Page 48 of A Life Betrayed

Giovanni chuckled, placing the cigarette between his lips and flicking his lighter. “No need to be dramatic.”

Mathias scowled. “Or better yet, do it yourself.”

The boss let out a slow curl of smoke and studied him carefully. “For whatever reason, the Feds have latched onto you. It seems your time is up.”

Mathias felt a drop in the pit of his stomach. Since being released, he’d managed to downplay the danger of his predicament. But coming from the boss’s mouth, the situation took on a whole new meaning.

“As long as they’re digging, we’re all in the line of fire,” Giovanni continued. “The way I see it, you have two paths going forward. One, stay and see what you can wriggle out of with that impressive Rolodex of contacts you keep—all the while knowing that prison is right around the corner. Or two, leave.”

Mathias struggled to hide his disbelief. “Leave? And betray my oath? I’ve given my fucking life to the family.”

The boss snorted. “Jesus, kid, you’re not even forty. Let me tell you about life, Mathias. It’s longer than you think.”

What the fuck am I supposed to do if not this?

“I’m not going to run like a coward,” Mathias snapped.

“And what would you do here? Your name is mud. I can’t have you involved in establishing a new direction for Collections—the RCMP will tear it to pieces. When you’ve got the smell ofthe Feds about you, everyone keeps their distance. I know you, Beauvais—you can’t sit still long enough to blow your fucking nose.” Giovanni reached for his glass. “Think about it. Plenty of men have left when the heat got too much, when they were looking at ten, fifteen years in the hole. Some of them come back. Others don’t.” He took a pointed sip.

“And the ones that don’t?” Mathias asked, his eyes narrowing. “Like Caravella. What happens to them?”

The boss stared at him across the table. “When someone gets too much attention, we cut them off. You know that. It’s nothing personal—think of it as self-preservation. Even now, I’m taking a risk meeting with you like this.”

During Mathias’s time, a few faces had quietly disappeared. Or taken the fall—exactly what had happened was never entirely clear. He shook his head, refusing to let the man spook him. “The charges they held me on were paper-thin. Allen talks a big game, but she’s got nothing. If they had something concrete, this would be over already.”

“So it’s just a matter of time. That doesn’t make you any less radioactive.”

“Giovanni,” Mathias cautioned sharply, breaking rank. He’d known the old man longer than he’d been boss. “Don’t write me off yet.”

Giovanni sighed, and they exchanged a look. “The runaround you’ve given this girl means ongoing funding could be a sore spot. The new government wants to pay for results, not dead ends. But she’s got her eye on you—that’s for sure. Doesn’t look like she’ll give up easy.”

Mathias hated that he was right. Allen was proving far more tenacious than a stone he could simply shake from his shoe. “Truman’s behind this. He’s on the hook with Border Services, so he’s passing on information to Allen in exchange for leniency.I’m heading to Hamilton to set him straight and cut ties—that is, with your sign-off.”

Giovanni shrugged. “Your tower. You built it—you can tear it down. Can’t say I’m not glad to be rid of him. I’d be happy to wash our hands of the Reapers. Though I do recall warning you not to trust the man. Looks like what we’re offering is no longer tempting enough.”

Mathias bristled. That had been the reasoning he’d offered Giovanni back then. He’d made the mistake of assuming the Reapers’ head was rational enough to predict. But Truman’s recent actions might as well have come from the mind of a petulant child.

“The way I see it, it’ll only delay the inevitable,” the boss said, his mouth pulling into a frown. “Even if you can silence Truman, you’re just waiting around for the Feds to find something strong enough to put you away. I wouldn’t take the gamble, but I’ll give you some runway with this. That being said, don’t think for a second I won’t cut you off if I have to. That’s just business. You’re no use to me if you’re too dangerous to have around.”

Mathias downed the last of his whiskey to quell the resentment that gripped him.

“There’s an art to knowing when to leave,” Giovanni said, leaning back in his chair. “If you can’t make that call, you might find someone does it for you.”

Chapter Nineteen

After Belkov confirmed the scope of Truman’s involvement with the RCMP, Mathias had intended to travel to Hamilton to confront the Reapers’ head. Then two plainclothes cops had appeared in the Collections office parking lot, and he’d lost days to righting the mess.

Within the span of a week, Mathias had become better acquainted with the prospect of his chickens coming home to roost. It wasn’t as though he’d never considered the possibility. From early on, he’d put arrangements in place. It was an occupational necessity—money scattered in foreign exchange accounts, assets held abroad under different names. There had always been an escape plan, a rip cord to pull should he need to leave the country in a hurry. But Mathias refused to run at the first sight of trouble, so he would have to wade in deeper if he wanted to make it out the other side.

Mathias stared at the bleak winter landscape through the passenger window as Jacques drove them across the provincial border into Ontario. He struggled to reconcile his growing sense of apprehension with the confidence that had fueled his ambition. For as long as he could remember, Mathias had viewed the world as a simple dichotomy between what he had and what he wanted. How muddied it had all become.

His second pulled up outside the Hamilton office, and the two of them got out of the car. Mathias had contacted Truman before leaving Montreal and instructed the man to meet him here. He wouldn’t risk engaging with him on Reapers territory—notthis time. Truman had been surprisingly accommodating. Either that was more of his signature nonchalance, or he was as stupid as Mathias had always believed.

Paulo Bilotti, the new regional head, met him at the door to the building. “Good to see you, Mathias,” he said, shaking Mathias’s hand as he ushered him inside.

They made their way up the stairs to the office, and Mathias received a series of nods from the assembly of men who dotted the room, most of whom he’d installed during his tenure.

“Let him in when he gets here,” Mathias instructed Jacques and followed Paulo into the corner office, leaving his second to wait with the rest of the Hamilton team. He turned to Paulo as the man shut the door. “Have the arrangements been made?” Mathias had called ahead to enlist Paulo’s help.

---