16. Troy. Unboxed
SIXTEEN
TROY. UNBOXED
TROY
“Alessio, I’m sure your offer can wait until after the cakes,” Valerina says. “We wouldn’t want to ruin our guest’s birthday.”
Alessio turns toward his sister. “What makes you think I’d ruin her day?”
“Oh.” She pats his shoulder as she stands to clear the table. “You overestimate your charm.”
“Agreed,” Shark comments under his breath.
“I don’t know about that,” I tell Valerina, deciding to play devil’s advocate. “Alessio flew me here on a private jet, has welcomed me into his house, and now there’s this awesome dinner, not to mention I think he’s the man who’ll launder my money. I’m charmed.”
Valerina suppresses a smile. “When you put it like that…”
Shark mumbles something under his breath again, then shoves a piece of beef into his mouth the way I would shove it into mine if I wanted to prevent myself from saying something guaranteed to start an argument at the table.
In fact, that one Thanksgiving when my oldest brother, Denver, brought his ditzy girlfriend for dinner, I kept my mouth stuffed full of stuffing (pun intended). The girl could barely say two words without giggling.
Valerina excuses herself to the bathroom.
Shark leans in and whispers, “Something about Alessio making you blush?”
“No.”
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“I thought of something nice.”
He narrows his eyes, clearly doubting I’m telling the truth. “What?”
“I’m not telling you,” I tease, because I can tell he’s jealous. Him getting aggressive about my innocent conversation with his friend sets my heart aflutter.
He picks up the carving knife again.
Alessio curses. “Please put him out of his misery before he flings the knife at my head.”
“Not at your head,” Shark clarifies.
“Fine, fine. I was thinking about my brother Denver. Thanksgiving dinner. His giggly girlfriend who gave us blondes a bad rep.”
Shark cocks his head, still doubtful.
I roll my eyes and elbow him. “I don’t have the hots for your boss. He reminds me of Falena.” I gasp and cover my mouth, my heart now fluttering for a different reason. I should’ve taken the hint from Shark and shoved food into my mouth even though I’m full. Now I’ve gone and said the name out loud in front of these men who could, by all accounts, be acquainted with Falena.
But if they’re not, then they’ll forget all about the name. Won’t they?
Alessio leans back with a glance at Shark, who puts another filet on his plate and starts to cut it as if we’re still just eating.
“And who might that be?” Alessio asks.
“Nobody. Please drop it.” I think I just made it worse.
“Your hands are shaking,” Shark says. “It tells me he’s somebody you fear.”
“Do you…do you know him?”
Shark shakes his head. “Never heard of him. But I’d like to.” He looks up at Alessio, who nods.
“Ditto,” Alessio says, those blue eyes piercing me.
Shark throws an arm over my shoulders and yanks my chair toward him. Once we’re as close as we can get without me sitting on his lap, he kisses my temple. “If you want to talk about it some other time, I’ll wait.”
“She wants to tell me,” Alessio says.
“I shouldn’t have said anything. I don’t know if you’ve noticed I have no mouth filter.”
“In the company of true friends, one needs no filter,” Alessio says. “Don’t underestimate the power of your intuition. You’ve survived ordeals I can’t imagine, and you are here, telling me about them while almost everyone else who’s harmed you is dead.”
“Almost,” Shark says, and the way he says it sends shivers up my spine.
“You wouldn’t have mentioned the name if you didn’t want to tell me,” Alessio presses onward. “Just tell me about Falena.”
Valerina returns with Leo, but Alessio cuts her a look that makes her halt and say, “Oh, Auntie Valerina is silly. She forgot the cakes in the kitchen. We have two this year. You want to help me carry one to the table?”
Leo runs toward the kitchen and she follows after him, closing the doors to the formal dining room.
Being in a closed room with two men, one of whom wears a suit and has blue eyes like Falena, makes me uncomfortable. But I try to be brave and focus on things about Alessio that aren’t Falena’s. The cologne Alessio wears is different. Sandalwood and lavender instead of burned cedar. Alessio also doesn’t give me the creeps, and he carries himself as if he’s of royal descent. He’s very…almost honorable, but I know that’s not quite true if he’s running the best laundromat in the country.
Besides, if I fear random men, then I’m saying I fear half the population of earth, and I don’t want to live in fear for the rest of my life.
I press a hand to my forehead. “I’m thinking bad thoughts again.”
Shark leans in. “Pass them on so I can think them for you.”
I rest my head on his shoulder. The smell of him comforts me while Alessio waits patiently for me to summon my courage and tell him about Falena.
“Take off your jacket,” I say.
Alessio’s eyebrows shoot up.
Shark makes a noise in the back of his throat, and I lift my head. “What?”
“You have to explain this request,” he says.
“Falena had blue eyes and wore a similar jacket. I can tell by the hem on this spot there.” I point at the pocket. “On the pocket. There’s a double thread. Gold finish. I remember it well.”
Alessio shrugs off his jacket and shows me the brand logo on the inside. “From this designer?”
I nod.
“Blue eyes. Diliberti suit, so I presume he’s wealthy.” Alessio says. “Anything else?”
“Dark hair. Slightly longer than yours, styled on the side, blow-dried daily at the salon on the ground floor.”
Shark pats my hand as he stands. “Tell Alessio about this place with the ground floor. brB.”
“brB?” Alessio asks.
“Be right back,” Shark says with a nod. “Keeping up with…the kids.”
“Oh no, you didn’t,” I protest.
Shark winks. “I have jokes too.”
I swallow as his warm presence leaves the table, but I’m smiling nonetheless.
