Page 66 of Corrupted Memories
Gianna sets her cup down on the table. “What does that mean?”
We both startle, glancing at her and not answering.
She crosses her arms. “What does that mean? That it’s more than just the two of you now.”
I clench my jaw before slowly unraveling the tension in my body. “It means the tattoo we etched into our bodies now provides men at our disposal.”
She scowls. “The mafia you mean.”
Nico cracks his neck. “It’s more complicated than that.”
Gianna shakes her head. “No, you promised that you wouldn’t be involved with all that. That you were nothing more than a front, a legal business.” She moves to take another bite of food, as if shoving it in her mouth would stop her from speaking more.
“Sure, I mean, no different than Matt being a front for the Italians.” Nico rolls his eyes, thinking her outrage is hypocritical.
My body stiffens as Gianna drops her fork. “What?”
Nico laughs before looking up and seeing her pale face, then turns to me, realizing he fucked up. I haven’t spoken to her about her brother’s activities yet. And not to save her from the pain, but selfishly, as a bargaining chip if need be.
Gianna’s head snaps to me. “What is he talking about?”
I lick my lips and clear my throat. “Your brother works with the Famiglia. I don’t know the full extent, but he is involved with the Italian mafia.”
She shakes her head again. “No, no. You’re lying. He’s working with the FBI.”
Nico leans back in his chair, rubbing down his face. “And that’s the problem, Gianna. He’s been linked to the Famiglia since his teens. So either he’s double-crossing them or something bigger is going on.”
Gianna sniffles, tears gathering in her eyes. “No, he wouldn’t do that to me. He wouldn’t keep that a secret. After everything he’s…”
“Wouldn’t he? Gianna, I admire the fragility of your heart and I’d do anything to protect it as well. I see his hypocrisy of condemning me when he’s the same person, except he’s keeping you from finding out,” I tell her, hoping my tone is gentle enough to soothe her.
She stands, holding her hand to her mouth as she shakes her head again. Her eyes squeeze shut and wesit silently, watching her before she blows out a bated breath after a few minutes. Gianna wipes her tears and then looks between us.
“How do you know? Is it possible it could be a mistake? Maybe he’s an informant of some kind.”
Nico scratches at the back of his neck and I sigh, waving for her to sit back down. She does, reluctantly.
“Luca Genovese is the head of the Famiglia, which is basically the US Cosa Nostra. Gio is his consigliere. We’ve photographed Matt with Gio on multiple occasions over the past few years. The likelihood of him being an informant is slim, but I won’t dismiss the possibility.”
The heartbreak on her face makes me wish I could take this back, but she nods, as if she’s determined to believe that her brother could have lied to her. “Why? Uh, why were you following him and where?”
Nico raises his hand as if waiting for Gianna to call on him and I scowl at him. He shrugs before explaining. “He was our best link to finding you, so we started tracking his movements. It was mostly in New Jersey and New York, right outside of Manhattan.”
“And outside of Manhattan is important,” I tell her, swallowing down the pain at seeing her sad eyes, “because Manhattan is neutral territory for every organization.”
Her eyebrows dip. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why is Manhattan neutral?”
A small laugh escapes. “I don’t know. When the five families fell in NYC because of the RICO act, the heads came together and decided that it would be the prime spot to create a farce to evade the feds. Most of all the organizations’ legal businesses are situated in Manhattan with a mutual respect and understanding that it’s aone for allkind of thing so we all stay above their radar.”
“That’s why you have an office in Manhattan.”
I nod. “Yeah, though we prefer the one here.”
“So you already had a seat at the table before you got the tattoo.”
