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He blinks. “I—what?”
“See—” I lean back in my chair. “Here’s what I think. You’re holding out. You’ve got something else buried, and you think throwing me this juicy lead will distract me from the stink coming off whatever else you’re hiding.”
“No.” He shakes his head quickly, his voice rising with desperation. “No, I swear. I’m not hiding anything. That’s everything I’ve got.”
I stare at him for a long, silent moment. Then I lean forward, elbows resting on the desk, voice low. “Then you won’t mind if I test you, will you?”
He swallows hard. “Test…?”
“You said a source, right? Former offshore bank employee?”
He nods slowly.
“Name. Give it to me.”
His mouth opens and closes. He glances toward the window like salvation might be out there, drifting in on the breeze. When he looks back, my face is the only warning he’ll get before my mercy runs out.
“I…I can’t give you that,” he says at last. “He’d be killed. Probably by Ricci’s people.”
I smile coldly. “If you’re lying to me, you’ll be killed. Definitely by me.”
He flinches.
“Think carefully, Billie,” I say, already reaching for my phone. Once he gives me a name, I’ll need Leo on it immediately. If there’s any chance the source could be in danger, I need my best man to extract him.
“I swear I’m not lying,” Billie pleads. My hand stills on my phone as I watch him tremble. The stink of shame and regret hangs over him like a perpetual cloud. “I can get you proof—real proof—by tomorrow. Just give me a few hours.”
Clicking my tongue, I pick up my phone regardless. “Then you won’t mind me bringing in someone else?”
Russell pales again. “Who? Why?”
“To see if you’re telling the truth,” I reply. “He’s going to track down your source independently. If you’re right, you live. If you’re wrong, he’ll put your teeth in a ziplock bag and send them to your children.”
“Fine!” He jumps to his feet. “I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything. But you should know he has no idea where Marco is. I told himit’d be better to confess if he did, and he swore he didn’t. Marco Ricci didn’t tell anyone about his plan. Maybe…” He scratches his head. “Maybe his daughter knows? He has a daughter!”
And she’s under my roof.
But if everything points back to Isabella, then she must know how to find him. I should’ve been working on that instead of granting her request to babysit her while she slept.
“Then again…” Bille sighs. “I don’t know if she’ll be that useful. He once said that he didn’t trust her and had second thoughts about giving her everything he worked for. According to him, she might turn out to be weaker than her?—”
“That’s enough.” My voice cuts through his rambling.
“Yes, sir.” He nods promptly.
I rise slightly in my chair, just enough to lean forward, eyes locked on him. “You should be worried about yourself, Russell,” I say, letting the words sink in like a knife. “You betrayed my father. As far as I’m concerned, you might as well have put the bullet in him yourself.”
The heat in my chest flares—sharp, unexpected. Not just anger. Something else. And it has nothing to do with my father.
It’sher.Isabella.
“The only reason you’re breathing right now is because you’re useful. That could change tomorrow. Hell, it could change in an hour.”
He swallows hard, hands twitching at his sides.
“So instead of dabbling in theories and airing out the dead man’s opinions,” I continue, “how about you focus on giving me something worth hearing?”
Billie nods, small and pathetic. “Understood.”