Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Harrison
I wait to tell Natalia about Ryan until the following morning.
We wake and shower together after a very intense but very fast session of lovemaking, the water flowing over our bodies. Then, we sit at the kitchen island and eat our breakfast of toast and coffee.
“I met with Fillmore yesterday.”
Natalia frowns. “Isn’t he from your old unit? What’s he doing in the city?”
“He lives here now, and we’ve been in contact for a while.
He was concerned about me, and we met and talked about old times.
He,” I say and hesitate, not sure how much to tell her.
I don’t want to endanger her, but at the same time, I know she wants to be a real part of my life.
Considering everything she’s been through, she deserves the truth.
The whole truth.
I promised I wouldn’t hide anything from her, and I intend to keep that promise even if I would rather she not be burdened with the knowledge of how fucked up our world is.
But she’s strong. Much stronger than I ever really understood.
“What?” she says and touches my arm. “Tell me.”
I take in a deep breath and nod. “He has a hacker friend. His friend hacked into Ryan’s emails and bank account. He found some incriminating evidence that Ryan is selling info to the Ivanov family in exchange for money to pay off a big gambling debt.”
“Oh, my God, Harrison,” she says and shakes her head slowly. “I hate gambling. It’s ruined so many lives. It’s as bad as heroin.”
“It can be if you’re susceptible. I guess Ryan is.
He had several hundred thousand dollars in debt because of gambling at the casino, and instead of coming to me, he went to Ivanov.
In exchange for the money, he was providing Ivanov with intel on our family’s business so they could use our transport trucks to move their guns around the city and the boroughs. ”
“He always seemed so nice,” Natalia says, her eyes sad. “He was always nice to me, at least.”
“He had us all fooled.”
“What are you going to do? You’ve got to take this to Fogarty. He must know how Ryan is involved and the risk that he poses to the operation.”
I sigh, uncertain what I should do. I want to punch Ryan in the face. I want to do more, but I can’t show my hand too soon. I have to know more. If Ryan is selling info to Ivanov, what else is he willing to do? He betrayed the family by letting Ivanov use our business to move illegal weapons.
Then, a dark thought captures my mind…
What about my father’s death? What about Ethan? A man who is heavily in debt will often do things they wouldn’t normally do.
Like, tell the enemy about a bank robbery? But the mall cop… I assumed that he was just an overzealous security type who got mixed up in something beyond his capabilities. Did he enter the bank not really knowing what was at stake?
But Ryan was there. Only Ethan was shot before I could neutralize the cop.
My mind whirls with the possibilities. Was he there to take Ethan out? I knew that Ryan and Ethan were not seeing eye to eye on many things to do with running the family business, but I never would have imagined that Ryan would have Ethan taken out…
Now, I don’t know who to trust.
“I want to think about it for a while,” I say, a sick feeling in my gut. I put down my toast and take a big drink from my coffee mug.
“What’s there to think about? If Ryan is compromised, Fogerty has to know.”
“It would mean betraying my family,” I say, although I realize how stupid that sounds as it comes out of my mouth. If what Fillmore showed me is real, Ryan betrayed our family. Turning him in would be justice.
But at what cost?
Natalia gets off her stool and comes to stand beside me. “Harrison. Ryan betrayed your family. After everything you’ve done, after everything your father did for him and his family. He went behind your back and let the Russians use your company to move illegal arms. He should be in jail.”
If what he did is what I fear he did, he should be dead.
“I have to speak with Tommy. I need to discuss this with him.”
“He won’t want to go to the FBI with this. He won’t want to implicate your family.”
“Neither do I,” I say and look deep into her eyes. “It would ruin our family name for good if it got out that Ryan was collaborating with Ivanov behind my father’s back. I want something to remain of O’Connor Enterprises after it’s out completely.”
She puts her arms around my neck. “Harrison, you can’t just leave the Mafia and think the business will be intact. Maybe you have to rethink your plans of taking O’Connor Enterprises out of the Mafia’s grasp and have to think about starting new.”
“No more O’Connor Enterprises?” I shake my head and try not to stiffen in her arms. I pull back.
