The only response is silence.
“Good.” I slide my gun back into its holster. “Now we can discuss Ray Dalton.”
The men take their seats, and I pour myself a drink at the bar while Michele joins me. He’s here to break down the information Romeo’s extracted from Ray so far.
“Ray is Grant’s muscle,” he tells the men. “He was hired to keep tabs on the mistress after she tried to run off a couple of times. When Ray brought her back to him, Grant roughed her up pretty good. Ray says he had to keep her locked up in an apartment for a month while she recovered.”
“Jesus,” one of the men mutters.
“He also admitted to disappearing that journalist a few months back,” Michele adds. “Ray says she had a confidential source who knew about the abuse, but she wouldn’t give up a name.”
“You think Grant hightailed it because the story might leak?” Cal asks.
“It’s possible.” Michele shrugs, but I can see he’s holding something back. “We’re still working on him.”
“We need to put this to bed so we can figure out how we’re going to work with Holloway,” Cal mutters.
“It’s already settled,” I assure him. “He’s going to work with us.”
“Really? I thought that son of a bitch wouldn’t bend.”
“Everyone can be bought for a price,” I answer vaguely. “He’s given me his word he’ll publicly greenlight the new waterfront project.”
“Well, that’s a fuckin’ relief,” Frank grunts. “So we’re all squared away on that, then?”
“Yes. You can get to work on the union reps and contractors.”
“I’m on it.” He nods.
“Good.” Cal claps his hands. “Let’s reconvene next week, and you can update us on the Ray situation. I have to get back to the city.”
I walk the men outside and see them off, waiting until I’m alone with Michele to dig into what he didn’t say in that meeting.
“What is it?” I ask.
“The journalist didn’t give Ray a name,” Michele says. “But she did have some notes in her house.”
“And?”
“There weren’t any specifics,” he says. “But she was digging into The Society—specifically an underground network of women called Aegis.”
“Aegis?”
Michele nods. “Ray says they help abused women disappear. He thinks that’s how the mistress got out.”
I let that information sink in for a moment. “Well, let’s keep that between us for now. Does he still have the notes?”
“He hasn’t confirmed one way or the other yet.”
“Excavate everything,” I tell him. “If they exist, I want them.”
41
ABELLA
Angelo slips into bed, his warmth pressing against me as he wraps an arm around my waist. When I feel his erection, my body stiffens.
I don’t want to tell him.
