Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
ENZO
"Why the fuck are you here?" Silas asks me as I drop by his place in Astoria, Queens.
It is late, is what he means, and he is just being a pain in the ass. Late for him is five a.m., it is ten.
"I just dropped a disgruntled Lyndall off at my father's, and Cade has gone to drive Vi home."
"You have no boundaries." Silas shoves a hand through his too-long hair and ushers me inside.
We head past his home office that clients and potential clients see, and to the bigger one that only members of the Syndicate are privy to.
I shrug. "He said he's on the way over, something about the Rebecci family?"
I need to tell him about Lola, how she might call.
As he flings himself into one of the seats, I pace.
He is doing something on his computer, but it is a New York map, so I don't know what he is up to because he knows this city.
Then again, Silas also likes to mark out things to do with his job, so I wait.
About three seconds.
"Silas, listen—"
His phone starts to ring, and he holds a finger up. "Hello?"
Shit.
I didn't get a chance to tell him about what I had told Lola, or how to play it.
He is not going to screw it up, I don't think, it is not his style. But while he can be charming and play it loose, there is also the chance he might say the wrong thing, like 'he is standing right here.'
His eyes narrow as she talks, and he turns, pulls out his chair, and sprawls in it.
I go to his whiskey bottle on the bookshelf. There are a few clean glasses upside down on the shelf above it. I grab one and pour a healthy slug.
That narrow-eyed look continues as he raises two fingers. Then I slide that one over his desk to him and pour another for me and sit on the sofa.
He takes a swallow, eyes never leaving me. "Okay. You want a private investigator. To do all that."
I give him a hard look.
"Who gave you my number?" A pause. "Yes, I am. But I'm curious."
Suddenly, the smug look he is starting to exude vanishes. "Who the fuck's Alex—"
"I'm Alex," I mouth, pointing to my chest.
He is good enough, he pivots mid-confusion. "I know a few Alexes."
Fuck, she is saying something, and I motion to him to put it on speaker, but he shakes his head and mouths back, "Not on your fucking life."
"Wait, I'm getting a text." He glares at me like I have gone and lost my mind, and it occurs to me I probably have.
"Play along," I whisper.
"You owe me." And then he raises his voice so she can hear. "Alex Blatt."
My eyebrows rise high.
He frowns. "How much?"
I mouth, "On the house, you owe him."
This time, he rolls his eyes. "On the house. I owe him a favor, and he owes me money. I will help you, and he can pay up. He's rich. And I will do that." He silently swears. "And what, exactly, do you want me to do? See if this untrustworthy-sounding Ernie is a criminal?"
I'm too far from him to kick, so I down my drink and lean forward, nabbing the bottle and refilling my drink.
"Sorry, Enzo. And...oh, oh, I see. You want a background check. It shouldn't be a problem. It is a specialty."
He shakes his head and eyes me like I have grown another one of my own. "Oh, sure, you can trust Alex. If he says I'm good, I'm good. Some might say the best...and yes, I will get it done as soon as possible."
Silas turns then and jots down some things she says to him. Probably her number and name. "Thanks, Lola...No problem. It is never too late for me. This kind of job means weird hours. And if I'm sleeping or busy, the phone is on silent. I will get back to you in a day or so."
He hangs up, then rises and stomps over, taking the bottle. When he returns to his chair, he just nods at me.
"I tried to get here in time."
"Ever heard of this fucking new thing called a phone? You can call. Text. Send me the message in emoji form if you wish." Silas blows out his breath and takes a swig. "But I don't like being made to look like the world's most incompetent PI."
I shrug. "You didn't. Second worst."
"Thanks, and fuck you, Enzo." He offers me a tight smile. "Who the fuck is Lola, and why are you pretending to be someone named Alex and having yourself investigated?"
"I don't want you to investigate me. Just tell her you did. Maybe you are incompetent."
"Maybe you should fuck yourself for real?"
"Impossible."
"You have no imagination."
"I have a great imagination. I'm just not a pervert."
Silas starts laughing. "And I'm the Santa and Easter Bunny crossover."
"Fuck off."
I take another sip of my drink.
He might be dead on about me and my perversions, if you can call what I'm doing perversion. But this isn't about getting a girl. I can get girls. Just because things are out of hand, it is not my fault.
Of course, I don't take a long time with just anyone.
And I'm not taking my time. I have no intentions of getting any part of my anatomy wet in her. This is about protection, not the fun along the way.
"Seriously," I mutter, "Fuck off, Silas."