“We have expertise of over a century in the construction industry. We have skilled craftspeople and are responsible for hundreds of buildings in Manhattan and the boroughs. How can I just let that fade into oblivion, or worse, go down in flames?”
“I know, but everything I’ve read tells me that you can’t just clean it up and everything will be great. People are going to learn about this, eventually. Maybe you have to start shutting it down now. You’re in charge. You can do this.”
I shake my head firmly. “I just can’t let that happen.
I want to take O’Connor Enterprises out of the underworld and bring it back above ground in every respect.
I want our sons and daughters to inherit a respectable business that is part of New York City’s proud history.
If word gets out that Ryan betrayed my father and my family, and was working with the Russians directly?
They won’t want to work with us. It has to be handled internally. ”
She pulls away, frowning. “Harrison… Let me talk to Gramps about this and see what he says. He knows how things work in New York City. He knows the police and the FBI. The Mafia. Let me see what he suggests.”
I sigh, frustrated that she can’t see my perspective. “My family’s business was clean for ninety percent of its existence. It has only been in the last two decades that things have gone sour. Before that, clean as a whistle. I want to go back to that time.”
She steps away from me, and I can see disappointment clear on her face. “You can’t go back, Harrison. You can only go forward. Let me talk to Gramps…”
“Okay, but please. Keep this between the three of us. If I go to Fogerty with this, I want it to be my decision.”
She nods and goes to the refrigerator and opens the door, but stands staring inside like she doesn’t really know what she’s looking for. I know she doesn’t approve of waiting to talk to Fogerty about this, but I have to try to do what I planned when I came back to my family.
I want to pass the business down to my own children if they want it.
I drop her off at the facility and drive to the warehouse to start my day.
On the way, I think about everything that’s happened since we returned to Manhattan after our week of bliss on Fire Island.
I discovered that Uncle Ryan has been using O’Connor Enterprises to pay off his gambling debts by colluding with the Russians.
We learn that Natalia is pregnant. I should be excited for the new life we’re bringing into the world, and a part of me is, but the other part – the part worried about the business and Uncle Ryan’s betrayal, is dimming that happiness.
I arrive at the parking area behind the warehouse, and after parking my vehicle, I enter through the receiving entrance.
This is the door through which so much of the equipment and supplies enter the building and construction business that is O’Connor Enterprises.
I can’t imagine shutting it down, selling it off, and moving on.
Not yet.
I have to try to work this out myself before I decide to go to the Feds. I know what they’ll do. They’ll force O’Connor Enterprises to use Ryan to take down Ivanov and then shut down O’Connor Enterprises completely.
Ryan will be put in prison, and the business will die.
I can’t let that happen, and as much as I know Natalia is right that I should go to Fogerty and tell him what I’ve learned, I just can’t.
Not now. Not yet.
I have to learn more, discover if what Fillmore is saying is true.
I have no reason to doubt him, but at the same time, there is also no reason to completely trust him.
He could be compromised. He could be being used to get to me by someone out to destroy O’Connor Enterprises and me from the inside.
I go to my office after saying hello to Diane and the other admin staff who are, as usual, here bright and early, ready for the day.
There’s a fresh pot of coffee in the break room, so I make myself another cup and head to my office.
Once there, I sit behind the desk that used to be my father’s and survey the office.
From where I sit, I can see through the door to the admin area, and staff are busy at their computers or on the phone. Across from my desk is a window that overlooks the waterfront.
It’s amazing.
I can see why my father chose this part of the building for his offices. In the distance, a ship sails by. I can see the docks on the shore of Brooklyn. There are buildings across from Manhattan that O’Connor Enterprises has built over the decades.
I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want O’Connor Enterprises to go down in history as just another mafia-run business that was taken down by crime and corruption.
I want to salvage as much as I can. My family’s legacy for my children.
Yes, my father made mistakes during the 80s and 90s when the Russian mafia became such a powerhouse in the building and construction trades.
But he did it out of necessity and because he wanted to save the family business.
For us.
For Ethan, Liam and me.
I want to do the same for my own children, since I am the last surviving child of Ronan O’Connor.
I owe it to him.