“He’s calling in favors. That’s all I know.”
“Bullshit,” I snort, smoke jetting from my nostrils. “Any old school guy who knows Aurelio is either dead or so far removed they wouldn’t touch this war with a 10-foot pole.”
My father is a crazy fuck, and he has almost no allies, just tentative partnerships brokered on deals that me and my brothers have to fulfill, like the work we’re doing with the Irish to gain access to the ports. Aurelio made a bunch of deals with the Irish boss, and none of us even know what they are. Not even the younger Irish guys that I hang out with or Patrick Donovan, the Irish politician that Tommy and Giovanna have been working with to iron out the details.
“I’m telling you what I heard!” The guy is practically screaming, hoarse and desperate. “He’s reaching out to anyone who owes him. Could be hiding with one of them. I don’t knowwhere, couple different places, maybe. Brooklyn, maybe the Bronx. Maybe Jersey. Nobody knows for sure.”
Matti looks at me, eyebrows raised, waiting for my decision.
I stub out my cigarette. “Take him to the Edge. Get everything else he knows. Every name, every location, every fucking rumor.”
Matti gives me a quick nod and drags the guy toward our van, the asshole’s feet scraping across concrete, smearing blood behind him like a snail’s trail.
When the door slams shut and Matti pulls off, I pace in the silence and think, cigarette dangling from my lips, head spinning.
If it’s true, if Aurelio really is reaching out to the old guard, we’re looking for a needle in a fucking haystack. Italian guys? Not likely but possible. And which ones? The ones who worked directly under the Bellamortes before Aurelio staged his coup? Or guys from other families he built alliances with back then? The Irish? Albanians? Russians?
My father’s been in the game for more than 40 years. That’s a lot of handshakes, a lot of deals, a lot of bodies buried together. And even though I’ve been working with him for over 20 of those years, I’m not going to lie: I didn’t pay more attention than necessary to how he did things and who he worked with.
I call Tommy. He picks up on the second ring. “Yeah?”
“We got intel. Aurelio’s calling in old school favors. Guys from when he was coming up, before he took over.”
Tommy’s quiet for a beat. “Old school like how old?”
“Like when the Bellamortes were still in charge. Thirty-plus years ago.” I pause, and roll my eyes. We did just beat the shit out of this guy, so who knows how solid the intel even is. “Allegedly.”
Tommy groans. “That’s way before our time. Way before.”
“Exactly why I’m calling you.” I take a drag off my cigarette and exhale slowly. “Lorenzo.”
“What about him?” Tommy’s voice is tight, and I don’t need to ask why. Lorenzo Marino is Giovanna’s father and has done nothing but make Tommy’s life hell for years.
“He’s the first person who came to mind that was a former associate of Aurelio’s and is still alive.”
“Yeah, but—” Tommy pauses. I hear Giovanna’s voice in the background, soft and questioning. He murmurs something to her before coming back on the line. “Lorenzo’s been in Boston with his girlfriend since her mom left him. He’s not exactly in the loop anymore.”
“You sure about that?”
“Pretty sure. Giovanna talks to him every now and then. He’s focused on his new relationship, trying to rebuild. I don’t think Aurelio could pull him back in even if he wanted to.”
I stub out my cigarette against the wall, grinding it harder than necessary. “Then I don’t know where the fuck to start. I can’t just start reaching out to random old-timers hoping one of them knows something. One wrong move and we’re going to tip Aurelio off that we’re onto him.”
Tommy hums, thinking. “What about Catarina?”
“Giovanna’s mom? What about her?”
“She’s younger than Aurelio, but she was around when the power shift happened. She’s from a mafia family herself and was good friends with our mother when Aurelio killed his father and grandfather and took out Siena’s dad and the other capos. She saw the whole transition. She might remember who Aurelio was close to back then. Who he trusted.”
It’s not a bad idea. Catarina’s smart, observant. And she has no love for Aurelio, not after everything he put her family through.
“Could work,” I admit. “Think she’d talk?”
“For Giovanna? For her grandkids?” Tommy’s voice softens. “Yeah. She’d talk.”
Grandkids. Fuck, I keep forgetting that Tommy and Matti are about to be fathers. I unlock my car door with a click of my keys and slide in the driver’s seat.
“Alright. Set it up. Sooner the better.”
