Page 191 of Stalking Ginevra

I step into the interrogation room, a concrete box thick with the scent of tears. Bianca Tarrantino hunches over a metal table and chair bolted to the floor. She’s a trembling, pleading mess, responsible for a financial drain that threatened to ruin my establishment.

Between Vitale, Lorenzo, and a team I dispatched to her mother’s apartment, we’ve identified burner phones, bank details, and blueprints for a heist on the Demartini Casino vaults.

This woman pretending to be a victim is no innocent, but an equal participant.

The door swings shut, and I soak in the slow burn of victory. I’m so close to catching Victor Bellavista that I can almost feel the warm spray of his blood. He should have stayed in the shadows, content with the amount he scammed from my casino, but I can’t forgive the stunt he pulled with the bomb.

Ginevra is safe, which is all that matters. I’ll return to the penthouse the moment I’ve wrung Bianca of her secrets.

“Let’s see how many fingers I get to amputate before you tell me what I need to know,” I say.

Bianca’s head jerks up, her eyes wide with terror. Mascara-colored tears stream down features twisted with anguish.

“Please, Mr. Montesano,” she wheezes. “I’ll tell you everything, but you need to protect me from Victor.”

Before I can reply, the door opens, and Teresa Carlini and her son, Leo, stumble into the room. I’ve kept them in our basement cells since after the set of interrogations, not wanting them dead until I’d found that Bellavista bastard.

Without the makeup, Teresa’s skin has turned jaundiced, her hollowed cheeks and dark circles under her eyes casting a sickly shadow. Her hair clings to her forehead in greasy clumps, making my former head of procurement barely recognizable. Leo is as pale as death, his cracked lips trembling, his bloodshot eyes darting from me to Bianca. He grips his mother’s arm, as if she’s the only thing keeping him upright.

“Were you working the counterfeit casino chip scam with Bianca?” I ask.

Teresa frowns. “What are you talking about? No!”

I turn to Leo who shakes his head.

“Because Bianca was his accomplice on the inside,” I add.

The pair turn to the younger woman, their features etched with disbelief.

Bianca’s sobs grow louder, but it looks like neither of them are in the position to give two shits about her distress.

“You were supposed to be family!” Teresa screams, her voice cracking. “How could you work with Victor behind our backs?”

“I didn’t have a choice!” Bianca cries.

“What the hell does that mean?” Leo rasps, advancing on her with clenched fists. “You were in on the casino chip scam the whole time?”

I lean against the wall, watching the family drama. They confessed to the procurement scam easily enough, but swore ignorance about the chips too quickly for my liking.

“Victor blackmailed me,” Bianca stammers, her gaze flicking between Teresa and Leo. “He has a tape.”

Leo’s features contort, his lip curling with disgust. “With who?”

“It’s complicated.” Face crumpling, Bianca erupts into choked sobs.

“Enough.” I step forward, pulling out my gun, and pointing it at Bianca’s head. “This family has had enough grace. You, start talking. Now.”

“It wasn’t my fault,” she says, her tongue darting out to lick her lips. “I first spoke to Victor when I had dinner with Mr. Napolitano.”

I nod. Joe Napolitano was the former head of procurement and one of the traitors we burned alive in the crematorium. It doesn’t surprise me that he had dealings with Bellavista.

“Wait,” Leo rasps. “You were fucking Joe?”

“Focus,” I snap.

Bianca takes a shuddering breath and clutches the edge of the table. “That night, he made me have a three-way with his wife. A week later, Victor sent me the footage, saying he would tell everyone if I didn’t get close to Antonio at BV Holdings.”

Her words dissolve into incoherent sobs. I make a slow count of ten for her to regain some composure before hurrying her along. “What were your orders?”

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