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I straighten up. “You spoke to feds?” I can’t help it. The words just fly from my mouth. In our world the only thing that’s worse than a cop is feds. We have associates who are cops but that’s it. That’s as far as we’ll go in regard to law enforcement.
We all know not to interrupt when we’re in meetings like this, but this is different. We’re talking about feds and the man who killed our brother. Seeing that motherfucker is cause enough to interrupt to see what the fuck is going on. It’s been close to eight years since Frankie’s death and not for shit have Stephanou and his minions been seen in Chicago or anywhere since.
“I had to,” Vincent answers me.
“You fucker, you spoke to feds and didn’t tell me,” Pa spits, eyes bulging.
“Pa, you know what it means to be investigated by those fuckers. I couldn’t drag you into it.”
Pa backs down because he does know. We all know. It’s the reason why I manage the larger sums of money. I’m good at dispersing it and making it look legit. I just know what to do. Mostly I know what to do to keep people like the feds off our ass. The last time we got any kind of snooping from the feds was before I worked for the company.
“I couldn’t drag anyone into it,” Vincent says. “I spoke to them and in the process ended up giving info I never knew they were looking for. Intel has just told me that they raided an investment company that supposedly belonged to Stephanou. Counterfeit money. Millions of it. The company itself is international and worth billions. There was also a warehouse.”
Pa stands, fists balled. “How is this linked to you?”
“Intel said the man I was working with was a front for the business. He wasn’t the owner. When he went down everything collapsed. The investigation wasn’t about me. It was about him. The feds tricked me. They needed me to confirm the business contracts and associates I was working with over the last few months. From Giordano’s Inc. to my own business.”
At the mention of Giordano’s Inc. Pa stills. “Was he linked to your business or ours?”
Vincent sighs. “Both. In regards to Giordano’s Inc. They paid for shipments to be made to England.”
I don’t know what the hell to make of this. What the fuck does it fucking mean?
I glance at Gabe who is already looking at me with narrowed eyes.
“What kind of shipments?” Nick asks.
“What would have looked like random shit. Statues and figurines except there was money stashed inside them. That was one thing but the biggest part of their association with me was in investments.” Vincent sighs. “I helped them a few times to buy property in the Caribbean and direct their investments. The man I was working with is Lawrence Tamworth. But it was Stephanou’s company. He’s been shut down. Closed out and Stephanou knows it was me. He knows it was me who spoke to the feds.”
That part there is the thing to worry about.
“Fucccckkkkkk,” Pa snarls.
Jesus Christ.I stare at Vincent and he looks back at me.
“We know what that means, don’t we?” Vincent states.
It means death.
That’s what it means.
We really are all in danger.
It means we have a target on our backs. Same as Frankie.
Stephanou is one of those people who will come for the guy who did him wrong, but push him to the max and he’ll take out everybody associated with that guy. That was why Gabe and I were almost gunned down today.
“How does Stephanou know you talked to the feds?” I ask before anyone else can talk. “How did this happen? How the fuck did he know to look in your direction. How the hell wouldheknow?”
The whole thing is shit but there’s more at work here. It’s too coincidental.
“We have a fucking rat. That’s the fucking what and the how of it,” Nick puts in and I nod.
“Yes,” I agree. I’m seeing the picture unfold before me.
It’s the answer when nothing makes sense. When something doesn’t make sense it’s because it doesn’t. It doesn’t make sense because someone screwed with something along the way. What I don’t know is who would be idiot enough to be a rat in our circle.
“I think so,” Vincent agrees. “But this feels like more than just a rat. A rat is an enabler. They have to be ratting to somebody who hired them. Somebody who set me up.”
