Chapter 42 Kitty
FORTY-TWO
KITTY
Arriving at the private airfield just north of Poughkeepsie triggered a similar rigmarole as Ohio, but we shed a couple guards now that we were close to home.
I settled into Stan’s side in the car waiting for us by the jet as we headed for his friend’s place.
“Are you sure about this? I can have Luigi drive you home while I deal with—”
I bit my lip. “No. Sofia was your friend. I want to meet her. Seems like it’s the day for meeting lost acquaintances.”
He pulled a face. “You might be right.”
Nervously, I toyed with the rings on my right hand. “Someone put Beatriz through the wringer, Stan. Those scars… Do you think… She wouldn’t tell me, but would she tell Martinez?”
“Maybe. You need to ask yourself why you’d prod this wound when she hasn’t.”
“Did she look happy to you, Stan?”
I appreciated that he took a moment to provide me with a genuine answer. “I don’t know. I can’t when I have no base measure, but she seemed to feel safe. She brought food to a cookout and seemed set on staying before we, well—”
“Ruined things for her,” I supplied grimly.
“We can always ask Star for a vague report on what happened to her?”
“Wouldn’t she ask questions?”
“Probably.”
I sucked in a breath. “Okay, we keep the questions limited then.”
“Agreed.”
Stan: You ever heard of Beatriz Martinez.
Star: Seeing as you’re asking… Related to he of no name Martinez?
Stan: That’s true? Not even if you hacked into the social security system? I figured that was an urban legend lol
Star: I tried. I dunno what he did or who he bribed but it’s blank.
Stan: That’s some power.
Star: He came up before Big Brother was truly watching us.
Star: Okay, name pulled up in the SS database.
Star: What about her, specifically?
Stan: Is she dead?
Star: Why are you asking?
“Goddammit, woman,” he snapped.
I was beginning to empathize with Pandora. My fingers tingled they were so close to the box that’d unleash evil on the world.
But I didn’t want to make things worse for Beatriz, just to understand.
Saying that, if she’d wanted me to understand, wouldn’t she have told me herself?
I was a ‘ride or die’ kind of woman. She should have known that. Should have known I’d have her back, no matter what. That she’d chosen to forget rammed home the message loud and clear.
“Kitty?”
His soft prompt had me bowing my head. “Leave it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I don’t want to make things worse for her, and she’s managed to stay underneath the radar for this long. It’s only bad luck that I was there today.”
“Or good luck.”
“Hardly. If I open this can of worms, she’ll get bitten, not me.”
Star: Well?
I read the message before he did, my eyes catching onto the text.
“How about we tell her she was your best friend?”
“That would work?”
“She knows we met with Martinez in Cancún,” he pointed out.
“True. Okay, try that.”
Stan: Kitty used to know her. They were best friends. Martinez mentioned her to Kitty. She wondered what happened to her.
“Send?”
“Yeah. Send it.”
I watched as he tapped the button, then we waited.
When she didn’t reply immediately, but read the message, Stan mused, “That’s a good sign.”
I hoped so.
Five minutes later, Star phoned us.
“You can’t bullshit me. I knew there’d be a reason you were asking. Damien Headley. Man, I wish I’d cut off his dick and made him eat it.”
“I’m grateful the fucker’s dead if he can still wreak havoc all these years later,” Stan confided. “How did you make that association?”
“I never divulge my workings-out. But be thankful I did. Okay, I opened up his database.” She fell silent. “Headley… wanted something from the hospital where she worked. That was his ransom demand.”
“What kind of something?” I asked.
“Kitty?”
“Yeah. I’m with Stan.”
“I bet.”
“Star,” Stan warned.
“I’ll behave,” she chided, but she was snickering.
I refused to blush. “Which hospital?”
“Bellevue. You were on staff there until recently, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“When was this?”
“Three years ago, nearly four,” I answered.
“That must have been close to his death,” Stan remarked.
Star chortled. “It wasn’t after.”
“Shut up, Star.” He ignored her cackling. “Currau switched out from the prison ward in Bellevue into his private room three years ago.”
“There are thousands of patients in the hospital,” I reasoned. “Is that what he wanted? Access to a patient file, Star?”
There was a clicking sound in the background. “Yes. But it wasn’t Currau Valentini…” She fell silent again. “Huh.”
“What, Star?”
“He wanted two files. One for some chick called Jackie Van der Mils and the other for… Anastasia Brackton.”
Stan hissed. “You’re shitting me.”
“I’m not. No. Man, that’s some fucked-up coincidence—”
“Who’s Anastasia Brackton?” I demanded.
