Page 26 of Reign of Fate

“Catch you both inside.” Francesco excuses himself, leaving Massimo and me alone.

“What’s on your mind?” I ask. I’m giving him the opportunity to give it to me straight.

“Francesco and I took the ladies dress shopping. All went well, then they wanted to grab a bite at a diner across the street. Again, all good,” he says. “Elisa insisted on buying coffees for all of us for the drive home. We all argued, but it was making her upset, so we went with it. Francesco took Evangeline back to the car to wait for us.” Massimo inhales and pauses before letting out a breath.

“Go on,” I order, watching his expression intently.

“This slick guy comes up to her and starts flirting. She was really surprised by it, like she’s never had anyone flirt with her before. Anyway, Elisa tells the guy she’s attached, and the asshole makes a comment about her not having a ring on her finger. He said that her guy wasn’t serious if he didn’t buy her a ring. I was right there and told him to fuck off. He walked away, but not before he slid his card into her hand. Elisa ignored it, and we left…”

I’m livid. I can feel the heat burning up my face, my fists clenching and the need to punch something hard bubbling up inside me. I’m mad at myself. I never thought of a ring. Shit! Here I am, marrying the woman, and I didn’t remember to put my mark on her.

“Elisa didn’t want me to tell anyone. She doesn’t want to upset you,” he adds. “Honestly, nothing happened, but I want you to trust me with Elisa, and Francesco pointed out that in order for that to happen, I had to tell you.”

“Never keep anything from me. Your loyalty is toUltimo Morte,first and foremost,” I remind him. “You did the right thing.” This should ease his mind, but I can see that it hasn’t. “Is there more?”

“No, sir,” he mumbles.

“Then what’s with the face?”

“He was so smug and pompous. I wanted to slit his throat.” Massimo throws his hand out, “What guy slides a business card ”—he does the motion with his hand, pretending to hand me a card—“like that, and struts away like a peacock? If I wouldn’t have caused a scene, I would have thrown him through the front window.”

I chuckle. Massimo is protective of our women. That’s a good sign.

“If you find the guy, you have my permission to beat the shit out of him. Let’s go inside. I have to finish up here. I have an errand to run.”

Much as I appreciate Massimo watching over Elisa, I’m angry. I’m so busy looking after business that I never thought of buying a ring. Raffaele used a local jeweler when he bought Evangeline’s ring. I’ll get the number from him. Whenever we call, Timothy Simpson comes running. He has the finest cut diamonds and the highest quality product. Raffaele had Evangeline’s ring designed just for her. A one of a kind.

But first, time to get to business.

After weeks of analyzing the data on the USB keys that we found, we trace it back to offshore bank accounts and an account of funds that have been funneled in and out of the account. None of the accounts are in Guido’s name. They’re numbered accounts that move through several different banks that trace back to Pisa Construction in Italy.

To add to our suspicion, Ruggero was to meet with Raffaele and me, and his wife called to let us know he was called out of town. He’s a coward, and Raffaele is livid. Raffaele has alertedUltimo Morteto bring Ruggero to him directly if they see him.

Raffaele’s ready to hop on a plane and go back home to rattle some cages and see who the owner of the construction company is. He’s made some calls, and no one has ever heard of them. It’s a shell company for laundering money. Guido’s had this information for years, and he kept it to himself. That’s also riling up Raffaele.

“I should have fucking shot him myself instead of letting him die painlessly,” Raffaele spits out. “We fucking took care of him. He had everything he wanted or needed. All he had to do was ask. Why the fuck was he hiding this from us?”

“He must have had a reason. I know it doesn’t matter what it was. It was still wrong. But he wasn’t thinking straight in the end. Guido was getting sicker every day. I think he meant for us to find the USBs when he was gone. Guido made sure we knew after he was gone and specifically asked us to look after his estate. We’re the ones who trusted Bruto, and he failed miserably,” I say.

“You think this is about his father?” Raffaele asks, absently tapping his pen on the desk.

“It’s not right. None of it. Guido dies, and Bruto starts taking paintings off the wall, cutting Elisa’s allowance short and firing her staff. Then Ruggero shows up and physically pushes her out of the way to get to Guido’s bedroom. It feels slimy, and I trust my gut,” I tell him.

“We’ve been following him for months and found nothing,” Raffaele reminds me.

Francesco steps forward and says, “Perhaps we’re looking in the wrong places.”

Raffaele leans back in his chair, “Go on.”

“The company is in Italy. We’re looking at our businesses here. We have holdings in the old country, do we not?” Francesco asks.

“And Bruto and his wife just got back from Piemonte not long ago,” Massimo adds. “I remember one of his men mentioning it.

“I’ll find out how frequently Bruto’s traveled outside the country and where,” I say, preempting what Raffaele’s going to ask next.

“And Ruggero. He’s being evasive, and I don’t have a good feeling about him,” Raffaele says.

Massimo twists his mouth at the mention of Ruggero’s name. The man should never play poker; he wears his emotions too vividly on his face.

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