Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
Joseph
“What the fuck are we doing here?”
The leather squeaked as Arlo leaned back in the large chair. The glare on his face echoed the man’s impatience. Well, screw it. He felt the same way. Joseph surveyed the others in the small room. Dante and Gabriel were also in attendance. If there were two men who had Joseph’s back, they would be the ones.
Gabriel was a bit odd but then who in his family was normal? The guy was an epic fighter though. With Dominic as his father, the guy had learned from the best. It was Roman who’d found his father fighting for his life in the Italian underworld many years ago. Dominic had won the fight club battles to the death every time. Eventually everyone fell. Thankfully, Roman had gotten him out of the hell hole leaving him eternally faithful and grateful.
“Did you think this was a joy ride? You playing boyfriend to my daughter and nothing else?” Arlo leaned forward and rested his beefy forearms on the walnut table.
“No, I want to know why you kept us apart in the past.” It still burned him that Arlo and his father had built a bridge between Angelina and him. Now was not the time and place to hash it out. Arlo was furious about his daughter escaping their watch twice. He’d returned to Italy to find out why and check on the progress involving the missing models.
“We had our reasons. Now move on to the situation at hand.”
Joseph bit back the words he wanted to shout. Instead, turning to Dante, who’d been advising him to drop it as well.
“So, we’ve been looking into the missing model.” Arlo started.
Gabriel rose from his chair. “Which one?” In addition to fighting, Dom had passed on some ways of torture to his son. While Gabriel could be as cold as ice, his heart was easily shattered by an injured puppy or lost soul.
“Megan, one of the models hired to be in Madison’s fashion show disappeared before it started. Bella took her place. Apparently, it’s happened numerous times.” Arlo repeated what most in attendance already knew.
“Why can’t they get a handle on the trafficking over here?” Gabriel flipped his long hair over his shoulder.
“Probably the same reason why organized crime is hard to contain back home. Connections.” Arlo passed folders of photos around. “These are the ones we know of as well as some newer ones.”
There had to be at least fifty pictures in total. All head shots of pretty, young women, some professional images while others were selfies from social media.
“Do we know who is behind this?” Joseph asked.
Dante barely glanced at his pile as his palms on the table formed into fists.
“The Devil.” Arlo stared into Joseph’s eyes.
“That’s obvious. Only a monster deals in women.” Joseph glared back.
“Monsters and weak men who can’t get them any other way.” Dante added as Gabriel remained quiet. He’d paused while going through the photos, seemingly focused on one.
“No. I’m talking about the real devil, Sergei Rostova.” Arlo tossed a photo of the man onto the pile.
“Who the hell is that?” Joseph glanced at Gabriel who picked up the picture and studied it.
“Like I said the Devil and underboss of the Vittore crime family. He’s kept a low profile, but his reach is deadly.” Arlo went on to describe the mobster who was known to deal in trafficking.
“The Vittore’s were always an upstanding family. At least until Sergei entered the picture. As he rose in rank, there were rumors he wanted to take over the top spot. When Christopher Vittore’s son, Johnny got married, he’d lost interest in the business and wanted to spend more time with his family. Johnny backed off from his responsibilities leaving Sergei to gain more power taking the family into the dark web, underground sex clubs, and other more shady aspects of the business. We no longer honor any of the agreements we’ve had with them because of it.”
Joseph tapped the photo. “If Vittore’s the boss, why isn’t he putting a lid on things if it’s lost him honor with the other rulers?”
“He is, but only going through the motions. It’s rumored Christopher doesn’t even acknowledge the trafficking. His son’s death crushed him, then his wife passed shortly after as well. They had no other children. It’s rumored the man went into a deep depression and no longer cared about their businesses or Sergei’s crimes.”
“Maybe Sergei’s gained too much power, that Mr. Vittore can’t get rid of him even if he wanted to?”
“Good point Joseph.”
Arlo went on to tell more details of Sergei’s horrors. He was a true monster. The man pursued members of the smaller families. Torturing them in unimageable ways, unrelenting until they had no choice but to join and do his bidding. Often stealing their women, killing or selling them until some families had only the very old left.
“That might explain why some are offering for ours. Hoping that we will give them our protection.” Gabriel added his two cents. “Does Sergei have a wife or any children?”
