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“Well, as positive as I can be. I overheard Massimo and Dario talking after one of the meetings. Massimo told Dario that he had ‘that nuisance Mateo’ taken care of and dumped in his usual spot. I’d never heard the name Mateo before, so it piqued my interest. I found a reason to stay in the room. It was one of the only times I saw Dario get angry with Massimo. He wasn’t only angry though, he was scared. I just don’t know who he was scared of. I didn’t know about Trino or Adrik at the time.”
Ivan thought for a few moments. “This might prove to be useful. It might be a way to turn Dario and Massimo against each other. Create more chaos,” he said, looking to Adrik.
Misha had finished running through possibilities in his head. “I don’t see a problem with you telling Trino what you know. If you feel like we can trust him, I think it’s a good move. I agree with you and Ivan that it might be useful to keep him in debt to us, so to speak, and can possibly create more chaos.”
Adrik looked to Viktor, who nodded, then Andrei and Stephen, who also nodded their heads. He pulled me to him, holding me close. “You ultimately get the final say, solnishko. If you’re too worried about telling him what you know, then we’ll keep it between us right now.”
“I’m happy to tell Trino what I know, if you give him permission to take care of Massimo. That’s one less we have to worry about,” I said.
Adrik was massaging my shoulders as he lightly kissed my neck while the water from the shower ran over my already sore muscles. He spun me around, so I was facing him, holding me against him. He had a small smile on his face as he looked at me. “If I haven’t told you lately, I think you’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever met. Everything about you is perfect for me. If I would have made a list of everything I wanted in a woman, it would’ve still fallen short of how perfect you are.”
I couldn’t help but smile at his words. I knew exactly how he felt because I felt the same way about him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, just wanting to hold him close to me. He held me even tighter.
As we were getting dressed, he said, “You look like you’re doing a better job of getting control of your anger. Misha looked more tired than you did by the end this morning.”
I smiled. “I had to pull a few punches because I misjudged how slow he was getting. I’ll never hear the end of it if I wreck his pretty face.”
Adrik laughed. “No. No, you won’t. But I think watching you with Misha this morning somehow gained me brownie points with Trino. He was quite impressed.” He walked to me, pulling me into his arms again. “I mean, we all know you’re impressive, but I have to admit to secretly loving it when I see other people realize it for the first time.”
I hid my face in his shoulder. I still struggled with him telling me I was impressive in any way. He chuckled and kissed the top of my head. “Come, we should go find Trino. You can tell him the story about how you ‘verbally annihilated,’ as Viktor put it, Vanessa in my office.” He saw the shock on my face and added, “She’s with Massimo. Martin said one of his guys called to complain that she was stinking up the place this morning while we were on the beach.”
I laughed loudly. “If Trino takes care of her too, do you think the perfume maker that makes that particularly hellish scent will go out of business after losing their best customer? I mean, we could be doing the entire world a favor here.”
Adrik spent most of the afternoon talking with Trino, Martin, and Armando. They discussed options for how to take care of the other bosses, as well as how to restructure the organization to get rid of the need for the other bosses. The more they talked, the more I liked Trino. He was cut from the same cloth as Adrik.
Massimo’s name came up in the conversation. I looked at Adrik, who gave me a slight nod. I took a deep breath and looked at Trino. “Trino, I know what happened to Mateo.” I started to fidget with my hands as I continued. “All of the bosses used to meet once a month at the restaurant I used to work at. They always requested me to serve them, so I would overhear, well, everything. Regularly, Dario and Massimo would stay after everyone else was gone and have their own meeting. I overheard them talking about Mateo and I was curious because I’d never heard that name before. Massimo told Dario that he’d had Mateo taken care of and dumped in the normal spot. For what it’s worth, it was the only time that I ever saw Dario get angry with Massimo. He was scared. At the time, I didn’t know about you or even Ghost, so I don’t know if Dario was scared of Massimo, you, or Ghost. Or all of you.”
Trino was silent for a few moments. I could see the emotions as he felt them. He went through all of them quickly. He stood up, walking straight to me. I tensed, as I didn’t know him very well. He offered me his hand as he knelt in front of me. “Sephie. I can’t even begin to thank you for the closure you’ve just given me. And his mother, my sister. The not knowing was eating her.” He took my hands in his and kissed each one. When he looked at me, there were tears in his eyes. I couldn’t help it. I leaned forward and hugged him.
Adrik broke the silence. “Not many people know of her knowledge about the organization, but Massimo and Dario both do. That’s why Massimo’s people tried to grab her last week. I would like to keep it to not many people knowing about her knowledge of the organization.”
Trino stood up and looked at Adrik very seriously. “Jefe, you have my word. No one will know how I came across this information outside this room.”
“If you keep Sephie out of it, you’re free to do whatever you like to Massimo,” Adrik said.
“I kind of think this will separate Dario and Massimo, if you tell Dario that you know Massimo killed Mateo. Dario isn’t as bad as Vito, but he’s got a fragile psyche. You could easily shatter it. And there’s a weird dynamic between Massimo and Dario. Massimo is the one that runs the show between those two, but somehow I don’t think he’ll be as bold without Dario as his cover,” I said.
Trino, now returned to his seat, looked at me thoughtfully, then looked to Adrik, then back to me. “Please tell me you have a sister that loves Colombian men.”
I laughed. “Sorry to disappoint. I’m an only child. But I can offer my vetting services if you’d like me to interview potential girlfriends for you.”
Armando said, “I can vouch for her professional skills. I’m going to pay her to be at as many of my important meetings as possible.”
Trino laughed, but that serious look came back over his face that he had while we were on the beach, like he was lost in thought. I caught Adrik’s eye, to see if he noticed it as well. He nodded discreetly, pulling me closer to him.
Viktor walked into the room, looking very serious. “Boss, we’ve got a problem.”
Chapter Sixty-One
Adrik
We found Trino and Martin, as well as Armando, and found a quiet spot to discuss business that afternoon. Most important was trying to come up with a plan for how to handle the other bosses in the city. I was beginning to think that I didn’t need any of them, other than Armando. They were becoming more of a headache than they were a help to the organization.
“What do the people of the city think of the other bosses, Jefe?” Trino asked.
I thought for a moment. “It depends on which one, really. Armando is well liked, as he does a tremendous amount of work for the people in his area of the city. Up until recently, most of the other bosses were mostly the same, but I’m hearing reports now that Salvadori’s area of the city is not happy with him. Same for Dario and Massimo’s areas. Vito’s people seem to be happy with him, but I’m not sure they’ll stand behind him if a war breaks out in the city like they’re planning. Niko’s area of the city is mostly quiet now, but same as Vito. I’m not sure his people will stand behind him.”
“Trino, the people of the city favor Ghost over the other bosses. Hands down. If it comes down to it, they’ll stand with Ghost over any of the other bosses,” Armando said. I felt Sephie squeeze my hand that was across her lap, resting on her thigh.
