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“He—Santi—wanted out as much as I did once I told him about Ron’s visit. He realized, just as I did, that our fathers didn’t care about us. They cared about their business. They don’t care who it hurts. And at this point, fentanyl was becoming more widely used; largely in part because of them.
“Santi and I vowed to find a way to destroy them. To stop the business. We got a bit distracted, livin’ the college party life and pretending like our lives weren’t shit thanks to our fathers. But we also worked ourassesoff. We hit the gym every day, for hours at a time once we were strong enough. We convinced our fathers that we should be trained in firearms. Essentially, we worked to be able to protect ourselves. And luckily, our fathers believed us at every turn. That it was all for the good of running drugs and being able to protect that. Eventually, our way out arrived.”
I turn to my side, nestling into the pillow. “How?”
Lorenzo shifts into a lying position to face me. “On our graduation night, we went out with a bunch of Santi’s friends. As capable as I am of putting on a show, of being the social guy, I didn’t want to. I hated living all these lies. I slowly grew to hate myself, and Marco more than anyone else. But that hate was what drove me. It gave me direction and a sense of purpose.
“We get to a bar and I pound drinks, wondering how the fuck we’re ever going to achieve what we want—out. And termination of the whole thing. A few hours—and drinks—later, a group of cops walk in. They sat in the booth behind us, which instantly made me uncomfortable. I’d been ignoring most of the conversation around me, anyway, so I started listening to them.
“They were discussing an arrest they’d made. A guy had been caught selling dope. You wanna know my first thought? Was it laced with fent? Did these cops save lives by stopping them?
“And I don’t know why, but it hit me. Why don’t we get the police involved? We know so much. There’s no reason to keep it all hidden.
“But I was drunk, and so was Santi. This wasn’t the time to discuss it. Next morning, I shared my thoughts with him. He was terrified at first and said absolutely not. That if we ever got caught, we were dead. We went back and forth a lot, but ultimately, I won out. No matter what route we took, we were risking our lives. We didn’t have any other choice.
“This was the safest way. We could getprofessionalhelp, and we wouldn’t be doing these terrible things for no reason anymore. It was for information. It was a way out that also helped keep the shit off the streets. We went to the library and started looking at how to report this—”
“The library?” I giggle despite the seriousness of this conversation. “You didn’t have laptops? Or phones?”
He gives me a look. “Kate, all of that is traceable.”
“Oh.”
“When you run with criminals, you learn to watch your back, no matter what. You don’t know who will look into what, or why. We couldn’t risk our fathers finding out. It was a stretch, I know, but you have to understand the types of risks we were taking.”
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to fully understand that.
“We learned pretty quickly that this was big enough for the Feds. Marco and Rowan deal in many states, and the amounts at which they were profiting, it warranted the FBI.
“We put in an anonymous report and said that if they were interested, they could meet us. We knew it could take weeks for a reply, if we ever got one, so we set the date for a month out.
“A month later, we went to the location we’d outlined. They—”
“Where?”
He eyes me for a moment. “Here. It was the only time I’d been since renting it.”
I blow out a breath. “This is all… just—”
“Unbelievable? I know. Ted was the one who met with us. We told him everything.Everything, Kate. He was silent the entire time. Just listening. Didn’t write a lick of information down.
“He said he’d be willing to help us. If we became confidential informants, he’d clear us of any indictments. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that we learned the FBI already had a case open and were planning to send in an undercover. So it was a mutually beneficial agreement.”
“Oh my god.”
“It would have taken years for an undercover to get to the level of knowledge we had, maybe even longer. And we would soon have access to the entire system at Valeri Financials. Ted couldn’t turn us down. Looking back, I think he felt sorry for us. I was desperate at that point.”
I ruminate over his words. “But what about Carter and D? And the rest of the crew? They know—”
“No one knew about us working with the FBI. We couldn’t risk it ever getting out. In this business, you trust few, but you must trust some. You have to take risks to reap rewards in life. It’s no difference with this sick business.”
When our silence extends into more silence, goosebumps coating my arm, Lorenzo adds, “When Marco and Rowan wanted to hire some workers for Rentals, because it was expanding to a point that they needed help, he asked me to ask my friends since they were already dealing. Lou’s auto shop was in the works, so Carter and D took the jobs.
“They didn’t ask questions when I told them not to look deeply into things. Get the tenants, fill out the paperwork, send it to Rowan or Marco. That’s it.”
“How could they justnotask?”
Lorenzo chuckles and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. The simple gesture sends a tingling sensation across my skin. “I know it’s impossible for you, princess. But there are people that can follow orders blindly. Particularly grunt workers. People who deal in shady business understand—the less you know, the better.”