“He was married once but she bore no children. The guy was a man whore. Since there were no bastards, I’d say the problem was with him not her. With the exception of virgins, it was rumored he raped every woman they kidnapped. They bring more money. Cash and power are his only loves.” Arlo spoke while scrolling on his phone.
“I want to get my hands on him.” The twitch in Joseph’s jaw fired. Just hearing the man’s story made him sick to his stomach.
“His wife was basically a prisoner. One day she escaped and threw herself from a cliff.”
Joseph’s stomach rolled. “Jesus.”
“We need to kill him. Slowly.” Gabriel kept one of the photos and slid the others back to Arlo.
Arlo added the photos to his folder. “At the moment, we can’t do anything. We’re meeting with heads of the other families separately soon to discuss plans.”
“Why not now?” To Joseph, the sooner this was dealt with the better.
“Because his followers are everywhere. No one knows who they can trust. There are only a few common links between the missing women. It’s why we are starting from there. Understand?” Arlo looked between the men as they each nodded. “We also followed up on the Hellion link, Joseph discovered. There is a legit business with that name. The bastards used their name and logo to lure the woman. It was above board but we still can’t get a handle on where these women were recruited from.”
“Dante, check with the club owners you trust the most. See if anything sticks out since the clubs are some of the places they’ve been taken from.” Arlo opened a briefcase and placed his papers inside.
“Consider it done.” With Dante’s connection in town, he would have answers soon.
“Joseph, I want you to look into our companies here. Especially Madison’s fashion house. The model, Megan, although taken in Milan, used to live and work here.”
“What about me?” Gabriel leaned his elbows on the table.
“Once we narrow the suspects down, we’ll be needing your services.” It was a good bet Arlo meant his interrogation and cleaner skills.
“With pleasure. One question though?” Gabriel held up the photo he’d kept. “Who’s this?”
It was a young woman with strawberry blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a few freckles on her cheeks. She had a wholesome, girl next door look.
“Megan, the girl who went missing from Madison’s fashion show.”
The next week, Arlo had them working nonstop searching for Sergei. The last thing he wanted was to be apart from Angelina especially after the way things had been left. His boss guaranteed he had his best men watching her, and Joseph believed him. She was his daughter after all. He would give his life to protect her. Still, they’d not left on good terms.
If he had a daughter, there was no way in hell he’d let her stay in the area with Sergei on the loose. No matter what she said, he wouldn’t allow it. But then one couldn’t keep their kids under lock and key for the rest of their lives. It was no way to live.
Even though he wasn’t with Angelina, she was never far from his mind. Every day a different gift was left for her at work or at home. Something representing his love for her. Things from the past and things for the future. There was one left. He would be giving it to her in person.
“It’s all ready for you Mr. Caponelli.” The store owner handed him the black and gold gift bag. He’d asked for something discrete so no one would have a clue or guess Joseph had dropped a huge amount of cash at one of the premier jewelers in Florence. “I know she will love it.”
“Thank you.” He shook the man’s hand and left. He knew she’d love it, whether or not she loved him was a different story.
Angelina
If it weren’t for the added stress of her conflicting feelings for Joseph, the week would have been prefect. Picking the fabrics for their new lines was a dream come true. She didn’t have the final say but being involved in every part of the process was overwhelming and an honor. Even the annoying texts had stopped.
Deep purple was the main color they chose along with variations of sapphire blue and forest green. The Morticia Adams inspired dress was her favorite. No one was going to be able to stop her from trying it on as soon as it was done. The fabric was a stretchy emerald velvet so, hopefully, it would fit. Thanks to her parent’s genes, she had a few more curves than the models. Looking at Arlo, a person would know his offspring would be big boned. Instead of large muscles, she’d fortunately taken after her mother and was shapely and long limbed.
“What do you think of this?” Stephan held a drawing of a necklace. It had three strands of pearls. In one section the pearls were red, with strands of rubies hanging from it giving the effect of dripping blood.
“I love it but we don’t want to come off as vampires. This is classic, yet hauntingly chic.”
“That’s true.” In dramatic fashion, he tore the picture in half and tossed it in the trash.
“How about all red pearls or a black velvet chocker?” Angelina grabbed some colored pencils and quickly doodled a couple of examples.
“Oh, the choker I like. Maybe with a red cameo?”
