Chapter 6
SIX
GINO
I hope Kevin’s suggestion of calling Anthony directly will work. So far, I’ve only had one call with someone in his organization, but it didn’t yield much, so I pray a more direct approach works.
Grabbing my phone, I dial Anthony.
“Esposito, why are you calling me?”
“Anthony, I don’t know what the fuck you’re thinking, but give him back.” I know he doesn’t have him directly, but he may know something, so I need to assume.
“Give who back?” he grumbles.
“Mateo—”
He cuts me off. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, we don’t have him. I don’t know what you’ve been told, but we can’t help you.”
“I have photos from a cafe that show him being drugged by one of your sons.” I grit out.
“Gino, I get it, you want to find your man, but I’m telling you we don’t have him.”
“Do you want something? Is that it?” I'm yelling now.
“I’m not going to listen to this. We don’t have him,” he says.
Before I can say anything else, he hangs up.
Fuck.
I’m about to call Kevin to tell him I got nothing out of that conversation. Then my phone rings.
Lorenzo Esposito.
“Lorenzo,” I grit out.
“Ahh, hello, Gino; how are you?”
“I know what you did.”
“Do you now?” he replies coolly. I hear how smug he feels through the phone.
“What do you want? To gloat?” I ask, already irritated with this conversation.
“No, I'm open to negotiating, but I will need some assurances,” he replies.
“What’s that?”
“I want all of the drugs you have left in Italy.”
“I don’t have any; I’ve given them all to your father,” I tell him.
“Figure it out; that’s what I want.”
And just like his father, before I can respond, he hangs up.
I need to call in reinforcements, so I call Ryan. Drew’s downstairs already and will need his help on this too.
Drew knows computers, and the Cambio brothers bring the muscle and violence, but Ryan truly is a genius in addition to his enforcer abilities.
He can analyze financials and businesses like I’ve never seen before.
Anything we think of doing business-wise, Ryan reviews.
He can get his hands dirty like everyone else in this group, but he has the brains too.
“Gino,” he answers.
“Ryan, I need you over at the house. I'm going to need your help with something.”
“You got it, I’ll be over there in fifteen minutes.”
“Make it ten.” I hang up and throw my phone on the desk, groaning as my face falls into my hands.
“What are you planning?” Drew asks curiously as he walks into my office.
“I don’t know yet, but I think we need more than one approach.”
He nods his head in agreement.
Once Ryan arrives, we all head to the kitchen, and the three of us take a seat at the bar. Ryan and Drew sit on either side of me, and both open their laptops. Juliet is on the other side of the island, cutting celery.
I can already tell what she’s making.
When she’s stressed or upset, she always makes her version of chicken and dumplings, much to Ryan’s delight since he’s from the South.
Both look over to me expectantly, waiting for me to give a command or an order. Without thinking, I get up from my chair and walk to the other side of the island where Juliet is standing.
Now the two are staring at me, wondering what I’m doing, and honestly, I’m wondering that myself: what the hell am I doing?
I grab a cutting board and the carrots she placed on the counter.
Juliet stops and looks over to me, confused. Sure, when people aren’t in this house, I have helped her cook over the years. She taught me some dishes, so I don’t go hungry when she’s out of town.
She doesn’t say anything, though, just turning back to chopping the celery. But the other two in the room can’t fathom the fact that I'm helping.
“Well, shit, Gino, if I knew you could cook, I would have asked Juliet to move into my house years ago,” Drew says, huffing out a laugh.
I look at him with a death glare; there is no way in hell she is living with any of these assholes.
“I would never live at your house; it's a mess,” Juliet responds, not even looking up. “And you and Alonso are so unorganized. I would never survive.”
“You wound me,” Drew says, feigning heartache.
I cut him off before he says anything else to piss me off in relation to Juliet.
“Drew, can you find a way to get access to anything about the Russos’ compound?
I’m talking staff logs and who comes in and out.
And Ryan, can you analyze anything he finds to see if there is something we missed or don’t know about them? ”
They both nod their heads and get up from their barstools, leaving the kitchen to go to the security room around the corner.
“Thanks, but you really don’t need to help me with this,” Juliet says as she grabs an onion.
I take it from her. “I know you don’t need help, but I’m offering.” I smile at her and continue chopping.
We silently work for a few minutes, and Juliet starts adding vegetables to the chicken currently cooking on the stove. Then, I hear the front door open and close.
“Hey, you two,” I hear my sister’s voice as she walks into the kitchen, taking a seat at the bar.
“I didn’t know you were coming over?” I look over to her and say.
“Well, my house was too quiet, so I needed noise and people,” she replies, and as she does, Alonso enters.
“Hey guys,” he says.
I pause and think. Vanessa has mentioned more than once now that her house is quiet, but she doesn’t want to be gone for long in case Mateo comes home.
I don’t want to crush her by saying that he might not be any time soon, but she does need someone with her, and Alonso could be the best guy for that.
I stare a little too long, warranting Vanessa to wave her hand in front of my face. “Hello, earth to Gino?”
I shake my head. “What?”
“Alonso asked where Drew was.”
“Uhh, he and Ryan are in the security office.” Alonso nods his head and walks across the kitchen to the security room.
“Are you okay?” Vanessa asks in the soft, caring voice she uses when she’s concerned.
Even though we’ve only known of each other's existence for the last few months, we have become extremely close. I think about the what-ifs a lot. What if our father didn’t keep Vanessa away, and we grew up together?
What if I didn’t lie to her about why Mateo became her bodyguard when I first met her?
And the last one, what if I didn’t send Mateo to Italy? Where would we be right now?
Breaking me from my thoughts, “Gino, follow me,” she says, grabbing my hand. She all but drags me across the first floor of the house to the gym. She opens the door, and we walk in.
“Ness, what are we doing in here?” I ask, “I have other things to do.”
“Maybe you do, but when was the last time you punched something?”
“What?” I ask with a shock in my voice.
Vanessa is not a violent person, so her suggestion catches me off guard.
“You’re stressed; your best friend is missing,” she sighs. “You are allowed to be upset and angry about it. You don’t have to be strong 100% of the time. Everyone else is processing and feeling in their own way, and you need to, too, so please punch something.”
She walks out of the room and closes the door.
I stare back at the door, knowing she’s right; I need to diffuse the anger boiling within me– before I make another costly mistake.
Rolling up my sleeves as I turn to face the punching bag, I suddenly notice the built-up stress in my shoulders, undoubtedly brought on by those nights I spent sleeping at my desk. I cock my head to both sides until it clicks, then I unleash it all.