36. Bianca
Bianca
I’ve got to give Marco credit. Baking is a hell of a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.
Especially without him here to help correct me when I get something wrong.
I’m not usually a fan of looking inept, but with him, I don’t mind.
Somehow in the last few months, I’ve found strength in my vulnerability with him.
“Do what you can and let me know.” Marco’s voice is muffled through the wall as I eye my attempt at a tiramisu critically.
I discovered Dulce’s recipe for the dessert tucked at the back of the nightstand in Marco’s room.
He’d ripped it out of her book and hidden it, whether from himself or his father isn’t clear.
I want to surprise him. I want to show him that pain doesn’t have to define his life anymore, and this is the only way I know how. It also just helps to keep my hands busy while Marco is occupied.
As it turns out, all of our shmoozing over the last several weeks is paying off.
Marco’s using his signature charm to reach out to several of the connections I made during the Council get-togethers to see if any of them have information on the Library and how we can get inside, a project he’s been working on since before I woke up this morning.
Dusting some flour from my leggings, my mind replays his promise to keep my sister safe.
He’s the only person who’s ever tried to protect me, who has ever cared enough to want to, and the very idea of it still has me reeling.
Once we get through this with Livia’s life intact, I will find some way to repay him.
The tiramisu is a small gesture and the first confection I’ve ever tried to create on my own. I’m almost positive I’ve forgotten a vital step, but even if I have, I know Marco will still appreciate the attempt. I wrap the dish with foil and stash it in the back of the fridge for the right time.
After washing the prep dishes and setting them on the drying rack, I join Marco.
He’s sitting on the edge of the dining table with one ankle crossed over the other, lost in thought.
At my approach, he snaps out of it long enough to throw me a tired smile.
He opens his arms, and I enter them while studying his face.
“No luck?” I’ve gotten pretty good at recognizing the emotions he’s always trying to hide, and sure enough, he nods.
“Not in the way you think. No one knows how to get permission to enter the Library without Zanni, which means we’ll just need to go the unconventional route.” He tugs on one of my loose curls and inhales through his nose. “Why do you smell so sweet? Or, well, sweeter than usual?”
I scramble back with my heart in my throat. He can’t learn about my delicious surprise until the moment is perfect. “What do you mean by unconventional route?”
Marco frowns at my retreat. “They won’t let us in willingly, so we’ll just need to break in.
” He ignores my shock in favor of laying out several printed sheets of paper across the table.
“The Maggios are in construction, and their grandfather was at the Canary Club the other night. He was kind enough to get me a blueprint of the Library. We’ll need to examine it before we head out tonight. ”
“Wait, we’re doing this tonight?” I peer down at the blueprint slowly coming together, my mind already sifting through the pros and cons of the plan.
“We have to.” Marco frowns and shifts one piece of paper on the table to another area of the map. “Livia doesn’t have much time left before Aldo makes a move.”
The fact that he’d do all this to help me meet my father’s deadline is enough to burn my eyes. This is just further proof that this is the right decision.
Luca knocks and strides into the room. “You want the bad news first or the good news?”
Marco groans. “Neither.” Luca rolls his eyes, and his don finally relents. “Fine. Give me the good stuff.”
“Il Silenzio was murdered.” I nearly crush the paper I’m reviewing, but neither of them notices. Luca goes on, his brow furrowing in thought. “The bad news is that we have no idea how long he’s been dead or who killed him.”
A loaded silence descends over the three of us. So, someone has been impersonating Silenzio after all. Given my musings from the other day, the information doesn’t surprise me, but I’m still not positive the man from the yacht was the original assassin.
But the question remains. Is Silenzio, either the real one or the pretender, connected to the deaths of Enzo and Gio?
I chew on my lower lip, my voice suddenly loud in the tense quiet. “But Silenzio was a Council assassin. Wouldn’t that mean he had certain…protections? How could he just turn up dead?”
Luca crosses his arms and inclines his head. “Maybe he went off script. Did something the Council didn’t sanction. It wouldn’t be the first time things got messy within their own ranks.”
Marco nods in agreement, scratching the scruff on his jaw. My mind flashes back to last night when he buried his face between my breasts, his cheeks scraping sensitive skin as he murmured my name like a prayer. “Like Gio’s death. Maybe Enzo’s too.”
My uncle’s name snaps me back to the present. To hide my flush, I pretend to examine the blueprint.
Luca drifts closer and drops into a chair across from my husband, his gray eyes bright behind his glasses.
“What does Enzo’s death have to do with Silenzio?
The Council maintains that Dante’s the one who killed him.
” Luca’s throat bobs a moment at the mention of his former don…
and friend. I can only imagine how difficult it was to let him go while the tracker stayed to clean up Dante’s mess.
Marco pushes out of his seat, shoving a hand through his hair. This has clearly been weighing on and frustrating him. I wish I could help.
Maybe…
I straighten. “You told me Gio was shot with the same weapon that delivered the killing blow to Uncle Enzo, right? A gun that the Council regularly lends out to whomever they deem fit?”
“Yeah, a bullpup rifle. I was digging into it, doing some of my own research, but I only got dead ends.” He eyes me curiously. “Why?”
I press my lips together, my mind working a mile a minute. “The attack at Swarmer. Do you remember what gun the assassin used?”
My husband snickers. “Bianca. My darling. I drank an entire bottle of Johnny Walker that night. I don’t think I could have told you my last name, let alone what kind of gun the asshole was trying to kill me with. Do you remember?”
With a frustrated groan, I shake my head.
Truth be told, I was too terrified of Marco being killed that I failed to clock the details the way I normally would have in the haze of danger.
“The only thing I can recall with absolute certainty is that the shooter was left-handed.” I don’t know why…
it’s an odd thing to file away, but nevertheless, the memory persists.
