Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
GINO
FEbrUARY
I can’t keep letting this go on. The last nine months have yielded no actual leads to finding Mateo, and I’m starting to second-guess every decision.
Juliet left a few hours ago to go to Vanessa’s. I know my sister appreciates the help and someone to talk to. Lucy has been a big help, too, but she lives in the city, so she can’t visit as often as I know she wants to.
Vanessa and I have become closer through all of this. She used to be slightly reserved and nervous to ask questions, and now she doesn’t hold back. Which is something I appreciate.
According to Kevin, that’s how her mother was. The second our father told her of his mafia life, she pushed for answers to not only make sure she knew but to keep Vanessa safe.
Realizing I’m going to have to completely change my game up, I call the rest of the guys to my house. Alonso will be in the know, and so will Juliet, but I’m not tipping off my sister on what I’m about to do.
Drew, Ryan, Marco, Gabe, and Jake are all in my office. These meetings are becoming more frequent than I would like, especially without Mateo.
“So what’s the plan?” Drew asks.
“I’ve been thinking this over for days,” I admit, “and Drew, I want you to do everything you can to find something else because doing this our way isn’t working.
I don’t care if you need to hack directly into Russo's computers or servers, but do everything you can to find him. I know we never wanted to do anything completely illegal, but at this point I think it’s the only way we’ll find him. ”
“Got it.” Before any other words are spoken, he gets up and leaves the room.
“What about the rest of us, boss?” Marco asks. He’s got a smug look on his face. The motherfucker.
“Well, Marco, you’re going to keep your ass at the docks and make sure all that shit is running right.” I know he’s itching for a fight with someone, but I’m not doing that. He’s fucking ruthless, and I need to keep him at bay.
“Got it.” He gives me a fake hurt look because I know he wants to shoot someone or something.
“And keep your fucking gun holstered; I’m not dealing with a clean-up crew situation with you,” I grumble.
He lifts his hands in mock surrender. “I didn’t do anything to warrant that.”
“You didn’t, but you’re damn close to it,” I reply.
Being five years older than us, he’s got more mafia experience. But I don’t want him to use it. I know that by keeping him at the docks, he’ll keep his cool.
“Ryan, you're Drew's backup. If he gets anything, take a look at it,” I say, looking over to him.
“Got it,” he replies.
“Gabe, Jake, keep your ears to the ground. If the Russos plan anything here, I want to know about it,” I say.
“That’s it. I’ll let Alonso and Juliet know of the plan.”
Everyone makes their way out of my office, but Ryan hangs back.
“Have you gotten any new leads on who the person texting Juliet is?” he asks once everyone else leaves my office.
“No, they pretty much stopped after the message got out that we started dating, and they’ve been dormant for at least a month,” I reply.
“Why do you think they stopped?” Ryan asks.
“I have no clue. I’m guessing they feel like I’m too close.
Most people on the outside, before we started dating, thought she just worked for me.
And her theory that it’s two people makes a lot of sense.
The messages come from two different locations, and one is more threatening than the other.
Both have stopped, but the non-threatening messages stopped first,” I say.
“Do you have any theories on who either of them is?”
“The threatening one is from someone working with Lorenzo because they, according to one of their messages, know where Mateo is. The other messages seem like someone genuinely trying to help because they seem to be getting the same information as us, but they just don’t know we have it.”
“So the second person could be someone we know?” He asks.
“That’s the most likely outcome,” I reply.
“Any ideas who it could be?”
“No, Juliet and I thought it could be someone from the old guard, but why would they hide?”
“What if it’s someone who maybe knew your father but wasn’t in the mafia?” he suggests.
“Could be, but I don’t know who that would be.”
“I can see if your father had anyone in his files that could lead us to someone.”
“Yeah, thank you. We need to continue the focus on finding Mateo, but see if anything comes up as you look for new leads.”
“You got it,” he replies.
He leaves my office, shutting the door behind him.
I look over the new batch of documents I need to approve; luckily it doesn’t take long, and then I’m out the door to let Alonso, Juliet, and Vanessa know of my plan.
I know I need to keep my sister in the loop more, but I don’t want her to overthink what’s happening.
I open the door to the side of the house and walk in. She, Alonso, and Juliet are sitting at the bar eating.
Vanessa sees me first. “Hey, big brother, what are you doing here?”
“I came by to see you and to tell all of you about the new plan we’re working on.”
She looks at me in shock while Alonso has a smug look on his face, and Juliet has a soft smile on her face.
“And that plan is?” Alonso asks, lifting an eyebrow.
“I gave Drew full authority to hack into anything to find Mateo. Hopefully, that brings in new leads because there’s nothing else from what we’ve already done,” I say.
“Well, shit, you’re finally doing something your father would have done; I’m proud,” Alonso says.
“Shut up, asshole.”
“What does it mean?” Vanessa asks.
“It means I am going to be like Dad for a bit and not give a shit about rules and deals.”
“I’ll allow it as long as you don’t turn into Dad forever cause he was an asshole,” Vanessa says, winking.
I snort. “That I definitely don’t disagree with.”
I walk over to Juliet and motion to her to come closer. She gets up from her chair and walks to me.
I give her a soft kiss. “I need to talk to you in private,” I whisper.
“Sure.”
We walk to the entryway here. I have a clear view of Vanessa and Alonso, so I know they can’t see or hear us.
“I know how much Vanessa wants to help, so if Drew sends you anything, you can show it to her or have her review it. But be careful if he finds anything that shows something we both know will break her; don't show her.”
She swallows.
“Okay, how long do you think this is going to keep going?” she asks.
“I don’t know anymore. Every time I think we’re close, we end up being two steps back,” I reply honestly.
“How deep is Drew going to go?” She asks.
“Probably as deep as he wants, but he knows what lines not to cross.”
We both stare at each other for a beat. I can see the emotion on her face. Juliet has been strong for everyone, making sure everyone is in their right minds, but sometimes I forget that she needs that too.
“Bella, I promise this is all going to work itself out; it's just taking longer than anyone would have guessed.”
I kiss her again and wrap her in a hug. Regardless of how our relationship started, I need to make sure she’s priority number one.