Page 12 of Bluff

I almost scoff but don’t. She needs me to be honest and serious right now.

“I don’t know. We just started. He’s taking one for the team.”

“How do you know that?”

“He told me.”

My gaze drifts to one of the computers she’s working on. There are two women on the screen. I stare at one of them.

“Wow! That woman looks almost like your husband,” I say, changing the subject.

I sit in her chair, and she nods at me.

Lyric leans over me and shrinks the window. The next one that pops up is of a man in a suit. He’s standing outside the casino everyone in town knows is owned by the Italians. They also have a betting room across town and a restaurant. He’s a member of the Barone family, which is more successful than the Bratva.

“Who is that man?” I point at the screen.

“His name is Giovanni Costa. He hired Jimmy to kill Aleksei’s father,” she tells me.

I stare at him for a moment longer before turning to look up at her.

“What?”

“Jimmy was trying to earn money and make a name for himself. So he marketed himself as a man who could take care of problems. Some he handled on his own; most, he contracted out.”

“Our father was a contract killer?” I ask dumbfounded, and she nods. “Who else?”

“I can’t tell you that part. It isn’t my story to share.”

Something deep inside clicks, and I’m sure it has something to do with Mikhail.

“So, Barone hired Jimmy to kill Aleksei’s father?”

“According to everything I’ve found, it wasn’t Barone. He didn’t know. I’m fairly certain if Barone had known, then Costa would be taking a cement bath.”

“I find it hard to believe Barone didn’t know when they are in the same organization.”

“Yes, there is that, but Lena is Barone’s sister. He put her in hiding right after Bogdan was killed.” She continues telling me the story.

“How did you find this all out? Did Alek ask you to do this?”

She stares at the wall of screens, her husband at the center of them all. Lyric stays silent for a moment, and my heart breaks for her. She does love him, and he’s breaking her. I need to help her. I can’t just sit here and let him make a fool of her.

“No, he didn’t ask. I did it as a gift to him. I wanted to help him find out who killed his father. I didn’t expect to find Lena or Daria,” she finally says, her voice soft.

“So, you hacked the Italians after we were told we couldn’t do that anymore.” I stand up and start pacing.

I need to protect her. I’ll pay the penance for her. It’s about time I sacrificed for her without expecting something in return, like I’ve done in the past.

“We need to get you out of here. They will come, and it will start a war.”

“I didn’t hack Barone. I hacked into Jimmy’s files. I had most of them, but I found others. I then followed the money. It wasn’t easy to find Lena, but I kept at it. You know me.” She shrugs.

“We still need to get you out of here. What if Barone doesn’t ask questions first?”

She steps in front of me. “I didn’t do anything with Barone. I only looked at Costa. I knew it was someone who was upset about Lena and Bogdan being in a relationship. I put two and two together and figured it was her ex. I was right.”

“But?” I can tell she’s not telling me everything.

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