Schooled in Revenge by Jesse Lasky Page A

the photos. “What the fuck?”
    Reena glanced at Jon. “What is it?”
    He pointed to the man meeting with Wells. “That’s Frederick Cain.” He looked at Reena. “You said they never found the person who killed your mother?”
    She nodded, despair encroaching on the serenity she’d found focusing on revenge. “Cruz’s brother, Simon, was arrested and found guilty, but there’s no way he did it.”
    Jon stood, running his hand through his hair. “This is crazy.”
    “What’s going on?” Ava asked.
    “Frederick Cain is a hit man,” he said, turning to them. “Actually, that’s not totally true. He hires people to do the dirty work. But he’s the guy you call when you want to take someone out and don’t want to do it yourself.”
    “How do you know all of this?” Reena asked, her mind working to put the pieces together.
    “Because Cain and his people are the ones who killed my fiancée.”
    Reena stood up, wanting to crawl out of her own skin as everything began to fall into place. If Wells had Cain kill her mother and framed Cruz’s brother—a safe assumption given the photos of them meeting in Cruz’s revenge file—and Cain also killed Jon’s fiancée…
    Their missions were connected. They were out for revenge against the same people.
    “According to these printouts—hacked government files, police reports—Cain is exactly who Jon says he is,” Cruz said, looking at the contents of the file. “But no one’s ever been able to nail the dude. Hell, no one’s even connected him with a crime. Ever.”
    “Cain has friends in high places,” Jon explained. “And everyone has a price. He orchestrates everything and then pays off the right people to keep it all quiet. Convenient, since most of the people he’s paying off are the same ones paying him to commit their own personal sins.”
    Reena’s despair receded, transforming into the cold fury she’d relied on since coming to Rebun Island. Now it all made sense; Senator Wells hired Cain to kill Reena’s mother so he could take her seat in the Senate.
    “This is weird,” Cruz muttered, picking up the files and consulting them one by one. “Every one of our files has a calendar page with May first circled and marked with ‘10 p.m., Starling Vineyards, Napa Valley.’ ”
    Ava froze, shaking her head. “What did you just say?”
    Cruz handed her the files. “See for yourself.”
    Ava flipped through the folders before sinking onto a chair, her face a mask of shock.
    “That mean something to you?” Cruz asked.
    “Starling Vineyards is mine. Was mine.” She looked up at them. “It was in my family for three generations before it was taken from me. Every year on May first a gala is held there.”
    “What kind of gala?” Reena asked.
    “It’s a formal event: wine, food, dancing, the whole nine yards,” Ava explained. “My grandmother started the tradition. After she passed, I upheld it. Apparently the bastards who stole my life have kept it going.”
    “May first is next week and it looks like both Senator Wells and Frederick Cain will be there,” Jon said.
    But there was something Reena didn’t understand. “Why are they meeting at some château in Northern California?”
    Ava looked away, her mind coming to some unpleasant conclusions.
    “Do you know something we don’t?” Reena asked her.
    Ava sighed. “I’m guessing it’s because of William Reinhardt.”
    “Who’s William Reinhardt?” Jon asked.
    Ava opened her file and removed a picture of an elegantman with salt-and-pepper hair and a thinly groomed beard. “This man.”
    Reena had never seen the man before in her life. “What does he have to do with anything?”
    “Well, I’m assuming a senator wouldn’t be well acquainted with hit men,” Ava said. “If Jacob Wells wanted someone to take out your mother, he’d need a connection to find that kind of someone.”
    “And this guy, Reinhardt, is that connection?” Cruz asked.
    Ava shrugged. “Who knows? But