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“Oh, I’d say no more than fifteen or so minutes. He hasn’t been back, though, so perhaps he is still thinking about it.”
“Could be,” I agree, knowing I couldn’t disagree more.
I was right to think my place may be bugged. Could be a coincidence, but I always trust my gut.
Kai pulls up to the curb just in time to give me an excuse to exit this conversation. Rodrigo walks me to my brother’s car and opens the door for me. “You gentleman have a good night,” he bids. We are far from gentlemen, but I give him a small wave.
“So what was that call all about?” Kai questions our recent conversation.
I put my finger up to my lips to silence him. As far as I’m concerned, his car could be bugged too.
“No call, brother. I was checking my messages when you pulled up.”
I point at my ears to gesture someone could be listening to us. “Uh, okay. Let’s get something to eat,” he says.
We fall silent for the rest of the ride. When we arrive at the East River Park, we take a stroll along the pedestrian pathway.
“Okay, it should be safe to talk now,” he informs.
“Yeah. I couldn’t chance that your car wasn’t bugged.”
Our strides fall in sync. “What makes you say that? What did Matteo say?”
“It’s not what he said per se. It was the questions he was asking and the way he looked at me. He asked if I knew he had a daughter, Kai.”
“That could have been just a coincidence.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences. You didn’t see how he looked at me when I said we only knew of his four sons. It was brief, but I saw it.”
“Saw what?”
“Disbelief. At the very least, I think he suspects involvement from our clan or us. He asked about my transition as chief and whether our clan are falling in line.”
“Basically trying to see if the clan respects you as our leader.”
“Exactly! He also asked if you and our brothers plan to assume your roles. He wanted to see our moves now that our father was dead. It was insulting that he thought I would tell him anything.”
“If what you suspect is true, they will be watching us.”
“It would be crazy for him not to. He’s following every single lead they have. Right now, he only has what some woman named Amerie told him. She is one of his housemaids and Aurora’s closest friend. He knows she covered for her to sneak out, so he is torturing her until his daughter returns.”
“Damn. That’s fucked up.”
“He could have let anyone of his sons meet with me today. To summon me to their home was unnecessary. He wanted me on his turf and to look me in the eye when he asked about his daughter. Not only that, I think he sent someone to bug my penthouse.”
Kai takes a seat on one of the park benches, and I join him. “Holy shite. Are you serious?”
I tell him about my conversation with Rodrigo and the man he thinks came to look at the sub penthouse but hasn’t returned. “It’s possible that he paid the front desk guy to look around my place and left bugs to listen in. Hence the reason for the way I was talking when you called me. Glad you figured out not to say anything over the phone.”
“You have to give me more credit than that, brother. With everything that you’ve said, I think you’re right. We need to do a sweep for bugs at our known residences and vehicles. You’ll have to show your face more at your penthouse so that you’re seen there if anyone is watching you.”
“I know. It’s a good thing that our clan and siblings are unaware of any of this at the moment. If they’re being watched, it won’t lead to anything. We still need to put a security detail on them, though. I’ll look into that today.”
“Good. Let me get you back so you can work on that. I’ll work on getting us top-of-the-line sweepers and bring them over. We need to do this shit ourselves. I don’t trust anyone.”
“I agree. Until then, we must assume we’re being followed and listened to at all times. If we find any bugs, we’ll let them listen long enough to have the information we want to plant. Then we can get rid of them. I will stay at my penthouse tonight so just come over once you have the equipment.”
We head back to the car so he can take me home. I need to accelerate this plan to modify our clan. It’s more important than ever to assess who we can trust and to identify anyone who may have gone rogue. The Italians may have us in their crosshairs. They may have just started an unannounced war of their own.
