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Roman rubbed his temples. “It was the only explanation for why he suddenly changed his story. I’ve seen it before, and honestly, I can’t even blame him when the mob shows up at your doorstep. Why would he put his life on the line to testify against Whitman?”
Wander tapped his pencil on the table. “I spoke to Connor, and he knew Joey, and not in a good way. Connor’s family is part of the Irish mob, and they’ve been feuding with the DiMartinos for as long as both empires have existed. Connor confirmed Joey is as smart as they come but with a taste for mind games. I think his literal words were that Joey doesn’t just break legs. He breaks your will first and then your legs. He said that if we were involved with Joey, we were playing in the big leagues.”
“Christ,” Roman muttered, the realization hitting him like a ton of bricks. Caleb was out there, isolated in Boston, potentially crossing paths with these vipers. If Joey caught wind of who Caleb was…
“Roman?” Wander’s voice cut through his spiraling thoughts, bringing him back.
Roman pushed back the fear clawing at his chest and schooled his features into the mask of composure he wore so well. “We need to keep this tight. No leaks. If Joey suspects…”
“We know the risks,” Wander said firmly. “We move carefully. We can’t afford any mistakes.”
“We also found something interesting,” Lowell said. “Once we had a picture of Joey, we checked all our security cam footage again. Guess what? He’s been checking in on your apartment, Roman.”
With a few clicks, Lowell pulled the footage up on the big screen. “After you showed up here, we installed some extra security cams. Inconspicuous ones, including one above your neighbor’s door aimed at your apartment and one directed at the street.”
He pressed Play, and the footage showed Roman’s street. Within seconds, a black Honda drove by slowly, the tinted windows making it impossible to see the driver. “We ran the plate. It’s registered to Giorgio DiMartino, Joey’s uncle.”
The footage changed. It was raining now, but that same car drove by again.
“We have him on camera at least once a day, driving past your apartment. And there’s this.”
Now, the images showed Roman’s front door and a guy wearing a Red Sox baseball cap ringing his doorbell. His face was turned away from the camera, but he was still easy to recognize. Joey.
“He’s been keeping tabs on your apartment, stopping by regularly. He even talked to your neighbors and asked them if they knew where you were.”
Roman snorted. “Good luck with that. I doubt my neighbors would even be able to describe me. I’m never home.”
Lowell chuckled. “Which is exactly what they told him. We have sound on that camera, so we were able to catch the conversation.”
“So now we have a clear link between Joey and Roman,” Wander said. “But it’s nowhere near enough to bring Whitman down. Where do we go from here?”
“Where is Caleb on getting access to the encrypted files in Isabella’s iCloud?” Ryan asked.
Wander slowly shook his head. “It’s proving to be a challenge. She used high-end encryption software, and Caleb’s not been able to get past that. The password changes daily according to a list Isabella has, but Caleb doesn’t know where she keeps it.”
“She wouldn’t have encryption like that unless she wanted to safeguard something crucial, something she doesn’t want to fall into the wrong hands,” Alex said. “And if Caleb can’t get in, we’re talking high-level security.”
“Agreed,” Roman said. “So if we can’t get access to her files, where does that leave us?”
“We have to go back to Boston and dig some more,” Ryan said.
Hell, no. Roman opened his mouth to protest, then caught a warning glance from his brother and closed it again. Wander was right. This was his team, and Roman had to let him make the decisions.
“How certain are you that you’re flying under the radar?” Wander asked Ryan.
Ryan crossed his arms. “Are you questioning my skills?”
“Ryan, this isn’t the time to get all pissy with me, yeah? We’re not dealing with low-level idiots here. This is the mob, and Caleb is out there, working in the lion’s den. So I’ll ask you again. How certain are you that Joey isn’t on to you?”
Ryan held up his hands. “Sorry, you’re right. The truth is that we can’t be certain. We were careful, but we can’t be sure our questions didn’t somehow get back to him. But even if they do, there’s no link to Caleb. Joey may suspect someone is on to him, but how would he connect the dots to Caleb?”
“I don’t know,” Wander said. “But I don’t want to count on him not figuring it out. Caleb’s life hangs in the balance.”
The room was thick with tension, each man wrapped in their own cloak of concern and anticipation. Roman’s heart hammered a brutal rhythm, and his mind waged war between the desire to keep everyone safe—especially Caleb—and the knowledge that risks were necessary in this investigation. His chest felt tight, constricted like a vise of worry clamped around him.
Caleb’s safety hung in the balance, a precarious thread that Roman vowed to protect with every fiber of his being. Roman couldn’t shake the chill of dread settling in his bones. Joey DiMartino was a threat unlike any they’d faced, and the more they dug, the bigger the chance Joey would find out the truth and come after them, after Caleb.
“Roman?” Wander asked.
