50. Chapter Forty-Nine

Chapter Forty-Nine

I move my phone from my ear when I hear Banks shouting, "wait, wait, wait."

"What?" I ask, putting the phone back to my ear. "Are you good with him hearing about your parents? This has something to do with that too."

I look at Reese, then at everyone else in the room. Typically, I'd say no and leave. But I'm trying to be different. Better.

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Okay, good. Speaker phone, please."

I shake my head, put the phone on speaker and place it on the table.

"Banks has stuff to share," I say.

Though Josie and Ori don't know who he is exactly, they must know something about him. Reese and Ezra still talk with him frequently, mostly when they need something because that's what Banks does. He works 24/7. No family. No girlfriend. No friends. But he's a good guy to have in your back pocket. He can find literally anything.

"This is going to be a lot of info, guys. But bear with me. I'll explain as best I can. Save all questions for the end."

Reese raises a brow at me, and I shrug. He goes to get another slice of pizza when Banks starts talking.

"Justin. I was able to find info on your parents, finally, which led me down one of the craziest rabbit holes I've ever had the privilege of being in. So firstly, thank you."

"Uh, you're welcome?"

"Have you heard of the Farina family?" he asks quickly.

"I haven't," I answer and glance up.

Everyone else is shaking their heads.

"Neither has anyone else."

"Who the hell is everyone?"

"Reese, Ezra, and their wives."

"Ah, cool. Okay then. Well, the Farina family is old money, old mafia. Not prominent in the US for years because they fell apart. Went broke due to a bad deal. Which is where your parents come into play, Justin. Diego Farina, your father, and your mother, Viola Donato, were arranged to be married to merge the families. Their parents—your grandparents—planned to build an empire big enough to take over basically every other family existing at the time. Problem was the Donatos were broke but didn't tell anyone. As you can imagine, that caused a shit ton of problems between the families, but your parents were already in love. Your mother already pregnant with you and your brother."

Which is why she gave us up. Why she said they needed to keep us safe. They didn't want us in the middle of a mafia family war. That all makes sense. Lines up with the letter.

"After digging for what feels like forever, I found out there is a cousin. Federico. The guy is pissed and wants whatever money is left to the Farina name, but can't take it since you are still alive. Sorry about Jackson, by the way." He adds in that last part so quickly I can't even get in a thanks. "So he put a hit out on you."

I glance up at Reese who had no idea about any of this. He looks kind of mad. I give him a coy smile and mouth I'll explain later? He just shakes his head, crossing his arms over his chest. Maybe I should have told him about all of this first. Though I can't imagine what he'd be mad about. It's not wrong of me to want to know where I came from… right?

"Sounds simple enough," I say. "If he's just one guy all I have to do is take him out, right?"

"Wrong. Federico is nothing and has nothing. Meaning he couldn't do this alone. So, he went to the Bratva."

"The Bratva?" Reese barks out, glancing around the room. Ezra's eyes are as wide as Reese's, but the girls don't seem to be paying much attention. They're listening, but probably don't care about any of this.

"Yep. And not just anyone, but Adrick Romanoff, the head of the Bratva. Turns out they made a deal. Adrik would have his son, one of the most notorious and deadly killers in the entire world, kill Justin and Jackson. Adrik gets all the old territory, no matter where it is, a hefty payment, and Federico gets the crumbs."

"And he's happy with that?" Ezra huffs out a disbelieving sound. "All of this for crumbs?"

"Some people are desperate," I say.

"What does this have to do with me?" Reese asks impatiently, shoving the entire pizza crust into his mouth.

"Oh, I was waiting for you to ask that question." The excitement in Banks' voice is a little terrifying. The guy deals with stuff like this every day and has for years. Not much excites him anymore, so if he's happy about something, it's big.

"You remember that guy you wanted me to find?" Banks asks. I glance at Reese to see what he has to say because I'm curious as hell to know what this is all about too.

"Uh, which guy, Banks?" Reese asks, grabbing another slice.

"You know, the one from the boards? The bad hit."

Those words have my stomach tightening.

From the boards? The bad hit?

Reese chuckles. "Oh yeah. The lawyer." Ezra raises a brow, so Reese explains. "The guy who put out the bad hit on the board. The one I freaked out about. Remember?"

"You mean The Piano Man?" Ezra asks.

Reese claps his hands. "Yes!"

"Yep, that guy," Banks adds quickly.

My mouth goes dry. I know where this is going before Banks speaks. I've already put all the pieces together in my head. It was like a puzzle, all the pieces just floating right into place to paint the perfect picture. Of course no one else has the information I do so they haven't figured it out yet. But fuck… fuck!

"Turns out The Piano Man is Sevastian Romanoff. Adrik Romanoff's son. Justin, bro, the Piano Man is after your ass. And he's the one who killed your brother."