Chapter 9 Vincenzo
VINCENZO
Idon’t answer Nicolo’s question about what’s going on, instead turn and head back into the club with one mission on my mind.
“Keep me posted.” I go downstairs, scanning the lounge before spotting Mistress Valentino talking to two men who think their masks disguise them and their illicit affairs here at the club, while nothing could be farther from the truth.
Both married to others and fooling around.
The worst of the worst in my personal opinion.
I close the distance fast. “Excuse us,” I tell the group before taking Valentina by the arm. “With me.” Her painted-on eyebrow arches as she stays glued by my side, partly by her own momentum and half by mine.
We reach a private office off the main lounge, and I close the door. “Sit.”
Valentina crosses her long leg over the other, and the long skirt of her dress falls open. She adjusts it and gives me a withering look. “What has gotten into you?”
“I need information.”
“Okay.”
“The lady that was here with Anna? Who is she?”
Now she bristles. “You know the rules, Vincenzo. No names on masquerade night and the masks don’t come off.” My jaw tenses. “Do not play coy with me Valentina. Who is Addie, the girl with Anna? Her last name to be specific.”
Her eyes flash. “First, I cannot confirm an Anna or Addie.” She gives me a set of those fucking air quotes. “Rules of the club.”
This is fucking bullshit. I’m the boss. I swear if she weren’t one of the closest friends I’ve ever had and hadn’t grown up with all of us, I would ring her bloody neck.
“Look, they could both be in danger tonight and I don’t give a flying fuck about your rules.
Tell me what I want to know, Valentina. What patience I have is growing thin. ”
Now she’s fearful, concerned. She knows when I say danger I’m not messing around. In our world, things go south in a fucking heartbeat and the road between here and Jersey City gives someone a good amount of time to make that happen. “I need Addie’s last name. Now.”
She swallows hard. “She’s my friend, Vincenzo. One of my dearest friends. Her father saved my father from going to prison years ago, and we became lifelong friends. Why do you want to know?”
“Last name.”
I’ve seldom seen Valentina nervous, but she is tonight.
“Dunlap.” The minute she says the name it all comes together.
Sure, we’ve used the firm several times ourselves, but always with the hope we won’t need them for a case against one of the members of our family. “Attorneys. They live in Jersey City?”
She nods, her eyes wide and intent. “Why are you asking the questions, Vincenzo. Is Addie in danger?”
“I don’t know, but Anna, the woman she’s with, is definitely on someone’s most wanted list and it’s not the fucking FBI.
” Before she can say anything, I alleviate her concern.
“I sent soldiers to follow them home. They’ll stay a safe distance behind, they are there just in case the ladies need protection, but I would prefer to know where they’re going, exactly, before they get there. We’ll protect your friend too.”
She nods, swallowing hard. “I’ve got the Dunlap’s address. I send them a card every year, and Addie asked me to send a special invite there for Anna.” She slides open her cell and rifles for a minute before the forwarded contact pops into my messages.
Valentina stands, pacing the room, the heels of her boots clicking on the tile floor and distracting me as I send a message to Nicolo with instructions. I look up briefly. “Stop.”
She inhales a deep breath. “If something happened to Addie I would just die. I was the one who encouraged her to come, and to bring her friend. She just told me she had a friend who needed a little nudge to get back into the swing of life. Addie had me send the invitation to her and then she sent it by a special courier the families use for, um, legal stuff. You have to believe that.”
“I do.” I meet her gaze head on. “No one would bring a Cassone here intentionally, especially one protected by the Rosellis.” Her eyes widen and I run a hand through my hair. “What an absolute cluster fuck.”
Valentina slumps back into the chair. “Not only brought her here but it did not look like you and Anna were talking business, especially when you took her to your own personally reserved playroom, Vincenzo. Jeez. What if the Rosellis find out?”
“Let me deal with that. Right now, you worry about the club. Any new members, give them a second and third screening, run them through Nicolo, understand? Just on the off chance the ladies were followed and someone tries to …”
Her eyes go wide. “You don’t think Anna was a plant for the Rosellis and I unintentionally let her in? I swear, Addie would never do that, Vincenzo. I love her like the sister I never had.”
I scowl. “You’re getting wigged out about the whole thing.
Stop worrying. Put that cool as a cucumber mask back on your face.
It’s business as usual. Nothing has changed, we’re just taking more precautions until I know exactly what’s in the fucking wind, capisce?
I’ll tell you when to worry. Until then, you leave it to me. ”
Valentina exhales a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll try. Thank you.”
I stand, closing the distance between us, drawing her out of her seat and into my arms to hold her close. A friend I’ve always been able to depend on through thick and thin over the years. “I’m sorry if I worried you. Now go and enjoy the evening you made so special. Let me deal with the rest.”
The minute she walks out the door I call Nicolo for a report. He clears his throat. “I hate to point out the obvious, but it hasn’t been ten minutes since you gave me the last order. The guys are on their ass, at a close distance, and nothing looks suspicious.”
“Good. I’ll text you an address. This is where they’re headed. Let me know once they’re home safe.”
“Will do.”
I disconnect without another word, pulling up the address on my phone, sending it to my brother and calculating the distance and time they should be home in my mind while cursing myself for letting them get in that fucking car.