ridge PD,” Kieran answered.
“With a great big neon target on her back if she stays there,” Shane said. “They’ve already fingerprinted her. If the press gets ahold of this?—”
“It’s going to be a hell of a shit show,” Sean finished. “I love The Godfather and all, but I don’t want to re-create it in Pine Ridge.”
The room went silent until Jake said, “Is there any chance Anna did what she’s accused of?”
Matt shook his head emphatically. “No. The grandson is behind it somehow.”
“He definitely is,” Ian said. “Eddie’s in debt up to his eyeballs, so he’s got motive. I just need to tie up the package with proof of means and opportunity. Shouldn’t take long. The guy’s not that bright. But this is a higher priority at the moment.”
“So, are we doing this?” Kieran asked.
“I’m in,” Shane said.
“Me too,” said Michael.
“Fuck it, I’m already balls deep,” Ian said.
“Count me in,” Sean said, standing up. “It’s been way too fucking boring around here lately.”
Everyone looked at Jake, who exhaled. “Right. I’ll call Church and ask him to set up a safe house for us. Shane and Sean, go down to the police department and get Anna out of there before this blows up in our faces. Ian, see if you can alter any digital images of those fingerprints.” He turned to Michael. “Can you keep Mrs. Campbell in the hospital until we remove Eddie from the equation?”
Michael nodded. “On it.”
“Kieran, take care of Eddie.”
“With pleasure.”
Matt cleared his throat. “Hey, aren’t you forgetting something?”
Jake turned to him. “What?”
“Me. I want in.”
Jake shared a look with his brothers. One by one, they nodded.
“All right then. Let’s get you kitted out.”