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His eyes opened wide, a smirk on his face. “You’ve taken to being vice president, Maddox. A fascinating and very good idea. Why don’t you task Tony to run down everyone who was close to her?”
That was the perfect use of the man’s time. I nodded, shifting my gaze toward my man. My thoughts drifted to the time I’d spent in New York. Other than the drunk, I’d seen no evidence anything had been off about Zoe, her friends or classmates. That didn’t mean I hadn’t missed something. If she was the target, it was likely her movements had been targeted for some time.
“I’d be happy to,” Tony said. “Do you want me to head to New York?”
“Not unless we determine doing so is necessary. Set up operations here,” I told him. “Check the known syndicates in New York however. Just in case.”
“This isn’t New York based,” Jean Baptiste snapped.
“We’re not ruling anything out, Pops.” Francois nodded his approval in my direction while his father hissed under his breath, hating the fact his authority was being undermined. Francois knew I wouldn’t allow any stone to go unearthed. Not under any circumstances. He’d been around me for far too long.
“We need to determine the person responsible as soon as possible. I have a bad feeling this is only the beginning of along nightmare,” Francois said more casually than I would have believed.
“You have good instincts, son,” Jean Baptiste said. “We need to work together. We need to use the old ways.”
The old ways. Tracking and killing if necessary. I wasn’t opposed to the thought, even if Arman would be.
“There’s something else you need to pay attention to,” Thomas stated as he pulled his iPad from the coffee table.
“What now?” Francois barked.
“Evidently there was a reporter at the party?” Thomas eyed me carefully. He’d yet to arrive from Texas when the party had commenced, only arriving after the tragedy had struck.
“Sandra Wells. She’s an investigative reporter from one of the local channels. Why?” I moved closer and as soon as Thomas handed me the tablet, I cringed. While the sound was on, the blonde going on about what she called the crisis in the Thibodeaux family, it was the headline that had grabbed my attention.
Is the Great Thibodeaux Empire Ready to Fall?
The report started with the incident between herself and Tony, continuing with scores of guests racing away from the party after gunshots had been fired. And finally led to an interview with the two politicians who’d been struck by bullets.
Francois was looking over my shoulder and I sensed his growing rage.
Just like mine.
“She’s painting us once again as a violent mafia family, corrupt in all aspects,” he said with no inflection in his voice.
“She hung around after being asked to leave. If I had to guess, I’d say she was tipped off about events ready to occur.” I lifted my head, glancing from Jean Baptiste back to Thomas, who was rubbing his jaw.
“We were set up,” Thomas said quietly.
I nodded. “That’s apparent. Whoever wants to destroy us was ready to do so in any method possible.”
“That means the reporter will likely continue to snoop.” Francois moved toward the coffeemaker, glancing at the bar as if determining which choice was applicable. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to drink so early in the morning. We’d become too complacent as an operation, allowing an enemy to enter our space without realizing it.
It didn’t matter about our business operations being legitimate or not, what we didn’t need was people sticking their noses in our business. We had enough illegal activities still ongoing that we could easily be railroaded into prison terms. That wasn’t going to happen.
“Thomas. I think you need to use your connections to determine if she has any allies that might be of interest,” I suggested.
“Good idea,” Francois said as he selected coffee as his drink of choice. “We may need to have a conversation with the woman as well.”
I walked closer to him, lifting an eyebrow. “I think you should wait until we know more. It’s obvious she has some inside information.”
Francois slowly lifted his head, eyeing me carefully. He knew what I was suggesting. He nodded and looked away. “This could turn into a nightmare.”
“It already is,” Jean Baptiste said, his voice more haunted than I’d heard in a hell of a long time.
“It’s time I take Zoe to the safehouse,” I told everyone. “Whatever Arman is concerned about, his instincts are spot on.”
“Yeah, I agree with you.” Francois gripped my shoulder, squeezing as if in camaraderie. “Stop worrying, my friend. Take care of my niece.”
