Page 38 of Desert Wind

“I’m in the process now. It will take a week or so, even with all the resources that I have.”

“I need to ask Jenna,” said Gaspar.

“Genevieve. Please don’t call her that common name.”

“Ma’am, she is Jenna. She has been for over fifty years. If she wants all of us to call her Genevieve, we’ll do so. But you don’t dictate what that woman is called in public. You lost that right.”

“Young man, I sincerely hope that she doesn’t decide to bring you as her guest,” she said harshly.

“I sincerely hope that she does. Either way, I will be there.”

“I said one guest of her choosing. Surely, you won’t be the one guest.”

“You said one guest. I didn’t agree to that, nor will I. We believe someone is still trying to kill Jenna, and we will be protecting her.”

“Who is we?”

“Her friends. She has a lot of them, and we’re very protective of our sweet Jenna. So, I will ask her if she wants to come to this party of yours, and if she does, I will notify you. But let me be perfectly clear. If there is anything that you’re planning that would harm her, I will kill you without a second thought. I have no problem at all doing that.”

“I’m sure you don’t. I’ve known men like you my entire life. I’m quite aware of what you’re capable of.”

“Good. Then we understand one another.”

“Perfectly. But if you’re worried about her, you might want to give the same warning to Lydia Cipriani.”

She hung up and looked up to see one of her bodyguards standing in the doorway.

“Ma’am, he’ll notify Ms. Cipriani. She’ll know that your daughter is alive.”

“Yes.I’m aware.”

Gaspar stared at the phone as if wishing he could jump through it. Cipriani was definitely a part of this plot, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that St. Martine wasn’t innocent in all of it.

He dressed and headed to the office, only to find Ghost, Ian, and Nine already having their coffee.

“What’s up?” asked Ian.

“You’re not going to believe this.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“None of that makes any sense,” frowned Nash. “She didn’t want anything to do with her, didn’t even want to see her photo, and now she wants to throw her a grand ball?”

“We agree, brother. There’s something suspicious happening here, and we’re going to need to dig a little more. I can’t remember a time that we’ve struggled finding the information that we needed on someone,” said Ghost.

“It does feel odd,” said Nine. “Who do we know on that side of the pond that might be able to tell us about the families?”

“Not sure,” frowned Gaspar. “Torro’s uncle passed a few years ago. He might know someone.”

“Wait. We know someone. Our friends in Italy at the house we stayed at. They were terrific and seemed to know everyone,” said Ian.

“Let’s give them a call.”

Gathered around the screen, the men dialed the number and waited for a response.

“My friends!” yelled the young man on the screen.

“Enzo, how are you?” smiled Gaspar.

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