Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
“Lay your cards on the table, Vinnie. It’s always best that way.”
I nod and take a sip of my drink. “I got a name from my grandfather, like I told you. One of the EPA chiefs who has worked with our family in the past. I texted her, following the instructions from my grandfather, told her what we needed.” I lean toward Falcon. “And get this. It was already in the works.”
Falcon drops his jaw. “I guess we don’t need a plan B after all.”
“Yeah. I was as surprised as you are.” I look directly into his eyes. “Think hard, Falcon. Does anybody else know about this?”
“No.” He rubs at his forehead. “Well… There were those two goons. We were all really surprised that Diego Vega himself showed up.”
“Yeah, I thought that was weird myself,” I say. “He must have gotten demoted. The first time I met him, he was a major crime lord. A kingpin.” I take another drink. “But a major crime lord wouldn’t concern himself with a paltry million bucks and a kid who got in over his head.”
“I wouldn’t know if he was demoted.” Falcon presses his lips together. “But your grandfather would.”
“Yeah, he probably would.” I sigh out a deep breath. “I haven’t had the presence of mind to ask him. I don’t want to bring up Diego Vega to him. I don’t want to implicate you in any way.”
“I didn’t go to prison for killing Diego Vega, Vinnie. I went to prison for killing that young cop, Jaden Perez.”
I nod, taking another drink. “Yeah, I know that. But hasn’t anyone put two and two together? That Diego Vega disappeared right around that same time?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“And the two goons.” I scratch the side of my head. “You say they got stopped at the border and no one ever heard from them again.”
Falcon nods.
“I think those might be what we call loose ends, Falcon.”
Falcon widens his eyes. “You think they’re still around? And are looking for Vega?”
“Hell, no. My guess is Vega probably treated them like pieces of shit and they’re happy he’s gone. But they are loose ends. Do you happen to remember their names?”
Falcon shakes his head, scowling. “Never got their names. Never wanted their names.”
“Would anybody know?”
“Maybe Eagle. I mean, he was working with them.” Falcon rakes his fingers through his hair. “But damn. He’s already a fucked-up mess.”
I want to tell him that I agree, but I’m not going to talk shit about someone in his family. I simply nod. “Got it. But we need to get him back over here.”
“Savannah was looking forward to having a nice dinner with Raven tonight.” He glances back toward the kitchen, frowning. “The two of them think this is all taken care of.”
“It may be,” I say. “The fact of the matter is that I don’t know, Falcon. But someone alerted this woman—someone who no doubt knows she’s on the take—that we needed someone to intervene on your father digging up that property. Who else would have any interest?”
“I don’t know… The EPA itself? Maybe there really are wetlands there?”
I take one more drink, letting it soothe my throat. “That’s a possibility. But only a possibility. Certainly not a probability. Are you sure no one else knows that Vega was there that night?”
“No one could, other than the two goons.”
“Then it’s got to be them. If it’s not? We’ve got an even bigger problem.”
“Yeah,” he says.
“I’ll try to find them,” I tell him. “I’ve got all my grandfather’s resources, and they can be found. But it won’t happen quickly. And if it’s someone other than those two? We’ll be looking for a fucking needle in a haystack.”
15
RAVEN
I open the oven to check the lasagna and inhale the robust scent of the tomatoes and cheese. “It’s bubbling nicely.”
“Great,” Savannah says. “We just need to give it about ten more minutes. Turn on the broiler so it gets nice and crusty on top.”
I do as she asks, and then I inhale again. “Food tastes so good now. It’s richer, creamier, sweeter, more savory. Everything is. You name it.”
Savannah smiles. “I suppose it would after not having an appetite for so long.”
“Yeah, that too.”
She wrinkles her forehead. “That too?”
“Yeah.” I purse my lips. “I guess it’s hard to explain if you haven’t spent the last couple years believing you were going to die.”
Savannah nods. “Oh, I know what you mean. Like the sky is bluer now and all that.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“I can’t say I’ve been through what you’ve been through,” she says. “I would never attempt to say I understand.” She draws in a deep breath, her face suddenly grave. “But I have looked my mortality in the eye. Or at least my life as I knew it. When Miles McAllister locked me in his bedroom and was getting ready to rape me.”