Chapter 34 Falco
FALCO
“Falco?”
I pump the weight, puffing out my cheeks and barely hearing the call over the sound of my thundering heart. Aerin’s face was…horrifying. It was like I gutted her right where she stood with only a few simple words in the heaviest sentence I’ve ever said.
I tried to tell her last night.
I should have.
But she was so happy that she was glowing, so excited for her new freedom and what that could mean for her future that I couldn’t resist one last glorious taste.
But in order to protect her, I need to keep my distance. The moment I go after Giacomo, I’ll lose Aerin because she loves and idolizes her brother, so by ripping the band-aid off now and pushing her away, I can focus on saving her and catching him.
Approaching Guido with what I know about Giacomo and the bank account won’t be enough. I need more than that to accuse Giacomo of something so heinous, and he’s a clever fucking rat, that’s for sure. The only way I can do that is by isolating myself similar to how I was when I started here.
And after last night—
“Hey, Falco.”
Again, the words are so distant that I don’t hear them, too torn up about Aerin’s pained face flashing up every time I close my eyes. It’ll be worth it. It has to be worth it.
“Dude.”
A hand suddenly lands on my shoulder, and I rear backward in alarm, raising the weight like a weapon to find myself face to face with Giacomo.
“Holy shit,” Giacomo laughs. “You were in your own world.”
My suspicions rise immediately as I lower the weight. “Sorry. Lot on my mind.” What is he doing here?
“I need you.”
My suspicion ticks higher.
“I have to secure something for Guido, and he told me to take the best of the best. I guess after everything that’s happened with Aerin, he’s on high alert.”
“My job is to protect Aerin, not you.”
“Ouch.” Giacomo laughs, briefly touching his chest. “Sure, but today you’re with me because Aerin is with her parents and all their security.
I’ve already cleared it with Dad so when you’re wrapped up here…
” He glances around and smiles. “Meet me downstairs pronto. Don’s orders and you don’t wanna disappoint. ”
“But I—”
“Dude. I don’t like this any more than you, but Dad trusts you and I got shit to do, so hurry the fuck up, okay?”
He’s up to something, and this might be the perfect chance to get the proof I need, so twenty minutes later I’m showered and dressed and down in the parking lot as requested.
Two hours later, exhaustion tinges my muscles as I unload the last heavy crate from the truck Giacomo had me drive to the outskirts of the city.
Between me and the three other guards here, we’re able to swiftly unload the truck and stack the crates along the empty floor of a dusty warehouse.
Each one bears the family crest, and Giacomo claps his hands together as he observes.
“Nice work, guys. I didn’t think we’d wrap it up too soon. You really are the best of the best.” His open palm collides lightly with my back. “Good job.”
“Thanks,” I pant, shrugging off his touch.“All in a day’s work.”
“Sure. Must be tough though, with that arm.”
As I lower the last crate into place, the guard assisting me grunts and yelps as his finger gets caught between the wood. He darts back and curses, then folds over on himself.
“Fuck’s sake, Tommy.” Giacomo sighs. “Get back to the truck, you idiot.”
Tommy makes himself scarce, leaving Giacomo and me mostly alone as the other two guards linger near the door, rummaging through a smaller crate.
The nerves jump at the back of my neck.
“It’s fine,” I say, flexing my arm to shake away a little cramp.
“It’s been an intense few months, ain’t it?” Giacomo leans against a crate. “All these threats against my father and my sister…it’s crazy to think it’s almost over.”
“Almost over?” My brow lifts. “How can you be so sure when there are no suspects?”
He snorts. “Please. Peace is all but guaranteed with the Irish now and I earned extra brownie points by ensuring my sister doesn’t have to get sold. Just call me the golden child.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.” I can take him.
The three guards might be a problem since Tommy hurried outside, but I’m not dumb.
Giacomo’s overly friendly demeanor when we barely know one another is more than enough to put me on edge, but relying on my loyalty to Guido to force me away from the estate? He’s grasping at an opportunity.
So I will too.
“Fair. Let’s be honest, we all know the Irish are behind this. They wanted a better deal, wanted to stop my family down into a pit of oblivion so they could walk all over us, and what better way to do that than go after the heir?”
“So it was the Irish, all this time?”
“Mhm. And it would take something catastrophic to reignite the war now that I’ve worked out peace.
Even Guido is impressed with me.” Giacomo leans off the crate and walks a few feet away to a crowbar resting on top of another crate.
Picking it up, he returns to the last one while swinging it back and forth.
My back tenses and I grit my teeth.
He thrusts the crowbar into the edge of the crate and begins cracking open the seal. “Remember last night?”
My heart surges up into my throat. “Last night?”
“Yeah.” He works the crowbar once more, widening the seal. “Let’s not play games here, Falco. We both know what you did last night. My question is, how long have you been fucking her?” The lid cracks off and slides down to the floor with a crash. “How long have you been fucking my sister?”
In the next few seconds, my mind races.
No one was around last night.
