Chapter 10 #2
I almost expect him to move in closer. Remove the distance between us. Instead, he slips his fingers around the coffee mug in my hand and then eases it out. “I’ll take this,” he says in a hush. “Do you want more?”
Before I can answer, my phone vibrates violently in my pocket. I pull it out and see that Eivor Fiorelli is calling.
I sigh, shooting Alessio a sideways glance before I answer the phone.
“Mr. Fiorelli,” I say slowly. “We made it to the hotel about an hour ago, everything is safe and secure.” I sent him a text message with said information forty-five minutes before, but perhaps he didn’t look at it.
Alessio walks away from me and into the nearby kitchen. I find myself colder in his absence.
“I’m well aware, thank you for the update,” Eivor tells me. “I need you to come back to the estate, we need to have a conversation.”
I pause. “All of us?”
“No, just you. I’m arranging for several guards to take your place at the hotel,” he explains. “It won’t take long.”
“Has something happened?” I ask.
“We’ll discuss it when you arrive. The guards will be there in fifteen minutes,” Eivor insists.
“Yes, Sir,” I say simply. I look in Alessio’s direction and see that he’s pouring himself the remaining coffee and not looking in my direction. That doesn’t mean he isn’t listening though. “I’ll be there.”
I hang up the phone and walk over to grab my jacket from the hook nearby the door.
“What’s going on?” Alessio asks.
“Eivor needs me back at the Fiorelli estate for some reason. He won’t tell me over the phone. My guess is he wants to talk about the Tulos,” I tell him. It’s partially a lie. I have a better idea of what he wants to talk about, but I’m not sure. I can’t tell Alessio, that I know.
Guilt flickers up my spine and I ignore it.
This is a job. Nothing more. I need to remember that.
“You’re leaving me…us?”
I nod. “He’s sending back-up to keep watch while I’m gone. I shouldn’t be gone for long,” I tell him, my voice lowering to an almost comforting pitch.
Alessio’s face twists slightly. “I don’t like this.”
“Me either, but I have to do what he says,” I remind him. “I work for him.”
“Right,” his face falls and he sets his mug of coffee down. “Not me.”
I immediately pick up on what he’s getting at. “Alessio…”
“Was the other night just about him?” he asks. “Did he…?”
My eyes go wide. “Absolutely not,” I swear to him. “He…he knows nothing about it. In fact, I think if he did, I wouldn’t be here.”
“Maybe that’s what this is about,” Alessio suggests.
I shake my head. “No, I don’t think so.” Still, now the thought is in my head. What if Eivor knows about what happened between us?
I swallow thickly as I hear a knock at the door.
“I’ll be back,” I promise him. Looking him directly into his eyes and waiting for him to nod before I turn around and head for the door.
It’s going to be a long night. I can already feel it.
Twelve-fifty-two a.m. When I get to the Fiorelli estate, I can’t help but think it feels overly warm and cheery for a place that sees death and the planning of enemy’s demise on a somewhat regular basis.
The Christmas decorations are still strewn up around the halls and the scent of cinnamon and apples wafts from several lit candles around the house.
It’s like putting a soft fuzzy blanket over a dead corpse. There’s still a dead guy underneath it. Still blood seeping into the floorboards, and the nasty smell of decay will eventually reach everyone’s noses.
Nevertheless, I head up into Eivor’s office, where it’s dimly lit and he’s sitting behind his desk smoking a cigar.
“Damian, you’re here…finally,” he says and sits up a bit straighter. “I was beginning to think something terrible might have happened to you.”
I struggle not to roll my eyes. As if he would ever actually worry about that. He doesn’t seem the type of man to care.
“I’m here,” I say simply. “What is it you wanted to discuss?”
“Now, now. Have a drink with me first.” He insists upon this, going to the point of pouring me a glass and motioning me to sit down. I scoot the glass further away from me.
“If I’m going to be driving back to the hotel, I’d better not,” I tell him.
He chuckles softly. “We’ll see.”
I watch as he takes several long drags of his cigar, and then a drink before he speaks again.
“Have you come up with any information on Alessio?” he asks me.
My throat tightens. I have had a feeling that this is what he wanted to discuss.
“No,” I tell him. “There hasn’t been much time to acquire information about Mr. Dresvanni given the…circumstances, lately.” I choose my words carefully. I stand in front of his desk with my arms behind my back.
“I see,” Eivor says slowly. He doesn’t sound pleased. “I was worried you’d forgotten about that part of your job.”
