Chapter Ten
Arriving back home, Elsie looked up at the house and wasn’t surprised there was no staff waiting. Massimo was nowhere to be seen. This was part of his plan, and he’d also warned her that he’d removed the staff as well. It was going to appear that she had come back from running away. Elsie didn’t like this, but it needed to happen.
She took a deep breath, pulled out her key, and made her way inside. The moment she stepped through the doors, she knew she had finally come home.
“I’m going to kill her,” Massimo said.
“No, you can’t do that.” She couldn’t even believe she was arguing with him about this. “You warned me that killing people will cause a war like no other. I don’t want you to do that for me.”
“I would go to war for you, Elsie. I will not allow you to believe I don’t love you or that I don’t have feelings for you.”
“No, we’re going to have to do this another way. I love you, Massimo, and I know you love me, but I don’t need you to risk your life for me. Please don’t.”
She remembered the conversation. Massimo had been willing to go to war for her, and she was going to do this for him. This was home. Massimo was home. This felt right to her.
She didn’t go up to the bedroom but went straight to where Massimo told her to go, his office. She never went in his office, not unless he was there with her.
At the door of his office, she placed her hand on the doorknob and took a deep breath. She could do this. This was a piece of cake.
Turning the handle, she stepped inside, and then she walked up to Massimo’s desk. This is what he told her to do, and she began to rummage through his desk, trying to find nothing, but pretending to.
“Looking for this?” Isabella asked.
Elsie looked up to find Isabella in Massimo’s office, holding a key, but also with a gun pointed at her.
She tensed up. Massimo had said there was going to be a risk, and he didn’t know how far Isabella would go.
“Isabella, what are you doing here?” she asked.
“Oh, you know me, I’m attempting to tie up loose ends, and you see, I thought it was fun to torment you, but now I’m bored, and I think it is time for you to leave.”
“Leave?” Elsie asked. “That is exactly what I’m planning on doing. I just, I need to use the key to Massimo’s safe.” She had no idea if that was the key to his safe or not. The truth was, she didn’t even know if he kept a safe.
Isabella tutted. “Do you really think I am going to let you steal from Massimo, when I already have caught you stealing from my father?”
“Your father?” Elsie asked. “I’ve not stolen from your father.”
“Oh, have you not?” She pouted. “That must be my mistake, because everyone is going to assume you were stealing from my dad as well as Massimo. After all, it’s not going to be hard to convince them, you being labeled a gold-digging whore.”
“I am not after Massimo’s money, and I would never steal from anyone.”
“Yeah, but no one is going to know the truth, are they? They’re not going to know I’m the one stealing, and, well, I need Massimo, and you’re in the way.”
“Why do you need Massimo?” Elsie asked.
“That is no concern of yours.”
Elsie laughed. “Actually, seeing as he is my husband and chose me, I think it is only fair I find out what my competition intends to do. I mean, is this just about sex, or money, or his title? Or do you love him?”
Isabella snorted. “Love. You pathetic people, always thinking it has something to do with love. It is never about love. Look around you. Daddy is growing bored with paying for my life, and Massimo is not hurting for money. Besides, I get to boss everyone around. It will be a win-win for me, and I get to deal with you.”
She stared at Isabella, and for the first time in a long while, she hated another human being. Elsie had vowed to never let anyone matter to her to the point it would affect her feelings.
“Massimo will never choose you,” Elsie said. “You will never get the keys to this house, or the keys to his fortune, because he sees through you.” As she spoke, she moved closer. “You can try to kill me. You can try to frame me for stuff I’ve never done, but you won’t succeed. Do you want to know why?”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve looked hell in the face and fucking bounced back.”
Isabella had been so distracted, she didn’t see the punch Elsie landed to her face before it was too late. Elsie had vowed to never hurt another human being but the vile spilling from her lips was more than she could take.
She shoved the gun out of Isabella’s hand, and then before the other woman could react, just as Massimo said, he, Romero, as well as Franco stepped into Massimo’s office.
Isabella wasn’t expecting them, and Elsie rushed to Massimo’s side. He pulled her into his arms.
“Daddy, look what she did. Look what she … did.” Blood pooled at the corner of Isabella’s mouth.
She’d not even hit her that hard, and yet Isabella was crying as if she’d stabbed her. Elsie saw the fake tears building. She was about to try to manipulate her father.
“You disappoint me, Isabella,” Franco said. “I thought your mother and I had raised a good girl, a nice girl, and yet you are willing to frame an innocent woman just so you can have a better lifestyle, although you want for nothing.”
“Daddy, it’s not like that.”
Elsie gasped as Franco did what she never expected a father to do. He shot his daughter in the head, and before she had even fallen, he turned his back on her.
“Will she be a problem?” Franco asked.
“No,” Massimo and Romero said at the same time.
“No, I won’t.”
“You’re curious as to why I killed her?” Franco asked.
Elsie didn’t know if she should even ask him any questions in case he decided to turn his gun on her.
“She was dangerous, and her greed would eventually get us all killed, and I cannot allow that to happen. She had to be dealt with. The family comes before everything, and I want to apologize to you, and to you, Massimo, for any damage my daughter may have caused.”
“There is no damage.”
“Now, if you will excuse me.”
Massimo pulled Elsie out of his office, and there were already men arriving, who she knew from experience were there to clean up the body. He took her straight to the kitchen with Romero hot on their tail.
“He killed her,” Elsie said.
“The man didn’t have a choice,” Romero said. “She openly admitted to wanting power, to wanting money.”
“But isn’t that a good thing for her and for women that grow up in the mafia?” Elsie asked.
“No,” Massimo said. “Because power-hungry bitches like that cause no end of trouble, and none of us could allow that to happen.” He cupped her face. “Are you okay?”
“Has he just started a war?” Elsie asked.
“No,” Romero said. “As he killed his own daughter, there is no law to answer to. He was taking care of business, and now I am going to leave the two of you alone.”
Elsie stared at Massimo.
“I will never put you in that kind of danger. What the fuck were you thinking going close to her like that?” he asked.
“I … I don’t know what I was thinking, but I needed to … take care of you. She made me so angry that she made you all about your money and position. You’re more than just figures and titles. You’re so much more.”
“Baby, I’m that to everyone else, but not to you. To you, I know I’m different. I know I matter to you and that you love me the same way I love you.”
“I do love you.”
“I know.” And with that, he kissed her on the lips.