Page 105 of Vito

"Something's not right with the Chamber, Massimo."

His head snaps to me. "Don't deflect and make this about them."

"I'm not," I grit, pushing away from the wall to move closer to him. "I don't know how the connection with Morales fits into this. However, let's start from the beginning regarding Eden: Aiken called me with his dying breath."

Massimo stops his stalking. "You said that was a fluke; it could've been anyone from his call log."

"I left out a crucial piece of information." I look at him levelly. "He said, 'Vito…Call Ed.' He called me purposefully."

"Motherfucking hell," Raf whispers, shaking his head.

Massimo grinds his teeth. Creed comes and sits in the chair in front of Massimo's desk, silent but contemplative as always.

"Aiken called me on purpose because there was a reason he thought I could help him. Or that he could trust me." Massimo stays silent, and I continue, "Gus said that a month before he died, Aiken told him that if anything happened to him, he was supposed to call Ed, and he gave him a phone number."

I'm almost certain I can hear Massimo's teeth grinding now. "Gus didn't tell me that. Neither did you," he accuses.

"I didn't say anything because it didn't factor into protecting our family."

"If Vito mentioned that, thenPapàwould have been honor-bound to share that with the other Chamber heads," Creed rationalizes.

"And it would've made Vito look guilty and that he and Aiken had more than a neutral relationship," Raf comes to my defense.

Massimo doesn't like it but nods curtly, indicating he understands my silence.

Creed looks at me, his brow pinched. "But Aiken called you when he was dying, not Gus. And he told you to call Ed."

"I think Aiken wanted both Gus and I involved."

I remember the video of watching Aiken die and him talking to himself while he fumbled for his phone.

Vito… I need Vito… Protect… Tell…

"The more I think about why he called me, the more I feel it's because he trusted me out of all the criminals in this city. And I could do something that Gus couldn't."

Protect Ed? Tell… Tell her what?

I still haven't figured that out.

Massimo—the cunning strategist he is—is silent as he processes this.

"Aiken never went to the Chamber to flag that he thought there might be a threat against him, did he?"

"No," Massimo admits with a rumble. "Papànever said, and he wouldn't have kept that from me."

"And what does that say to you?"

The fact that Aiken didn't go to the Chamber isn't completely damning in and of itself. But things are skewing it in that direction.

I'm hesitant to share this next piece because Eden hasn't approved it; however, I decide to do so because I need to make this case to Massimo.

"Aiken had additional hidden cameras in Gilly's," I admit, and Massimo's jaw turns to stone. "It looks like the feeds were watched, then erased or uploaded elsewhere. The last recording was of Aiken's murder."

Creed hisses out a breath, guessing without me saying that Eden watched that video. I push away the memories of her tortured pain because I can't focus on that now.

"They were pros, Massimo. Attacked him as a unit with clear intent to kill. Dressed in black fatigues, gloves, and balaclavas."

He makes the connection that I knew he would; Eden would've described her attackers to the Chamber heads.

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