I shake my head. “I assure you I haven’t,” I tell him. Though, I don’t think he’d be so pleased if I told him about what I did know about Alessio.
How hard he gets when my hand is wrapped around him. How he sounds when he’s moaning in pleasure… How his mouth tastes.
I have to pull myself back into reality. My entire body is hot and covered in goosebumps.
“You will find more information on Alessio and his family,” Eivor tells me. His tone is clear despite his drinking. He’s still too sober for me to take his words as anything but serious.
“Of course,” I nod my head again. I’m not sure how or when, but I’ll need to find information on the Dresvanni’s soon or he’s going to get impatient with me. I can tell.
“Tonight,” he says sharply.
“What?” I ask, and then clear my throat.
“I mean, how would you like me to do this, Sir?” I’ve called over three hundred men in my line of work sir, but something about referring to Eivor this way makes me deeply uncomfortable.
The way his eyes penetrate me like he’s looking down into my bones is unnerving.
“You’ll go to the Dresvanni estate and snoop around. They trust you now. They won’t question why you’re there,” he tells me.
I look down for a split second. “What should I tell them if they do?”
“You’ll figure it out. You’re a smart man.”
I ignore the urge to tell him that this plan is a ridiuclous one. Marrying his only niece off to Alessio and then insisting that I find a way to bring them down. If he wants to bring them down there are a million other ways that would work better and note require a marriage involved.
That said, I can’t say that this plan doesn’t have some merit. He’s gained their trust. Made them believe that he really does want to share power with them.
Perhaps I just can’t stand that I’m the one being sent on the hunt for information to bring Alessio down.
It shouldn’t matter; it’s just a job. Once it’s over, I’ll go about my way. As I always do. For some reason I feel resistance deep inside me.
Knowing that Alessio wants me in the same way that I want him…it makes all this so much more difficult.
As I nod and wait for Eivor’s motion for me to leave, I try to tell myself that the night with Alessio meant nothing. It was just to comfort him from a nightmare about his father.
If it meant something, he wouldn’t have gone through the wedding as easily as he seemed to. He wouldn’t have tested me with his words earlier in the night.
It meant nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Why?
Because it has to.
I leave the Fiorelli estate and make my way over to the Dresvanni estate with a plan of action.
I’m relying on everyone being drunk from the reception, or even still gone. After all, these things tend to go on forever and ever, even after the bride and groom have slipped away. Italian weddings are a big event.
Even ones that were planned in just a couple weeks.
When I get to the Dresvanni Estate, there’s several lights on that shine through the curtained windows. The guards let me through the gate with no problem, and I pull up to the car port and park there.
Their estate is significantly bigger than the Fiorelli’s, and I know if I want to find information, I’m going to have to pick a few specific areas, rather than just barge my way through the entire place. That would be too suspicious and take far too long.
I already have an idea of where I’ll head first.
“Damian, what are you doing here?” Cassian is the first to greet me. He’s sitting in the library with a book in his hands, sitting at a window seat, with a steaming mug by his side.
The boy looks uncertain, but not threatened. I’m lucky I haven’t run into anyone else while here.
“Alessio requested that I pick up a few more things for him,” I tell him. “Since he didn’t have much time to pack.”
“Oh, okay,” Cassian says casually. Not seeming confused or suspicious about it at all. Though he does ask, “Who is with them at the hotel?”
“There are a couple other guards there. They’re safe, I assure you,” I tell him calmly. I keep my tone low and my expression fairly flat.
Cassian watches me for a second. “What does he need from the library?” he asks, suddenly seeming uncertain.
I put my hands in my pockets and tilt my head to the side. “Well, I guess I have to confess that’s me,” I say with a slight chuckle. “I need something better to read.”
“That’s fair. You’re welcome to anything here, as long as you return it. Carmine is very serious about the library,” he tells me.
I nod. “Of course.”
Then, I go about the tedious but not entirely pointless task of picking out a couple books that I actually want to read.
While I’m doing so, I look for anything particularly interesting on the shelves.
There’re some records of sales in lumber from when the family used to do that, but nothing out of the ordinary.
“Carmine and Soren here?” I ask as I step toward the library doors.
Cassian shakes his head. “No, they decided to stay out on their own while the newlyweds are on their honeymoon. Have a bit of one themselves, I guess,” he explains with a slight smile. There’s a sadness in his eyes though.
“Tommy and Tiberi are asleep, they got too drunk,” he adds.