Close Cover (Masters and Mercenaries #16)(95)

“Your sheriff is apparently a rock star,” Taggart replied. “While you were getting all prettied up for surgery, Armie LaVigne wrapped his bullet wound up and oversaw that crime scene. He had pictures for me within hours, and Adam found our two dead guys a couple of minutes after. Hutch worked some magic and connected our federal prosecutor to the wiring of fifty K each into the dead guys’ accounts. He’s in custody and singing like a soon-to-be incarcerated bird.”

Will shook his head. “Bridget is completely and utterly insufferable now. She was right about everything. She heard the news and she hasn’t stopped fist pumping. I’m worried for the baby. Her mother’s self-satisfaction could ruin her before she’s even born.”

“I think we should learn to always believe Bridget,” Mitch said with a sigh. “I’m just saying, she needs to go into crime fighting.”

“You think she’s going to be difficult to deal with? Maia Brighton is currently polishing her collar because she’s got me by the balls,” Taggart replied. “I’m going to find her the nastiest Dom I can and pray he can keep her under some kind of control.”

Lisa was starting to understand. “Vallon wasn’t merely laundering for the mob, was he?”

“Nope,” Taggart replied. “When you turned him in, you also turned in a judge and prosecutor who were taking bribes to ensure good verdicts. All of Bridget’s crazy pregnant lady conspiracy theories were true. We think Scarsdale has been working this for years along with the judge and a few members of law enforcement who helped direct things.”

“You caused some chaos because you called in to the police tip line. The police started investigating and Scarsdale couldn’t stop it once it had begun. You started a snowball that caught all the bad guys in it as it started to roll downhill,” Mitch explained. “The best Scarsdale could do was force the officer who wasn’t on his payroll to break the chain of custody so he could try to get the case thrown out on lack of evidence. He sent someone to her home to cause some chaos and then made sure she got the call when she was supposed to be driving back to the station. An officer who was on the payroll then took the pages that had Scarsdale’s accounting.”

“Unfortunately for him, that page also included the account number for an assassin known as Il Biondo.” Taggart leaned against the sink. The whole room was filled with large predators, but somehow Lisa had never felt safer. “You do realize almost no one in the world has seen the man’s face and lived. He’s the real deal.”

“He told me he has a code,” Remy said. “As far as I can tell, he meant it. He could have taken her with him last night, but he didn’t.”

“I had Hutch and Chelsea look into him. And hack some highly classified sites,” Taggart continued. “We believe Il Biondo is a former operative of AISE, Italy’s version of the CIA. We believe his legal name is Giovanni Vorenus. He comes from a wealthy Venetian family whose history apparently stretches back almost forever, according to the lore. Anyway, Gio was the last of his name until he married and had a son. That’s where things go poorly. He returns from an assignment only to discover that his wife and son have been killed. He disappears the next day and resurfaces a year later with a dye job and a new business.”

“That’s terrible,” Lisa said, her heart softening toward the man who’d tried to kidnap her.

“But it explains a few things. He wasn’t going to harm you. He wanted the account number, but he didn’t intend to kill you.” Remy laid back. “He could have taken me out or left me for dead. He could have taken Lisa with him last night. I wouldn’t have been able to stop him.”

Taggart nodded. “Does he have what he…” He put a hand out. “I don’t want to know. Just tell me if he’s going to come for her again.”

Remy shook his head. “No. He’ll honor his word. Don’t worry about him. Our business is done.”

It wasn’t, but Big Tag didn’t need to know it. If Big Tag knew they were meeting Il Biondo on Friday, he would likely send out a ton of people to protect them both and scare off the man. Remy wanted this over with and Lisa agreed. It was time to look to the future.

There was a knock on the door and her sisters were there. They’d both made the trip, hurrying to get to her, and she realized that miles couldn’t change her family. Laurel rushed in, but Lila hung back. If there was one thing she’d learned, it was that family required work and tolerance, too.

She looked at her oldest sister and waved a hand to bring her in. “Lila, please come here and hug me. I’ve missed you and I’m so sorry about some of the things I said to you.”

Tears in her eyes, she joined them, wrapping her arms around her sisters.

“I’m sorry, too,” she whispered. “I was totally wrong about Remy. He’s a good man. God, we owe him so much more than money. I don’t know why I was hard on him that day except I was being arrogant and I thought I knew best.”

“She does that a lot.” Laurel smiled, her head dropping to Lila’s shoulder.

“I broke up with Brock. Laurel told me he’d been making you both uncomfortable. I didn’t listen before, but I am now. I was holding on to something that didn’t work because I so desperately want what my siblings have,” Lila admitted. “Please forgive me.”