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“Livingston,” she added.
“Right. We call him and get going on a solution for getting rid of Pops’ ledger and keeping you safe. The whole ‘you could be in trouble thing’ is ridiculous. You’re the unwitting victim in all of this. We can’t prevent the FBI from looking into Pops’ activities, but like you said, they won’t find anything. I’ll take your word for that until I have solid evidence to the contrary. The man gave up everything for you. I don’t see him fucking that up after the trouble he went through to save you. I’ll share with Gray and Alex on a need-to-know basis, and right now, I don’t want them to know shit! We good?”
Relief flooded her. Unable to contain her gratitude, she threw her arms around his neck, slamming him against the back of the sofa.
“Thank you,” she whispered against his ear. She felt his body stiffen, then relax as he lightly rubbed her back. Feeling things becoming awkward, she let go and moved back to the table.
“Sorry,” she flushed with embarrassment. “I got carried away.”
He wiped his hand down his face and cleared his throat. “No problem.”
----
Morgan ordered pizza while Bash pulled his burner phone out of his pocket to find the numbers Gray had texted him for Sam Barrett and Parker Livingston. He squeezed his eyes closed and felt a pang of guilt when he found close to 20 missed tests.
Gray: I’m sorry! Don’t cut me out, Bash!
Gray: Text me!
Gray: Call me!
Gray: I’ll do whatever you want. Tell me where you are. This has gone on long enough.
Gray: We’re brothers, man! What the fuck?
Gray: Please tell me you’re not dead on the side of the fuckin’ road somewhere!
Gray: OK. Agreed. That last one was stupid, but I’m thinking that unless you tell me otherwise!
Gray: I’m only looking out for you like I’ve done for years. The same way you’ve had my back. Now you suddenly push me away?
Gray: As your best friend, I deserve better than this…
Gray: If you’re in love with her, I’ll do everything to help her too.
Every word pierced his heart, but for some reason, the last one prompted a reply.
Bash: It’s not like that. We’ve formed a bond I can’t explain. Our circumstances are kind of similar, yet totally different. We’re both being hunted. She has no one. I can’t leave her until I know she’s safe. Sure. This is out of character for me. I’m a selfish prick. Thank you for the resources, but I’ve got it from here. Love you, buddy.
Gray: What do you mean by “you’ve got it?”
Gray: Bash?
He could almost hear the crystal tumbler filled with Irish whiskey hit the wall in Gray’s study.
Even though it was late, Morgan left a voicemail for Parker Livingston. It shocked them both when he called five minutes later. She put him on speaker, so Bash would know she had nothing to hide. The call lasted over an hour. Bash listened as Morgan told Parker her life story, including anything she could think of that might be relevant. She texted him a picture of the letter that she received from Pops at the cabin. Morgan offered to send the ledger to him, but Livingston didn’t think it was safe. Instead, he suggested that she get it out of her hands and somewhere secure as quickly as possible. After Livingston followed up with the information he got from Morgan, he would contact a close friend with the FBI and have her act as the liaison to get the ledger into federal hands. In the interim, his only advice was to stay off the radar and leave no trails.
Next, Bash called Sam Barrett. He answered on the first ring and sounded surprised it was Bash and not Alex or Gray.
“Mr. Bartoli, what can I do for you?”
“I apologize for calling you so late, but we didn’t get an opportunity earlier to discuss the phone conversation I had with Maximillian Fontana or get the results of your background check on him,” Bash said.
“If you give me your current number, I’ll fax the report over to you. Are there any specific questions you have that I might be able to answer? Many of the nuances don’t come through in a report,” he explained.
“Can you give me some general information first? And your take on what kind of man Fontana is?”
“Up until six months ago, Maximillian Fontana was the VP of the legal department for his family’s international real estate and construction company, Fontana Properties & Development. I’m going to add a little background here. Over 80 years ago, his grandfather, Damian Fontana, started a small company, Fontana Construction, with his two brothers. As the company grew, the men brought their sons into the business. The first was Maximillian’s father, Julian, and then later, two of his cousins. Julian, who had an advanced finance degree, wanted to expand into real estate. The rest of the family was opposed to diversifying. The cousins had already begun making illegal deals and offering bribes to secure government contracts. They were also using muscle to push smaller companies out of the competition.
