Page 83 of Tortured Hearts
I don’t like the sound of his chuckle. It’s off, like the low rumble of an out-of-tune guitar. “It’s amusing how you assume the road to our forgiveness ends with Marcello’s death. Your father’s demise is merely the first layer in filling the deep hole your family has dug.”
“Sins of the father are visited upon the children,” I murmur, lowering into one of the two chairs opposite him.
“In this case, yes. Marcello’s betrayal and untimely demise left a lot of unanswered questions and even more dangerous connections. Therefore, while Anton rebuilds the Marchesi family, you’re going to raze Providence along with all those who could link these shell corporations back to us.”
“Marcello claimed they’re dead.”
“And you believed him?”
No. Mentioning it was simply a last-ditch effort in buying myself some time. I should’ve known better. Fighting the inevitable is like trying to catch running water, pointless and a complete waste of time. I’ve pushed my luck enough. Besides, the chance to get my hands on the man who butchered Becca’s mother is a dangled carrot I can’t resist.
“Unfortunately, ‘needle-in-haystack finder’ isn’t a skill on my criminal4hire.com resume. I spread my arms out wide. “So if you have any ideas, I’m all ears.”
He swirls the liquid in his glass. “Start with decrypting those last two offshore accounts. Obviously, one of them belongs to Marcello’s bridge to Providence.”
Great. More shit I have absolutely no fucking idea how to do.
But he’s right. That Dagger bastard is the key to everything, as is that damn rose and dagger tattoo. The fact it keeps showing up on men with connections to both the Italian and Irish mobs is no coincidence. My father was cocky, not oblivious. He knew it linked Carol Reese’s killer to Dice and Henry, andhe used it to his advantage. It’s why he named one of his shell companies after it.
However, until I have more than a clichéd nickname to go on, I’m keeping it quiet.
I jerk out a curt nod. “I’ll get on it.”
“That’s not all,” he says, and the glacial look in his eyes tells me this is about to get worse. “I want George Reese and Henry Saddler dead by tomorrow.”
I suck in a breath.Fuck.“Taking out Saddler might be a problem.” At his icy stare, I add, “He may be slightly dead already.”
“How is one ‘slightly dead?’”
“Okay, he’s all the way dead,” I say with a shrug. “Just not all in the same place.”
Toscano stares at me for a moment before pinching the bridge of his nose. “You fucking dismembered a U.S. Marshal?”
“I had my reasons.”
He forces an exhale through his clenched teeth. “Then focus on Reese. We’ll discuss it later.”
Putting up another brick wall won’t do me any favors, but I can’t put a ring on Becca’s finger, then her father in the ground.
“I need a stay of execution on Reese.”
His eye twitches. “Why?”
“Because Becca becomes too much of a wildcard if her father dies. Trust me on this. I don’t need to take him out. Just the threat of it will be enough to keep her in line.”
“Make sure of it, or I’ll make sure neither of them are a problem.”
“Understood.”
“Now, about this,” he says, gesturing around the bloodstained room. “As far as the Five Families know, it was a case of self-defense, and everyone is going to back it up. Marcello admitted to framing you and kidnapping this Beccagirl. He called us all here for a huge spectacle and went out in a blaze of glory, so to speak, since he knew he was going back to jail.”
“I raise an eyebrow. “Does that mean…?”
He sighs. “Yes, Carmine is having the soldiers get rid of the bodies, but Marcello is staying. Light it up if you want, but it has to look accidental,” he says, pointing a finger across the desk. “Like a dropped cigar or something. We can’t have our new don arrested again. Cops won’t ignore a Molotov cocktail and five fucking gallons of gasoline.”
“Won’t the couple dozen bullets in him negate the whole ‘accidental’ angle?”
He chuckles. “You overestimate the number of fucks the FBI gives about inter-mob crime. They won’t care how Marcello died, or by whose hand, as long as they can provide the public with a plausible explanation. As far as they’re concerned, the world would be a better place if we’d all take each other out.”
