“You ready?” I asked Jase as I reached for the button beside the door.
“Yep,” he replied easily.
I unlocked the door and stepped inside with Jase right behind me. I watched carefully for any change in the suspect’s expression or body language, but to my disappointment, he remained annoyingly calm and collected. It wasn’t until I fell heavily into the metal chair in front of him that he even bothered to look up at me. He finally reacted as he realized who I was and tossed me a disdainful sneer.
“Who sent you to have me clipped?” I asked right away. I wanted to know for the sake of the case, of course, but I also just wanted to know for myself who I needed to be wary of.
Russo just scoffed with contempt.
“You think anyone would waste time putting a hit out on you?” he sneered. “All I was doing was taking out some trash that had been left out for too long.”
“Oh, Russo.” I smirked scornfully at him. “We both know you aren’t bold or smart enough to do anything on your own, so why don’t you just stop with the games and tell me who sent you.”
“Ha!” He suddenly barked so loudly that I nearly jumped in surprise. “You’re a little snitch that plays with the feds, and now you think everyone will turn as easy as you? Some of us actually know what loyalty means. The Omerta says that we keep silent about our Family.”
“Right,” I sighed impatiently. “Agent Park, could you please go get the suspect some water to drink?”
I turned to look at Jase, who blinked at me with wide, confused eyes. Russo, too, seemed puzzled about my sudden request.
“Sure,” Jase replied hesitantly a moment later before turning to leave the room. I turned back to look at Russo. The cameras were still on, and I couldn’t be sure that someone aside from the SDCT members was listening on the other side of the two-way glass.
“Do you think this is a game?” I murmured as I leaned in close to Russo, quietly enough that the camera almost certainly wouldn’t be able to pick it up. “It seems to me that you’ve forgotten who I am.”
I grinned when I saw Russo’s face turn a shade paler at my words. He gritted his teeth and stuttered through his response.
“You’re nothing but a--”
“A what?” I interrupted. “A traitor? You all listen to Alessandro because you’re afraid of what he’s capable of, but it seems none of you remember that there was a time when I was supposed to be the one to succeed my father as the head of the Family.”
Russo's mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish, shocked at my threatening words.
“I could kill you right now,” I muttered darkly, “and make it look like an accident. Hell, I could make it look like a suicide. I’d get away with it, too. The feds are my friends. You said so yourself, right?”
His bravado was quickly diminishing, as I’d suspected. Despite all his talk about loyalty and the Family, he was just a weak and disposable pawn in the end.
“You’re bluffing,” he hissed at me, his voice trembling.
“You can think that if you want.” I shrugged. “Though, I would like it if you could tell me more about what’s happening at the Cactus Motel before I kill you.”
“What did you say?” he gasped.
“Oh, did I not mention it before?” I feigned ignorance. “We already know about what’s been going on there. I just thought I’d give you a chance to fess up before we took everyone down. As a courtesy, since we’re Family after all.”
I’d expected him to react to my bluff with disbelief or anger or fear, but I hadn’t expected him to burst into tears. I stared at him in shock as he proceeded to sob pathetically, tears rolling down his blotchy, red face.
“You can’t do this,” he pleaded, his hands clasped together on the table in front of me. “Please, they’ll kill my family if they find out I failed. If you show up at the hotel, they’ll have my Mia and my two baby girls killed. “
I stared down at Russo in shock as I listened to what he was saying. It could have just been a ploy to catch me off guard and play at my sympathy, but the fat tears rolling down his face didn’t seem fake.
I bit my lip in frustration as I quickly tried to figure out what to do. This man had tried to kill me. Hell, I had the stitches in my shoulder to prove it. Still, I couldn’t help but feel pity for the hysterical man hunched over in front of me. I smiled bitterly. My father had always said he’d chosen Alessandro over me in the end because I was too soft.
“Tell me what I want to know,” I stated calmly, “and I’ll make sure to get your family somewhere safe.”
Russo looked up at me in disbelief.
“How will you do that?” He scoffed incredulously. “You know better than anyone how powerful the Family is. You really think you can put them somewhere the mafia won’t reach.”
I gritted my teeth at his question. Unfortunately, I did know all too well just how difficult it was to ever really escape from the mafia. Our circumstances were different, though. The family of some low-level soldati would have a much easier time hiding than a former underboss.
“My friends will help,” I assured him. “The government has special protection programs for people in these kinds of situations. They’ll be put somewhere far away, with new names and identities. Even I won’t know where they are.”
Russo looked up at me, hope shining through his watery eyes.
“Okay,” he sniffled. “I’m going to put my faith in you, Nicolo DiFiore.”
“Tell me who’s behind all of this,” I commanded.
“His name is Lorenzo,” Russo sniffled. “Lorenzo Russo. He’s my uncle. He’s the one who’s behind everything.
