37. Luca
The moment I was advised my hounds had sniffed out a traitor, I sent Ara home with my driver and made my way to Balmere. Considering her little declaration of not enjoying violence she best not see what’s to come.
Lorenzo and I are walking past the fighting ring when he asks. “Sir, I know it’s not my place to ask…but what are you planning on doing with Miss Barone?”
I don’t even look at him. “You’re right. I don’t answer to anyone.”
“Apologies,” he says and recedes back. I hired Lorenzo when I was twenty-one and only a few months before my father’s death. He was the only one who knew my dirty secret from that night and I had every confidence he would take it to the grave or else I would’ve already put him there. However, it didn’t mean I had to answer to him especially on personal interests such as Ara.
Before I open the door, I add. “She’s a priority right now. She and her father could still be linked to the missing shipment.”
An incredulous expression crosses his features, not entirely convinced but he’s quick to cover it and simply nods. I was absolutely fixated on the woman. I always had someone following her. I’d bugged her work and apartment waiting for her to step out of place so I can punish her personally. I just couldn’t resist her. It almost felt like it was turning into a weakness one that was not going unnoticed.
Something that doesn’t settle well with me.
When I open the door my five masked hounds are already waiting in the room. One is sitting on a chair, carving another wooden creature. His leg is in a moonboot. I smirk at him and can see the hateful expression in his gaze. He’s lucky I didn’t fire his ass for the shit performance he displayed in the ring Friday night. Having been around Ara made me feel lenient. And credit was due toward Dmitri who held himself well even against me.
When I see Ricky Carton in the chair, I’m disappointed. “So you’re the grand mastermind behind the interference with my transfers?”
His eye and lip are already swollen, and his eye has swelled beyond the point of being able to open. He’s worked for me a few years now. Not exactly the brightest of my men either. But he was loyal- to his family. He was working on the streets to try and support his mother and daughter when we first employed him. He’d been hard working and grateful for the consistent money flow. The only reason he might find to betray me was if someone else offered him more.
A mastermind he was not. All of this back and forth and not yet finding the person responsible for organizing this was wearing on my patience. Not only did I have a traitor but most likely they’d be attempting to deal or off cart it somewhere else. To pull something off like this multiple hands had to be involved and I was only getting the lackies.
“Yes, sir,” he drawls out, disoriented. I don’t buy it.
Lorenzo and I share a glance. I’ve had my hounds work tirelessly on this case and to advise me the moment they find anything. The surveillance from the warehouse for that period had been cut. My hounds had since found a lighter in the warehouse that had been left behind. Unfortunately for Ricky it was the same eagle inscribed one he flipped the lid of often. It all felt too easy. It could’ve easily been placed as a set up. He was most likely just another pawn to take the fall.
“I don’t really care if you live or die. By being in this room- you’re most certainly going to die. The only thing that doesn’t sit right with me is the fact I don’t think you’re smart enough to try and underhand me. I thought life had become considerably cozier for you and your family since we employed you?”
“This has nothing to do with my family. Please,” he begs.
“Which brings me to my next point. That if someone were to blackmail you and threaten your family, you would most likely die for them.”
Silence.
He’s defeated.
Nothing but a bag of bones who’s relinquished to his fate.
Something painful twists in his expression because I’m most likely right. My men had given me all the details of the supposed mastery he’d confessed to, but it still doesn’t add up. Ricky is the type who can only takes orders, not deal them, which means someone else is involved. A name he hasn’t handed over yet.
Frustration boils my blood. This shouldn’t be taking so long.
This should’ve been dealt with on the very same night I’d flown back into town.
“Are you acquainted with the Barone family?” I ask Ricky.
His eyebrows scrunch in confusion. “Aren’t they some rich family who live locally or something? I think I’ve seen them on TV before.”
Ricky is a dead end.
Whoever is actually pulling these strings still hasn’t been found.
“Keep looking.,” I say to Lorenzo before walking toward the door. “Do whatever you want with him,” I offer to my hounds because I don’t feel particularly moved to take an innocent man’s life today. We still have to see it through as a warning.
If this is his way to protect his family, so be it. I need the puppeteer on the other end to think we’ve fallen for the bait.