Page 38 of The Art of You

“We’re all on the same page as far as what happened beforethe op, let’s try and figure out what happened after, shall we?” Adelina suggested.

“Sure.” I leaned against the counter for support, crossing one ankle over the other, trying to act casual. I needed to hide not only the pain catching up with me now that the heavy meds had worn off, but also my nerves knowing that the photo had been used for a very specific reason. Butwhichreason?

“I can kick things off,” Enzo volunteered. “My team kept two of the kidnappers alive from the warehouse in New Rochelle where they’d been holding Lola.” A dark smirk crossed his lips before he added, “And that’s proof right there we can be civilized when need be.”

“Or,proof miracles really do happen,” Callie teased, enjoying busting her brother-in-law’s balls. “Because how often do you leave anyone alive?”

Alessandro casually exchanged a look with Enzo, lifting his shoulders in a shrug. “My wife’s right, and you know it.”

A smile skirted Adelina’s lips, and she tipped her chin in Callie’s direction. “I’m inclined to agree with Mrs. Costa here. It’s a miracle the Feds have men alive to question.”

Enzo eyed Adelina that time, probably because she was the only one in the room with a badge. “We’re not that bad, I swear.” He cleared his throat with an obnoxious cough. “Anywayyy.” He did his best to redirect, dragging out his word like Bella normally did. “What we know about the kidnappers is a whole lot of nothing. This was a quick-and-dirty, just-find-the-girl-and-ask-questions-later kind of op. But from what we could tell, and based on what Constantine saw in the van by the party, they were all in their mid-thirties or early forties. White, English-speaking males. No noticeable accents or tattoos. No IDs.”

“We didn’t see a need to take photos of the crime scene or the kidnappers. Or collect evidence,” Alessandro added animportantif-onlydetail. “Our mission was to rescue the girl. Beyond that, we always planned to turn everything over to you, and you’d have the FBI handle things from that point on.”

“Well, by now, the FBI has to have the kidnappers’ identities. They’ve probably also confirmed Chris and Eduardo were insiders. Not that they’ll share shit with us,” I hissed in frustration before my attention moved to Bella’s downturned lip, her eyes on the donut.

“Anyway, getting back to it,” Alessandro said, focusing up like I really needed to do, “after the rescue, Marc lost Eduardo and Chris at the gas station, then from there, you two were in a car crash, and we wound up with two dead Spaniards on our hands and no murder weapon. With no clue about motives or how much is connected, let alone if anything is at all.”

“My question is, why run you off the road in the first place? Why not try following you first to see if you’d lead them straight to where your people were holding the others hostage?” Adelina raised a valid point.

That same thought had crossed my mind yesterday while stewing in the hospital bed, bouncing between federal agents questioning me. I’d ruled out that idea, though, making the assumption Eduardo and Chris?—

“Shit,” I cut off my own thoughts. “Someone must’ve overheard me talking over comms when I was out front waiting on the Porsche. I told Constantine I was taking Bella home.” I closed my eyes, drawing up an image of the scene from outside the party. “And if they heard that, they may have overheard me tell Constantine to have the security detail tailed.”This is my fault.

“But no one was near us when we were talking, were they? The valet was getting our Porsche and . . .” Bella’s words trailed off as the pieces locked into place.

“Not that valet.” I opened my eyes and exhaled in frustration. “There was a different one who parked the Porsche when we arrived. Younger guy. He could’ve tagged the Porsche, then when we were leaving the party, he was out of sight but listening to us.”Got the drop on me, because I’d been distracted by Kit in the doorway.

Constantine stared at me, but there wasn’t blame in his eyes. No condemnation for letting someone get the drop on me.

I owed Marc an apology. It wasn’t his fault he lost track of those men, it was mine.

“We didn’t vet the staff because your father’s team assured us they had them covered,” Constantine reminded us. “We only ran background checks on the guests. And the valet wouldn’t have exposed himself to my team when he realized shit was going sideways. He’d have been outnumbered. He also may have been part of a contingency plan if things failed, which would mean they wouldn’t risk having him on comms. So, I had no way of knowing they had a fourth man on the perimeter after taking down their tech guy.”

Sensing Constantine and I were about to argue about who should fall on the sword of blame—and like hell would I let him do it for me—Enzo cut his hands in the air. “Don’t even start with this bullshit,” he said, his tone calm despite the curse. “Focus on what we know. We now have a target and a possible third suspect in the truck. We may have the shooter.”

“Look at you being the voice of reason,” Constantine grumbled. “Who would’ve thought?”

Enzo sat back down, waving him off. “I’m supposed to be the smart-ass, not you.”

Constantine mumbled something in Italian under his breath before pivoting back to the case. “We already have the staff names, right?” he asked me, and I nodded. Turning to Enzo, he ordered, “Find out what you can on both valets just to be safe. Their identities had to have checked out to pass thescrutiny of the governor’s people, but someone may have missed something. Get their locations.”

“On it.” Enzo stood again, shooting me a quick,I got your back, don’t worrylook I appreciated, then took off to get to work. It meant he’d be MIA while we filled everyone in on the photoshopped picture, but I supposed he’d find out soon enough.

“Since we don’t have security footage to check, we’ll need statements from guests at the party to see if anyone remembers seeing that valet there during the time of the accident,” Adelina added a few quiet seconds later. “I can put my badge to use and get those for you all.”

“Just don’t make too many waves. We don’t need you getting in trouble on our behalf,” I told her.

“You really think the valet killed those two men?” Bella asked me. She was searching for my “gut” feeling in a room full of experts. A feeling she knew I trusted, which meant she also had faith in me.

Maybe you shouldn’t. I messed up.“I don’t know if he’s our shooter, but I definitely think he was working with Eduardo and Chris.” I turned to Constantine. “Let Marc know he didn’t fuck up.”

After a hesitant nod from Constantine, Adelina offered, “I know your father can’t interfere with the investigation, and I’m not technically allowed to, either, but I’ll do my best to see what the acting agent in charge knows. The walls at the Bureau talk sometimes, if you get what I mean.”

I did, because I remembered. They talked a whole hell of a lot back when Bianca died. The speculation over whether I’d been involved in helping kill Bianca’s alleged murderer had pretty much bled from the plaster. I still couldn’t believe he’d actually been innocent in her death, but thankfully, he’d still been worthy of dying.

“We should also keep an eye on Agent Clarke, the one who gave you both a hard time yesterday, and see what his real game plan is.” Adelina set down her mug and focused on me with an apologetic expression. “Clarke’s a real asshole, and he’s made no secret about how much he can’t stand your father. He’s also good friends with the AG of New York.”

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