“If the guy was that good to fool us back then, it’s possible he altered even more than just when she turned off her alarm to enter her apartment.”
“I know you’re blaming yourself right now, but we were young. Inexperienced. We couldn’t have known any of this.”
“And you didn’t spend all night blaming yourself?” I retorted, and his silence was my answer. Yeah, he felt the full weight of the guilt, same as I did. Because Bianca’s killer was still out there.
“CEOs, dirty politicians, criminal groups, and—”
“The alphabet soup of government agencies all use cleaners.” I finished his line of thought. “That’s a big pool to scour through.”
“Which is why we need to interrogate the cleaner ourselves. And I don’t think your friend’s boss will let us near him.”
“Why do I get the feeling you know Jesse’s boss?” At his curse in Italian, my body tensed. “What is it?”
“I do know him, and let’s just say he’s not my greatest fan.” Constantine dropped the shit news on me. “His name is Carter Dominick. Former army Delta Force. CIA officer after that. Now coruns Falcon Falls.”
I didn’t need an introduction. I needed him to get to the point of the problem. “And?”
“Back when I was in college, before I dropped out to join the navy, Dad needed a favor from me. Didn’t give me much of a choice.” He paused to let the beginning of the storm sink in. “A company was attempting a hostile takeover of our family business. We were smaller back then, and this other corporation was ruthless. The owner was up there with Warren Buffett in terms of his bank account.” Another pause that had me uncomfortable. “Dad needed me to try and buy some time to prevent the takeover.”
“What could you possibly have done?”
“I was in school with the competitor’s daughter, and Dad asked me to try and date her. Get her to fall for me so we could delay the takeover and strategize a way to prevent it from happening.”
But how the hell was Carter part of the story? And how much of my brother’s life did I not know about? As the oldest son, how much shit had he done to keep our family’s business going?
“I was young and did what Dad told me. Did what I thought needed to be done,” he explained. “It worked. And they backed off, assuming their daughter and I might marry.”
“Tell me you didn’t sleep with her.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, worried I was going to need to beat the shit out of my older brother for something he’d done two decades ago.
“No, I’m not that much of an asshole,” he hissed. “But her best friend was Carter Dominick. When Rebecca found out what I’d done to save the company, she was upset. And let’s just say Carter came at me, swinging for retribution.”
“I’m surprised her family didn’t hold a grudge and do their best to take us down because of all that.”
Constantine was quiet for a moment. “There was an accident not long after, leaving Rebecca the only one alive in the family. She was married to Carter, though. And then, um.”
My brother didn’t ever drop an “um.” What in the hell was he going to tell me now?
“Rebecca was viciously murdered in a home invasion in DC, and Carter went rogue from the Agency, not believing it was random. I offered to help him, still feeling guilty for the past, and he told me to go fuck myself and if he ever saw me again, one of us wouldn’t be walking away.”
“Constantine . . .” What else could I say to that?
“Carter was angry, and although he’s had vengeance for his wife’s murder, I’m still certain he won’t be willing to play nice. Seeing me will dredge up bad memories.”
“I knew Dad was ruthless in business, but I didn’t think he’d use one of us to get what he wanted.”
And if I didn’t know about any of that, then what if there was more to Bianca’s life she hadn’t shared, too? What if she hadn’t told me everything while I’d been in the army, worried any distractions might prove deadly in war?
I thought back to my time in the service. I’d enlisted for four years with no plans to continue, but the war was brutal, and the army was desperate. They begged me for any more time I’d be willing to give. Feeling guilty, I offered two more years. And every day, I wished I could take that decision back, because what if Bianca would still be alive had I come home instead?