Lorenzo #3
"I believe you," I say. “I believe that you’ll try and kill me if Quinn’s harmed. But tell me something, Daithí. If the tables were turned and it was you in my position, what would you do? Hmm? I’ve got so many conflicting stories that I don’t even know where to begin to find the truth.”
"I’d believe the man I’ve known for years, the one who hasn’t ever lied to me.
The man who’s my business partner and friend.
I’d believe him, because he’s watched his sister be harmed in ways no one should experience in their family.
You should believe the man who failed to protect her and will do everything in their power to do so now. ” He walks past me toward the stairs.
I let him go, stunned into silence. I glance at Marco and see that he listened to everything that Daithí said. We’ve so many questions and no one to give us the fucking answers.
Marco drives us out of the Delaney estate and my mind is reeling from everything that I’ve learned.
“What the fuck?” I say low. Nothing makes sense.
“I won’t ask what happened with Quinn,” Marco says. “That’s between you and her, but I will say that whatever was said broke that girl. She looked utterly defeated.”
I ignore that. “What the hell are we missing?” I can’t fucking figure it out. Daithí’s words replay over and over.
If Quinn did what you think she did, why the fuck would Tony still be standing beside Ronan every day?
I've thought about this from every angle, and I can’t figure out if Quinn is guilty or not.
What if Tony knows what actually happened? What if Daire's version is constructed out of half-truths and lies like Daithí said? But why? What would she gain out of doing so? Especially at mine and Quinn’s engagement party.
My phone buzzes through the car’s system. Ciro’s name flashes on the screen.
"What?” I bark, my anger still rolling through me.
"The leak," his voice is low and a little muffled. "We've been looking at cross-family access, trying to find the overlap."
"And?"
"The last two incidents, the logistics contract and the property out-bidding? Both required information from inside the Mariano operation and the Delaney operation simultaneously." There’s a pause for a beat. "Lorenzo, whoever this is doesn't just have access to one family. They're inside both."
Today is a fucking clusterfuck of information and none of it useful.
"That's not a Syndicate head or second in command," I say. "It's someone who has personal and business access to both households."
"Or someone who has someone inside each household," Ciro says. "Two separate sources reporting to the same person."
"Or one person who moves between both," I say. "Keep pulling on it," I say. "I want names. Anyone who has personal access to both houses. I want the list tonight."
I end the call while Marco keeps driving.
My mind whirls and I can’t keep up with the random thoughts that are popping up.
Daire and her bullshit, Quinn and her lack of answers, Daithí and his overprotectiveness.
I have trusted Daithí up until recently but today I looked at him differently and I saw a man who was wracked with guilt.
But was it because he failed Quinn or something else entirely?
Daire spent a full fucking year engaged to me, she was at the Mariano household parties. She has grown up inside the Delaney organization, and now due to her pregnancy and subsequent marriage to Rurik Morozov, she’s going to get access to the Morozov organization too.
I think about my fathers men. I don’t want to believe that any of them are to blame for the leak, but I can’t be sure. Many of them have been with my father since the very beginning.
A memory niggles at me, of the night of mine and Daire’s engagement announcement. She and Bruno, my father’s man, one that he trusts to watch over Vittoria and my sisters, were in the corner speaking in hushed tones, looking very close.
Bruno has been with the family for a long time.
He has access to the house along with meetings which has come from years of being trusted, but him and Daire cozied in a corner has stayed in the back of my mind and I’m not sure why it’s come forward now.
Is it relevant? I don’t know and I guess time will tell.
Accusing one of my father's most trusted men without proof would be career-ending. I'd need more before I took it to him.
All that I can think is that someone with access to both families has been operating in the gap between them and needs that gap to stay open. Hence the moves being made. It’s causing distrust within the syndicate and that’s not a good look.
I can't do anything with the realization I've just had, not without proof. My mother's murder triggered the largest internal investigation this family has ever conducted. It wasn't enough.
Which means we either missed something or someone, this time I'll know where to look. Soon I’ll have the updated list of people with access to both households and once I do, I’ll have Marco, Tempest, and even Prior help dig into their backgrounds. This shit is coming to a head, I can feel it.
But what happens when the truth is uncovered? What’ll be left of the syndicate then?