Page 30 of Corrupt Desires

“According to his police record, Anthony Romani, age thirty, six-one, brown eyes, brown hair, and a pension for trouble. Surprisingly, his record was clean at first glance, but when I dug deeper, I found evidence of all the cover-ups. His family definitely has connections in all the right places.”

Leaning back in his chair, he continues. “He’s had numerous drug charges completely wiped from his record, as well as numerous accounts of domestic violence, sexual assault, and abuse. I looked into the rumors you told me about, James, and it does appear that a lot of women go missing around him. I’ve checked into a few of the women he’s been seen with lately, and they have all mysteriously vanished, some reported missing while others are just completely gone with no family to even report them missing.”

He looks to Emilia, holding her gaze. “He seems to have a taste for beautiful women though, as the majority of them are aspiring models or actresses.”

“Well, I’m neither of those things,” Emilia replies, huffing her frustration and sitting taller in her seat.

“No, you’re better.” She raises an eyebrow at his admission, and his eyes dart over to me. Almost as if making sure I’m not about to jump across the table and poke his eyes out for what he is going to say next.

“Not only are you beautiful, you’re the princess of the enemy.”

I lean back in my own chair and run a hand across my jaw. “So you think it’s not the territory at all that he wants?”

Franklin scrubs a hand down his face, weariness seeping from his very bones. “I honestly don’t know what to think, it’s more of a hunch. I’ll need to do some more digging, get close enough to their home and hack into their cameras and security system, but I think something is going on with the women that are going missing. I feel like Emilia is his next target, especially with him so focused on her right now.”

I stand up, pacing as my mind whirls with a million thoughts at once before stopping to look out the large bay window beyond the dining room table. This scumbag wants to steal my wife… my fucking wife… and do god knows what to her. Over my dead body will he lay a single finger on her.

Glancing down at my watch, I realize we are running late to get over to Emilia’s parent’s house. I walk back over to Emilia and extend my hand out for her to grasp.

“Come on, Emilia, we should get going.”

Pulling her to her feet, she looks between the two of us, seemingly reluctant to leave just yet.

“No worries, love. Franklin will fill us in with more after he does some surveillance. Let’s go see your parents and see what we can get out of them.”

“Esto es una mierda!” (This is bullshit.) Emilia bursts from her chair. “I can’t just sit here while we are being toyed with like pawns in a game. I should take the fight to him, show him a little taste of how the Bonettis handle business.”

Franklin is taken back by Emilia’s outburst, and under normal circumstances I’d find his face humorous, but I know she is probably freaking out a little bit on the inside.

“Emilia, my love. Let’s be logical here…”

She turns on me, pointing a finger directly in my face as I hold my hands up in surrender. “Don’t you dare tell me to be logical, James. You’re thelocoone that called in a favor for our marriage. Don’t start with me on logical.” (Crazy.)

“OK, OK. I get it. I deserved that.” I place my hands on her shoulders and level her with my eyes. “We will figure this out together, Emilia, but we can’t just go in guns blazing. We need to get more information. Going in blindly will get us killed.”

“Fine. Let’s go before I change my mind.” Looking back toward Franklin she says, “Thank you for your help on this.”

“One last thing,” Franklin starts, then hesitates. “The Romanis are nearly bankrupt. When I checked into his parents, they were nearly depleted of funds in all of their accounts. It seems that however they are managing to scrape by may be solely resting on Anthony’s shoulders as the only deposits I could find were from Anthony’s account. Which means that maybe Anthonyiscalling the shots over there. Which means they may be getting desperate… and desperate is a dangerous thing to be.”

Knowing that Emilia’s patience was running thin, I bid farewell to Franklin, who was still sitting wide-eyed in his chair.He’ll eventually get used to her, I thought to myself. Her fiery spirit is one of the many things I love about her, and I’ll be damned if I try to extinguish that flame so that others are more comfortable.

Twenty-One

Emilia

Ithought once we left Franklin’s house I might feel relief or at least a glimmer of hope that we could fix this mess, but I’m only more coiled, ready to attack. Between the wedding, the car chase, and the revelations with James, I’m just mentally drained.

It will be nice to see the family today though, even if it’s under less-than-ideal circumstances. I know my father is not doing well, and I can only imagine the stress my mother is under with overseeing their dynasty. Lorenzo has the world on his shoulders as he takes on my role, and Matty is probably knee-deep in shit, too.

We have been driving for just under an hour when James’s phone rings. I catch the nameFranklinon the screen before he snatches it up.

“Hi, Franklin, what can I do for you?” James asks. Franklin’s reply has James tensing and glancing at me with worry etching every line on his face. I instantly wonder if he learned something new about Anthony.

“Are you positive?”

“We’re on our way.” James floors the gas pedal, and I’m forced back into my seat as the strength of his car climbs to dangerous speeds.

“What’s going on, James?” I ask wearily. James looks over at me, his jaw feathering in aggravation.

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