Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Damian
Keeping my distance from Alessio while also watching over him has been difficult.
Not just logistically, but it’s been hard mentally on me.
Knowing what I know about him and Carmine but being unable to talk to anyone about it has been weighing on me heavily.
Not to mention how suspicious I’ve become to Alessio.
He knows that I’m hiding something, but I don’t think even he knows just how personal it is.
When their honeymoon is over, Rosalie and Alessio part ways as soon as Rosalie is home, and because my main priority is her—especially with her having the biggest target on her head—I’m forced to stay at the Fiorelli estate and wonder where Alessio is off to.
If he’s going home to the Dresvanni estate or somewhere else.
“Don’t worry about Alessio,” Rosalie says, clearly tuning in on some of my concern. “He’s not the one they want to kill.” There’s a bit of callousness in her voice.
It’s 8:31 p.m., and everything in the house is far quieter than I can handle. It’s almost easier to manage big events than an empty house where anyone could be hiding.
The fireplace is burning. Patricia and Rosalie sit in the family room each reading their own book. If it weren’t for the fact that this house was the home of a man who would kill just about anyone to get what he wanted, it might actually be a quaint domestic scene.
“Where is he going for the night?” I ask slowly, trying to seem casual about it.
“Oh, I think to his penthouse. Don’t worry, he’ll have guards there watching over him,” Rosalie explains offhandedly, not seeming very concerned. Though when our eyes meet after a moment in the fire-lit room, there’s more worry there than I expect. She doesn’t voice it though.
“Good,” I say simply, and then keep quiet.
Talking to Rosalie isn’t part of my job description, and she seems equally as disinterested in it as well.
She reads her book. Talks to her aunt every now and then, and I stand in the corner of the room, in the shadows, watching.
All the while waiting. Waiting for Eivor to arrive home from his meeting with Carmine.
When he does, his gaze finds me in the room immediately, and he doesn’t need to speak for me to know what he wants. I know exactly what he wants from me.
The information I have could turn the Dresvanni life upside down if it got out. Embarrass them, shame them… It’s enough for Eivor to get whatever he wants from them—to a degree. To which, I’m not sure.
All I know as I follow Eivor into his office is that I hold this information, and I alone have to make the decision what to do with it.
“So, what information have you been holding onto the last few days, Son?” Eivor asks me the second the door is closed behind us.
I still have my back turned in his direction for the time being, and I’m grateful for that because I haven’t gotten ahold of the look on my face yet.
I pull myself together and turn around to look at him. After all, it’s a bad idea to have your back turned toward anyone.
It’s also a poor idea to have your back turned toward a door, so I take several steps forward and stand beside his desk, turning my body so that I’m sideways to both him and the door.
I have just a few seconds to make my decision.
The next words come out of my mouth easier than I expected.
“Not a thing.”
Eivor eyes me. “You’re telling me that you dug through the Dresvanni estate and didn’t find a single thing on Alessio?”
I shake my head in a sad and disappointed way. “No, Sir,” I tell him. “I found some old milling logs that show they may have been undercutting a few people, but nothing of any interest.”
“I have a hard time believing that,” Eivor admits, and he sits down in his chair. He motions me to sit down across from him.
Sitting down at his desk will leave me vulnerable to the door behind me.
“I would prefer to stand.”
“And I would prefer that you had some fucking information to give me,” Eivor hisses at me. “Sit. Down.”
I clench my teeth but do as he says. I sit down in the chair with my back to the door. The hair on the back of my neck stands up. I don’t feel good about this.
“I hired you for two things. Protect my niece and dig up dirt on Alessio Dresvanni,” he reminds me. “You’ve done a damn good job at protecting Rosalie, but I get the feeling that you’ve confused your place beside Alessio for protection as well.”
I ignore the lump forming in my throat.
“I am here to protect him as well. At least, they must believe this. I have to protect him when the situation arises,” I remind Eivor as well.
“That I understand. However, if you’re taking the mask you’re wearing too seriously then we might need to have a discussion,” his voice lowers. “You are only here because I let you be here. If you can’t do both of your jobs, I may as well find someone who can.”
I keep my eyes locked to his. “And if there’s no ‘dirt’ to dig up?” I ask him.
