I look at him, process what he's saying, and think about what he said the other night.
"How did you know about the Order, Aiden?You said you came across them by accident."
When an uneasy expression washes over his face and that pain I noticed in his eyes from days ago comes into his eyes, I suspect the answers to some of the minimal things he's shared are connected.
"I did something stupid a few years back." Sadness glazes over his eyes, taking over the pain."It was something that exposed me to them... nobody is supposed to know about people like that.I screwed up, and they killed my wife and my baby to get back at me."
A sudden heaviness expands in my core, leaving me feeling deep sadness for him."Aiden, fuck... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.I didn't know that happened to you." I'm assuming now that's why he turned to drugs.
"I'm not exactly a guy to share info about myself."
"I am sorry for your loss."
"Thank you, I appreciate that." He inclines his head to the side."Dominic, we need to end this once and for all.We just do. This isn't like years ago.Back then we didn't know what was going on.Right now we don't know what the fuck our enemies are up to but it's obvious they must want control of the Syndicate again in some kind of way.The best part of this is we know what we're dealing with.We don't know everything, but we know something and that's more than what they had.I don't want to spend the next few years watching my back.I'm the leader of my brotherhood now and if it comes to it, I'm pulling out of the Syndicate."
My lips part.
"God, Aiden... no one wants you to do that."
"I don't either, but there comes a point when you have to make that judgment call.This is my last run of this. I suppose though if we all die I won't have to worry about a brotherhood to take care of."
"Let's hope it doesn't fucking come to that."
"I hope it won't either. I think we've shown how effective it can be when the Bratva work with the Italians."
I nod at that. "I think so too."
Many of the men I know in our alliance would never ally with the Bratva.Vincent and Claudius from Chicago are men like that, but they joined the Syndicate because Massimo trusts Aiden.
"I think your dead soldiers in the warehouse means we need to take things up a notch." Aiden bites the inside of his lips."When things get to that stage, it suggests the days of relaxing and simply checking the streets are over.I don't know if we're doing enough."
"Alfonse's files must have more answers." There has to be more inside them.I just have a feeling from the way it was encrypted and the number of files on there.
"I think so too. Maybe we can find everything there."
"I fucking hope so." Frustrated, I run my hand over my beard."I wish I'd started working on them sooner.Who knows what I could have found.I've had them for two years."
"We'll keep looking, Dominic. Believe me when I say that even if you had checked, you probably wouldn't have been in the right frame of mind to see what you needed to see."
He's right, and probably the only person who'll understand what I went through to clean up.
"Thanks. We'll go in hard this week."
He dips his head in agreement.
The beeping sound from my computer has us looking at it.I get up and go over to see what it found.I’m expecting something to do with Karl or Bradford but when I see Jaques' personal diary appear I grit my teeth.I'd almost forgotten I'd done this the other day when I was checking him out.Aiden joins me and looks at the screen with narrowed eyes.
“What did you do, Dominic? That says Jacques Belmont's diary." He's looking at the notification my bots left in the corner of my widescreen.
"It is. I hacked in. He’s in it right now.Fucking live."
He laughs. "You win M.I.T. boy, I don't know how to do that."
"I’m watching his ass like a fly on the wall as he updates his activities for the weekend.This is the diary he doesn’t want people to see.”
“Has anyone ever told you you're are a very dangerous man?”
“All the time.”