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“She’s opening up a bit. We’re not torturing a woman, so I’m going to sweet talk her into giving me the information I need. But I think she was used the same way Oliver was.”
“If you get me her phones, I can start going through her contacts. Find out who her biggest clients are.”
My gut twists. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t hesitate to say yes. But I feel wrong about spying on Zara like that.
“Let’s not invade her privacy if we don’t have to. We’re not monsters—contrary to what Skylar thinks of me.”
“She’s coming around, man,” Matteo says quietly.
I hold up a hand. “It’s fine. Zara tells me Skylar is torn up and wants to fix things but doesn’t know how.”
Matteo raises an eyebrow. “Just how close are you with this woman, Luke?”
“It’s nothing like that. But I do find her fascinating.”
Victor snorts. “You’re lost for her already, man. I haven’t even seen you two together and I can tell that much.”
“Fuck off. You’re way off base.”
Everyone chuckles despite the tension in the room.
“Enough about my troubles. That’s not why we’re here. What’s the latest with your family, Vic? We’ve missed you around here.”
“Things are getting quiet. But the Chicago Trentinis are still posturing and making things tense. My father wants me to cut ties and come home. He’s this close to forcing my hand.”
Matteo drags a hand through his hair and shoves his sleeves farther up his arms. “I’m sorry I can’t talk my family into leaking that it was a mercy killing. Danny all but admitted it to me the last time we talked. But his power isn’t solid yet. There are people who think it’s time for a regime change. Personally, I don’t give a damn who runs Chicago. But we’re doing a lot of money laundering for them and nobody questions what I do. It’s safer for us if my brother stays in charge.”
“So, what if we change the narrative ourselves?”
Everyone looks at Victor. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, let’s say we agree it was someone from my family who took Matteo’s old man out. What if we still leak that he had dementia. Let’s say he provoked us, and we didn’t realize something was wrong with him. Put everything on the old man. If it weren’t for his illness, he wouldn’t have done whatever stupid thing got him killed.”
Matteo shakes his head. “I’m not sure, man. It’s tricky. If you admit it, you still risk my brother being forced to start a war because the people on his council demand it.”
“Still, it’s worth considering. If it looks like Ernesto was acting on bad intel, then it helps solidify Danny’s power. It was, in fact, time for a regime change. Just not the one they were thinking of.”
Owen pulls a file out of nowhere. “This took entirely too long for me to obtain, but I finally got a hold of the police file for the investigation into Papa Trentini’s killing. I thought it might give us some ideas.”
I take the folder first and flip through it.
“Son of a bitch,” I mutter.
“What?” Owen leans closer to me. “I skimmed it, but nothing caught my eye. What do you see?”
“Fucking Donovan, that’s who. Or at least his car. I want you to retrace his steps from the twelve to twenty-four hours before he delivered Skylar to Matteo’s dad and when we got a hold of him. It might be nothing, but it’s worth looking into.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Ernesto called in a favor with Jamie Bowden to get Donovan to drive Skylar to him. But why would Donovan be anywhere near the site of the old man’s murder?” Matteo asks.
Owen drags a hand through his hair. “I’ll do a deeper dive tonight.”
As we’re moving on to discuss other business matters, my phone rings.
“Excuse me,” I say as I stand and lift it to my ear.
“Your cousin confessed.”
“Excuse me?” My surprise is two-fold. One that Oliver confessed, but more so that my father is calling me at this hour.
