Page 29 of Deal with the Devil
Finally alone, I scrub a hand over my face and breathe through the disorientation. It’s possible I’ve been so exhausted I checked out of it this morning. I’m pretty sure I got little to no sleep last night, going from the meeting with Dario Cortese to more arrangements for the family and then visiting Joseph Tuco down in the cell.
I must’ve gone straight into my day as businessman Rafael Calderone with no real break in between.
Sleep has often eluded me. Most nights I only get three or four hours. I’m awake before the sun. But ever since Portia’s disappearance, it’s been even worse. I’ve been getting even less sleep than usual, if not skipping it altogether.
Clearly, it’s having an effect on my mental state.
“There you are!”
“I told you you’re not allowed in here!”
“The hell I’m not!”
Jayla’s appeared in the doorway, jerking her arm out of the grasp of one my assistants. I can’t even remember her name; she’s the latest in a long line of easily interchangeable administrative assistants we’ve hired at my investment company. She’s no match for Jayla as she tries and fails to hold her back.
Portia’s sister refuses, storming into the empty boardroom with that no-nonsense attitude they seem to share.
I rise to my feet to greet her, motioning to the admin assistant to leave us be. It’s not every day Jayla turns up at my company. There can only be one reason why she would, and it’s understandable she’d be driven to this point given what’s happened.
“Jayla, I wasn’t expecting you. Apologies if you were given any trouble at the door.”
“Save your bullshit apologies—where’s my sister?!”
“Have you spoken to Adagio?”
“I’ve spoken to him! He told me you swore it would be handled by now. Where is she, Rafael? What’s going on?” Jayla demands loudly. “Has she been taken by one of these mafia jackasses again? What are you doing to get her back?”
“I’m doing everything I can to bring her home. You need to be patient.”
“Patient? How can I be patient when anything could be happening to my sister? She could be seriously hurt… or worse!”
“I will get her back,” I growl, meeting her eyes. “You just need to give me a couple more days. We’re closing in on a lead.”
“And what am I supposed to tell our parents? They’re starting to ask questions. They’ve never gone this long without talking to her.”
“Stall a little while longer. Shewillbe home soon. You’re going to have to trust me.”
Jayla scoffs, folding her arms. “That’s just it, Rafael. I don’t trust you. And neither did Portia. I’ve got no proof. But it isyourfault she’s missing. If something happens to her, you have her blood on your hands.”
My jaw hardens as Portia’s sister spins on her heel and strides out of the boardroom. I’m left alone for the second time in minutes, except this time filled with even more tension than before. Not only do I have to sort out these missing chunks of time that are becoming a problem, I’ve got to figure out what happened to mia dolcezza before it’s too late.
9
PORTIA
It’shard work making yourself disappear. Even harder when you’re the object of obsession for a man like Rafael Calderone and you have to make yourself poof into thin air.
I’d known for a while that Rafael had been watching me—and notjustwatching me but monitoring my every move. He had eyes and ears everywhere, including in DC. His reach is so far and wide I’m almost certain my boss, Joe Germanotta, isn’t just mafia affiliated. He’s in the back pocket of Rafael Calderone himself.
The final straw was the Dominion Gala. Being belittled by Chuck Whitmore only for Rafael to magically swoop in and “save the day” like the knight in shining armor he so often loved presenting himself as.
He claimed he was invited to the gala for business purposes, and that might’ve been the case. But it didn’t change the fact that everything regarding Rafael was a little toocoincidentalfor my tastes. Whitmore and Germanotta thought they could silence me and make me play along like a good girl, and Rafael thought he could charm his way back into my good graces.
They were all wrong.
I decided I was going to show them how wrong they were.
I arrive in Sicily with a small carry-on bag and nothing else to my name. The rest of my life has been abandoned in the States.
