Page 48 of Unrelenting
Gabriele is having a hard time adjusting to how he looks since he was wounded in an ambush. He’s barely emerged from his villa outside of Rome since it happened.
Lately, he hasn’t even been going to hospital appointments, according to his housekeeper, who reports back to us.
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
Damiano waves off my regret with a flick of his wrist.
“So, has anything else happened while I was out?” I ask.
“Matteo and Giulia made up.”
Of course they did. A forced wedding and a shootout were clearly just bumps on the road for those two.
“Oh, and some lawyer visited your girlfriend.”
“What?”
“The backers of the restaurant next door want to buy her out. I believe she’s quite upset. She thinks you’re behind it.”
“What the fuck?” I slam my fork down on the table. “You should have told me that straight away.”
Damiano shrugs. “You wouldn’t have eaten your dinner if I’d led with that.”
“Damn right I wouldn’t have.”
Pushing to my feet, I storm from the room and head along the corridor toward Damiano’s office.
When I get there, I key the code into the security panel. One-Nine-Seven-Three. It’s the year our mother was born. It doesn’t work.
I try again, but all I get is an angry bleep telling me I’ve got the code wrong. I’m about to go back to demand Damiano tells me the correct number when he reaches past me to key in the code.
“I changed the number. One-Zero-Zero-Four.”
That’s the date he killed our old man almost fifteen years ago. “Why?”
Damiano shrugs. “I fired a maid and had to change all the security codes. I thought it was fitting to pick the date I became boss.”
The date he became boss by putting a bullet in our father’s head. It seems fucking macabre if you ask me, but of course he didn’t.
As the door swings open, I storm over to Damiano’s desk and start rummaging through the papers, looking for my phone.
“Top drawer,” he says.
I retrieve the phone and see Damiano is correct. Lucia has been blowing up my phone. There are dozens of voicemails, but I go to the text messages first.
“Fuck you, Lorenzo, it’s over.” I read aloud. “Fuck you, Lorenzo, you’ll never get your hands on Gianetta’s.” I scroll to the next one. “Go fuck yourself, you two-faced prick.”
Damiano smirks. “Seems like she really wants you to fuck yourself.”
“Fuckyourself,” I snarl. “How did you know a lawyer visited her?”
“She yelled at Daniele when he went to take her home.”
Of course, she did. I can just imagine my little kitten spitting out her rage at him.
“Do we know who this lawyer is or who he’s working for?”
Damiano shrugs. “I’ve got someone looking into it. My best guess is it’s the Rossinis. It seems her ex is due to get out of prison any day now. Fucking Lucia over could be a welcome home gift for him.”
