Chapter 18 Diego #2
Everett nodded and then rattled off an address.
I quickly added that to my search. “I wasn’t allowed to leave.
I had my bedroom and office and that was it.
If I was good, I could go outside on the patio for fifteen minutes a week.
That was my favorite time. Especially if Mr. Gio was my guard.
He’d sometimes let me walk around the property, as long as Mr. Verlice wasn’t home.
He even taught me how to play card games and would let me watch videos on his phone.
But then Mr. Verlice found out, and Mr. Gio was gone, and my new guard, Miss Veronica, was very strict. ”
He shrugged at the end and went back to picking at his cuticle. I glanced across the table at Luca and Wes, unsure where they wanted to go with this.
“Besides the guards and Mr. Verlice, was there anyone else you saw? Any other names you can remember?”
Everett shrugged. “Well, Aunt Cassie and Uncle John were around a lot, especially in the beginning. Only Mr. Verlice ever came into my office. He spoke to someone on the phone a lot, but he only ever called him sir, so I don’t know his name. I never saw him.”
Hmm. “What about in your work?” Maverick asked. “Did any names, locations, anything like that come up that could help us pinpoint who these people are?”
“S-sure. Where do you want me to start? When I start listing things off, people tend to get overwhelmed. I sometimes don’t know what information is relevant. It used to make Mr. Verlice and my uncle very angry.” He flinched at the memory.
“No one is going to be angry at you for that,” Luca told him, barely constrained rage in every syllable. “But maybe we can help you narrow it down some, so it’s not as overwhelming.”
Everett seemed surprised anyone would be willing to do that for him. “Yes, please. That might help.”
Luca looked over to me. “Can you start giving him names or showing the pictures? Start with the big players we suspect are involved in Crimson Rose and work your way down.”
We didn’t have anything concrete, but when Crimson Rose was mentioned the other day I started to compile a list of potential members.
It was largely based on status and connections, and being suspected in involvement of criminal activity that never was proved.
It was a good place to start. I knew Luca wanted me to start there rather than with the people who took Matty or managed to slip through the raid last year to help ease Matty in and keep him from panicking.
Which, duh, I wasn’t a novice. I could be blunt, but I wasn’t cruel.
I pulled up the list and started from the top.
Everett knew . . . a lot. He could list financials, last known addresses, dates of births, even social security numbers.
Sometimes, he didn’t know suspects by the name we had for them but would recognize their pictures.
David Verlice might have kept him isolated from everyone else, but he hadn’t done as good of a job limiting Everett’s access to information as he thought he had.
Several of the names, Everett easily rattled off bank account numbers for, and he even had information on their stock market portfolios.
It was fascinating . . . and overwhelming.
I was pretty fucking smart and had a good memory, but it was pitiful in comparison to Everett’s.
No wonder he had a hard time deciphering the importance of what he had stored up there.
After the third time he started to tell me pet names and favorite colors, I had to cut him off.
It would take me days to go through everything Everett was giving us.
To figure out what was useful and what wasn’t.
What we should keep to ourselves and what should be given to the authorities.
No wonder several federal agents had gone rogue to keep this kid quiet.
And then it was time. Before I did anything, I looked at Matty. “We have a few other people I need to ask him about. If you want to leave, now might be good.”
I didn’t say anything else. Matty knew where I was going with it. His jaw tensed and eyes hardened a whole fucking lot like Luca’s, even though they weren’t blood related. He shook his head. “I’m good. I want to know. And I need to be here for Ev. Ask him, D.”
I looked over at Wes, needing the go ahead from my Daddy.
He was the most protective out of all of us, and if he thought Matty and Everett needed a break, he would tell me.
Wes’s intense gaze fell on the two youngest men in the group, and he analyzed them for a good, long minute.
Eventually, he turned to me. At some point, Wes had moved from his place next to Luca and had dragged his chair next to mine.
I would’ve never asked him for it, but I was secretly glad.
Wes always seemed to know exactly what I needed, even when I didn’t.
“Go ahead, angel.”
I swallowed and gave him a sharp nod. I started with the least sensitive of the bunch.
