Page 110 of Twisted Little Game

Maks gives him a grim look. “What I found is not good.”

“How bad?”

“You are not going to like it, Roman.”

My heart plummets low in my chest.

Maks and Roman are similar in that they don’t tend to exaggerate about anything. If Maks says the news is bad, it has to be catastrophic.

“Tell us. Now.”

Maks sits down on the sofa where I’ve been sitting with Roman.

He pulls out a small black laptop and opens it, showing Roman the screen.

“This is the background record of the boy that Tate was pictured with on the beach. Tate, were you aware that Lucian Farina’s father is a high-ranking inspector in the New York City police?”

My chest goes cold. “No. He never mentioned a thing about that.”

“This must be how he got my crime record,” Roman says. “Earlier tonight, Tate got a message about one of my arrests from the city, a few years ago.

Maks nods. “At first, the only piece of information I could glean about Lucian Farina was about his mother, Eva Farina. She grew up in New York. She was a beautiful socialite. They were wealthy. But I couldn’t find a single piece of information about his father.”

“Did you figure out why?” Roman asks.

Maks nods. “His father isn’t named Farina. It’s his mother’s maiden name. His father never married Eva Farina, but he has one child with her. I was able to find a record from the hospital, the day Lucian was born.”

“And who is his father?”

“Dino Sampietro,” Maks says.

Roman stares at Maks like he has suddenly turned to stone.

I see him clench his hand into a tight fist, then let it go, then clench again.

“What? Who is he?” I ask, hating the panic rising in my voice.

“The Sampietro family is paid by the Malettis. We’ve known for years. They are the Malettis’ corrupt connections within the police force. The person you were with on that beach was paid by them, Tate.”

“Is that bad?”

“It is unspeakably bad,” he says, turning to look at me with a wild look in his eyes, then turning back to Hunter. “You are sure his location was still in the city tonight?”

Hunter navigates to a few different apps on his laptop, shaking his head. “It said he was, but it looks like the location hasn’t been updated for a couple of hours now. It doesn’t make sense, because it should be refreshing many times a minute, but…”

“Fuck,” Roman says.

“If the guy turned his phone off completely, it wouldn’t update,” Maks says.

Hunter nods. “Correct. I’m afraid of that.”

Roman stands up and paces around the room, running his fingers through his thick hair. “Blyat. Fuck, fuck, fuck, this cannot be happening. I… I don’t think that day at the beach was a random, chance meeting, Tate. I think it was a set-up.”

I swallow. “How? I left the beach, and went back to my hotel…”

“How did you leave the beach?”

“Well... I snuck away, actually. The Farina guy was starting to get pushy, and when he was at the bar ordering another drink, I slipped off into the crowd and left.”