Brielle sipped at her mostly cold coffee. She didn’t even care if her coffee was cold. She was too excited. A job. A real job. Was it protecting Emmanuelle Ferraro? Just give her anything at all to feel useful if she wasn’t going to be taking rotations as a shadow rider. Brielle didn’t want Elie to make up some position for her; she wanted something that made a difference. Something that would contribute toward aiding any of the shadow riders.
“Val appointed his cousin, Dario Bosco, to take over the territory vacated when Dario’s father, Miceli Saldi, was killed. Miceli was involved in a human trafficking ring. Valentino and Dario spent over two years working together to shut it down. Miceli tried to take over Valentino’s father’s territory by attempting to murder Val, Dario and Giuseppi, Val’s father. In the end, Val and Dario managed to escape with their lives and get Giuseppi out, but Val was wounded. Dario sent for Emme. Emme sent for Stefano. We all had to work to shut down the ring at that point.”
Brielle frowned, trying to understand. “Val and Dario both head up a crime family, but they were against human trafficking?”
Elie nodded. “Val sacrificed everything, including his relationship with Emmanuelle, in order to try to shut it down. That was one thing that was always forbidden by his father and he was even more adamant that it would never happen in any part of his territory. Dario feels equally as strong. We knew we weren’t going to get everyone, but we thought we’d get the main leaders that brought the ring into our territory.”
Brielle couldn’t take her gaze from Elie’s face. He clearly was identifying with Val and Dario when he spoke about them and their territories. He was unhappy with the outcome of whatever had taken place.
“Valentino and Dario control the ports here now. Before, Miceli and the Caruso family did. They were the ones shipping out women and children and bringing them in.”
Brielle’s heart jumped. She sat up straighter. Was there such a thing as coincidences? Huge ones? She’d never believed in them before, but here she was, married to a man she had wanted from the moment she laid eyes on him. She’d traced the disappearance of young women to several freighter ships that had made their way to Lake Michigan. She’d taken her evidence to the Spanish rider family for them to continue the investigation because she was about to be married. She hadn’t heard whether or not they found anything more but it had only been a few short days.
“We thought we’d locked it down, but when interrogating Caruso, we learned he couldn’t possibly have set up the ring and it was far bigger, more involved and better organized than we realized. It’s definitely international and our ports are still being used. We don’t know how. Someone here is betraying us. There is a hit out on Val, Dario and . . .” He hesitated.
Brielle’s head went up alertly, her heart nearly stopping. If blood could run cold—hers did. “Not you. They wouldn’t dare. If they dared to kill you, Elie, they would bring every Archambault in France down on them. No one would live through it. Don’t they know that?” Her breath caught in her throat waiting for his answer. No one would dare go after the most powerful family of shadow riders. It was sheer suicide. Her heart pounded so hard, she pressed her palm over it trying to calm herself before she had a heart attack.
“We figure the Ferraro family wasn’t included on the hit list because whoever put out the contract fears them. They don’t know they are shadow riders, of course, because no one does. They only know you don’t fuck with them. They know I associate with the Ferraros, Val and Dario, but how would they know the reputation of an Archambault?”
She was silent, studying his face, wondering how she could make the world aware of the power of the Archambaults without giving them away. Everyone feared Ferraros, why not the Archambault family? “How can you be so calm about it, Elie? We could be sitting out here and someone could use a high-powered rifle and shoot you.”
“They could try. We’re going to find them. It isn’t the first time someone wanted me dead. Or Val, or Dario. I just found out the night before the ceremony. We were already married or I would have put off the wedding until I took care of this so you would be safe.”
“I’m not worried about me.” She wasn’t. She wasn’t a threat to Elie’s enemies. At least they didn’t know she was. Not yet. “Tell me how you want me to help you. If you give me a place to start, I can track them.”
“I want to think this through very carefully before we make a move. As for you working for Val and Dario, that’s going to be only under certain circumstances. It would be extremely dangerous work.”