Nancy Williams, aka Slash. Matty had had no direct contact with her.
We’d only made the connection between her and his bio father when she’d been involved in the kidnapping of Bailey last year.
She shouldn’t trigger Matty the way the others might.
Everett blinked as he looked over the information.
We had more on her than some of the others since we’d been actively searching for her.
“I don’t know her. I’m sorry. Mr. Verlice mentioned a raid to one of the guards and a missing shipment, but that was also around the time Aunt Cassie was talking to the FBI and I was pulled out of the house.
So I never did any work regarding it. Sorry. ”
Matty squeezed his hand. “You have nothing to apologize for,” Wes told him sincerely. “You’ve already given us so much.”
Everett swallowed, looking a little wrecked, but he turned back to me. “Okay, who else?”
I glanced at the others. Maybe we should stop?
“Keep going,” Everett answered my unspoken question decisively. “I want to finish.”
“Okay, as long as you’re sure.”
He nodded, his face tight but more determined and serious than I’d seen him.
I showed him Tanner Belding next. He was another one who’d had no direct association with Matty, though Luca growled when his face showed up on the screen.
Luca had gone to school with him and had used his connection with him to get into the party where Matty had been kept.
He had gotten away during the chaos, which pissed Luca the fuck off.
At least we’d been able to get the girl he’d had with him out.
Everett’s eyes widened in recognition. “That’s Tanner Belding.
” He knew quite a bit about Tanner. Apparently, he’d lost a bunch of money a few years ago between gambling and a cocaine addiction.
He’d arranged a deal with Mr. Verlice, and they’d used Everett’s skills to build Tanner’s financial stability and reputation back up.
Tanner was one of the few people Everett had had contact with directly.
From the way Everett explained it, I had a feeling Tanner hadn’t been supposed to be speaking to him, but his gambling addiction rested for no one and he’d used Everett to make better picks.
“Do you know where he could be?”
“He talked a lot about Cannes and the French Riviera. He said that if this all blew up, he’d come find me and take me to his house there. He never gave an address, but I can narrow it down if I see a map.”
“That’s . . . Fuck. That would be huge, Everett. Thank you,” Luca told him sincerely. Everett smiled, pleased with the praise. Matty brought him even closer to his side, which I didn’t think was possible.
I showed him the last two people on our list: Vladimir Andreev and Bradley Fieldburg. He had no information on either of them. It was disappointing, but he had given us a ton. We’d been completely lost before this, so having anything to go off of was amazing.
I turned my attention fully to my work. I was vaguely aware of Matty leading Everett out, with Maverick close behind.
Skye and Luca left shortly after, but I was too focused.
There was so much now. I had to find someone.
Find something. I wouldn’t fail Everett or the others by not using his hard-earned information to get somewhere.
I had no idea how much time had passed when a light touch had me jerking in my seat.
“Sorry.” Wes smiled apologetically. “I didn’t mean to frighten you, but you’re not hearing us.”
I blinked. Us? Then I realized that he and Brooks were still in the conference room with me. I glanced at the clock, afraid to see what it said, wincing when I realized three hours had passed. Three hours, and Wes and Brooks were still with me.
“Sorry. I lost track of time.” I stretched in the chair, ignoring the ache in my back and shoulders.
The chairs in here weren’t nearly as comfortable as mine in the office.
Wes was sitting next to me. At some point, he had gotten more coffee and had a tablet in front of him.
Brooks was on the love seat in the corner of the room.
He was stretched out, his legs kicking in a rhythm only he could hear while he played on his phone.
“It’s lunchtime, angel. Let’s go get some food, then you can get settled at your desk.
” He said it quietly, but I knew it wasn’t a suggestion.
My gut fluttered in that way that was slightly uncomfortable, but in all the best ways.
I wanted to argue, but my stomach growled, negating anything I could say.
“Yeah, okay. Um, yes, Daddy.”
Wes’s face lit up, so filled with love and pride, and it made walking away from my system totally worth it. He was right anyway. I needed to eat. Then, when I got back, I’d find Tanner Belding. Because I was so fucking close.