Chapter 33 #2
“Got it,” Emilia said after a few minutes of not-so-gentle digging. Danny’s chest and shoulders collapsed, and he held a hand up for the bottle, begging for more.
Sebastian squatted in front of him as Danny spit out the belt. “You really are lucky I gave up killing people.” He handed him the bottle, then rose, and Emilia offered Sebastian the small, bloody device that was still blinking a steady green light.
“Can you get that to Harper?” Rory asked Sebastian. “She’ll know what to do.”
Sebastian nodded, then left, and Emilia gave Chris back his knife after swiping the blood onto her pant leg.
“If you want to patch him up so he doesn’t bleed all over my floors, that is fine with me. There is a medical kit in Papa’s desk. Third drawer on the right,” Emilia said, starting for the door as well. “I need to speak to my men and prepare.”
“Can you also make sure Wyatt gets in touch with Jessica and Luke Scott?” Chris asked. “Make sure they change their flight to Cosenza.” Chris checked the phone he’d borrowed from Wyatt after stowing his knife. No messages yet.
“Of course.” Emilia opened the door that Sebastian had just closed. “I’ll be back. Good luck with him.”
When Chris turned to the room, he found Rory standing with her arms folded across her chest, eying Danny. He was a pitiful sight sitting there on his ass, legs stretched out, the bottle at his lips.
“Tell me what else you know. If you really do care about me, in your own sick way, then tell me. Please,” Rory begged, her tone tender. It must have been hard for her to keep a lid on her anger and not yell at the bastard. Chris wanted to holler until his throat was hoarse and his lungs hurt.
“I never did like my cousin, you know.” A smile ghosted Danny’s lips.
“Kind of glad the fucker is dead, to be honest.” He rested the bottle on the floor next to him.
“Eleven years ago, Andrew met the man my cousin and I worked for. Our boss was a criminal who made most of his money in smuggled goods. Mainly artifacts and other valuables. Andrew asked him to invest in his salvage business, and they struck a deal. I was assigned to keep an eye on Andrew to ensure he held up his end of the bargain.”
Chris went to the desk and grabbed the medical kit, undecided if he’d use it or not.
“Andrew wasn’t having much luck finding treasure, not until he met you in Italy.” Danny took another long swallow.
Good, get drunk, maybe you’ll talk more.
“You became his lucky charm. You helped him turn things around, locate treasure, but at that point, he was already in deep with the smugglers, and he’d developed a taste for the money they were making.
Money that came much easier than years of research and diving for treasure.
” Danny coughed and winced. Between Sebastian working him over and Emilia digging for gold in his shoulder, Danny must have been hurting pretty badly, but Chris couldn’t muster up an ounce of sympathy for the guy.
Chris hesitantly went over and knelt behind him to clean the wound and apply a bandage. He didn’t need him passing out before his confession, a confession Chris didn’t think even a priest would be able to forgive.
Rory’s gaze slid Chris’s way, and she nodded a thank-you. He assumed it was for keeping Danny awake and talking. But this man had once been her friend, so he wasn’t quite sure.
Rory knelt in front of Danny. “With all the treasure he’d discovered, why keep smuggling?” Rory asked, but Chris knew the answer to that one. Greed and power.
“Andrew didn’t want to give up either life.
Thanks to your help and talent for finding treasure, he became a celebrity within a few years.
He used treasure hunting as a cover for his other activities.
” Danny stopped to take a breath, or maybe to bite down on his back teeth, as Chris applied the antibiotic cream using gloves and gauze.
“But he was sick of giving a cut to my boss, his investor, so he had the guy killed. Cutter took over, in a sense. Offered to keep Jensen and me on instead of killing us, too.”
Rory was quiet as if stealing a moment to process the news. “Is that when he became The Italian?”
Danny shook his head. “No, when you decided to leave him, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop you, but he figured you’d always come back, so he assigned me to watch over you while you stole back antiquities.
Like I said, he loves you. And you weren’t interfering in his work by going after antiquities buyers, so he didn’t care.
Plus, before you left, you handed him your research for future treasure finds that had him set up for years. ”
Chris taped the bandage on, removed his gloves, then stood. “But when she went after smugglers . . .?”
Danny peered up at Chris. “I saw Rory’s reaction in Peru when she discovered the wildlife smuggling ring, and even though she told me she was quitting, I knew she wouldn’t let that go.
So, I followed her. When she stumbled upon one of the men who smuggled on Andrew’s established trade routes, I knew Andrew wouldn’t be able to sit back and just let her continue.
” He looked over at Rory. “I was the one who gave him the idea to divert your attention with something that would also work in his favor. You know . . . two birds and one stone.”