“I’ll explain later.” To Star, he asked, “Did she give him the files?”
“Yeah. It’s marked as payment received. But he was a real cunt. He always upped his demands. Once she gave him that file, she was in his pocket for good.”
“Tell Aidan,” Stan insisted.
“Wait, no!” I sputtered. “We weren’t—”
“We have no choice. This is bigger than us now, Kitty. Bigger than Beatriz.”
“According to the files, she’s dead. That’s the only reason for him to archive her folder.”
“She isn’t dead. We saw her a couple hours ago at the Sinners’ compound in Ohio.”
Star fumed, “What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going to get in touch with Martinez about this. He needs to know. This might have happened years ago, but the repercussions might still be felt now.”
“They might not,” Star pointed out. “This could be old news to him.”
I shook my head—the vibe during that meal at Martinez’s place when he’d brought up Beatriz had been grief-stricken, not interrogative.
“What’s your gut say?” Stan caught sight of my headshake. “Mine’s screaming. This can’t be a coincidence.”
“No.” Star sighed. “You’re right.”
“Even if I’m wrong, she could be in danger.”
“She’s safe with the Sinners. Especially the Ohio chapter. It’s a lot quieter there, more than ever since Storm took over. The brothers are nearly all family men and—”
“Do you want to risk those families?” Stan bit off. “Do you want their blood on your hands if something goes wrong?”
“I’ll tell Aidan. You contact Martinez. Maybe we can hook up a meeting between the pair of them?” Star cleared her throat. “I’ll phrase this as Valentini intel.”
“What? Why?”
“Because you’re the one bringing this info to the table and it’ll shore up ties between the two families.
You forget, Stan, that with your sister’s ties to the Camorra, the Sicilian presence in the US could usurp Irish dominion.
Especially as the Irish are beginning to fade into the background with their other plans in mind… ”
Stan rubbed his eyes. “Did I mention that I hate politics?”
She snickered. “Yeah. Many times. But it’s all for the good. Your faction’s relationship with the Lobos Rojos is stronger than ours and you and your brother are tied to the Irish with your choice of brides—”
“We’re not married yet!”
“Operative word here being yet, Kitty,” she said dryly. “Okay. I’ll get in touch with Aidan.”
“Yeah, I’ll contact Martinez. Update me as soon as you can.”
“Same?”
“Sure.”
As he ended the call, he was already scrolling through his contacts, but he answered me before I could even ask a question: “Have you heard of Graham Brackton?”
I blinked. “Of course. Graham Brackton is Viseon. Well, was. He died recently, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, he did.” He frowned then smacked a kiss to my cheek. “Jesus, Kitty. You just opened up my eyes to something—”
“I did?” I prodded when he fell silent.
“Yeah. When your line of work’s like mine, you don’t think about the legit optics. Didn’t Viseon just come out as a major player in the AI race?”
I shrugged. “I hate AI so I don’t know. I just know that my phone and yours was made by Viseon and their tech’s everywhere.”
“Fair point.” His fingers got busy tapping. “There—look.”
He showed me his screen.
Viseon breaks records with a single-day jump in stock prices
I scanned the content of the news article, grimaced at the BS about Brackton becoming the richest man in the world for a handful of minutes, and asked, “What about him? It’s not like he got to enjoy it for long.”
“He didn’t,” Stan agreed. “So, his son is a real pain in our asses. Absolute-waste-of-oxygen junkie. Jackie Van der Mils is married to the prick. We’ve recently learned that Anastasia Brackton has links to the Bratva—”
“Links? Business?”
“No. She’s related to the Krestniy Otets, which means—”
“She’s related to Sofia. Are you going to ask her about Anastasia?”
“I will, yeah.” He grabbed my hand. “If a guy like Damien Headley was interested enough in Anastasia Brackton and Jackie Van der Mils’s patient files to get Beatriz to steal them, then there’s something to hide.”
My lips firmed as realization struck. “Stan.”
“What is it?”
“I met Currau because this woman came into the ER. Drug overdose. But… she left this insanely expensive Birkin behind.” I waggled my purse. “Like this one. I took it up to her private ward—it’s why I was on Currau’s floor. It’s literally how we met.
“I only remember any of this because my friend made me read a dumb conspiracy theory about her on a blog… That woman was Anastasia Brackton.”
His eyes bugged. “Small world.”
“And getting smaller,” I croaked.
I didn’t believe in coincidences.
I didn’t believe in coincidences.
I didn’t believe in coincidences.
