“What do you want me to say?” I ask.
“Explain how your father makes some of his money or what you do for him to get that money,” she answers.
I hold her gaze, knowing that this is going to be difficult for her to hear. I don’t even want to say the words, but I have to. It must look convincing, otherwise Harlan will be wise to our plot and will never give us the information we need.
“My father is the Don of the Corello Family,” I start, looking away from the camera, pretending I’m unaware I’m being recorded. My ‘confession’ is brief, with just the bare minimum of information needed to convince anyone I know what I’m talking about.
“When someone doesn’t pay, well I do what needs to be done.”
Sofia inhales sharply. I try to sound like a man who is wrestling with his conscience, like I have some legitimate reason for being so blunt on camera. Sofia lowers the phone, giving me a short nod. Apparently, we’re just going to go with the one take, since the subject matter isn’t something she’s comfortable with.
“Here,” Gio says, texting something into his phone.
A moment later, Sofia’s phone chimes, and she looks down to read the screen.
“I just sent you the number. Text your video to my guy, and he’ll put it on the flash drive,” Gio instructs.
Sofia does as she’s instructed. Now it’s only a matter of time until we can bait our trap.
“Who is going to deliver the message?” I ask.
“I will,” Sofia says.
“That sounds dangerous,” I object.
“It has to be her,” Gio interjects.
“I agree,” Sofia says firmly. “I can’t think of any other way to accomplish it.”
“All right,” I say reluctantly because I know she’s right. I just don’t like the idea of putting her in danger. “But I’ll be right across the street if you need help.”
“I think I’m okay,” Sofia says.
“I insist,” I respond. There are no ifs ands or buts about it, I don’t want her going in there alone. If I can’t be with her in the office building or make contact myself, I want to be as close as possible in case something goes wrong.
Both Gio and Sofia nod, accepting my ultimatum. Now it’s just a matter of time before we can pick up the drive and take it to Harlan’s office. I think Dad will be pleased that we’re closing in on Andretti. Hopefully, Harlan will lead us to him, not just by allowing us to access Danny’s files, but also potentially by encouraging Andretti to come out of hiding.
We just might be able to kill two birds with one stone, getting justice for Sofia and for Marlena at the same time. Now, if I can only figure out how to help Brandon, we’ll be all set. I can’t ask for everything, but I’m willing to shoot for the moon.
CHAPTER 34
SOFIA
Isit in the backseat of Frankie’s car as he drives to my office. In the passenger seat, Gio is staring out the window. It was no question who was going to ride shotgun. I’m not the person who owns a gun, so I ruled myself out from the get-go.
I take the time to center myself. This is going to be harrowing. I try to remind myself to keep it simple. All I have to do is get Mr. Harlan to insert the drive into his computer. After that, the work that Gio’s man did will take over. We’ll get full access to the newspaper’s servers, which hopefully means that we’ll be able to see exactly what Danny was working on.
I’ll also be able to recoup my files, and who knows, maybe I’ve got some hidden gems in my notes and photos that I overlooked before. I was so narrowly focused on Francisco Corello, I might have not even noticed one of Carlo Andretti’s men. I’m anxious to cross-check what Danny told me against the evidence I collected. I’ll be able to do all that and more if I can just carry out this one thing.
Frankie skips the parking garage and parallel parks on the street. He turns around to look at me, his eyes full of concern. Gio doesn’t share the same sympathy. He simply hands me the drive and nods.
I take it from him, slipping it into my pocket. It’s game time. I put on my penitent face, ready to pretend that I want my job back. I must sell this as hard as I can, making it look natural and obvious. I have to make him want to accept the drive from me and to plug it into his hardware without any questions. It’s more of an undercover operation than I’ve ever been involved with before, but I think I can do it.
“We’ll be right here,” Frankie says.
“I’ll be okay,” I mutter.
“Put your back to the window if you have a problem,” Gio instructs. “We can see your office from here.” He points to the third floor where the bullpen is. He’s right; there’s a large bank of windows facing the street and if I stand right next to it, I’ll be visible from the outside.
