Headhunter (With Me in Seattle Mafia #2) - Kristen Proby Page 0,43

knows what his son’s up to.”

“I’m going to kill him.”

All of the eyes in the room fly to me. Cameron scowls. “Shane—”

“I’m going to tie him up and disembowel him. Slowly. The son of a bitch will pay for this.”

“There’s more.” Cameron stands to pace the office. “You said that Ivie kept coming up with her father’s name as one of the owners of the phone numbers yesterday.”

“What?” Carmine demands. “I thought he was long dead.”

“We all did,” I confirm, and can see from the look on Cameron’s face that the man is very much alive.

“It was a cover,” Cam says and blows out a breath. “If anyone finds out that I came into this information, my family and those closest to me could be at risk. The O’Callaghans can’t be touched for this.”

“They’ll be protected,” I assure him. “You all will.”

“I’m trying to get the fuck out of this life,” Cox reminds me and then shakes his head in disgust. “Okay, so about a dozen years ago, maybe a little more, a lot of people wanted Pavlov dead. He was a piece of shit, a bad businessman, and liked to borrow money that he never repaid. We won’t even get into his lack of parenting skills.

“Anyway, I was part of a taskforce back then that was trying to find his whereabouts so we could get in, assassinate him, and get out.”

“The government wanted him gone?” Rocco asks, surprised.

“Oh, yeah. He was a Bulgarian operative. It’s all just a mess, and the world was better off without him. Anyway, before my team could get in and take care of him, someone supposedly beat us to it. Killed him. We saw a video of it, for fuck’s sake. They hung him.

“We closed the case and forgot about it. Wrote it off. We had other missions to worry about, and while Pavlov was a pain in the ass, he was small potatoes compared to some of the things we do.”

“But?” I ask.

“I made some calls, started asking around. Discretely. Called in some favors. It was a cover. Pavlov wasn’t hanged that day. It was a guy who looked a lot like him. Turns out, Pavlov has been living in Dallas for at least a decade, still doing his shady shit but on a smaller scale.”

“Who was behind this?” I demand, seeing red.

“Sergi.” Cameron blows out a breath. “Pavlov was working on his turf. But Sergi didn’t want him dead because Pavlov knew too many people, kept too many secrets. He needed him alive, just in case. So, he staged the murder, hid Pavlov away, and no one was the wiser.

“But, about a year ago, Pavlov fucked up again and pissed off some people. The wrong people. In Dallas. Who is the Dallas syndicate?”

“It used to be the Carlitos,” Carmine says thoughtfully. “But the boss died twenty years ago, and no one was interested in taking over.”

“Apparently, that changed, too,” Cox replies. “A kid by the name of Benji Carlito has decided to take up the reins. He’s twenty-four.”

“Grandson,” I murmur, remembering stories from my father. “He was the boss’s grandson.”

“And he has a taste for the mob,” Cox says. “I don’t know who Pavlov pissed off, but it filtered to Carlito, and that is what spurred the search for Ivie. They thought they could hurt the old man if they got their hands on his daughter.”

“Little do they know that Pavlov doesn’t give two fucks about Ivie,” Nadia says, fury shooting from her gorgeous blue eyes.

“Are Carlito and Sergi working together?” I wonder aloud. “I want to know exactly what Billy knows. That piece of shit.”

I want to punch something. Hard.

“Okay, we’re going to go about this methodically.” Rocco turns from the window where he’s been taking it all in. “I’m headed to Dallas in the morning.”

“Nadia and I will go to New York,” Carmine says. “I already have a rapport with Billy. And I can just tell him that Nadia wants to shop for the wedding. I had good dealings with him just a couple of months ago.”

“Good.” I tap my fingers on the desk. “I’m not going to just sit on the ranch anymore. It’s not safe. I should have left last night, but I didn’t have this information yet.”

“Leaving is a good idea,” Cameron says with a nod. “Get her to Seattle.”

“He’s right.” Carmine stands. “Take her to Gram’s house. The security is brand new, the house is secluded, and it’s not under your name. Not to mention, it