Stella

Sixty-one

rotten

"Someone's buying Callahan shares?"

"Yes. It was slow at first, but the shareholders are folding." Mr Brown adjusted his glasses and frowned. "It seems like a hostile takeover..."

"What's the point in that? The Callahans have the controlling shares." Ruben frowned and bit on the end of his pen. "None of them will give that up."

Cas pursed his lips in thought. "Have you found a lead?"

Mr Brown brightened up and licked his lips. "We traced back the shares to some obscure shell corporation called DR Ltd. We haven't been able to find anything else about it, but," he pulled out a file, "we combed through associates of De Luca." He passed it over. "A name has caught our attention. Ricci."

"Isn't that Italian?" Ruben's brows furrowed.

"There was a family associated with Gagliano called Ricci." His lips thinned. "They were thugs and hitmen. They're good at staying off the radar and I can't ascertain a location of two of them."

Casper opened the file and clenched his jaw. They were the meanest people he had ever heard of. They had done it all. Murder, kidnapping, torture, rape, extortion, you name it, they did it. They had no bottom line and no boundaries. They would do anything if it was profitable. Three brothers worked together and two hadn't been seen since the downfall of Gagliano. One was sent to prison after the fall of the mafia family, the other two's whereabouts were unknown.

"Liaise with Mr White. Alert Mr Callahan."

His eyes grew colder and frostier the more he read. It wasn't sitting well. His eyes narrowed at the profiles.

"Yes, sir."

Mr Brown's phone rang, interrupting the tense silence. "Excuse me, sir." He picked it up. His dark brown eyes snapped to Casper who raised a brow. "Ensure her safety and capture him." He hung up and looked to Casper. "Mr White has caught sight of someone following Miss Callahan. He is confident there are no others following and will apprehend the culprit."

Casper stood up. "And Stella?"

"She's safe and is entering her office building none the wiser."

He pursed his lips and pulled out his phone to alert Richard who dropped what he was doing to check in with his daughter. Cas smiled as he heard her voice come over the phone. She was fine and even laughed at her father over something he had no clue about.

"It was a private detective." Mr Brown spoke up once he got off the phone. Ruben threw his head back and laughed.

Cas shot an annoyed glance at his brother. "What did he say?"

"He was commissioned by Miss Vera Orlev."

Ruben sobered and grimaced. "What was she hoping to gain?"

"He had pictures of Miss Callahan and her assistant close together. At certain angles it looked... ambiguous." He passed over his phone with the gallery open. "He was instructed to photoshop it to make it appear more salacious."

Casper pulled out a cigarette and lit it. His apathetic eyes stared at the window before looking to his brother. "Give me her number."

Ruben grabbed his own phone and found her contact before passing it to Casper, meanwhile, he picked up Cas's phone and made a few calls of his own with a grave look on his face.

Cas eyed his younger brother before hitting call and raising the device to his ear.

"Hello?" a charming voice came through the line. "Ruben?"