“Your friend is nice to me,” I say.
“I expect you to return the affection,” Alessio says, and I feel like a whip sliced the air.
“Yes, sir.”
Alessio clears his throat. “Tell me whatever you can. Dump it all on us. Let us carry it.”
I nod. I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to for I fear that if I don’t tell Alessio now, I’ll hide it all somewhere and eventually lock it away, never to speak of the man again. If I don’t say something now, the weight of what I’ve seen will never leave me, and I don’t want to hold this sadness and rage inside me when my baby comes into the world. I want it all out of me before he arrives.
“Saying his name is hard for me,” I tell Alessio.
“That’s what we have pronouns for,” he says.
“Okay.” I inhale, then start talking. “He would go downstairs to get his hair done each morning after his shower. Then he would be gone until lunch. He would come and feed me for lunch, then leave again until about afternoon. The hotel blackout curtains stopped slightly before hitting the other side of the wall, so I could tell if it was night or day by the line of sunlight allowed in the room.”
Shark returns with a large piece of paper and a box of crayons. He grabs a black crayon. “Would you say he looks like Alessio?” Shark asks. “Or more like me? Or maybe you can think of a celebrity lookalike?”
“Alessio. But his nose was narrower. Lips too. He was also more feminine. Sometimes would address me in a girly voice. He was…unstable. Violent.” I twirl a fork. “Sometimes I felt bad for him. Bless his heart. Mmhm, bless his heart.”
“Mercy is a misplaced feeling neither Miroslav nor I suffer from, so you are safe here. Go on. Falena,” Alessio says. “Is that the name he gave you?”
“He said it differently. With an Italian flare. It means something in your native tongue, I think.”
Alessio frowns, clearly thinking while Shark’s drawing the man.
“La Falena?” Alessio asks, and I nod at the pronunciation, confirming that’s what the man told me.
“He…he signed our contract with that name,” I whisper. “I didn’t realize he was a crook, but I don’t think he meant for me to end up in my current predicament. He was shocked when I told him I was pregnant, and he looked scared. Well, maybe. I don’t know. I think so. What do I know? I thought he was a legit music agent who was gonna help me write better songs and pitch them to the world’s biggest stars. I think things with me got out of hand, which was when Fis came in.” I’m breathing hard now, and Alessio pours me a glass of water from the pitcher.
It takes me a while to calm down. “Falena and I connected online…and he offered to pay me for two of my songs. He said he had buyers already lined up and would find more, but my location was a problem. He bought me a first-class ticket to Italy, put me in a nice hotel room, and even introduced me to a few people. He said they were Italian musicians, but now I’m not sure any of them were musicians at all.” I shake my head. Denver is going to lose his mind when he finds out. I take a deep breath. “My brothers Denver and Levi are musicians. Really good, especially Denver. He’s got the voice of a rock god. But we’re a working-class family with no extra money, so I thought if I could sell some of my songs and make a few connections in the industry, those things would’ve gotten him in the door.”
Now I’m a sobbing mess and blowing my nose into Valerina’s fine napkin and apologizing for making a mess of everything. The napkin, the nice lunch, and my stupid birthday, my entire damn life.
The men just sit there. Shark keeps drawing while Alessio checks his phone. Once I’ve collected myself, I apologize again and peer over at Shark’s drawing.
He looks up from the paper. “Ready?”
When I nod, Shark slides the paper toward me, and I brave a glance at it, then quickly look away. “He parts his hair on the other side, but that’s him, yes.”
Shark folds the paper and tucks it into his pocket. “I will need a real name.”
“I don’t know it,” I say.
“Alessio will get me the name.”
“Let’s not make any hasty decisions,” Alessio replies.
“Too late,” Shark says.
“Knowing what we know about him isn’t enough to go after him,” Alessio says.
“Agreed,” Shark says, his voice rising. “It’s why I’m asking for a name.”
I turn toward Shark. “He’s dangerous. Unhinged and probably looking for me. If he finds out I’m here, I’m afraid of what he’ll do.”
“Do you think my family is in danger?” Alessio asks.
“Maybe. I don’t know. Fis came with a crew and took me from the hotel. On the yacht, I was out of everyone’s way and nobody knew my location since I’m pretty sure Falena was worried about being discovered at that point.”
Shark takes my hands in his. “Do you have any idea why you were kept alive in the first place?”
I can barely catch myself form sobbing again and not answering. “Falena was holding a high-ticket auction. Desperate rich folk who couldn’t adopt by legal means would jump right on it, he said.”
Alessio leans in. “What was it that he was auctioning?”
Because I have a knot in my throat that might just choke me, I place a hand over my belly.
Alessio looks from my hand back to me, understanding passing through his eyes. I can tell he gets it because his otherwise emotionless gaze softens.
It lasts only a few seconds before he launches back into business. “We have motive and a picture. What do you want to tell me about the location?”
I tell him the name of the hotel and that it was across from a church. “It had nice carpets. When I tried to sneak out, and I crawled over them, they cushioned my knees.”
Shark leans in. “They’ll cushion his knees too before I carve out his kneecaps and sew them like patches over his eyes.”
We hear other people’s voices. Alessio’s gaze flicks above my head when I hear the door opening quietly behind me. He flicks two fingers, calling in someone from outside the room. Two women and a man come in and clear the table without greeting us.
Alessio clears his throat. “If you are looking for permission to use our resources to take on a private assignment, you have it.”
“I wasn’t looking for permission,” Shark says.
Alessio brushes a thumb over his bottom lip. “First time for everything, I guess.”
“It’s just this one time,” Shark answers. “For her.”