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“That’s hardly likely,” he said tersely. “I made sure I wasn’t followed.”
“I know. I understood that after I thought about it some more. You were circling the area for ages before pulling up at the factory, and I realized that the ditsy nurse didn’t seem the type to have a grand plan to follow us.”
“Is that all?” Lorenzo’s unwillingness to hear my theories was loud and clear.
“No, it’s not actually. You said that there’s no such thing as a coincidence. That got me thinking.” I paused, licking my dry lips. “Aloysius seems to always be around…is that just a coincidence?”
Lorenzo sat up ramrod straight. “You should have proof before you accuse anyone in my family like this,” he snarled.
“It’s just that he’s always around,” I said quickly. “He was there that day when there was no guard available when I wanted to take the kids to the playground. And then there was that day when he found me at the strip mall—”
“That was hardly a coincidence,” he snapped. “You were in a bullet-proof SUV with my number plates, parked in a strip mall on the main drag on his way to the mansion.”
“I know, so maybe those couple of timeswerea coincidence. But what about Cat-Con?”
“What about it?”
“There were thousands of people there. Out of all the people you had looking for me, he was the one to find me.”
“And you should be glad he did since, if you remember, you’d gotten your sorry ass arrested.”
“I’m grateful he found me. But is it a coincidence that he’s always finding me? I’m just saying how did he find me so quickly when it was chaos there?”
“He told us: his police contact called him when he saw that you were a Marchiano.”
“But I never told him my name.”
“You must have,” he said carefully.
“No, I didn’t. They didn’t ask me, and they normally don’t take down details like that until they’re booking you in at the station.”
“You said that day that the officer searched your backpack. Your wallet had your driver’s license.”
“But I’ve thought about it really hard, trying to remember step-by-step everything that happened. And I’m positive that the officer didn’t look in my wallet. He did a search of my bag, but it was real quick because he was just checking to see if there were any weapons.” I took a deep breath. “Lorenzo…is there any reason Aloysius might have wanted you arrested at the raid by the Feds?”
Lorenzo pierced me with his dark gaze. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “He’s my brother,” he gritted out.
“I know,” I said quietly, “but that doesn’t answer my question.”
He just stared at me, and I could tell there was something he wasn’t telling me.
“Aloysius turned up that day you took me to the factory. I remember him mentioning that he wasn’t due to be at the factory that day. And I thought that maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that he was there at the same time as us. And when he saw me at the factory and realized someone else now knew about the existence and location of the factory, he knew he could leak intel to the Feds and blame it on me.”
“Why would he do that?”
“That’s what I don’t know. But I think you might…” My voice trailed off as I watched an array of emotions cross Lorenzo’s face.
“Anni, he’s known about the factory since it’s been operational, so well over eighteen months.” Lorenzo’s voice had become less hard as if he was wavering. “If he wanted to frame me, he could have done it at any time before now.”
“But maybe he didn’t have someone else to point the finger at—not until he saw that I now knew about the factory. Didn’t you tell me that all your men who worked there had known about the factory for many months by now?”
“He’s my brother,” he said again, his voice hoarse.
“Why won’t you trust me?” I asked softly. “Why won’t you let me in?” I knew that Lorenzo was holding something back.
“I’ve been wondering for a while if Aloysius has been holding something against me.” Lorenzo ran his hands over his weary face. “He hasn’t said or done anything specific, but there’s a little niggle at the back of my mind—a sense that something isn’t quite right between us as brothers.”
“What could he be holding against you? You’ve always seemed so close.”
