Chapter 21 Constantine
Constantine
Rocco and I sat with Antoine Allard, a Frenchman who had moved to Rome once his kids were out of the house. His daughter had chosen to make a career in Milan and his son in finance, so he decided to move to where he wanted to live—in the Eternal City.
“I have it on good faith an attack is coming,” I said, sitting in the parlor with the sunshine coming through the ten-foot-tall windows.
The garden was visible outside, but the moment summer had hit, it was already too hot to enjoy it.
“I want all your intel about shipments so I can make sure we’re doing everything on our end—” My phone vibrated for the third time in a row—and it was Aurelia.
Rocco glanced at me like he was just as annoyed by it.
I couldn’t turn off my phone with the kind of job I had. People could die—literally. “Excuse me.” I pulled out my phone, ignored her call, and blocked her. I set the phone on the table and focused on Antoine again. “You know how those telemarketers are.”
Rocco knew better, but he came to my defense anyway. “I’ve been made aware of all the parking tickets I haven’t paid many, many times.”
Antoine chuckled before he took a drag of his cigar.
“My partners are my allies, the French, the Italians, and the British. All my contracts are exclusive to the EU, so I’m certain that the break in the line isn’t coming from me.
But could someone in the chain be breaking protocol and sending batches of arms to our enemies?
It’s possible. I run a tight ship, but it’s a big operation and someone could go rogue. ”
“Can we conduct an investigation on your behalf?” I asked.
“We could send a team to comb through all the inventory and all the numbers. They’re good at what they do, so if there’s a discrepancy, they’ll find it.
” It was also a tactic to make sure he was truly innocent, because if he refused, that meant he had something to hide.
“Have at it, Constantine.”
Rocco shared a quick look with me. He was the one who assumed Antoine was a traitor, and I was the one who insisted he was a patriot. We’d made a bet on it—and now I was a million richer.
“I’ll get a team together. We’ll make sure it’s delicate so we don’t tip anyone off.”
“Sounds good to me.”
We got into the back seat of the Range Rover and left through the iron gates that kept the public off his property. We were immediately back in the Eternal City, on the congested roads with motorbikes that drove like they were invincible.
“I’ve been waiting for you to bring it up on your own, but you clearly aren’t going to.” Rocco stared out the window for a while before he turned to look at me. “You used to grin like an idiot, and now, you look pissed off every moment of every day.”
I knew he’d seen her name on the screen. Which meant he knew I’d blocked her number. “It’s done.”
“Yeah, that’s obvious. But the reason isn’t obvious.”
I looked out the window and shut down the conversation with my silence.
“You weren’t even in a relationship, so what could she have done—”
“Not in the mood to be interrogated.”
“All right.”
We sat together in the parlor, an elaborate room with twenty-foot sculptures of Roman emperors, Augustus and Constantine, and sculptures of the gods who once watched over ancient Rome.
Bookshelves were spaced between the sculptures, rising from floor to ceiling, containing tomes that no one had touched in centuries.
Priceless artwork was on the walls. The only thing modern was the furniture and the rug in the center of the room.
I read off my device. “Antoine is a work in progress. That scrawny little snitch wasn’t a snitch at all, and now we’ve got to find another lead.
President Barsetti wants an update, and I don’t fucking have one.
Not to mention it’s jubilee this year, so we’ve got to add security to Pope Zephyrinus’s detail—” I stopped in mid-sentence when I saw Aurelia’s name appear on the screen, along with a text.
I would give anything in the world to talk to you. I read the sentence twice before I lowered the device and looked across from me at Rocco, who was lounging on the couch, arm over the back, a drink in his hand like this was a fucking hangout rather than a work meeting. “You unblocked her.”
He gave a slight shrug, then took a drink.
“You crossed a line.”
He shrugged again, like he didn’t give a damn.
“Never thought I’d have to tell you not to go through my phone.”
“Didn’t go through it.”
“Stay out of my fucking business.”
“What happened, Con? You were fucking gaga over this woman.”
I set the device aside, sunlight fading through the windows that faced the garden. “Doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders and a moral compass that doesn’t deviate, but sometimes you get carried away when you’re emotionally charged.”
