Dangerous Protector (Red Stone Security #14)(39)
“Yeah. She’ll be doing jail time. Not as much as I’m sure you’d like, but it’s something. Enzo will be going away for a very long time, too.”
“Why do I feel like there’s a but in there?”
Carlito flicked a glance at Aaron once before sitting a few chairs down from them. “There is. Sorta. Alec Rossi is in federal custody. He’s going to do jail time, but…”
Next to her Aaron tensed and she didn’t blame him one bit. That bastard had come after her at a children’s park. And he’d shot at her while she’d been running with Dillon, a five-year-old boy. All the muscles in Tegan’s body went tight. If Carlito said he was getting some cushy deal, she was going to let any reporter who wanted to interview her do one. And she’d tell everyone exactly how screwed up their justice system was, until it was splashed all over every headline she could make.
Carlito held up a hand as he turned back to her, probably seeing the rage on her face. “He’s definitely going to jail. He was hired by a man named Stefano De Fiore, Enzo’s cousin.”
Tegan nodded. “Yeah, I know the name. He was Enzo’s second in command. I met him once.” Met was a bit of a stretch. He’d been in the same room as her once, and when Enzo had wanted to hurt her, the cousin had made it sound like a bad idea—and convinced Enzo that it was his idea to back off. “He seemed…smarter than Enzo.”
“According to Rossi, Stefano hired him to kill you when he got word Enzo was hunting you for those diamonds.”
It took her a moment to digest why. “Because Stefano took them, didn’t he?” Which meant Stefano had killed her brother. Or at the very least, ordered his death. Otherwise why bother coming after her? He’d needed to cover up the fact that he’d taken them in case Enzo figured out Tegan hadn’t been behind the theft.
Carlito nodded, a touch of pity flickering in his gray gaze. “Yeah. And—”
“My brother is dead. Is that what you’re going to tell me?” She held the tears at bay. Barely. She’d known he was gone, had known it in her heart.
Aaron silently wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her close.
“Yeah. Rossi killed him on Stefano’s orders. He was supposed to completely incinerate the body but he didn’t. He kept your brother and a few others as leverage should he ever need it.” He cleared his throat, his expression softening. “They’re in an industrial freezer, well preserved. He knew this day might come. He’s turning evidence against Stefano and giving the location of all the bodies. Those families deserve closure and so do you. And it will bring down that entire criminal empire in Chicago. I’m so sorry, Tegan. Truly.”
She clenched her jaw and squeezed her hands together to stop them from shaking. Aaron just pulled her closer, his presence the only thing keeping her from breaking down. “What’s he getting in return?”
“They’re taking the death penalty off the table. And he gets to choose the prison he wants to go to. It’ll be a supermax, high-security prison but he still gets to choose where. He’ll be in solitary confinement, though. For his protection.”
She and Dillon—and other innocent people at that park—could have been killed by that man. It was a miracle no one had been injured except Kali. Wetness covered her cheeks and she realized she was crying. Deep down she’d known her brother was dead but there had been that stupid, tiny spark of hope that refused to give up.
Aaron’s arms were fully around her before she could blink. She buried her face in his chest, unsure how long she remained there, letting the tears come. Eventually she raised her head when she trusted herself to be able to talk again. “Why did Gina—uh, Grace, lie?”
Carlito scrubbed a hand over his handsome face. “I could give you a diplomatic answer but the truth is she’s f*cking stupid. From what I gather, she thought with you dead, you wouldn’t be around to testify, so things would go easier on her sentencing and on Enzo. Even though she turned evidence against him, she apparently still cared enough about Enzo to try to give him that. I don’t know what was going on in her head. Her lawyer’s pissed at her. She has no leverage now. The woman is a f*cking moron.”
Tegan nodded, glad the woman would be going to jail.
She looked up at Aaron, her miracle. She didn’t care if it was too soon or if she was assessing her feelings while on emotional steroids, but she loved him. Clearing her throat, she looked back at Carlito. “Glad she won’t be able to get out of it. I think I know the answer, but how did Rossi find me?” She hadn’t even thought to ask Carlito when the cavalry had arrived, because she’d been too worried about Kali.
He’d had an ambulance race Kali to the vet and, breaking all sorts of protocols, had let Tegan stay with Kali for the first part of her surgery. Once she’d come through the worst of it, Tegan and Aaron had gone back to the police station for a crapload of questioning and paperwork—though Carlito had gotten them out of there as fast as he could. For that she was grateful. If she never saw the inside of a police station again, it would be too soon. She was tired of people trying to kill her and tired of stupid questions.
The detective lifted a shoulder. “Your phone. He’d actually figured out who you were staying with after that clip of you on the news, leaving the station with Aaron. But he just tracked your phone to the park this morning when you turned it on. Illegal as f*ck and he’ll be charged with that, too. He’s being charged with everything we’ve got. He’ll never see the outside of a prison once he goes in. Hell, he’s been denied bail completely so he won’t have any freedom from this point forward.”