Angelina added a cameo. “Like this?”
“I know it’s way too early to be talking about accessories, but I can’t help it. You know I love Madison, but it’s so fun to do something new and different.”
“Yes. Her designs are to die for, but this will give more options. I can see many young women wanting to wear these, including me. Heck, the fact we might get to do wedding gowns for it blows me away.” Angelina had her eye on several already she’d love to wear.
“I can’t wait.” Stephan waved go a guy holding a small package. “Hey, David.”
It was getting embarrassing. Every day Joseph sent a gift to the office and left something for her in their apartment. The only thing missing was him. He’d had a delicious meal of all her favorites sent to her every night.
David, the delivery guy was a friend of Stephan’s. They chatted for a few minutes and made plans to hit the clubs this weekend.
“Thanks, David.” Angelina signed for the package. David left it on the table.
“I’m guessing it’s perfume.” Stephan sniffed the box.
“What?” She couldn’t smell anything.
“You didn’t figure it out yet? How unromantic you are.” He rolled his eyes. “He’s using all the senses to get to you. First the flowers – beautiful to look at. The cashmere robe – lovely to touch. Pastries from the best bakery in town – wonderful to taste. The string quartet hired to play for us yesterday – music to the ears.” Stephan placed a hand over his heart.
“The music was a bit much.” Although when they played some heavy metal songs with their strings, it was pure magic.
“The only thing left is the nose.” He nudged the box her way. “Come on. Open it. The suspense is killing me and everyone else.” Taking a quick peek around the room, it was hard to miss others glancing their way.
“I’m going to take this back to my desk.” It was a bit embarrassing with all the attention these gifts had been getting.
“Okay, I’ll go with you. We’re almost done for the day anyway.” They chatted about weekend plans as they made their way to their offices. Stephan had a party on Saturday but Angelina brushed aside the question of whether she was going. She’d rarely seen Bella all week so hoped they could do something together. Maybe sightseeing or visit a few art galleries around the city.
“So, go on. Open it.” He nodded at the package.
“Oh my gosh. You’re worse than I am.”
“Hey if I had a hot friend sending me gifts all week, I wouldn’t be so slow to respond.”
“It’s complicated.” Angelina took a seat and pulled the box closer.
“No. It’s easy. Life’s too short to over think things. If there is even a flicker of a flame, light it on fire and watch it burn.” Stephan had a good point.
“That’s what I’m afraid of. We might destroy the whole city. Not to mention our families.” Was the chaos worth it?
“Fuck ‘em. Open the damn gift before I do.”
Pulling the ribbon loose, Angelina quickly untied it and undid the paper. Inside the small box was a bottle of perfume. She giggled at Stephan’s smirk. “I guess you were right.”
“I always am. What kind is it?”
“Huh, there’s no label.” The gorgeous crystal bottle was unmarked.
Inside was a card. They’d all had cards. Heartfelt messages striking a chord of emotion the same as the string quartet.
Scents remind us of special times in our lives. This one brings back special moments which is ours alone. Yours forever, Joseph
“Oh, that man.” Stephan swooned. “What does it smell like?”
Angelina sprayed it in the air.
“I smell sunflowers and . . .” he scrunched up his nose, “vanilla, amber, and . . .”
“It’s all my favorite scents. The ones I smelled at a market while the family was on vacation in Spain.” It was hard to believe he had it created just for her. The flowers she’d lingered by. The spices she loved. The lotions she’d bought. Everything rolled into one. It was a delicate fragrance and yet overflowing with care. She placed the card back in the envelope and slipped it and the box into her purse.
“I better get going, have a great weekend.” She hurried toward the door.
“Angelina, where are you going?”
“Home.” Before I start to cry, she mumbled under her breath. Her new bodyguard, Eddie, would be waiting for her downstairs. Reaching the lobby, Angelina stopped. Eddie wasn’t there. In fact, the place was empty except for the security at the entrance.
Behind her, footsteps echoed down the hall. The little hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Slowly she turned. It was him, looking even more handsome than the last time she’d seen him. The last time when he’d taken her in his arms and kissed her.
“Joseph. Where have you been?”
His gaze was intense until he stopped in front of her and pulled her into his arms.
“Working for your father and counting the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until I could see you again.”