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“Done? I was warming up,” Piero taunts. “I enjoy making you squirm. You and the bald one deserve a dose of your own medicine.”
“Oh, I agree,” Simone interjects, still laughing. “Especially the bald one. He needs to be humbled.”
“Hey!” Punk protests. “I’m not bald. I shave my head. And humble this, Priss.” Punk gives Simone the finger.
She rolls her eyes, flipping her wheat-colored hair over her shoulder. “Moron.”
“I like her, Chase,” Piero openly confides. “I like her a lot.”
“Claimed and taken, man. Can we please get back to the reason I hijacked your phone?”
“Yes. Does this have something to do with my cousin’s missing money?”
“Yup,” I say, leaning my forearms on the table to get closer to the speaker. “Lorenzo wasn’t a stupid man. He spread his money out, but Simone found something we never considered before.”
“Which is…?”
“Lorenzo was using the names of his closest associates, more specifically, the maiden surnames of their mothers, to create financial accounts. Simone found a financial credit file for Luca Oldani: aka Luca Amato, son of the late Gioia Amato, nee Oldani.”
“Gesú Cristo!” Piero curses in revelation. “No wonder our teams, along with the FBI, couldn’t find most of my cousin’s money. No one was looking under the inner circle’s mothers’ maiden names.”
“Your cousin was a piece of shit, but he wasn’t an idiot.”
“True,” Piero hums in agreement.
“We cross-referenced the rest of data in the file and have confirmed the account did indeed belong to your cousin’s second-in-command. Most likely, Lucky Luca was aware of the account but unable to leave the state with the feds monitoring the state borders. It’s why he was staying in a roach-infested motel south of Colorado. He was waiting for an opportunity to continue south to Sacramento.”
“You’re lucky this is a secure line, Chase. Awfully specific details to give on a man who’s missing,” Piero warns in a hushed whisper.
Simone bristles beside me. Unworried, I take her hand, pulling her into the seat next to mine. I rub soothing circles on the back of her hand with my thumb. “You have nothing to fear, Numbers, and neither do I.”
“Nothing to fear with me,” Piero agrees vehemently. “And thank you for handling that tedious trash for me, too. It was on my to-do list, but I’ll cross it off. Anyway, your woman, the MC accountant, uncovered all this?”
Pride swells in my chest as I glance at Simone, sitting straight with all her regal beauty and a small smile on her face. “Damn straight she did.”
“Ben fatto, Simone.”
“Grazie.”
“Do we have the money? Who is responsible for taking it?” Piero asks, with enthusiasm.
“No,” Simone answers. “What we have is the original account. From here, Chase and his team will track where the funds were transferred.”
He groans. “And how long will this recovery operation take, Chase?”
The mob boss isn’t going to like my answer. “I won’t candy coat it. We’re not even sure if the funds can be retrieved if we can locate where they are.”
“Oh, cazzo!” Piero curses loudly. “Then why are you calling me, huh? Wasting my time with bread crumbs. I am paying you to find my money, not tease me with leads.”
Fucking ungrateful mafia cocksucker, talking to me like I’m his personal assistant who’ll tolerate his abuse. To hell with this guy.
Before I can retaliate with a harsh comeback, Simone dishes out a nasty verbal thrashing. “Listen here, you pompous prick. You have a lot of nerve talking to my biker like he’s your errand boy. We found a lead, and we updated you on the progress. Excuse us for assuming you wanted to know something positive in the case, as opposed to staying in the dark. Now that we’re clear your Royal High-Ass doesn’t want to be disturbed until we have a name or have the cash in hand, we’ll leave you alone.”
Simone jabs my cell with a manicured nail, ending the call. “Jackass.”
Butch gives Simone two thumbs-up. “Classy.”
Scowling, she folds her arms across her ample chest. “I don’t give a shit. He was out of line. Who the hell does he think he is? King of Colorado?”
