Chapter 147

Aldo

My eyes widened at Ethan before glancing at Carlo who looked uncertain and highly skeptical. In all fairness, he’d been doing his utmost to gather all the information he could on Agent Carter.

For Ethan to merely show up here and offer any kind of info was like Ethan, unknowingly, stepping on the man’s toes.

But it would have been stupid of me to not, at least hear the man out. Any information we could get was valuable at this point. I turned back to Ethan and nodded my head.

“What is it?”

“I’ve been trying to keep my eyes on Carter since the day he took Layla in for questioning,” he started. “The guy must have hit some kind of a wall in his investigation because he hasn’t added anything new to his board lately.”

My brows pulled together. “His board?”

The muscles in my stomach churned when the realization slowly became daunting. Naturally, I knew the guy was most likely keeping some kind of a file on our family. But a fucking board!

“Are you telling us that this asshole has a fucking bulletin board up in his office?” Carlo snarled.

Ethan merely nodded. “Pretty much,” he claimed. “It’s not as though many people have had the chance to see it. It’s actually hidden.”

“Hold on,” I said. “If it’s hidden then how did you come across it?”

I noticed the way Ethan tore his gaze away as though he were trying to avoid the question. I narrowed my eyes until the thought suddenly hit me. My face broke out into a look of amusement.

“Ethan, did you break into Agent Carter’s office?” I asked.

The man shrugged. “I may have...”

“That’s rather devious of you,” Carlo remarked dryly. “Not quite the behavior one would expect from a police officer.”

“Carlo,” I addressed sharply. “Give him a chance to talk.”

“Look, the board was mainly just a visual of everything he likely has in the ongoing file,” Ethan suggested. “All I know is that the guy is becoming testy.”

Carlo snorted under his breath. “Let me guess. He’s mad that he hasn’t managed to find any new incriminating evidence?”

“Precisely.”

Carlo gave me an unamused look with which I had to sympathize with. So what if Agent Carter was getting frustrated that his case was hitting a dead end? Wasn’t that considered a good thing?

“For all the trouble he’s caused, I can’t exactly say that I feel bad for him,” I said.

Ethan shook his head. “That’s not it, Aldo,” he stated firmly. “When people like Carter find themselves without any leads for too long, they begin to get antsy. Some would even say, desperate.”

It was hard to imagine someone as morally grounded as Agent Carter would ever allow himself to be sullied by purposely making poor choices. Even if it were to further his case.

“You think he’s going to try something stupid?”

“It’s very possible.

Carlo all but rolled his eyes. “Well, can’t you possibly guess as to what he could be planning?” he asked tauntingly.

Ethan turned his head toward Carlo and glared at him in disdain.

“Why the hell would you think that I would know what goes through his mind?” he fired back.

“Considering you’re both under law enforcement, I’m quick to assume you’re all asshole buddies. God knows that a majority of you people all think the same,” he snapped. “So, excuse me for simply assuming that Carter would have brought you in on the case. I’m shocked that he hasn’t already.”

“Carlo,” I said, warningly.

He held up his hand, wishing for a moment to elaborate.

“Hold on, why don’t we seriously think about this for a moment,” he pressed. “I find it rather ironic that he would show up of his own free will simply to tell us that Carter is running himself ragged trying to chase after a new lead but getting nowhere. How do we know that he’s not working for Carter as a rat?”

My heart dropped in my chest. Oh God. Could that have even been a possibility?

No. Surely, Ethan despised Agent Carter as much as the rest of us. He wouldn’t stoop so low as to actually work with the little weasel...Right?

I shifted my gaze to look at Ethan. The man looked like he was one rogue comment away from slamming his fist into the side of Carlo’s face.

“First of all, I would never work for Carter,” he said bitterly. “And even if I was, why the hell would I be here, telling you about his current situation?”

“Who the fuck knows? Given the fact that you were the one to alert the cops the day at the warehouse, maybe Carter decided that you’d be the perfect tool to get the answers he’s after,” Carlo countered.

“Oh, spare me the fucking guilt trip, you hot-headed bastard,” Ethan spat. “Why the hell would I even want to work for Carter? Do you think I give a shit about his case?”

“You should, if I were you. You’re always so quick to ignore the fact that you’re technically a part of it. What’s gonna happen if and when Carter comes across an old photo of you when you were still part of the Marcello family? How long do you think it’s going to take for him to make the connection?”

“Carlo, that is enough,” I shouted.

As much as I hated to admit it, he had a point. There were pictures of Ethan when he was Matteo floating around the internet as well as old news articles. Even though it had been declared publicly that Matteo Marcello was dead, it still wouldn’t take a lot for someone as diligent and persistent as Carter to make the connection.

“He’s right, Ethan,” I noted. “While I don’t think you’re working for Carter, there is the risk that he could eventually make the connection to you and who you used to be.”

Ethan clenched his jaw and looked as if he was fighting back the urge to sneer.

“Well, it’s not as if anyone has made the connection yet,” he pointed out.

“It may not be wise to give them the chance. I appreciate you wanting to come out here and tell us this. You didn’t have to sneak into Carter’s office and put yourself at risk like that,” I told him.

“If I’m being honest, it wasn’t my initial intention to find out what he had on the Marcellos,” he admitted. “I was hoping to find something more incriminating about him.”

Both Carlo and I were somewhat taken aback by this.

“Why were you trying to gather dirt on him?”

“I still feel horrible that Layla lost her license because of that prick,” he said. “I figured, if I could find something bad on him maybe a deal could be made.”

I reached out to rest my hand on his shoulder. “Thank you, Ethan. That really does mean more than you can imagine. However, we realized that Agent Carter could essentially reinstate Layla’s license whenever he wanted.”

A line formed between his brows. “What? How? The chargers were that he discovered her free clinic.”

“Under legal terms, yes. He was able to make it stick because of her trying to operate an illegal clinic. However, the real reason why he took her medical license away was because Layla refused to give away any information on the family.”

Ethan turned several shades paler. “That son of a bitch.”

A strained feminine voice spoke out. “...Matteo?”