Page 17 of The Boss

“The city is the middleman; some company called Lawson Construction and Management is the seller.”

“Do you have any details on them?” I ask.

“No, but do you want to do some forensic accounting to see if you can find anything?”

“Yep, I’ll talk with Drew and Ryan, see if they can pull any financials in the contracts Mateo was working on.”

I get up and leave the gym to finish dinner and get out of the room before I say anything I’ll regret.

Then my phone chimes.

Unknown

It’ll be easier for all of you if you follow the demands.

Follow the demands? What demands? Lorenzo hasn’t given us any sort of demands to give in to, that I know of.

Unknown

Juliet, you need to talk reason into your friends or else.

Or else what? I’m almost going to reply, but I don’t. Instead, I send a text to Drew.

Juliet

They messaged again; these ones feel different. They’re not threatening but trying to be.

Drew

I’ll take a look and see if I can pull any cell tower data. You really should take this to Gino; he needs to know, especially if they are threatening.

Juliet

I didn’t say they were threatening; I said they are trying to be. And not yet; I’m not giving him any more things to worry about. We can handle this.

Unknown

Fine. Like I said before, if anything becomes too much of a risk, we both go right to Gino.

Juliet

I know.

EIGHT

GINO

JUNE

It’s been three weeks since Mateo was kidnapped, and I’ve never been one to be outwardly violent, but this situation is testing my patience.

I’m in one of the warehouses with a man tied to a chair. He’s tied to the Russos; that much I know for certain. How Russo has men in the city we were unaware of is beyond me.

The man shows no fear.

“What’s your association with the Russos?” I ask.

He doesn’t respond, which I was expecting.