Page 67 of The Agreement

“Ladies included,” Marcell added, his eyes twinkling as he glanced at Val, who merely shrugged her shoulders.

“Being from the same town meant I saw the conquests and I’ve run into a few others from other places, so to say he left a string of broken hearts in Vegas doesn’t surprise me.” Marcell let out a bark of a laugh and Vinny glared at him before letting out a curse as the doctor started stitching up the wound.

“I like this one, Vinny, she’s got guts. And stop your bitching, it wasn’t that bad, looks more like a graze than anything else.” Once the doctor was done and the wound stitched up did Marcell give him a tee-shirt to pull on and cover up with. “Now,” Marcell said as he sat back down and looked at the group, “why not share what’s going on and why people are attacking you in my city? Because I really don’t like that shit.” Vinny sat back and drew Val onto his lap, his arm wrapping around her waist. Frankie and Enzo sat down on the spots of the couch while Luciana perched herself on the arm.

"I'm going to say you heard about New York?" Vinny asked, rubbing Val’s back. They both watched Marcell who nodded.

"I heard there was a bomb outside a strip joint and that it was Enzo's club. Rumor mill told me it was both yours and Val's car that blew up," Marcell said, his eyes trained on the couple.

"And what you heard was right, that was aimed at us, we just don’t know for which one of us it was exactly. However, this was the second time someone shot at Valentina and they got a lot closer this time than they did before." Marcell pushed his lips together and looked around the room. Besides their group, there were only two other men, his doctor and Val was going to assume the other man was his underboss.

"What were you doing in New York? And did anyone know you were there?"

"No Marcell, no one did. I assembled the crew myself so my father didn’t even know. Frankie and Enzo were the only ones who knew I was going. Valentina didn’t even know until we got to the airport. The point of us going had a few reasons behind it. I wanted her input on a meeting, I wanted to get her away from the stress of school and her father, and maybe I wanted to spoil her by taking her on a weekend vacation that she doesn’t get." Marcell smiled at that.

"And now, here? Who knew you were here? And why are you here?"

"To elope," this time it was Val who spoke up. "And those that knew are the ones here. And not one of these people would speak a word. It's not as if someone followed us to figure out where we were going, Marcell."

"Not physically, Val, no." Val’s brows snapped together at that comment.

"Whatever do you mean? You think someone was tracking us?" Marcell just gave Val a pointed look at that question.

"It seems to me, Valentina, that someone wants you dead because, at this point, there have been three attacks on you. And because the first was an attack on you, and you alone, I’m going to go out on a limb and say the others were meant for you with Vinny being a casualty. La domanda che ci si chiede, però, è chi(The question that begs to be asked, though, is who)?" Val laughed at that and shook her head.

"Fai la tua scelta(take your pick)! I am the daughter of a powerful and well-established boss, take me out, you won't stop the family but you’d hurt him. I was engaged to another powerful man and together we will build an empire that won’t take prisoners. I am hated amongst many women; I am sure, for snatching up one of the sexiest bachelors Chicago ever had. There are many reasons to go after me, Marcell."

"All good reasons, but none enough to spend money on maybes and what-ifs. Whoever did this waited long enough for you to be in one location to confirm you were there and not leaving. Tracking is easy if done correctly, but it does take time. And it takes the tiniest plant of a tracking bug on something you use frequently to have it." Valentina stood up at that and begin pacing. She turned to look at Vinny at the same time that he jumped.

"The purse," they cried in unison.

"What?" Frankie asked, handing the purse over.

"The night of dinner at my parents," Vinny started, taking things out of the purse, "Celeste was in the living room when she didn’t need to be and walking away from the couch where Val’s stuff was." Vinny finished pulling everything out and then checked the pockets, finding the small bug on an inside pocket that wasn’t used.

"I left my purse in the car that night in New York, Vinny, so it must have been planted there." Vinny started to smirk at having an idea.

"It’s not Celeste." All heads turned to look at Luciana as she looked at them. "I saw her that night of the bombing, she was in a club and I never lost sight of her." Val’s eyes locked with Vinny’s.

"She had help," was all Val said and that filled her with dread.

~ Chapter 52 ~

“Right now, that’s not our concern. When we get back home and things have settled, we’ll figure out what’s going on,” Vinny said, tossing the bug in a trashcan. “We’re going to have bigger issues to deal with any way the moment we land.” Val’s eyes locked with Vinny’s and she knew. She didn’t need a big old sign painted for her to see the problems that they were facing them back home. It was four people, two sets of parents, and each was probably on the warpath to kill them. For some reason, that thought made her stomach turn but she swallowed back the pain and unease. She could handle them, she had her husband by her side now, and no one could say or do anything about it.

“When do you fly out?” Marcell asked, looking between the two of them.

“We actually leave early in the morning,” Vinny told him as he wrapped his arm around Val’s waist. Marcell stood up and smiled at them.

“Then let me show you all what Vegas is really like. I need to make sure you leave my town on a good note rather than on this one.” Val couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped her lips. For so long, she had wanted to see the glitz, glamour, and fame of Vegas, but with her dad, she had no way of coming out to Vegas, so she wasn’t going to say no. And the ship that her dad ran, there was no way she was going alone without his permission. And now that she had it at her fingertips, she was thrilled.

“Oh, please don’t, it’s the one thing Val always wanted,” Luciana moaned which only made Val smile all the more.

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“It’s me and you, remember that,” Vinny told her as they pulled up to his parent’s house. Their plane had landed two hours ago and they needed a moment to change and compose themselves. And then a phone call from his dad saying they better get their asses over to his house right away was enough to say that the last moment wasn’t needed. Val nodded and then Vinny climbed out of the car and helped her, taking her hand as they walked to the front door. Vinny didn’t bother knocking; he just let himself in, calling out as he did. “Papa?”

“He’s in the living room,” his mom said, looking between the two. “Let’s go,” she told them, turning her back on them and walking to the room. Val clenched his hand even tighter as they followed her. Sofia sat down on the couch, next to her husband, and Val made it a point to look at Celeste, wondering why she had any right to be there.

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