So, why were there so many here?!
“She overdosed. You’re sure?”
“Yeah. Crazier still, not long after, you came in helicoptering your penis around to the envy of most of the men on staff.”
Taking note of the slight pink emblazoning his cheeks, I hid a smile as he asked, “Do you remember her?”
“Yeah. Mostly because she didn’t really care about her however-many-thousand-dollar purse. I remember she…” My shoulders sagged. “It wasn’t her first cry for help.”
He released a hiss. “Fuck.”
“Yeah.”
“So, suicide?”
“I think so? Or an attempt, at least.” I gnawed on my bottom lip. “You really think Beatriz might be in danger?”
His head jerked as I brought him back to my principal concern. “I don’t know but I’m not willing to risk it.”
“Don’t you think you should warn Storm first?”
His jaw worked as he pondered my question, then he reached up to rub his eyes. “Fuck. This is why I don’t do politics.”
“Speak with Rory first,” I urged. “She handles this side of things, right?”
“Yeah.” He scrolled through his contacts. Hitting connect, he put the call onto speaker. “Rory?”
“Was there a problem with the collection?”
“No. The rubies at the clubhouse weren’t the ones we’re looking for—”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, but we have a problem.” He went on to explain the lay of the land into the dead air on the other end of the call. “What do we do, Rory?”
On the rare occasions I’d heard Aurora talk, I’d never have classed her as having a particularly warm voice. But by comparison, this was practically Baltic. Each word dripped with ice as, in staccato bites, she gave him her orders.
“I’ll deal with the MC. I’m tempted to put you onto Martinez, but would you mind if I gave the task to Hunter? Martinez doesn’t appreciate how we handled the situation with his niece in LA and this is an olive branch.”
“We can’t fuck this up,” he cautioned.
“No, but if ever there was a time to mend bridges, it’s now. We’re in the middle here and that’s how I like it, but if we don’t handle this carefully, we’re the ones who’ll suffer.
“You did good, Stan, bringing this to me first. Luc would have gone off half-cocked so I appreciate your restraint. I know how your bro code works.”
“Kitty suggested it.”
A cold chuckle sounded down the line. “Takes a woman. I rescind my thanks to you and gift them to her instead. Tell her that I’m looking forward to meeting her. Again.”
Stan cut me a warning glance and I mimed zipping my mouth shut. “I will. What are you waiting for? Chop chop, soru.”
She bit off something in Sicilian then queried, “You’re okay with mending ties between the Camorra and Martinez?”
“Go for it.”
With that, she cut the call.
“You didn’t want her to know I was listening,” I pointed out.
“You should be in the dark about this but I won’t keep you out of the loop. Not after what you’ve been through and the insight you’ve brought to the table.”
I squeezed his fingers. “Thank you.”
“The last thing you should be doing is thanking me,” he chided. “I went against your direct request, but I swear to God, Kitty, I wouldn’t have if it wasn't urgent. The Bracktons are involved in something deep and it could affect our survival.”
My brows lifted. “Our survival?”
“The Irish, Sicilians, the Triads, hell, the new Russian brotherhood.”
“Why?”
“Instinct tells me they want to eradicate us.”
“You’re talking about the Bratva?”
“No. I’m not.”
I pulled a face. “Isn’t it… good? For the state? If there’s no mob presence?”
His lips curved. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But there’s order in our chaos, Kitty.”
“There’s also a lot of bloodshed.”
“Yes, but nature abhors a vacuum and we just created one. They have ties to the Albanians and their mayhem—”
“The Albanians?!” I sputtered in horror.
“Yeah.” His expression turned grim. “You know what a mess they’ve brought to the city?”
“I know that Lucas and Cade have been out on the streets at all hours of the day and night clearing things up because they’re trigger-happy lunatics. And that’s before my own interactions with them.”
He nodded. “We’ve all been dealing with it. So… how did you meet Aurora the first time?”
“The hospital, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Of course.”
Grateful he thought it was related to him, I didn’t dissuade him from the notion, and his phone rang, at the perfect time really. Patient confidentiality aside, no way was I going to bring up his sister’s visit to the ER thanks to a self-inflicted, accidental chemical burn.
While he frowned at the unknown number, he still answered it. “Hello?”
“What DeLaurentiis said is true?”
“That was fast.”
“Is it true?” Eva Martinez growled.
“Shouldn’t I be talking to your husband?”
“No.” And that was the end of that. “Is it true, Custanzu?”
Before Stan could reply, I whispered, “Beatriz is alive, Eva.”