Chapter 8
brUNO
Coming into the kitchen, smelling fresh coffee, and seeing that Diana’s the one who made it and not Gloria does not surprise me, but it will take some getting used to. Diana is already dressed for the day, like myself, when I enter the kitchen. However, while I’m in slacks and a button-down, Diana wears high-waisted linen pants and a top with a hem that ends right where the band of her pants is, just barely showing a sliver of her skin. She is bright-eyed as she looks over at me while sipping her coffee and gestures to the coffee maker.
“I made enough for two cups,” she tells me as I open a cabinet to pull out my mug.
I don’t say anything to that. She’s on the other side of the kitchen, sitting by the window as she drinks her coffee. The kids don’t need to be up for another ten minutes, so the house is quiet but bright as sunshine bathes the kitchen through the large windows. As I sip my coffee, I look at Diana, and if she feels my gaze on her, she doesn’t let on.
I don’t insult her by asking if she’s ready for her first day with the twins on her own. Despite the fact that she only had yesterday to see how Gloria ran things, I don’t doubt Diana’s abilities in being a highly coveted nanny. Gloria’s last day was yesterday, and the twins had been teary-eyed when she was leaving. I had told Gloria that if she needed anything, to just call; I’d already set her up with the best doctors money could buy, and I had ignored Diana’s mild look of surprise when she heard my parting words to Gloria.
“There are some things we need to go over,” I say, breaking the silence. Diana looks at me expectantly. There are some things she needs to know that I haven’t had the chance to tell her yet, and now’s the best time as any before her first official day starts. “Gloria gave you the kids’ schedule but I expect you to report to me the day’s activities every evening when I come home. I want to know what they got up to, their behavior—the works.” Diana nods, like she expected this, though she listens intently. I keep my dark eyes locked with her blue, and I’m mildly impressed when she doesn’t break eye contact. “Security will always accompany you if you need to go out somewhere with the twins.”
That’s non-negotiable. Whether they’re going to the park, the movies, wherever—security is a must and so is the transport in one of my cars. The last thing I want to do is keep my kids cooped up in the house, as grand as it may be. They’re kids—they’re going to want to go out. I will never hold them back unless it’s under the direst circumstances.
“And if you do go out with them,” I continue, “It will be in one of my vehicles. They’re bulletproof.”
Diana’s eyes widen ever so slightly at that last word; it’s a subtle, minuscule movement but I catch it easily. My jaw clenches a bit before I raise my eyebrows at her. “I hope you’re not kidding yourself about who you’re working for,” I tell her tightly. I’d hope she knew what she was getting herself into when she agreed to work for me, especially after what happened to her father.
She straightens, her expression smoothing out as her hands remain cupped around her mug. “I’m fully aware, Mr. Cataldi,” Diana says coolly, and my own grip on my mug tightens at the way she addresses me. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about her calling me that, but it pulls some kind of reaction out of me. How irritating.
“The whole house is available to you,” I say, finishing up my brief instructions. “Except for the master bedroom and my office down the hall.”
Diana nods, listening carefully. She stands up then, offering a flash of a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes before saying, “I’ll go wake up the kids.”
She leaves without another word, confidence and purpose in every step, and despite myself, I find myself smirking into my next sip of coffee. Not many people, upon meeting me, can easily turn their back on me. Miss Diana Elliott is an intriguing woman, indeed. One I have to remind myself not to indulge in.
*****
“We’re looking at traffic cameras around the bakery, Boss, but—” Leo’s jaw clenches, his aggravation clear. Whatever he’s about to say, I know it’ll piss me off, too. “There’s a blind spot at the back of the building. We haven’t seen anything yet through the cameras, so I’m guessing whoever came in, they took advantage of that one spot.”
Not at all what I want to hear.
I light up a cigarette, needing something to calm me down, though I know the cigarette won’t do much. Of course, this shit wasn’t going to be easy. If the bakery fire was intentional, then whoever did it obviously planned it out well if they knew where the camera blind spot was. There is still a part of me hoping that it truly was an electrical cable malfunction, but I didn’t get to where I am today by being that fucking na?ve.
I blow a plume of smoke out, staring out of the window that gives a brilliant city view. My city office is where I conduct all of my business, whether it’s on this side of being legal or that. None of it ever takes place in my home, other than quick meetings with Raf and Leo, since they’re my most trusted men. No one else, especially people that aren’t my own, is allowed to step foot on my property.
“There aren’t any accessible cameras in the buildings around the bakery?” I question, raising an eyebrow.
“The boys are looking into them now,” Leo says, referring to the soldiers who are assigned such tasks. Leo rubs his jaw, arching a brow. “Are we completely sure that this was arson?” He’s still skeptical about the fire being anything but an accident. He shrugs. “Sometimes a gas tank is just a gas tank. Maybe it really was just faulty electrical wires and that nanny of yours is looking for a better reason for her dad’s death.”
I raise an eyebrow at him, blowing another cloud of smoke out. “Her father being murdered is a better reason compared to faulty electrical?” I scoff with a shake of my head.
Leo purses his lips. “Sometimes you just want someone to blame.”
“Maybe,” I say, turning to look back out the window. I watch as cars drive by below, and pedestrians go about their day. “Either way, I’m not a hundred percent certain if it was an accident or not, so we’re going to keep looking until we have solid evidence if it was one or the other.”
Leo is silent for a moment. “And if we find out it wasn’t an accident?” he asks but his tone tells me he already knows my answer.
I don’t turn to face him. “Then you bring me the bastard who set the bakery on fire, and I’ll kill him myself.”
“If he was a member of a different mob, this could be the start of a war on our hands, Boss,” he muses, giving voice to a thought I hope doesn’t come true.
But if it does, then. . .
“If it is, we’ll take care of it,” I tell him.
“It could be anyone,” Leo says, and at this point, he’s just thinking out loud. “The Irish, Russians—hell, it could be one of the other Italian families.”
I give a single shake of my head. “They know better,” I say. Still, outright dismissing any of the Italian families that aren’t my own would be foolish. I doubt it was anyone from there, but all cards need to be on the table for us to get to the bottom of the fire.
My jaw tightens, turning to face my desk to stub out the cigarette in the ashtray. Leo keeps his gaze fixed on me. He’s been my second in command since I took over after my father passed. We’ve been close since we were kids, having grown up together because he is, after all, my cousin, only two years younger than me. He knows me better than most people.
“We’ll figure it out,” Leo says firmly, confidently. “There are cameras everywhere. We’re bound to catch something.”