Page 36 of Tortured Hearts
Considering the only thing I found in mine that resembled a weapon was a fucking butter knife, he has a point. Until I have my place swept, it’s a hotbed for blackmail.
“So Sartorre is in on whatever this is?”
He dips his chin.
“The man who wants ‘revenge, retribution, and restitution’ is trusting the man who dropped the first match not to do it again?”
“You think I’m playing you, don’t you?” Cursing, he tosses the bread into the basket and jabs his finger across the table. “Che cazzo, Gianni? I was there when you were born. I looked your mother in her eyes and promised to look out for you. I knew this whole thing went deeper than Marcello framing you for murder because he didn’t get his way.” He exhales a low breath. “I didn’t know it went all the way to Hell.”
“So you knew he was dipping his dick in Providence.”
He leans close, his gaze sharp. “Who do you think sent Owen Holmes that link?”
I don’t know what kind of response I expected, but it sure as hell wasn’t that. I never questioned how Owen came into possession of the link. After it revealed regular deposits made from Rose and Dagger Holdings and Tesora International into an offshore account in Reese’s name, logic took a backseat to rage.
Tesorawas what my father used to call my mother. In normal relationships, “darling” would be aterm of endearment, but it was the name he used before unleashing the monster.
The moment I saw it, I knew who owned George Reese and Providence.
“Start talking, Anton.”
“I stole Marcello’s laptop before the feds could get to it and started digging,” he says. “The more closets I pried opened, the more skeletons fell out. After his arrest, I found a hidden file protected by a wall of encryption. I have a contact who specializes in less-than-ethical IT work, so I enlisted his help.”
“Let me guess, he discovered Rose and Dagger Holdings and Tesora International.”
“Among others.”
These constant plot twists are really starting to piss me off.
I jerk my tie loose as the walls inch closer. “How many fucking shell companies is he using to launder his dirty money?”
“At least three, maybe more. All set up by figureheads across the globe who populated them with a bunch of straw men. Little to no regulation of foreign financial institutions makes illegal enterprise a hot commodity.”
“No one pays more for discretion than a criminal,” I say, the words sounding much calmer than the intent behind them. “But I’m guessing there’s more to the story.”
He sips his wine before pulling back more of the curtain. “It was the regular payouts from the shells to four offshore accounts that caught my contact’s eye. He bypassed the encryption on two of them and found money being funneled from Rose and Dagger Holdings and Tesora International into the Providence police chief’s pocket.”
It seems Marcello was layering his money laundering. How entrepreneurial of him.
“That must have been around the time Owen uncovered Reese’s Cayman Islands account,” I say, more tomyself than him. “He’d been poking around his finances for days when deposits from Rose and Dagger tripped his alarm.”
I can still see him in my living room the night I turned Dice and his sidekick into overdone Irish kebabs. Blood drained from his face as I told him how Becca’s attacker had a rose and dagger tattoo. He’d assumed Reese was being controlled by the Rogue. If only he’d seen past the veil, she wouldn’t be here right now.
“You said your contact bypassed the encryption on two accounts,” I say. “We know one belongs to Reese. Let me guess; the other links to Saddler.”
Anton’s stare never wavers. “The one and only. Unfortunately, the other two accounts have more intricate codes beyond his expertise.”
“I’m still not hearing thehowandwhythis revelation led to me. Two dirty law enforcement officers point to a conspiracy, not a trap.” I lean close and tighten the rope. “What aren’t you telling me, Anton?”
He hits me with a deadpan stare. “My contact called me the day of Marcello’s release to tell me it was all gone. Decades of transactions were erased, and all the shells had been put inyourname.”
I freeze. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“It’s a setup, Gianni. Once I knew your father’s endgame, I followed Saddler’s paper trail to Providence.” He rolls the wine glass stem between his thumb and index finger. “I had a fifty-fifty shot that the other marshal wasn’t a sellout, so I took a chance and clued him in.”
“Yeah, with a filtered and watered-down version.” I lock eyes with him across the table. “Why send him the link in a burner email with some cryptic note to have me ‘read between the lines?’ Why not tell him I was being set up by my father and framed by a dirtymarshal?”
“And risk you murdering Saddler and confronting Marcello with the only leverage I had against him?” Staunch indignation clouds his face. “I said I took a gamble on Holmes, not that I threw a bullet in the chamber and gave it a spin.”Fair enough.He’s right about me, and Owen is so “by-the-book” he probably would’ve called in a fucking report. “I needed to tell you in person, and I knew once you saw that link, that hot temper of yours would drive you across state lines.” He frowns. “I just didn’t plan on Marcello turning your girl into a wildcard.”