“The list,” Rory said under her breath.
“After he took over my boss’s operation, Andrew had the opportunity to blackmail a lot of people. And he took advantage of it. Kept them on standby for when he needed them. Rebecca Dominick was one of those people,” he explained.
Chris discarded the gauze and gloves, returned the med kit to the desk, then hurried back to Rory’s side in case the bastard found the strength to make a move.
“Andrew had used compromising photos of him and Rebecca to blackmail her. Forced her to dig through her husband’s files for names. He knew Carter worked smuggling cases for the CIA. Once again, Andrew lucked out when Rebecca discovered that list. And then he ordered her to hand the list to you.”
Rory’s skin blanched a little, the color draining, and yet, she managed to remain composed. She was more pulled together than he was. He wanted revenge for what Cutter put her through.
“When I followed you to Colombia the second time, I knew your patterns well enough to realize you were waiting to make your move on Josef. That you’d probably go into his compound when he was out for his daily jog.
” Danny tried to shrug but growled from the pain.
“I alerted Andrew, then sent Rebecca to wait outside on day five. But you didn’t show.
Nothing on day six. Finally, day seven, you breached Josef’s home. ”
Holy shit. Chris’s fingers curled inward. So, Cutter could’ve stopped Rory from taking down one of his men but opted for the alternative at Danny’s insistence.
“Did Rebecca know what she was doing?” Rory asked, her voice raspy. “Did she know she was setting me up?”
Danny reached back to where the tracker had been removed. “She had no choice in the matter. Andrew threatened he’d go public with photos of them in bed together.”
Son of a bitch. Their blackmail theory had been right. Carter was going to lose his shit. Chris knew he would if he were in Carter’s shoes.
“I’m sorry.” Danny’s apology was borderline offensive in Chris’s mind.
“This whole thing was just to get you off Andrew’s back and keep you safe.
To keep him from throwing you in some hole and locking you up forever, too in love with you to kill you.
You and I had become friends, and I couldn’t see a woman like you in a cage. ”
How the hell was Chris supposed to feel about that?
In a way, Danny had saved her. But he still wanted to rip off that bandage and reinsert his blade into the wound and watch him squirm.
“You still let this happen. You didn’t warn her.
You could’ve saved Rory. Instead, you set her on this course and got Rebecca killed. You were there when Rebecca died.”
“Andrew forced me to go with Jensen. To make sure Santiago went through with Rebecca’s murder. I didn’t kill her.”
“You didn’t stop him,” Rory said with a shaky voice and stood upright.
“But I did try to warn you after that.” Danny closed his one good eye for a brief moment. “He didn’t tell me why Rebecca had to die, so I was worried Andrew might come after you next, especially when I learned you were also in D.C.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me that day?” she asked.
“I spotted Jensen watching us while we had lunch. I excused myself to the men’s room, and he told me if I opened my mouth, you’d die. If I didn’t talk, you were safe. My cousin was a sick, twisted human. He wanted to help Santiago kill Rebecca.”
Disgust and horror crossed Rory’s face.
“And that’s why Cutter made you change your identity,” Chris said at the realization.
“Andrew never anticipated the fake nemesis he gave you—named after the country where you first met—would develop into someone so many wound up fearing. You turned into his good luck charm again.”
The Italian. It was a fucking sham. A distraction designed for Rory. One from which Cutter heavily profited.
“Santiago,” she whispered. “I was safe until him. I kept at the list even after Rebecca died, more motivated than ever. I was safe until he was taken, wasn’t I?”
“At first, Andrew didn’t know that it was you who targeted Santiago since you’d quit.
But when Carter took him from the CIA, Andrew got spooked.
He was going to come after you if you didn’t show up at his event to tie up loose ends.
He was worried his enemies and competitors would find out the truth,” he explained.
“Cutter has at least a hundred combat-ready men who believe The Italian is some frightening boogeyman when really, he’s just a greedy treasure hunter taking advantage of smugglers’ stupidity.
” He cleared his throat. “But those men enforce the trade routes if anyone tries to pass without paying a fee first.”
And they’re supposedly on their way here now.
“Andrew thought you gave up the life of hunting traffickers because you got bored.” Danny diverted his focus back to Rory.
“He didn’t make the connection between you and Carter until Carter saved you from the Trott brothers.
And then Andrew realized he’d have to use me as bait—the one with a connection to you both—to find where you were hiding. ”
Chris reached for Rory’s arm, about to speak up, but the door flung open.
“Harper found Cutter’s location,” Roman alerted them, his tone level despite the grave news Chris knew Roman was about to drop. “But it’s started. Danny didn’t lie. We’re under attack from all sides.”