I’d looped the cameras in my room so no one would see anything, and we were under the covers. I’ve been careful, so fucking careful to hide this. So how does he know?
He’s bluffing.
“I wouldn’t break an oath,” I reply tightly.
“Ouch.” Giacomo smirks. “My poor sister. Does she know that? She always was foolish in that regard. A lick of attention and she’s as happy as a puppy. You saw how she was when I told her she didn’t have to marry that Irish bastard anymore. That’s all it takes for her.”
“You’re mistaken.”
“Am I?” Giacomo smirks and half-turns toward the two men busy at the door. “Recognize him?”
I glance past him, not recognizing either of them. “No.”
“Huh. Well, he was on guard duty last night. Followed Aerin all the way to your room and then waited until she left. Only, she didn’t leave until you carried her out at four in the morning.”
“We talked. She fell asleep.”
“Huh…” Giacomo’s hand rises to his chin and he rubs thoughtfully. “I saw how she hugged you yesterday. And you two were alone in the garage. She talks about you like a teenager’s first crush.” Giacomo clutches the edge of the crate and leans over. “You really want to keep lying to me?”
“You’re clutching at straws,” I reply stiffly, keeping my voice as level as possible. “And son or not, I know what Guido would do to you for spreading rumors.”
“Ah. My father.” Giacomo sniffs sharply then jerks his head toward the crate. “Do you know what this is?”
I take a cautious half step forward, one eye on him while I peer into the crate. Brick after pure white brick fills the crate, all stacked neatly and all carrying the stamp of the Paramatti estate. “Sure.”
“Can you even fathom how much is here? Not just in this crate but in every crate in this warehouse?”
As he talks, it suddenly clicks in my mind.
I distantly remember overhearing Guido’s stressful talks about the drugs between him and the Irish, missing shipments and stolen product.
I thought he meant the Irish were stealing from him, and it makes them the perfect suspects for who was targeting Aerin in the beginning.
Now I see the truth, clear as day and as it dawns on me, Giacomo’s lips curl into a cold smile. “You’re putting it together, aren’t you?”
I remain silent.
“All of this…” Giacomo pats the crate. “It’s supposed to be in the hands of the Irish.
Dad thinks the Irish stole it and the Irish think Dad was cheating them.
Kept the war going for quite a while because there’s one thing my father always fails to consider and it’s a really simple, really obvious fact.
” His smile widens. “The Paramatti estate doesn’t want to be led by a woman.
They don’t want some young girl at the head making decisions she’s barely capable of understanding.
So when I came up with a grand plan to save the family and get things back on track, well, do you know how hard it was to find people loyal to me? ”
My eyes narrow.
“Not very hard at all. Redirecting these shipments was as easy as ordering a takeaway. But here’s the thing…
” He pushes off the crate and walks toward me.
“You’re fucking my sister. You’ve deflowered her.
Ruined her. Dad will kill her for that, do you understand?
He will be so ashamed that his precious little girl lost her valuable virginity to a guard that he will kill her to spare her the shame. Do you still want to deny it?”
My heart races painfully in my chest and every muscle coils, ready to strike. Silence no longer feels like the safest answer.
“So here’s what I propose.” He stops just in front of me, then throws his arm around my shoulder and guides me toward the crate.
“I propose that if you want Aerin to survive this…then you’re going to help me.
Because right now, thanks to me, it looks like Aerin has been flirting with guards and promising them all sorts of nasty things in trade for these drugs that she was stealing and storing so that she could sell them and run away from that wedding.
And now the wedding is off, thanks to me, well, she has to get rid of them, right? And she’ll be caught. And killed.”
Do something, Falco, fucking do something!
As my lips part, a curse rising in my throat, Giacomo’s arm tightens around my shoulders. “Unless you take the fall.”
Suddenly, the door in front of us crashes open and a sea of armed men pour into the warehouse, illuminated by a glare of headlights just beyond.
I flinch violently and Giacomo brings his face close to my cheek. “You’ve got ten seconds, Falco. Ten seconds before I tell my father that this is Aerin’s pile. And don’t you think I’ll have left a paper trail leading right to her?”
Guido brings up the rear, walking slowly with his face twisted in dark fury.
“Tell him it was you. Tell him you robbed him and you were trying to kill Aerin to cover it up because she found out. Tell him, and I’ll back you up and she lives. Or try and tell him the truth and see who he believes.”
In less than thirty seconds, my entire defense crumbles. It doesn’t matter what I know. It doesn’t matter what I can prove or what I’ve done to keep Aerin alive. It doesn’t even matter that I could swear down on my oath.
Guido will never believe me over his son.
And I won’t play with Aerin’s life.
I have no choice here.
If I want her to live, if I want her to have a fighting chance, then I have to take the fall.
The realization comes with a crushing weight in my gut that forces me to my knees, my silent admission of my guilt. As I sink down, Giacomo crosses back in front of me and leans over, patting my cheek.
“Good boy.” He smirks. “Pidge was just as obedient.”