Page 38 of The Queen's Vow (Ruthless Games 2)

NINETEEN

ANTHONY

Bastien and I had reluctantlygone back to the fundraiser to keep up appearances while Giancarlo lost himself in his cyberworld. The whole event passed by in a heart-wrenching blur and Bastien had even left without saying goodbye to me. With Rebecca gone, the rift between us already felt like the Grand Canyon. I couldn’t lose him too.

Back in my penthouse at eleven p.m., I stared at my phone. My father’s number precisely, itching my skin. Everything had happened so fast this afternoon at the cemetery.

Would I hear guilt in Papa’s voice if he’d put the hit on Rebecca?

What purpose would killing her have? Papa would end up fighting Richard Daria and Patrick Byrne, a fight I wasn’t sure we’d win. Not without Giovanni Domenico at our back. On our side.

Our side...

I was a Messina. Heir to Messina Associates.

We dodged another kind of bullet, getting much of our Sunrise investment returned to us. Rebecca had sent me one of her top finance people to look over my books. Papa couldn’t know I showed everything to her. So far, Rebecca’s money whiz hadn’t uncovered anything out of the ordinary. But someone buried the original Sunrise investment. For all I knew, my father had a complete second set of books.

Or more likely Giovanni Domenico strong-armed Papa into the deal. Daria hadn’t found anything suspicious on his end either.

I stupidly hadn’t been paying attention to my own company, having too much fun being the goddamn prince of this city. What the hell had Becca seen in me?

Her faith in me and the kind of man I could be kept me going. Now she was gone. Missing. Gian fired up his computers hunting down Julian Russo. Tiptoeing across a tripwire. The Feds were fucking ruthless.

I downed the last of my scotch and savoring the bitter burn, I dialed Papa.

“Anthony?”

“Vito.” I froze. “Why are you answering my father’s phone?”

“Because your father is asleep.” His solid voice, sounding like a firewall enraged me.

“It’s eleven o’clock. Wake my father up.” I pushed emotion down into my gut to not show the upending my life just took.

“He’s in his eighties.”

“And?” I asked, expecting some rational answer as to why.

“And what?”

I held my breath. If I unleashed the fury boiling inside me based on the day I had, I’d face consequences tomorrow that might have irreparable harm. A mob boss sleeping at eleven p.m. Was it my fault my father waited until he was in his fifties to get married and chose my mother, his very young secretary?

“Sad send off today, huh?” I figured I’d play nice and pry to see if Papa made any comments to Vito that would help me understand how he felt about the death of his long-time business associate. And what Papa thought it meant for us?

I knew what it meant. Nothing. Rebecca was the queen. I bent my knee to her. Then licked her pussy.

“Giovanni died at sixty,” Vito finally said something. “Your father is in his eighties, you don’t think he thinks he’s next?”

I hadn’t thought Papa would view his own mortality through this lens. When Vito didn’t dish about anything else Papa might have said in the limo after the service, I said, “Did you and Papa notice I wasn’t in that limousine when it left the cemetery?”

“Your father fell asleep on the ride home.” Vito cleared his throat. “You’re all right, aren’t ya? You’re not calling from a hospital bed, are ya?”

“Goodbye, Vito. Do me a favor. Do yourself a favor. Don’t answer my father’s phone again. You’re his bodyguard. Not his secretary. Not his lawyer.”

I ended the call and flung my phone against the headboard of my bed.

“Do you feel this too? Am I alone here?”

I’d said those words to Becca, right there in that bed.

“No, you’re not alone. I’m also confused.”

“Me too. I wasn’t supposed to fall for you like this.”

Her memory echoed in every corner of this damn penthouse. I pushed my hands through my hair. This place was so empty without her. I was empty.

Face it...

With a quivering jaw, I had to face the possibility Rebecca was dead, or whoever the hell had her didn’t plan to let her go. Ever.

Gian would do everything possible to find her. Find out what happened to her.

My whole life had been a dress rehearsal for when I would take over for Giovanni if he didn’t have a suitable successor.

With the possibility being real and right now, I wanted to vomit.

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