Page 98 of She Belongs to Me

“Cunning, boss,” Luca said.

“No, buying time.”

I knew it was only a day or two, but it could be enough. Or the entire situation was truly nothing more than a fishing expedition. The party would continue, but caution would be taken. Perhaps all the pieces I’d been searching for would be put into place by that point.

The men were left to clean up the facility while I headed to my car.

I was barely out of the parking lot when my phone rang. Seeing Mike’s, the retired sergeant from the police department, number appearing on my screen was enough to cause me to flinch.

“Mike. Do you have anything for me?”

He laughed then coughed. “Yeah, but you’re not going to like it.”

“Right now, I’m not fond of anything going down.”

“Did you hear about the death of the union president?”

“I admit I don’t get all the information from the United States.” This was new. Maybe it was being kept quiet or had been seen as a murder. I thought about why the man would be killed. Yes, I knew he’d made waves about challenging not only the basics about construction and the various projects already underway, but was trying to impose a firmer hand to who could be members and who was shut out. Labor unions were still viable in several larger cities in the US including New York and Philly. That was the limit of what I knew.

“The dude drowned in a boating accident. All suspicious, but you know how it goes.”

“You’re trying to insinuate he was murdered?”

Mike snorted. “Let’s just say he’d had a press conference announcing all these tremendous changes literally two days before. He also had money invested in the big pipeline project. Don’t you find his sudden death interesting timing?”

Fascinating. The death toll was going to continue to rise until Adonis was caught.

And there was only one way of making that happen. Well, fuck.

“Yes, but I’m not there. I’m not abreast of all the political activity. However tragic his death might be, what does that have to do with my friend or with the Greeks?”

“Maybe everything.”

“Go on.” I glanced into the rearview mirror to ensure I wasn’t being followed.

“Meaning while it’s only rumors and unsubstantiated, it would appear your buddy wasn’t the good guy you thought he was.”

Now that caught me off guard, but it also solidified the questions I’d already formulated in my mind. “What the hell are you getting at?”

“As I said, there are only rumors, but it would appear he got in tight with the Greeks when Adonis’ father was still in control. I will tell you that I trust the people I heard this from and it was weird. The sources were nervous, not wanting to talk about it.”

My entire body tensed. “Why the fuck would he do that?”

“Did he ever tell you he wanted to run for senator?” That really was the missing piece.

Sighing, I tried to remember the conversations we’d had. Yes, Greg had been eager to advance in his career, but I couldn’t remember him mentioning political activity. “Okay, so why the connection?”

“Come on, dude. In exchange for various names and activities, Greg was likely offered money and backing from very powerful sources, including the Greeks. You need to remember, since the fuckers arrived in Philly, they’ve had some success in gathering wealthy friends. It made him not so popular within the ranks over the last months he was alive.”

He allowed the information to hang while I processed it. I found it tough to believe and almost got angry, but had to shove it aside. “Rumors, huh?”

“Yes, as I said, from qualified people I trust, Nico,” Mike said almost reluctantly.

He wouldn’t give up his sources and I wouldn’t ask him to.

I wanted to be shocked, angry even, but he’d wanted the best for his family. That much wasn’t a stretch. Plus, his father had been pushing him to go into corporate law. But still, I was pushed into memories of the good times the two of us had shared when politics and greed hadn’t been topics of conversation.

Opening the can of worms would keep the ugliness festering.