Alden scoffed. “With all those charges you mentioned?” He shook his head. “No one’s gonna give me nothin’. They haven’t even offered me a deal.”
“I could talk to the DA on your behalf. Find out what kind of concessions they’re willing to make in exchange for the names of whoever’s in charge of this shadow syndicate.”
Alden’s expression hardened. “What makes you think I’m not the head of the Shadow Syndicate?”
“If you were, I doubt you’d have allowed yourself to be arrested.” Jenkins had let his emotions get the better of him and used violence to solve his problem rather than being cold and calculating.
Luca had met all kinds of evil people in his life. The ones who let feelings control their actions were the ones who slipped up and got caught. Those who acted with zero emotion were so much more disturbing.
Luca shifted in his seat. “I think you know who they are, or at least you have an idea. You made a deal to sell your lithium to them, didn’t you? But I also think Rousseau wasn’t happy doing your dirty work and wanted in on the profits. When Elway brought you the evidence he’d found, you discovered Ralph trying to undercut your agreement with the syndicate, so you decided to remove him from the equation. Did I get that right?”
“You think I’m the chump who got double-crossed?”
Luca leaned forward. “I think you’re the chump who’ll go down for all of it.”
“Can’t prove it, or I’d be facing more charges.”
“Speaking of that,” Luca began, “all the evidence we’ve got points to Rousseau, but I don’t see him behind bars. Why’s that?”
A tendon in Alden’s jaw flexed.
“I’m surprised they didn’t already come up with proof that you’re the head of the syndicate. That way you go down and no one’s the wiser.” Luca shrugged. “I figured they’d have pinned it all on you by now.”
Given the shift in his expression, Alden didn’t like that. “They aren’t pinning anything on me. Rousseau can rot for all I care.”
Ralph Rousseau had been the first person to mention the Shadow Syndicate. If he hadn’t opened his mouth, they might not have paid much attention to the words Elway had scribbled on a sticky note. Even Rousseau’s statement was hardly conclusive.
But it was a start.
In the months since then, for all their looking, they hadn’t come up with more than what already implicated Rousseau. Documents that Rousseau’s lawyers argued were forged versions of his legitimate business accounts and which Rousseau contended were evidence that he’d been framed. That he was merely the victim of a crime.
“Now’s your chance to do yourself a favor before you go down, Rousseau makes a deal of his own, and the syndicate gets away with everything.” Luca leaned back in his seat. “Fight this battle on your terms with the only leverage you have left, before you go down for all of it.”
He figured appealing to the man’s inherent selfishness was the best play here.
What he wanted to do was persuade Alden to do the right thing, but that wasn’t going to be effective. Luca wanted to practice the speech he would give if his brother Amir was the one sitting across this table. But Amir was currently serving eight years in federal prison in Texas, hundreds of miles from here, and Luca couldn’t do anything about that.
But he could do something about this.
“Maybe I’ll take you up on that offer of a cushy cell. Get them to wheel me in a TV so I can watch whatever I want.” Alden’s tone dripped with disdain. “That would’ve been an easier sell than getting me to betray people who would retaliate and kill me.”
“You think we can’t protect you?”
Alden leaned forward, the shackles jingling. “I think once you have what you want, you don’t need me. I’m only alive now because I’ve kept my mouth shut this far.”
“No one has to know that you said anything,” Luca said. “We can ensure your safety. But do you really not want to play the one card you have left—the knowledge of the syndicate and their names? Why not make sure they all go down?”
The other man shook his head. “Just talking to you puts my life at risk in a place like this.”
“Then why did you agree to meet?” Luca got the feeling there was something Alden wanted. Something he hadn’t asked for yet.
And given the look in his eyes, it might be the first real thing Jenkins said in this whole conversation.
Luca waited, the clock on the wall marking each second while he watched the expression on Alden’s face. It almost made him seem vulnerable, or at least a tiny bit human. A man who had been the mayor, who got whatever he wanted, and now he wore a jumpsuit and chains. He knew he didn’t have much left to lose.
Finally, Alden said, “I’ll tell you what you want to know if you get Mack to come and see me.”
Luca didn’t allow his thoughts to reach the expression on his face. Alden couldn’t know how Luca felt about the idea of bringing his friend here to see his father. Hammer’s half brother, a kid who was barely twenty-one, didn’t need to come into the prison to see the man who had shattered his perception of what a father should be.