“I believe I did,” she agreed. “He’s getting his orders from Riccardo and Carlo Santoro out of New York. Riccardo only chimed in once. All other correspondence has been through Carlo. He sent the pictures of the three of you. Riccardo had to send one of the freighter times when Carlo wasn’t available. He mistakenly sent it from his personal email and then copied and pasted it into his ‘encrypted’ one.”
She chewed on the side of her bottom lip before taking another sip of the water, avoiding his eyes.
“You may as well tell me, Brielle. You’re going to anyway. The longer you wait, the more agitated you get.”
That was true. She didn’t know why she felt so guilty holding anything back from him. He was holding things back from her. She was certain he’d gotten news from Val or Dario. Probably from Emmanuelle, telling him things the two prisoners had coughed up. It was early, but she had studied Dario. He looked as if he could take apart a man and put him back together with his arms and legs on backward if he wanted to. If he was interrogating her, she’d tell him everything he wanted to know before he even started torturing her.
“Dino had four photographs in the file titled ‘Friends in Low Places.’ I was the fourth photograph.”
Brielle raised her gaze to Elie’s. His expression was utterly inscrutable. He didn’t say anything, just kept those dark eyes fixed on her. She sighed.
“He had another file titled ‘Hear Me Roar.’ I printed it out. Basically, it said to erase the heart, or Valentine. I would guess that would be Valentino. The female French bulldog and the male French bulldog, I would presume that would be us, and the devil fighter. I can only guess that one to be Dario.” She indicated the paper in the printer. “I have it for you.”
Again, he remained silent. Waiting. He knew she’d traced those photos to their origins. Someone had sent them to Dino in order to identify the targets.
“Santoro provided the photographs of Valentino and Dario. A man by the name of Carmine Catani, who works in Dario’s organization, provided the photo of you. I haven’t had time to go after him yet, but that’s next on my list. I have to keep going on Colombo.”
“Are you stalling?”
Brielle shook her head, because she wasn’t. Her words were tumbling over one another again. She was talking too fast, trying to tell him everything at once. “My photograph was sent to Carlo Santoro by Izan Serrano. Serrano apparently works for the local mafia famiglia in Barcelona. Who knew the Toselli family in Barcelona would have such close ties with New York? Santoro’s son, Carlo, is married to Valeria, the daughter of Arnau Toselli of the mafia family in Barcelona. They have two children together.”
“You picked the wrong damn city to train in,” Elie said.
“I did.”
“And then you decide you have to frequent an underground kink club where you meet a man who probably finds women for the trafficking ring. He plays in the club, and sets up a few women to disappear.”
“Great. I was one of those women.”
Elie shook his head. “No, I don’t think you were, Brielle. I think you were his woman, the one he wanted for himself and you kept sliding away. He has an ego. Then you investigated the freighters and he’s involved with the Toselli family and they’re tied to the extremely powerful family in New York. He had to wonder if you played him.”
She chewed on her lower lip. “How could he possibly find out I was investigating the freighters? No one could have found me, Elie. I’m too careful.” The printer shut down and she closed the file and backed out of Dino’s email. She’d been in it too long. The file had been unexpectedly large.
She put the screen down on her laptop, rising when he held out his hand to her. “I’m serious, Elie, there’s no way anyone would have discovered me through my investigation.”
Elie indicated the small table for two set up in front of the fireplace. He’d placed their sandwiches on plates and indicated for her to eat. There was a small bowl of fruit she found much more tempting, although her sandwich was an open avocado and cheese, which she usually liked. It was just that she wasn’t very hungry. She still had a nagging feeling Elie wasn’t very happy with her and that bothered her.
“We’re looking into how Izan could have discovered you investigated the freighters, or for that matter, the Santoro family in New York. After the way you performed today on your computer, no one believes you made mistakes, not that I did anyway.” He gestured toward her open-faced sandwich. “You don’t eat enough to keep a bird alive. Part of a shadow rider’s training are the courses given in nutrition. I know they aren’t given just to the men. I was trained mainly by Archambaults, but I can’t believe the courses would be that much different.”