He laughs. “You’re funny, I’ll give you that, Damian. If you really think there’s nothing they’re trying to hide from me then you’re already too far gone.”
I force a smile at him. “Of course there’s something they’re trying to hide, it’s just a matter of finding it, Sir. It may take me longer than you’d like.”
“You’re saying I haven’t given you enough time?” he asks.
I don’t respond, I let his question answer itself. Let him fill in the blanks on his own.
The smile that forms on his face as he reaches for an almost empty bottle of bourbon on his desk and fills a small glass makes my stomach ache.
“Perhaps I am being impatient,” Eivor mumbles. “That, or you’re playing me. I don’t like to be played.” His eyes narrow.
I’m realizing my position in this moment.
I’m not a protector. I’m not on the side of the good guys. I’m on the side of the enemy.
I’ve been on this side before. I’ve been hired by gruesome and disgusting men do protect their children, their wives, and even them, but something about this time is weighing on me.
Knowing that Alessio has married Rosalie to do what’s best for both of their families and Eivor is simply trying to get into their pants and discover how to use it against them…
It makes all of the other men playing a dangerous game seem somehow pale in comparison; because at least they were willing to be honest to their enemies about what they were up to.
“You’re playing them,” I remind him. “I’m the pawn you’re using between them.”
He chuckles. “That you are. My concern is that they’ve turned you against me.”
My jaw tightens further. “No one has turned me against anything.” It’s the truth. I stand staunchly where I always have. The only difference is that Eivor is unaware of the fact that I’ve always been disinterested in providing him with the Dresvanni secrets.
I may have told myself I was willing to do it before, but now? Now that I know what secrets lie within…I can’t imagine giving them to the likes of Eivor Fiorelli.
“Good,” he says and takes a swig of his drink. “Because if they had…well, I’d have to kill you.” His expression falls flat.
I know he’s serious.
Still, after a second he laughs at me. His eyes the bright and ever-changing emotions of a mad-man. Whatever goes on inside this man’s head is unknown to me. It makes me uneasy.
I force out a chuckle in return. I can see the bloodthirsty look in Eivor’s eyes. He’s prepared to end me at any turn.
What he doesn’t know is that I’m prepared to fight back whenever I have to. I haven’t gone down yet, and I don’t plan to go down easy.
Still, if I can get out of this unscathed and without having to choke the life out of the man who is filling my bank account with fat stacks of money, I’d prefer that.
“I’ll do my best to get what you’re looking for,” I tell him, hoping that it will end what feels like an interrogation.
It doesn’t.
“What exactly do you think I’m looking for?
” he asks me. “We need to be on the same page, Damian. I’m not looking for bits and pieces of information that could upset the Dresvanni.
No, I’m looking for something that will give me…
well, not the upper hand because I already have that.
” He grins at me. “But something that will turn the tide completely. Something they can’t run from.
Be it knowledge of an alliance with someone they are claiming to be enemies with, or something from their past. Their father’s past. I know he had a deep connection with the Tulos at one point.
If they’re really the ones after Rosalie…
well, surely they’d like to know if the Dresvanni are simply playing them as well. ”
I nod slowly. “Absolutely, Mr. Fiorelli. I know exactly what you want.” I don’t break eye contact with him. My voice is low and my expression is hard. I’m serious as ever, and as he laughs and drinks. I know what I have to do.
I know exactly what I have to do the second I can get alone.
“Very good. We shouldn’t need to have this conversation again then, right?” he raises a brow.
I shake my head. “No, Sir. As long as you give me the time I need.”
He hums quietly. “Very well. There’s no real rush. Get me the information I need at your leisure, but just get it to me. I don’t care what you have to do. If it means leaving Rosalie under someone else’s protection for a while, so be it.”
A plan forms in my mind. I see the out he’s unintentionally giving me. I see where I can escape for just a while.
“If you give Rosalie a different guard at night, I can spend more time digging up the information you need,” I tell him simply.
Eivor tilts his head to the side. “That makes sense. I can do that. I’ll have two other guards watch Rosalie’s door at night during the time when you usually would. You’re free to do whatever you must to get me what I want.”
I nod in response. “Thank you, Mr. Fiorelli.”
“Please, call me Eivor,” he says and smiles at me. His smile makes me uneasy.
“Of course, Eivor,” I reply.