“I’m not sure. Not yet.” He zoomed in and hovered over the lapel pin on the fucker’s jacket.
“Jesus,” Dante hissed then rushed to the laptop.
Gio and I exchanged curious glances and both moved to join Dante at the same time.
Dante’s fingers fired across the keyboard and brought up an image of some old gentlemen’s club.
“There.” Dante pointed at the insignia for the Crowthorne Society. It was a country club on the east side, about a mile or two from the property Ava was building the new restaurant. “And it’s actually an Antonella place. Means those guys were with Barabbas.”
He gave me a tentative look.
“Fuck,” I cursed.
Fuck.Antonellas giving my girl a message was next level bad, and it made bile rise in my throat. Jesus Christ, what now?
“How’d you know about a place like this?” Gio chuckled. “Doesn’t seem like your kind of hangout.”
Darkness filled Dante’s eyes. “It’s not. I found my sister there once.”
Enough said. That silenced us. Dante’s sister had been murdered. He didn’t know by whom. Same as Gio. His best friend was murdered too. He didn’t know who killed him.
Dante cleared his throat. “She wasn’t involved with the Antonellas, but someone she knew was. Boss, this could turn ugly. Antonella giving a warning like that means stay the fuck away.”
“Means don’t get involved,” Gio chimed in and bit the inside of his lip.
“We’re already fucking involved. We weren’t supposed to be, but we are.” I’d figured it out. Before today, things had been a mess in my head, but I’d figured it out. “The shipping company. We were just supposed to be dealing with that, but they slipped up. Had Luc not seen the Manello grunt, we wouldn’t have any cause to see past what might be going on. I wouldn’t have looked any further than business with David. We wouldn’t have been suspicious.”
On Pa’s advice I would have still turned the proposal down, but what made it suspicious was everything else that was going on. The people who’d mysteriously popped up.
“What if the two aren’t linked?” Dante held up his hands and lowered his brows. “What if the two aren’t linked, and we do something stupid?”
I shook my head. “They’re linked, Dante. My gut tells me all this is no coincidence.”
Dante sighed. “So, what now?”
“I’m not playing into their game. Today signaled war. I don’t care who they are. They won’t get away with threatening my girl like that.” Of course, my heart told me to run away with my tail between my legs and heed the warning to protect Ava, but I knew these people. The fact that Barabbas sent his men highlighted the seriousness of the situation, and if I was involved, I at least had a right to know what I was involved in. That was the mistake I’d made before.
Seven years ago, I’d never found out exactly what it was I was doing on that job for Joe. Had I done so, I would have bailed out. I absolutely fucking well would have.
Besides, there was something much more at work here.
Something to do with one of my guys. It was all too convenient. It was like the other side knew our next moves … a little too well.
I was being played, being used as a puppet, but I was going to get to the bottom of it all. I’d flush out the rat one way or another.
“What’s the next move, then?” Gio asked.
“Bring me David Shipel.” That had to be the next move. If I couldn’t get to Joe or whoever was running this show, then I’d have to settle with whom I’d been dealing with. “It’s been weeks. Time to give Mr. Shipel my answer. Get him to me tonight. We’ll meet on the roof of the office.”
Dante narrowed his eyes at me. “Maybe you should stay here. I think Ava needs you. We got this.”
“No. I’ll get someone to watch her.”
“Who? If it’s not you watching her, it should be one of us,” he offered up.
I clenched my fists, and he saw.
“Claudius.” Dante quirked a brow. He alternated between calling me boss and by my name. I knew when he called me by name, he was talking to me as a friend. “This whole thing just took a turn we couldn’t have seen coming.”
