Page 10 of One Secret

Felix, son of Hector, only took leadership of the Caruso group just over a year ago. According to my sources, he'd been lavishly putting to use the family's private jet and their chain of high-class European hotels ever since.

That had been how I'd found my lead. Felix's flight manifests.

Specifically, one to Austria. Where I'd already tracked rumors of the mysterious Gabriel.

When I got Nat to hack the security cameras of the Caruso hotel in Vienna, I discovered that Felix had spent a two-hour stretch in his suite, in the middle of the day, with guards outside the door. Two meals had been ordered from room service during that window.

Yet the footage showed no one but Felix and his entourage arriving or leaving.

Unlike in the law courts, in the world of mercenaries, lack of evidence is most definitely proof of something.

And, in this case, I'm hoping it's evidence of Felix hiring Gabriel for a job. Better still, a second job. If that's the case, I'd be able to report back to the Machellis not only that Gabriel had pulled the trigger on Leon's brother Alexei but also who had aimed the gun.

Because it seems awfully coincidental to me that Felix took his much-coveted spot at the top of a rival gangster totem only after the Machellis' original successor was killed and their line of inheritance almost destroyed.

You don't become a mafia don in this world without a little flash and circumstance.

'Mr. Caruso would like you to attend, Mr. Russo.'

Felix Caruso wants me at his summer bash?

This time, I don't hide my snort.

'If Mr. Caruso wants to invite a man like me into his home, perhaps I was premature when I called him "wise".'

Fiori is smiling. But the expression is cold.

'You can drop the bogeyman facade, Cyrus,' he says, dispensing with pleasantries. And the pseudonyms. 'You'll find the Carusos harder to frighten than those Machellis. As for the event itself, Felix feels confident of everyone's safety…'

Fiori settles back into his seat with all the pompous arrogance of a man holding a full house.

I should play him at poker one day, I think. I could clean up and retire.

'Mr. Caruso's summer event is for his entire network,' the headhunter explains. 'There'll be nearly a hundred guests, all from our world. Many, I assume, will have already used your services or may even be under contract with you currently.'

Fiori leans forward, his scotch poised between his fingers. There, it hovers over the tabletop, light catching the glass and turning the liquid inside to crystallized amber. The reflections cast speckles of bronze over the dark wood grain.

'No matter the quality of your work, Mr. Russo, I think it unlikely that a man in your position would find future employment if his reputation were smeared by a public outburst.'

'I could equally lose work if my face is too well known,' I counter.

'Which is why Felix has agreed that, whilst you stay with him at the resort, you'll be given a moniker and the cover of an "old friend". The only ones to know who you truly are will be myself, Felix, and his most trusted inner circle.'

'And this is an advantage to your boss, how?' I ask skeptically. 'Seems an awful effort that'll do little more than give me a flashy vacation.'

Fiori's nose wrinkles in distaste over having to repeat himself.

'As I said, Mr. Caruso likes to know who he's working with.'

'He knows my work,' I stall. 'That should be all that matters.'

'And it is, when it comes to his confidence in you. But not his trust. As I'm sure you might expect, we already have someone with your skill set on the books, Mr. Russo. We need to be reassured that branching out with another acquisition is worth the risk of their surplantation.'

And there it is…

"Someone with your skill set…"

Another hired gun.

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