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“I need you to come over,” I said. “We need to talk about this face to face or we aren’t going to get anywhere.”
“Yeah,” Vinny said in a distracted tone. There was shuffling as he moved around for a moment. “Give me half an hour?” he asked hopefully. “I have to take care of a couple of things, then I’ll be there.”
“Half an hour,” I agreed. “Then we’re getting to work and getting Tallon home.”
*Natalia*
It took what felt like forever for me to pull myself out of bed after my conversation with Vinny. There was so much that had to be done, and I was so afraid of messing it up. I was paralyzed with indecision for a while.
I was able to shake myself out of it when I thought about how safe and warm I had been in Tallon’s arms just hours ago. I wanted that again, and I was going to make sure that I got it.
Drunkenly passing out on his chest was not going to be my last moment alone with Tallon.
I got up and took a hot shower. The water helped to wake me up a little and made me feel refreshed. Once I was dressed, I felt a little more prepared to deal with this.
I had spent the night crying, but now it was time to get to work. Sitting in bed all day feeling bad for myself wasn’t going to get Tallon home.
The more I thought about the situation, the angrier I was and the more I wanted to get my revenge on whoever was responsible.
Once I was dressed, I went to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. Vinny and I were both going to need a little help staying sharp. Besides, it gave me something to do to keep busy so that I didn’t slip back into my negative thoughts. I needed to be proactive.
The strong smell of the coffee filled the room, and I leaned against the counter and shut my eyes for a second. I must have zoned out or fallen asleep, because I was startled to attention when the kitchen door opened.
Vinny walked in looking absolutely haggard. His hair was mussed and there were dark bags under his eyes. His shoulders were hunched, either from the weight of the situation or from how drained he was. I hadn’t seen Vinny like this before and I didn’t like it.
“Have a seat,” I said.
Vinny nodded mutely and walked to the breakfast nook where he sat down heavily.
I grabbed a pair of mugs and poured the coffee. I was glad that I had made the coffee because it looked like Vinny needed it even more than I thought he might.
Vinny accepted the cup when I offered it to him. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t here sooner,” he said. “My phone has been ringing nonstop, and people kept showing up at my doorstep demanding answers that I don’t have.”
I waved my hand dismissively. “You’re trying to wrangle everyone. There’s nothing to apologize for.”
I sat across from him at the small table and looked down into the steaming cup. The family was in a panic, but that was to be expected. It would be manageable if we had any details to give them at all.
As things stood, we had no idea who the dead man was, how he had ended up where he was, who had killed him, why he had been killed, who wanted Tallon setup and why… we knew virtually nothing. There was no way to comfort the family when we couldn’t give them any answers.
The worst part was that we couldn’t talk to Tallon about what exactly had happened.
“How did this happen?” I asked out loud.
“I don’t know,” Vinny said. “But when I found out what bastard had the gall to use my name to go after Tallon, I’m going to tear them limb from limb.”
There was hatred and anger clear in his voice, and in a way that was comforting. Vinny was as angry as I was, and that meant that he would be willing to go to the same lengths I was. When we found the person responsible for this, they were going to regret the day they decided to mess with the Valentino family.
“What are the updates?”
“Nothing good,” he said. He was using that defeated tone again, and it scared me. If Vinny was feeling hopeless, then we were really in trouble.
“Tell me how we get him home,” I said.
He shook his head. “They aren’t going to give him pretrial release,” he said.
“No,” I agreed. “They would be stupid to do that. He’s a flight risk, and if they gave him a chance to run, they would be torn apart in the press.”
“This is going to be a media circus regardless. Rumors are already spreading online, it’s only a matter of time before the major outlets confirm the arrest and the charges. This is going to dredge up all the old family skeletons. We won’t be able to cross the street without someone questioning our motives.”
Silence fell between us, and I picked up my coffee cup, hoping that the heat on my palms would help anchor me so that I could think.
This was all so incredibly upsetting, and it was difficult to think clearly. I had to find a way, though. I was not going to allow Tallon’s name to be dragged through the mud.
“All the old skeletons, huh? And the fact that it’s a dead Russian will make it worse.”
“Much worse,” he confirmed. “It will start rumors about the old war and the rivalry and draw unwanted attention to the Russians, which could prompt them to action.” Vinny rubbed his temple as he spoke.
My identity would very likely become public knowledge and only start more rumors.
The quicker we got Tallon out of this, the better. We had to put a stop to this as soon as possible.
“What can I do?” I asked. “Would talking to the media help? Would putting out a statement through the lawyer be a good idea?”
Vinny stared at me for a moment before asking, “Are you sure you want to get into the middle of that?”
“I love Tallon, and I am not going to stand by and watch all of this happen without at least trying to help.” I met Vinny’s eyes as I spoke, hoping that he would see how serious I am about this.
He nodded thoughtfully. “Tallon’s not going to like that,” he pointed out.
“He already told me to stay out of it,” I said. “He thinks it’s too dangerous.”
“It is very dangerous,” he agreed.
“And I’m no stranger to dealing with dangerous people,” I pointed out. “I’m not sure how you all are forgetting who I am so quickly, but this isn’t new territory for me. I’ve been through more than my fair share with my own family. When I made the decision to leave them to be with Tallon, it wasn’t so that I could turn my back on him the second things got hard.”
“Alright,” Vinny said with an air of finality. “We’re partners on this, then. Until Tallon is free to take over again, you and I are going to have to step up.”
“I trust you,” I said. “And I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get Tallon home.”
“Good,” Vinny said with a slight smile. “Now we just need to figure out how to pull it off.”
“Do we have contacts in the police?” I asked hopefully.
Vinny shook his head. “That’s a complicated question. We do, but we can’t risk asking too much of them on this or they could be exposed, and we’d be in even more trouble.”
“What about journalists?” I asked.
Vinny’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Why journalists?”
“Because it would be perfectly reasonable for a journalist to question police about this case, and they would have better access than we would. We could have a journalist meet with our police informant to discuss the case and pass the information to us. It’s not ideal to get things secondhand, but it would give us some plausible deniability.”
Vinny nodded slowly. “That could work.” He took a sip of his coffee as he thought.
“It’s a start at least,” I said. “I don’t want to depend on press releases for information, and I don’t want to put Tallon in a situation where he has to say anything incriminating on those recorded phone calls.”
