Page 33 of Mistletoe in the Mafia

“I already looked through all the information on record about the case. Four kids, all in their third year of college, are suddenly abducted one night. There’s no ransom call, no news—they simply vanish. Chicago PD is called to investigate, but they get nowhere. Then the FBI gets involved.”

I have no clue why he’s telling me all this, but this is the most he’s ever spoken in my presence, and I’m intrigued to find out where he’s going with it.

“The FBI didn’t find out much, either,” I say, deciding to add my two cents. “The only thing we could establish was that all four of them were involved in an academic research project sponsored by a private tech company, SyTech Labs. But it wasn’t just them. There were more than ten kids in that program. Why were only those four targeted?”

“I talked to one of them,” Dominic states.

My eyes widen in shock. “What?”

“Not one of the missing kids. Obviously,” he says on a smirk. He grabs one of my keyboards and takes over one of my screens. He logs into his own account and pulls up a picture of a young woman in her late twenties with brown hair. “Emily Raines. She was a part of the research project.”

“They already interviewed all of the remaining kids from back then. None of them knew anything,” I tell Dominic.

“Theysaidthey didn’t know anything,” he corrects. “But something interesting came up after my phone call to Emily last night.”

“You called her?”

He nods. “Right after I received confirmation that she would talk to me.”

“And how could you have confirmed that?”

“Her husband works for Verona Energy. I happen to be a major investor at the company,” he replies.

My brain hurts. “You’re an investor at one of the biggest renewable energy companies in the US?”

“What can I say, baby? I’m a big believer in global warming,” he tells me, expression amused.

This is unbelievable.

“Circle back to Emily Raines. What exactly did you do?”

“I convinced her to tell me what really happened seven years ago.”

“You mean you threatened her with her husband’s job. Oh my god, Dominic,” I exclaim. “We’re the FBI. We don’t threaten or blackmail people.”

He simply rolls his eyes. “Are you done? Because you’re going to be interested in what she had to say.”

My chest heaves with a sigh. “What did she say?”

“Apparently, the four missing kids accessed restricted areas at SyTech Labs. Emily thinks they saw something they shouldn’t have.”

“While that’s good to know, it can’t be the basis for a reinvestigation. SyTech is a powerful conglomerate now. Back then, they refused to cooperate with the cops or the FBI, citing trade secrets. Now they’re practically untouchable.”

Dominic’s gray eyes darken. “No one’s untouchable.”

I pause at the expression on his face. That might be the most emotion he’s ever displayed. He blinks and everything disappears.

“You’re right, though, Emily Raines’ testimony wouldn’t be enough to re-open the case. Which is why I hacked into SyTech.”

“You did what?” I screech.

Oh my god, he’s insane. He’s insane and he’s going to get himself in trouble.

“I hacked into SyTech,” he repeats like I didn’t hear him the first time. “Don’t worry, I didn’t find much. They developed a Botox treatment a couple months after the kids died. I’m guessing that’s what the kids stumbled upon when they accessed the labs.”

“That’s such a reach,” I point out.

“Maybe, but the man in charge at the time, Kelvin Reyes, was a managing director. Today, he’s vice-president with a shit-ton of power. If anyone’s benefitted from the kids disappearance, it’s him. Plus, he has a past. Reyes used to work for a drug lord in a Mexican cartel until he cleaned up his act and stared working for SyTech.”

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