Chapter 33 #2
“All right,” I say, standing up. “Do you mind if I get a glass of water?”
“I don’t have any bottles,” she warns me.
“That’s all right,” I say. “I can drink from the tap.”
I walk over to the kitchen, more to give myself time than anything else.
I need to protect her. That’s my overwhelming response.
I don’t want her to die the way her brother did, and I think there might be a chance that we could reconstruct some of our earlier relationships.
However, I’m not going to be able to do it alone.
I need to convince my family that Sofia is worth protecting. Only with the combined strength of the Corello family can we hope to avoid a sudden death. A few minutes ago, I was ready to nail her coffin shut myself. Now, everything has changed.
I grab a cup from the cabinet and pour myself a glass. I take only a sip before turning to face her. Because her apartment is so small, I can stand in the kitchen and easily have a conversation with her on the couch. I don’t need to shout or move around to make myself heard.
“I think we need to call my father,” I say.
“Do you think he can help?” she asks desperately.
“Yes,” I confirm. “I’m sure he can.”
But instead of my father, I find my finger hovering over Uncle Gio’s contact.
I wonder why, considering that my father is the head of the family.
But Uncle Gio is more the operations manager.
He’s the one who actually goes out on the streets and meets with people and does things.
Sure, Dad helps, but mostly what my father does is consolidate the information Gio and his capos give him.
Gio is the most direct route to action and that’s what we need right now.
I call him up. “Uncle Gio?”
“Hey, Frankie,” Gio says. “Where are you?”
“Don’t flip out,” I warn him.
“Where are you?” he repeats menacingly.
“I’m at Sofia’s place,” I admit. “How fast can you get here?”
“I’m on my way,” he says before hanging up.
You gotta love Uncle Gio. There were no follow-up questions, just a clear understanding that help is needed. I turn to Sofia to fill her in. “Gio is on his way,” I report.
“Great,” she says, rubbing her hands together.
I can tell she’s nervous, and I want to comfort her.
I know it’s a big deal, that she’s going to have to explain herself multiple times to multiple people before getting the kind of help she needs.
We set the ball in motion, but a lot of work is still to be done.
“Hey,” I say, sitting down beside her. “I’ll be right here.”
“I’ve been awful to you,” Sofia moans.
“Yes, you have,” I agree with a chuckle.
“I don’t know why I thought you could have been involved. I know you,” she says, turning wide, glossy, puppy dog eyes on me.
“It’s understandable,” I reply, because I do understand her point.
“But you had panic attacks over your bar exam,” she reminds me. “I don’t know how I thought you could ever be involved in something so devious.”
“Well,” I explain, not wanting to give her too much fuel for her guilt-ridden fire, “the panic attacks weren’t exactly because of the exam.”
“What were they about?” she asks.
“Never mind,” I shrug off the question. I’ve been forthcoming enough. She doesn’t need to know that I’m in training to replace my father.
Thankfully, we don’t have to wait long until Uncle Gio shows up.
He knocks on the door, and I only have to take two steps from where I’m sitting to answer it.
He nods at me, scanning the interior of the apartment as only people who need to know where all the exits are.
Walking inside, his gaze falls on Sofia, his distaste clear.
“Hello,” he says in a monotone voice.
She stands up. “Hello.”
“Hear her out,” I instruct my uncle.
Gio turns to Sofia, waiting for her story.
“I’d like to apologize for any inconvenience I’ve caused your family,” Sofia begins.
Gio nods, willing to accept the polite admission.
“I thought you had killed my brother,” she continues.
Gio relaxes. This is something he can appreciate.
We all know what it’s like to lose a family member, and the overwhelming emotional response it creates.
Everyone in my household has a vendetta against Andretti.
He’s done so much damage over the years.
We all hate him. Sofia’s desire for revenge strikes a chord in his heart and makes it easier to hear the rest.
“I just found this recording that my brother made,” Sofia says, starting up the video again.
Gio watches the video without a visible reaction, but by the time it’s over, he seems willing to help. “Your brother says that there might be information on the company hard drive that could prove Andretti is pulling the strings.”
“Yes,” Sofia replies, standing up and going to her closet.
She crouches to rummage through a box and comes back with a yellow legal pad.
Pushing two sheets aside, she reveals a hidden block of text that has a username and a password.
“This was my brother’s access information.
I tried to see if there was anything left in his drive, but it’s been wiped clean. ”
“In the message, he says that there’s a backup,” Gio reminds us.
“He also said it would be impossible to get,” I remind them.
“Not necessarily,” Sofia assures me. She sits down, opening the newspaper’s webpage and scrolling down to the bottom to the link for the staff login.
She types in her own name and an eight-digit number, and the screen opens to reveal a second desktop.
“This is my account,” she tells us. “You can see that all my files are still there. Well, at least all the files you left me with.”
“Me?” I ask, confused.
“Um, that day you went to my office, all my files on your dad were erased. I just assumed it was you,” she says hesitantly.
“No, I didn’t even think about that,” I mutter. “How did they know which files to take?” I ask aloud.
