Page 46 of Dangerous Deception

A brilliant blue sky stretches as far as the eye can see, home to a sun that bakes my skin with pleasant heat. The air shimmers all around, birds sing songs I’ve never heard before as they flit about overhead, and the warm scent of the dirt mingles with the sweetness of the grapes hanging in fat, juicy clumps from the lines of vines that stretch seemingly to the ends of the Earth.

Raffaele wasn’t kidding when he said the vineyards are heaven on earth. I’ve never seen a place so stunning before. I thought Raffaele’s estate was luxurious, but the manor that sits in the center of the vineyard is out of this world. Red brick and pink tiles on the roof give a rather romantic air, with a dirt driveway lined with gigantic trees so thick that a whole day could pass just trying to run around one. A large fountain sits in front of the house with marble dolphins leaping out of the pool to spout water high in the air.

A large swimming pool occupies most of the back garden, and the manor sits atop a hill, so the vineyard stretches out below like some great, leafy ocean. In the distance, the winerystands like a guard, watching over the growing fruit being tended to by people who have lived here for generations.

When we arrived, Raffaele told me all wine was made in the vineyard. In his words, it helps ensure that every penny goes to the people working here, but I wonder if there’s a tax reason involved.

Not that I have any desire to learn about the taxes in Europe.

“Adelina?” Caterina’s voice cuts through my rambling thoughts, dragging me back to the present. I blink and glance down at the handful of grapes resting in my palm. They’re brilliantly purple but one has burst, leaking red juice down my palm.

My heart skips a beat.

It seems that grape juice is painfully similar to blood.

Caterina’s hand clasps my elbow and guides me back a few steps, turning me to face her. “Adelina, is everything alright?”

Looking up at her, the intensity of the sun forces me to squint through my shades. Heat radiates from my cheeks, fogging the bottom of my glasses while I force a smile and nod. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Caterina tilts her head slightly, and her eyes run over me, as if she’s inspecting me for something I can’t see. She takes her job incredibly seriously, which I don’t fault her for considering what happened to my last guard. She’s kind, though, in a terrifying sort of way. Her skill when we exercise together is intimidating, but just when I doubted that we could be friends, it turned out we share the same taste in movies. She’s as much of a nerd as I am, although she’s never held a paintbrush in her life.

“I was just thinking.”

“About?”

“This place.” I look around us, glimpsing people dotted around tending to the vines.

“Do you not like it?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s beautiful here. I almost feel like I’ve stepped into another world. The air is different. The sun is different. I close my eyes, and I feel like I’m being wrapped in these large, warm hands.”

“This vineyard is a beauty,” Caterina agrees. “In all my years working with him, he’s never brought anyone else to this specific one.”

“How many does he have?”

“Twelve.” Caterina reaches for a cluster of grapes and plucks them from the vine. “If I remember correctly, eight were in the family when he took over and the last four, he acquired recently.”

“Stolen from someone else?” I lift one brow and tilt my hand, letting the few grapes I have slip free and fall to the ground.

“No. You see.” Caterina plucks a grape from the bunch and offers it to me, then we start to walk. “The vineyards were already in Raffaele’s family. They’re part of his bloodline. The issue his family ran into was how to make them worthwhile since the wine market isn’t exactly exclusive these days.”

“I can’t imagine there’s much demand.” Popping the grape into my mouth, the sudden burst of sweetness catches me by surprise, and my face must have betrayed my surprise, given how Caterina laughs at me.

“Sweet, right?”

“I feel like I just ate something too pure for my tongue.” I chuckle softly. “Wow.”

“Exactly. These vineyards are tended with love so the grapes are delicious. So is the wine. But again, market competition is tough. Until Raffaele worked out just how loose customs can be on wine shipments.”

“How so?”

“When reputation and habit become known, people don’t look so closely. And if they do, then it’s easy to grease theirpalms. Raffaele sells his wine all around the world, and it’s the fastest way to move high-quality drugs throughout Europe. He caused quite a recreational drug boom here.”

“Drugs,” I repeat quietly. The word makes my chest squeeze and in a flash, the cold memories of that terrible room and Marie flood my mind. They’re halted by Caterina grasping my wrist and grounding me back in reality.

“I should tell you, Raffaele doesn’t deal in the drugs that were used on you or killed Marie. That isn’t his style, and it isn’t even in our production. I checked.”

“You checked?”

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