“That’s not true—”
“Carl Athenios.”
I released an irritated sigh.
“You were so fucking mad that you pulled his tongue out of his fucking mouth and then crushed his windpipe. It took us twice as long to get the information we needed because you jumped the gun.”
“That is not the same thing as what’s happening now—”
“Then what’s happening now?”
I felt like a bottle of shaken champagne. The second I was uncorked, it’d be a mess of bubbly rage. “We don’t do this—”
“I just want to make sure you aren’t fucking this up, Con.”
“Me?” I gave a laugh because it was fucking ridiculous. “I’ve been going after this woman hard—”
“I think you were too hard on Isabella. I think you prematurely ended that relationship.”
“Asshole, I didn’t even know you at the time.”
“All I’ve heard is your side of the story, and I still think you’re in the wrong.”
“Wow,” I said as I shook my head. “Now it all comes out.”
“She didn’t know he was your brother and, of course, was so confused by the whole thing. She was fucking twenty-three—”
“I’m not going to rehash a decade-old relationship, Rocco.” It was dead and buried, and I’d moved on long ago.
“Why won’t you tell me?” he asked. “I thought we were closer than that.”
“Not saying we aren’t.”
“Then why?” he pressed. “Because you might be wrong?”
“Fuck you. I know what you’re doing.”
He sat up from the couch, forearms on his knees, leaning toward me with the coffee table between us. “Just fucking tell me.”
He wasn’t going to let this slide, so I decided to save us both the time and just tell him. So I shared the details of that afternoon, storming into her apartment and chasing off that little cunt like the pussy he was. And then what she said to me at the end of all of it.
Rocco was quiet when I finished.
“I’ve bent over fucking backward for this woman since I met her. One minute, she’s there with me, and then the next, she pulls away. I’m just fucking sick of it. So many women would be happy to take her place in my bed.”
“But you don’t give a shit about any of those women.”
“Well . . .” I grabbed my glass and took a drink.
“You’re being too hard on her.”
“I didn’t ask your opinion!” I yelled, my voice reverberating off the coffered ceilings.
“Was her ex abusive? Did he hit her? Did he do anything to give you any indication that he was there to physically cause her harm?”
All I did was stare, fighting the urge to get up and punch him in the face.
“You didn’t storm in there because you were worried about her. You went because you were jealous.”
“I was not fucking jealous.”
“Jealous and fucking insane. You barked at him like a dog?”
I looked away. “You should have seen him run.”
“So this poor woman, who’s already nervous just getting into the car with a bunch of dudes and guns, has you storm into her apartment and verbally assault her ex who stopped by to deliver some pictures she’d left behind.
And then you reveal that you’ve had a security team watching her for who knows how long? And you wonder why she was upset?”
I was gonna do it. I was gonna punch him in the goddamn face.
“Con.” He raised both of his hands slightly. “I don’t get you, man. You’re a smart fucking dude, but sometimes you get tunnel vision and you can’t see the whole picture. She said she wished you were normal in a moment when her way of life was under threat.”
“Still crossed a line.”
“You’ve never said something in the heat of the moment that you regretted?”
I looked away.
“Has she ever given you any indication that she doesn’t respect what you do?”
She told me if I were her son, she’d be proud of me. I remembered it so well because it meant a lot to me. Maybe that was why I lost my temper when she contradicted it.
“I’ve never met the woman, so I don’t have a dog in this fight.
But I’ve never heard you talk about someone the way you talk about her.
There’s Con before Aurelia, and then there’s Con after Aurelia.
Her impact on your life has been that distinct.
It’s been nine years since you’ve felt this way for someone, so maybe you should think about granting her a little grace instead of waiting another nine years.
” Rocco studied my face for a reaction, waited for a response.
“I don’t need your input.”
“I think you do,” he said. “Because you act like you don’t have any fault in this situation.
It’s like chasing a dog into the corner with a baseball bat and then getting mad when the dog barks.
Remember, she’s not like you or me. She was scared and overwhelmed and reactive.
Text her or don’t text her. But just think about what I’ve said, Con. ”
“You’re awfully insightful for a man who’s never been in a relationship.”
“And you’re awfully stupid for a man who’s been in two.”