“Is everyone all right? The accelerator got stuck. I tried to stop it with the emergency brake. I thought I was going to kill all of you.” He started to stand, and his legs gave out. “I’m afraid I’m going to get sick. Tell me everyone’s all right.”
“We have a few questions for you,” one of Geno’s bodyguards said smoothly. “We’ll have the car towed as well. Don’t worry, we’ll get you home.”
Levi and Axel stepped back to allow Dario and Valentino up so they could help Emmanuelle off the ground. She was immediately ushered into the restaurant.
“Do accelerators really get stuck, Val?” she asked.
“Sometimes, but not that often,” he answered honestly. “We’ll find out. Geno’s men are on it. Right now, we’re going to have a really nice dinner and hear what your cousin has to say about the Messina connection to the trafficking ring. Miceli was adamant that Marco was the brains behind the entire network. He met with him and got the details from him. He was told his father was not involved, nor were his brothers. This was his baby, and he’d developed the idea while he was in college. Angelo backed him up separately. They weren’t in the same room and were interrogated at different times. There was no way Angelo, in particular, would have held anything back.”
Valentino felt the little shiver that crept down Emmanuelle’s spine. He rubbed her back as they followed the hostess through the restaurant toward their private room. Salvatore’s concept was unique and quite beautiful. The floor was cobblestone. The warehouse had been utilized by bringing in intriguing archways of stone to define the various spaces. The tables were covered in bright red-checked cloth. The chairs were comfortable-looking, sporting black legs and high backs. Overhead, rows of glass lights lit the restaurant spaces.
As they made their way through the very spacious restaurant, he glimpsed two bars, both boasting racks of wines. There was a space designated for a family area, with more booths and a bar that held sparkling drinks rather than those catering to adults. Valentino had never seen that before.
They went through several stone archways to the back room where Salvatore and Lucca waited for them. After greeting them and waiting for their hostess to leave, Salvatore announced the room was clean. They made small talk until the bread and hors d’oeuvres were on the table with wine.
“I spent time following Marco,” Geno said as he put several pieces of bread on his plate. “I’m absolutely convinced it isn’t him. Salvatore was assigned Tibberiu, the father, and the oldest brother, Alessandro.” He looked expectantly at his brother.
Salvatore shook his head. “If either of those two are involved, they certainly aren’t talking about it to anyone. One would think if part of their pipeline went down in a big way, they would be all over that, but these two never so much as mentioned it. They talked about Val, and how strong a leader he was. Tibberiu hoped he could keep the entire Saldi territory in line. He said with Miceli out of the way, the territory was huge under one man. He was worried about that, and Alessandro agreed with him. They talked about possibly bringing up the idea with the other families of cutting that territory into two and putting someone else in as the head there.”
Val shook his head. “That’s not going to happen.” He looked at Dario. A Saldi, heir to that empire. A man he trusted and a leader. Dario returned his look with a deadpan stare. So far, that was a complete no, but he wasn’t giving up.
“It doesn’t make sense that both Miceli and Angelo named Marco. They met with him. Saw him face-to-face.” Val took another bite of the bread. Emmanuelle was right. The bread was delicious. Salty. Buttery. He glanced at Emme and saw her watching him. He nodded at her and smiled. She gave him her sassy little grin. “Marge as well.”
“One of his other brothers? Do they look enough like him to pull off a deception?” Vittorio asked.
Lucca shook his head. “I checked both of the other brothers, Giovi and Vincenzu. Like Alessandro, they’re as hard as nails, like their father, but no way are they involved. Nor do they look like Marco. They couldn’t pass themselves off for him at all. I’m sorry, Val, but this is a dead end. The Messina family is not who you’re looking for.”
Val frowned, exchanging long looks with Dario, and then Stefano and Vittorio. All of them had taken part in the interrogations of Miceli and Angelo over several days. None of it had been pretty or nice. All of them were certain the information had been correct. Marge had also named Marco. One of the lower-level informants had also given Marco’s name.