“I think they just took everything recent,” she surmises. “Everything past a certain date is missing.”
“Makes sense,” Gio agrees. “They probably just wanted to cover all their bases, make sure you didn’t have anything on them.”
“But if Danny was right, and there is a backup, all we need to do is find it,” Sofia concludes.
“How do we do that?” I wonder.
“It makes sense that the backup would be on the newspaper’s mainframe,” Gio says.
“Which is in a temperature-controlled room on the same floor,” Sofia adds.
“How is it accessed?” Gio prompts.
“Through a digital key,” Sofia says. “Which I think we can get from Mr. Harlan’s computer if we can find a way to make a copy of it.”
“We have some guys who can work on this,” Gio replies.
I run through the list I’ve been keeping in my head of all the contacts my father keeps on his payroll. Sure enough, there are a few tech wizards who are doing some high-level espionage-type things involving computers.
“How long do you think it would take for them to come up with a way to read Harlan’s key?” I ask my uncle.
“Shouldn’t be long,” Gio says. “Give me a minute.” He pulls out his phone and steps outside to make the call.
Sofia and I wait silently. We’re both hoping for the best possible outcome, yet there are a lot of questions that remain.
Even if Gio can find a way to copy Harlan’s keystrokes, doesn’t that mean we’ll have to physically be in the building?
And which one of us has the plausible deniability to show up at one of Andretti’s businesses without raising suspicions?
I’ve already been there once to break up with Sofia.
I think my odds of getting in and out undetected are slim.
Gio returns with a smile on his face. “They can have a bug ready in about two hours,” he reports. “All I have to do is pick it up.”
“It’s not digital?” Sofia asks, confused.
“It’s on a hard drive,” Gio answers. “What you’ll have to do is get into Harlan’s office and plug it into his computer.”
“How am I going to do that?” Sofia moans.
“What if you handed the drive to him and told him to plug it in?” I suggest.
“Why would he do that?” she wonders.
“What if you had a taped confession regarding my activities in my father’s organization?” I reply. “That would be worth money in the bank for Andretti and Harlan would have no choice but to check it out.”
“You would do that for me?” Sofia asks, astonished.
“I’m not going to serve time for this,” I explain. “I’m just going to confess on tape so that you have something to trick Harlan with.”
“But what if he passes it along to the police?” she says.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” I reply. “Besides, I think you already know that my father has his own connections within the police department.”
“I do,” Sofia mutters, nodding her head.
“Let’s do this,” I say.
“Okay,” she replies. “Where do you want to sit?”
“Here is fine.” I show the couch.
Sofia stands up, finding a spot in the middle of the room where she can videotape me freely. She starts to roll film, but I’m not prepared.
“What do you want me to say?” I ask.
“Explain how your father makes some of his money or what you do for him to get that money,” she answers.
I hold her gaze, knowing that this is going to be difficult for her to hear. I don’t even want to say the words, but I have to. It must look convincing, otherwise Harlan will be wise to our plot and will never give us the information we need.
“My father is the Don of the Corello Family,” I start, looking away from the camera, pretending I’m unaware I’m being recorded. My ‘confession’ is brief, with just the bare minimum of information needed to convince anyone I know what I’m talking about.
“When someone doesn’t pay, well I do what needs to be done.”
Sofia inhales sharply. I try to sound like a man who is wrestling with his conscience, like I have some legitimate reason for being so blunt on camera.
Sofia lowers the phone, giving me a short nod.
Apparently, we’re just going to go with the one take, since the subject matter isn’t something she’s comfortable with.
“Here,” Gio says, texting something into his phone.
A moment later, Sofia’s phone chimes, and she looks down to read the screen.
“I just sent you the number. Text your video to my guy, and he’ll put it on the flash drive,” Gio instructs.
Sofia does as she’s instructed. Now it’s only a matter of time until we can bait our trap.
“Who is going to deliver the message?” I ask.
“I will,” Sofia says.
“That sounds dangerous,” I object.
“It has to be her,” Gio interjects.
“I agree,” Sofia says firmly. “I can’t think of any other way to accomplish it.”
“All right,” I say reluctantly because I know she’s right. I just don’t like the idea of putting her in danger. “But I’ll be right across the street if you need help.”
“I think I’m okay,” Sofia says.
“I insist,” I respond. There are no ifs ands or buts about it, I don’t want her going in there alone. If I can’t be with her in the office building or make contact myself, I want to be as close as possible in case something goes wrong.
Both Gio and Sofia nod, accepting my ultimatum.
Now it’s just a matter of time before we can pick up the drive and take it to Harlan’s office.
I think Dad will be pleased that we’re closing in on Andretti.
Hopefully, Harlan will lead us to him, not just by allowing us to access Danny’s files, but also potentially by encouraging Andretti to come out of hiding.
We just might be able to kill two birds with one stone, getting justice for Sofia and for Marlena at the same time. Now, if I can only figure out how to help Brandon, we’ll be all set. I can’t ask for everything, but I’m willing to shoot for the moon.