Page 48 of The Agreement

“Hey.” She stood straight and looked around but there was no one around her. Finally, she looked between the branches on the bush and saw a man with his back towards her. “Yes, I know the bomb didn’t work; I saw the proof pretty well that they didn’t die. Yes, I will figure out something else.”

~ Chapter 37 ~

“Hey, did you hear that someone might be going after the Boss’s chick? That someone planted a bomb on the car and it almost took him out along with Val?” One man told the other one that was sitting next to him while another party that was behind the two men talking about the latest news of their mafia boss was listening in very close. It was funny that if you ever wanted to find out anything, go to the bar because the men there tended to gossip just as badly as old ladies in nursing homes.

However, at the moment, that was not the news the person eavesdropping wanted to hear. The person clenched their hands as they had gone over that plan perfectly, so how could it be that any part of that plan got so screwed up? That bomb should have taken care of them so surviving was not how it was supposed to go!

With trembling hands, the person pulled up the webpage of some of the media outlets in New York and wanted to scream. Plain as day, Valentina had shown up at the opera in that bullshit of a dress and showed her face again at the gala. How did she escape death again? When was she going to get the hint that she wasn’t wanted and needed to leave?

A tired sigh escaped the person’s lips and for a brief moment, the phone was sat down. Their mind couldn’t wrap around the fact that this plan was all fucked up now. Eyes glanced over at the men again, wondering if they were even noticing anything around them. They were, and had been, deep in drink so they might have been just too oblivious?

The trembling hand picked the phone back up again. This time, it was scrolling through their contacts until it found the name it wanted. The green button was hit and brought to an ear, listening to the stupid ring-back tone as the other line took forever to pick up.

“Hey.”

“Hey. What the fuck was that? How did it not do its job? Did we not plan it to the very T? Or did you fuck it up again?” There was a pause before the person behind the men went on. “Do you have any more bright ideas before it’s too late?”

“Yes, I know the bomb didn’t work, I can see the proof. Yes, I will figure out something else.” With that, the line went dead. One final sip of the fruity drink and the person left as quietly as they came in, unnoticed by anyone.

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Valentina closed the bushes after hearing that and tried to get a look at him, but his back was to her the whole time. And like everyone else here, he was in a black suit so nothing to distinguish him by. She was about to step out of her spot to see who it was, even though she knew they would be upset but Frankie came back with her champagne before she could leave, although her eyes scanning the crowd captured Frankie’s interest.

“What are you looking at?” Val took a sip and sighed. She glanced about but no one was paying them any attention.

“I overheard a guy talking about how the bomb didn’t work and I was going to see who it was but you walked up.” Frankie swore and Val looked at him. “What was that for?”

“Take your pick. The fact that you would actually put yourself in danger where no one was there to protect you and anything could have happened? Or maybe the fact that we could have answered the ‘who’ question and because we told you not to leave, we can’t now.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a serious catch 22 on your part.” Val took another sip and Frankie chuckled.

“You have no clue? Nothing in the voice? In the way he was?”

“He was tall, about Vinny’s height; he did have black hair and a black suit. But,” Val said and waved her hand at the people in the ballroom, “it seems every black hair man in New York is at this event and I didn’t believe that will help much.” They shared another chuckle as Vinny walked up, a brow raised at the two of them.

“What is so funny?” he asked and Frankie explained everything to him. Vinny looked at Val who just shrugged; what could she say, Frankie had said it all. And as much as it sucked, what she heard helped them with nothing. Other than the fact that someone knew about the bomb, they were here and as of right now, no attempt had been made. However, it was cause to be more opened eyed and weary that anything could happen. Well, it was two someone’s because the person on the other end was talking about it. And to really be honest, they were only assuming they were talking about the bomb meant for Val and Vinny.

“One of those moments where it would have been nice if you knew how to shoot,” Vinny told her and she wanted to laugh at that.

“Why? Would you have let me out of my spot to go chase a guy I didn’t know and who could have led me into a trap and taken me somewhere you had no clue about?”

“No.”

“Then it doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t have run after him anyway; I do have some smarts. But I was hoping that I could at least maybe catch a side profile or something.” Vinny sighed and cast his gaze around the room.

“The problem is no one stands out to me or to Frankie.” Val wrinkled her nose for a moment and shook her head, not understanding why that would matter exactly.

“Okay, maybe I’m not with it, but why would that even matter? I mean, this isn’t our home area so why would you even know anyone?”

“That’s it, this isn’t our home and if I can’t say I know anyone that would know you or who would want to harm us, then how would they know us to do something like that? The only three people I know are people that deal with my dad for business and they didn’t even know I was in town, one of which stopped me because he was surprised to see me. And none of them know that I’m engaged to you.” Val nodded her head now that she got it. Who would know them to harm them? So, if what she heard was even about them, this was more of an outside source and for sure a tag team type of deal, and that actually did not sit well with her. “What are you thinking Val?” Val glanced at Vinny who had been watching her.

“If that call was about us and was more like an outsourcing type of thing, that would mean someone is tag-teaming it. And I don’t like that idea. That leaves a lot of variables that are open and really could mean a host of things. Except, again, how would anyone know where we were? Cameras and stuff couldn’t have the word traveling that fast to get something done, no matter how good anyone is at ‘their’ job.”

“Valid point there too,” Vinny said, glancing around the room again. “Whatever was going on won’t happen again now. I think we should get going anyway, we do fly out in the morning.” Val watched Vinny as Frankie went to get the car. It was going to take a bit as quite a few people had arrived.

“You don’t like that idea?” Vinny wrapped his arm around her and shook his head.

“No. I wanted this solved before we head back. It had crossed my mind that someone back home had a hand in this but that worried me even more.”

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