"Seriously, Enzo." He mimics my tone. "What the fuck was that whole call about?"
"I think the call was self-explanatory."
"No. It didn't. And I sounded like such a loser that if she thinks I can investigate anything, then she's also a loser."
I laugh and shake my head. "You sounded fine, man."
"No, I sounded like a fucking fool."
"You didn't." But I do owe him something. "And I'm sorry, I really am."
"About making me look incompetent?"
"About not giving you a heads-up." Then I add a little lie. "I drove here as fast as I could, but I thought she wouldn't call until tomorrow."
I did drive as fast as I could, but I could tell from the tone of her texts she was anxious enough to do it tonight. If texts have a tone, that is. I just thought I would beat her, that is all.
Knowing Silas, he will pick that apart, telling me how she shakes me down to the bones.
Which she doesn't.
Just that old protective thing toward her.
Silas frowns. "Then why did you come running? I get it if it was an emergency, but why—"
"Not just call and text?" I get up and top up my drink, just to annoy him.
It is his good Irish Teeling 24 we are drinking, and he can get possessive when it comes to his top shelf, so I pour an extra-large top-up.
He glares.
I shrug. "I figured I might as well come now since there is other business we need to get on to. And like I said, Cade's on his way."
I want to come up with something where we can poke into the two mafia families and, even though I hate it, give them enough on Louie to dive into him, too. If Silas and Cade decide to go there.
He nods, picks up a pen, and scribbles a note on his notepad. "Good. He can tell me what this is about."
"I told you."
"No, you hung me out to dry."
I ignore him. "And I also came to give you a heads-up, like I said."
He points at me. "You are a mess. Next time, try a little harder in the old giving me a heads-up. Who is this Lola anyway?"
"A girl," I mutter.
"Sexy." He underlines her name at the top of the page and draws a big question mark after it.
I glare and choose to lie. "Not really."
"And why the fuck are you this fucking Alex? I mean, I got that before you mouthed you were. She didn't know your last name. Alex's last name, I mean. Knows Enzo's, though. Oh, fuck! You didn't knock her up, did you?"
My eyebrows fly up. "What? No. How...? Why would I have you investigate me? Pretend to, anyway—"
"Pretend?" He falls about laughing. "Who said anything about pretend? I'm digging into you, bub."
"I haven't touched her." I take a swallow of the Teeling whiskey and ignore the fact that he knows most things about me that he needs to know, which I would say is everything. Apart from my childhood and teens. And Lola. But that stuff is unimportant.
Not Lola. She has never been unimportant. She is just something I keep to myself, and maybe share a bit about with Cade.
"So, why does she want to investigate you, and why do you want me to? Sounds kind of fucked."
"It's nothing. She's considering a job." I look into the amber liquid in my glass. "But it is nothing. Just say I'm clean, blah blah, and we can forget about it."
Silas shakes his head. "I'm not forgetting a fucking thing. And I'm not buying this nothing bullshit."
"It is nothing."
He leans back in his chair and shrugs. "Fine. If you don't want to tell me, that is totally fine. I will just call this Lola back and ask her."
I want to punch the sudden smug smile off his face as I let out a small growl that makes his smugness grow. "Okay. I will tell you."
He crosses his arms and waits.
"Let's start with Louie..."
I begin when I met him at college, and Silas is heckling me when the doorbell rings.
He gets up and leaves the room, returning with Cade in tow.
Silas is smiling. "Our friend Enzo has some sexy piece who he's playing filthy games with, getting her to pretend to investigate him. Only, I think there's a lot more going on because he's cagey as fuck."
Cade helps himself to a drink and takes my place on the sofa.
I huff. "I'm not cagey. And Cade knows most of it."
Silas nods. "Start at the beginning."
Cade shrugs, and I sigh.
I cherry-pick a history that is the truth with a few strategic holes here and there. I tell them how I'm helping Louie by becoming CEO, the involvement of the Rebecci family, and the shit done to Edoardo. And I make sure they both know this could all be handy for us at some point.
After all, knowledge is wealth and power for us.
And then I tell them about Lola.
How there is an old family entanglement, and how I look out for her and always have. How I helped get her a job, and I'm worried someone might be after her because of who her father was.
She was a potential target before his death and remains more of a target now.
Silas frowns. "How do you know?"
I spread my hands. "Because that's how this world works. Her father became one hell of a liability, and I know the thinking, even if she was never considered a threat before."
Cade leans forward. "Like Gino?"
