Chapter 10
TEN
GINO
I hear someone calling my name, “Gino, Gino.” I feel my arm shake. I slowly open my eyes to see Juliet staring back at me.
“Juliet, what, what time is it?”
“It’s almost five in the morning; you need to look at this,” she says with a hint of panic in her voice.
Before I respond, she puts her phone in my face, and I blink my eyes to adjust to the light of it. Staring back at me is a document detailing a bounty on Mateo for five million dollars. Are you fucking kidding me?
“Who sent this to you?” I say in anger.
“I have no idea. It came from an unknown number, and once I tried to call them, it said not in service.”
“I’m calling everyone in, except Vanessa. I’m not telling her about this,” Juliet nods in agreement.
I call Gabe, Jake, Marco, Ryan, Alonso, and Drew, and they’re all in my office within twenty minutes.
“Juliet got a message from someone saying there is a bounty on Mateo’s head, which means the Russos will kill him unless we can find him first. This could be bullshit to draw us out, but we don’t want to risk it.
Gabe, I’m sending you to Italy; go to Mateo’s hotel room and see if there is anything of use.
I was planning on waiting to do that and using the contacts we have in Italy to look for him, but this bounty makes it seem like there are more than the Russos involved in all of this.
I want you to stay there until we get him back. ” He nods in agreement.
“Drew, Juliet received the bounty on her phone from an unknown number. See if you can figure out who it’s from.” Drew walks to Juliet, who’s sitting on the couch in my office. She hands her phone to him as he sits next to her and starts typing on his computer.
He whispers something to her, something almost inaudible, but I catch “Tell him.” Tell him what? Tell me what? Does she have something weighing on her?
Pushing that thought aside, I continue. “Ryan, did you see anything in the Russos’ logs to give us anything we can work with?”
He sighs. “Nothing we don’t already have, but I know they have something out there. I’m going to keep digging.”
“I’m thinking we should look to see who and what else they have here in New York.
So far we’ve only found a handful of associates that are more focused on their assets than mafia dealings.
Anthony and my father had some dealings years ago.
I understood those were all in Italy, but they might not have been.
But now that we know they have associates here, it could help us. ”
“What about me, boss?” Alonso asks.
“Don’t worry; I might have the most important task for you. I need you to live with Vanessa. I know you’ve been the de facto bodyguard for her and have been staying with her here and there, but I’ll need you to move in with her,” I reply.
“You got it. Do you need me to go over there right now?”
“No, it’s not even six in the morning. I know she’ll be awake, but she’ll know something's wrong if one of us goes over there this early in the morning.”
“Why do you think there’s a bounty on his head? The Russos wouldn’t do that, right?” Alonso asks.
“They wouldn’t do it, but it has to be someone who wants him for themselves. And I have no idea who that could be. Jake, Gabe, Marco, I know your dad is retired, but do you think he could help us out?” They look at each other, then at me.
“Maybe. Mom would hate it, but I don’t think she’ll have an issue if he’s just helping with this stuff,” Gabe says.
I nod. “We just need his help on any contacts. I’ll call Kevin and ask for his help. I think we’ll need to ask some of the old guard to come out of retirement for this. And we might need to do things we don’t want to get him back.”
Once everyone has their tasks, they leave my office, and I decide to give Anthony a call to see if this bounty is actually legit.
Once he picks up, I start without even saying hello. “You have some fucking nerve putting a bounty on him.”
“Hello to you too, Gino,” he replies calmly.
“Fuck you,” I grit out.
“You don’t get to talk to me like that. I don’t care where your head is at; you have no right.”
“Someone put a bounty out on Mateo, and I have a feeling someone in your family has something to do with it.” The tension between the two of us is palpable.
Anthony Russo is ruthless, just like my father was. Now, no one can compare to my father, but if he wants someone gone, he’ll make it happen.
“No one within my family would do that or even care to do that. You need to be looking elsewhere,” he says.
“If I find out someone from your family put this bounty out, I will come after you,” I shout at him.
“I’d like to see you try.” Then he hangs up.
Before I set my phone down, it rings again. “Hello,” I say.
“Hello, Gino.” Lorenzo fucking Russo.
“Lorenzo, what do you want?”
“I hear you’re giving my father grief,” he says.
“Well, someone has to consider that his son kidnapped someone,” I growl.
“My father won’t help you. He has no clue of my plan,” he chuckles—fucking chuckles like he’s some sort of comedian.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” he says, almost shrugging it off. “It’s going to be fun watching you try ever so hard to find him, when we both know you won’t be able to without help.”
“Lorenzo, just give him back; he didn't do anything to you.”
“He didn’t, but you sure did, and sending Mateo here was a mistake.” Then he hangs up.
I stare at my phone, trying to understand what both Anthony and Lorenzo just said.