Page 66 of Tone Deaf
Silence meets my ears.
“Rick—”
“Fuck off, Dom. You’re not hearing me. You should have died with that twink. If Victor Mastov’s man had had good aim and nailedyoubetween the eyes instead of shooting me in the chest, we wouldn’t be here.”
“Victor Mastov?” I grit out as my fury turns into an inferno. “You.Youwere the snitch?”
“Give that man a cigar. Yeah. I had no choice. Either I did it or I’d lose my family.” The heinous laughter on the other end of the call is like a knife gutting me from neck to sternum. “But I lost them anyway.”
“You son of a bitch. You sold us out—and for what?”
“Lots and lots of money, and for the love of my woman. You still haven’t figured it out? I’ve been in deep with them for a long, long time. Family is everything. And I would have kept mine, if the job had been done correctly. And now I get a second chance to make things right. And you’re the last loose end to tie up, Dom.”
“You killed all those agents and for what?” I’m gut-punched and utterly shocked by Rick’s confession.
“Victor gave me no choice. Clean up my mess, or die and never see my kid again. What would you have me do?” he asks. “Now you know. Tick tock, Dom. Better hurry up. You do want to see your boyfriend alive one more time, don’t you?”
“Rick!” I scream, but I’m yelling at dead air. He fucking hung up. I try redialing but it goes straight to voicemail.
Think—damn it.Think.I unbuckle the seat belt and get up to pace the aisle. The harder I think, the faster I pace. I need a plan. If Callum and I are to come out of this alive, I’m going to need help.
Jesus-fucking-Christ. If I heard Rick correctly, he married into the Mastov family.
Why didn’t Joust know this? But then, knowing the bastard, he knew and kept that information close to the vest.
I pull up another phone number—the one I didn’t think I’d ever use again, and tap it and call.
“Rossetti,” he answers in his usual stoic tone.
“How long?”
“How long what?”
“How long have you known that Rick was married into the Mastov family.”
“About a week. How did you find out?”
That’s bullshit. Greg’s lying, but I don’t focus on it. “I just talked to Rick.”
“Do you know where he’s heading?”
“Royal Oaks Mobile Home Park,” I say with malice. “So when were you going to tell me it was Rick? This entire time, he’s been after my men and you didn’t say one fucking word.”
“We weren’t sure—not until he took Callum Fitz as a hostage,” Joust says with a bit more empathy.
“Liar. I know you have ears, eyes and your nose all over the damn place. You knew he was coming after me. I’m telling youright now, if Callum gets harmed, I’ll make sure the entire world knows who was at fault. You.”
“Threats don’t work on me,” Joust grates out.
“It doesn’t matter. You handled this poorly, just like you handled Jacob’s case poorly. He died because you and the feds didn’t secure the witness. You let a member of a syndicate family work as the bodyguard for a witness who was going to testify against that syndicate. How fucked up is that? It’s your fault, Greg, that you didn’t look into your own people.” I let out all the aggression that’s been pent-up for years.
“Did you know Brian Fitz came to us six months ago, clueing us in on Rick’s connections to Victor Mastov? Did you know Brian Fitz is also associated with the Mastovs?”
Well, that’s news to me, but I’m not all that shocked to hear it, since Brian doesn’t know how to keep his nose clean. “I know now.”
“I told your friend, Dean Harper, to stay out of this and we’ll get Callum back, unharmed,” Joust explains. “Keep your distance, Dom. I want you out of this mess.”
“Bullshit,” I shout into the phone. “Listen to me. Rick’s expecting me go there. If you show up instead, I know for a fact he’s going to kill Callum and I can’t let you do that.”