"Gino plays by mafia rules, but while I think he would watch someone like Lola, someone on the peripheral, he wouldn't target her. Not unless—"
"He thought she was guilty of something against him." Cade nods.
I nod back. "Not everyone is that fair. And some will see her as the one who holds secrets or hidden cash. So...I make sure she's not easy to find. And I keep an eye on her, that's all."
"That's all?" Silas turns in his seat.
"The Alex persona was—is—a way to keep tabs on her, to keep an eye on her. To keep her safe."
They exchange a look.
Silas motions for me to continue.
I decide to skip the part about the flirting and the dirty sexts because there is no way I'm telling them both about any of that. I will never hear the end of it. And they will give me so much shit I will need a fucking giant shovel.
But while Cade lets that slide, Silas doesn't.
Silas is a different beast. He doesn't let things slide. Not ever.
And nothing gets past him.
It is what makes him a great PI and an annoying friend.
He knows there is more.
Silas starts to slow clap. "Nice show, Enzo. Too bad you're leaving things out."
Cade mutters, "Dude, just—"
Silas ignores him. "Why the Alex shit? You can do this from afar. Without Alex."
"It was easier."
"You named him," Silas says. "I call bullshit."
Cade pushes his glasses on top of his head as he looks up from his phone for a moment. He wants to say something but doesn't. And I know why. I know the history of him and Violet.
"You texted her and then you named your text dude." Silas waits.
I rub the back of my neck. "Okay, so I might have started a text relationship. But she doesn't know it's me. And she doesn't like me."
"Fuck, man." Silas shakes his head.
Cade downs some of his drink. "Hate to be Captain fucking obvious here, Enz, but eventually, she will find out."
Silas nods. "They always do. Women are freaking smart."
"And then this is gonna blow up in your face, Enzo." This is from the traitor Cade, formerly known as my closest friend.
"Maybe nuclear," Silas says.
I sigh. "Look, I don't doubt you guys are right."
"Of course, we are. And I know I always am." Silas places a hand on his heart. "It's a hard cross to bear but...bear it I do."
I ignore him. "But for now, these text sessions—"
Silas's eyes widen. "They're sessions now?"
"Don't," I mutter.
Silas studies me. "Fine, I won't. But what's going to happen down the track?"
I raise my arms. "I don't know. These texts are all I've got to see what's going on in her head. She also likes Alex."
Silas turns to Cade, who is flipping through menus on a delivery app. "Stands to reason, our friend here is not that great, don't you think?"
I politely ignore the comment. "I'm having cameras installed in her home tomorrow." There is a creeping heat at the back of my neck. "Generic places: her windows, front door, the building door, across the street."
"You should check to see if she has an over-the-counter type camera installed—the plug-and-go kind? Anyone with a drop of know-how can access them, and they leave a trail."
Cade doesn't look up. "Pizza?"
"Fuck, yes." Silas turns to me as he grabs the bottle. "Look up her system, but just know this is your life, dude. If you want me to lie for you, I will. Just don't drag me down when shit hits the fan."
"How would I do that?"
"By pissing her off." Silas tops his drink and sets the bottle down. "She sounds sweet."
"She is. And all I'm doing is protecting her."
"You have got Lyndall. Maybe leave it at that."
"I don't tell you how to do things, Silas." I skim over the fact that I, in fact, do. "So, don't do it to me."
He holds up his hands, bottle and all. "Your life."
He looks at Cade. "No anchovies."
"Pepperoni, man. Nothing fancy." Cade slowly grins. "I leave that fancy stuff to when I'm with Vi."
"Fuck you both." Silas sniffs and hands Cade the bottle.
Cade turns to me, eyes piercing mine. "You sure?"
I nod. "I'm protecting her."
While he orders the pizza and Silas gathers things we need, like plates, I hack into her internet. It is pretty fucking easy, and yeah, she has a camera—some cheap thing that shows her door. It is dark, and no doubt she is in bed, but I don't need to see inside.
I just need to see if anyone has been on her computer other than her. Accessing the camera.
As soon as I'm in, my fears are confirmed, and unease makes me queasy.
"Who the fuck is XNX300?"
It is a junk router with a junk email that probably bounces and muddies it all.
I motion Cade over, who lets out a breath.
"A little too sophisticated. Or someone's paranoid." Then he frowns, leans past me, and wipes it all, disconnecting me.
He turns the internet off.
Then he says, "I don't think they were looking, but we should set something up next time. A mirror."
"Why?" But I know.
"Because whoever that is was in there just now or left their backdoor open."
Fuck.
Lola is in more danger than I thought.