Page 100 of Pretty Lies

“Yeah,” Frankie said with a wave of his hand, gaining Cory’s attention again. “Go grab something for us all. I gotta get back in there.”

Cory nodded, already turning to head for his waiting Mustang. “Will do.”

•••

Ten minutes had been a conservative estimate. It took Cory nearly twenty minutes to get through the café’s drive-thru when it was nearing noon, and Chicago was a fucking city, after all. Apparently, the Starbucks was a particular favorite of nearly everyone who worked within a three-block radius of the joint.

God.

Cory was starting to miss his regular stomping grounds. He didn’t wait for shit when he walked into a place that recognized his face. Still, he put on a smile for the girl at the drive-thru window while he paid for the coffee, lattes, and bag of sweets. He didn’t bother to make small talk when the chick tried, though.

Better things on my mind.

Or rather, a better woman.

Cory was just pulling out of the drive-thru and taking a sip from his coffee when a call rang through the Bluetooth speaker in his ear.

“Call from Joe,” the robotic female voice said in his ear.

Cory set the coffee down and hit the button as he waited to pull out onto the street. Cars kept going, one after another, with no break in sight for him to possibly slip his Mustang in between. He didn’t take chances with his car—but especially not when his newest pearl black paint job was less than a year old.

“Yeah, what’s up, bro?” Cory asked.

“Frankie’s got a real fucking problem, that’s what.”

It took Cory a second to reply. If only because he wanted to be sure he heard his brother right, and he understood what it might mean. Just to be sure, he asked, “The bead on the connections came through?”

“Took a second. Too fucking long.”

Cory sighed. “Yeah, but do we know who was feeding Luis and his crew the info on the warehouse and Costello’s business? Or what?”

Because that’s what mattered.

It’s what everybody in the Outfit had been waiting for.

“Yeah, I just got confirmation,” Joe said. “Called you first—I’ll make the call to Dad after, so he can let the boss know, and whoever else.”

“Joe—spit it out. How close was the issue?”

“Really close, man,” Joe said. “She’s been there the whole time. Shit, I could have taken care of her days ago when my guy first found her after she popped back up. But no worries because now that we know who was feeding Luis info, it’ll be handled before the sun sets.”

Wait, what?

Cory’s mind went quiet.

Joe, on the other hand, did not. “I think this Luis shit went deeper than we realized. The guy had a woman he was fucking on every corner, Cory. Every one of them had a connection to someone or something bigger than him. None of them were really connected to each other. I don’t think Della and Jennika were different … except for the fact that they knew each other. And as for Tommas wanting to get his hands on the drugs stolen from the warehouse—or Luis—well, that’s probably not going to happen. Every lead came back the same. That shit is long gone, and so is your old friend. Neither him, nor those drugs, are in the states right now.”

He still couldn’t get his car out onto the road. More cars were coming.

Time ticked by.

Cory’s heart raged.

His panic swelled.

“You mean, Jennika was the connection to Luis?” he asked quietly.

Joe cleared his throat, and a paper shuffled on the other end. “Yeah, it took some digging, but I found the connection. His name on a place she rented just outside of the city. I had like fifteen people to go through. Why would I look at her first?”