Luca raises his brows, the doubt in his voice unmistakable. “Left-handed? I’m not sure that helps connect anything, Mrs. Argento.”
I sigh heavily. “Thank you, Luca. I’m just trying to fit the pieces together.
” I get up to pace, and another dense silence descends before I surge toward Marco, startling him.
“What about his MO? Compared to the Council’s assassin, his hits look like accidents.
The man who tried to kill you came in guns blazing like he was playing a cowboy in a spaghetti western. ”
Marco studies me. “So…you’re proposing that the Silenzio who attempted to off me at Swarmer wasn’t the real Silenzio? But didn’t your father hire him?”
I tilt my head, running my lips across my teeth. “He did, but no one’s ever seen the guy, so Father wouldn’t know if it was the right man or not.”
Luca rises from his seat and slowly gravitates toward us. “Let me get this straight. If a fake assassin tried to kill Marco, say, using a bullpup rifle, are you suggesting that the Council wants Marco dead, in addition to Aldo? Since that weapon is strictly Council-owned?”
Marco throws up his hands in exasperation. “Is there anyone who doesn’t want me dead?”
A smile curls my lips, the first since this whole conversation began, and I press a chaste kiss to his cheek. “I don’t. Not today, at least.”
He hums affectionately, tossing his arm around my shoulders, but his tension is evident in every shift of his muscles.
“To answer your question, Luca, that’s what I’m getting at.
” Untangling myself from Marco, I glide toward the dining room table and flip over a blueprint to scratch out my train of thought.
“Why would the Council want to pick off the Argentos and the Contis? Our two families have been at war for decades. Think about it. With Dante conveniently out of the picture, how else would the Council benefit from removing Enzo, Gio, and Marco all within mere weeks of one another?”
Both men gape at me with blank expressions as I strike out the names of the Conti and Argento dons on my paper.
I grumble my annoyance and draw a new graph.
“If word got out that Aldo was involved in Marco’s death, the Council would be in their rights to obliterate my family, stripping my father of his title and probably his life.
With Marco dead, the Councilors would be tasked with marrying both Livia and me off to men of their choosing, thus having a direct hand in the running of both family empires. ”
I slam down my pen and hold up my paper littered with of arrows, circles, and lines. Marco pinches the bridge of his nose, but Luca takes the paper and slowly nods.
Thank God.
Sitting back down at the table, Luca taps his finger on the page. “This actually makes sense, Mrs. Argento.”
“Bianca,” I correct him softly, and he gives me a rare smile.
“Bianca. It would explain why they blamed Dante for Enzo’s murder.
They needed a scapegoat and implicating him had the added benefit of restoking tensions between the two families.
Tensions that had eased after Giovanni failed to retaliate for Dulce’s death.
In fact, the feud likely would have fizzled out completely with Dante married to his nurse and Marco content to drink his life away.
” He winces at my husband. “No offense.”
Marco shrugs and pulls out the chair next to Luca.
“None taken.” His olive green eyes roam over my page and then find my gaze.
“Do you think that’s why the Council ordered our marriage?
Because of the animosity between our families.
They knew we hated each other. They…they knew we’d destroy each other. ”
I nod, wondering why the answer wasn’t obvious from the start. “And then, once the dust settled, they could swoop in and pick up the pieces.”
Marco’s gaze clouds with shadows as he rocks back, focusing on something in the distance. “This whole time, my family…our families…we’ve just been pawns in their game. Pieces for them to play at their whim. Our fucking lives—”
He slams his fist on the table, rattling the brass candelabras.
I go to my husband, landing softly in his lap and resting my forehead against his. “We’re going to figure this out, okay? We won’t let them get away with any of this. And we’re definitely not going to let them come between us. We’re on the same side now.”
Marco exhales, his breath warm against my face.
Luca drums his fingers against the wood, clearing his throat as he scrutinizes my scribbles.
“The problem is that none of this information ties Silenzio, real or fake, to the gun used in Enzo’s and Gio’s deaths.
” He sighs, getting to his feet and shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
“Until we have concrete proof, we’ll have to work under the assumption that these incidents are unrelated. ”
Marco’s arms encase my waist, his voice rumbling against my back. “Well, the Library would be the place to find said proof, wouldn’t it?”
Luca pokes his tongue against the inside of his cheek.
“Your guess is as good as mine, Boss. I’ll make contact with a former SilverTech employee.
Ashley. Best black-hat operator I know. The Library’s mainframes are isolated from the public net, so if you’re going to bypass their biometrics and logic bombs without raising alarms, she’s our only shot. ”
“I have no idea what you just said, but thanks, Luca. I’ll meet you down in the command center in twenty to map the entrances for tonight. I just need a moment with my wife first.”
Luca nods before striding from the room, shutting the door behind him with a soft click.
Marco adjusts me in his lap, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “You all right?”
“I am. It’s just… Marco, this is bigger than either of us could have imagined. I feel like there’s no right path forward, nowhere we can turn that doesn’t lead to death. Yours. Mine. Livia’s. What if there is no answer?”
His eyes flick to my lips as he hugs me closer.
“If we can’t find a path forward, we’ll carve one out, okay?
You, me, and Livia. I don’t care if we have to leave everything behind like Dante and Sara and her brother did.
I can grow a beard, and you could become a blond.
You know, like a whole Michelle Pfeiffer look? ”
Despite the series of heavy revelations, I laugh. “A blond, huh? And here I thought you were into redheads.”
He scoffs. “Actually, I’m into brunette capos who could kill me in my sleep. Know anyone like that?”
I roll my eyes skyward and pretend to consider. “I’ll make some calls.”
Marco grabs a handful of my backside, his skin warming under me. “Good. In the meantime…”
He lifts me onto the dining table, sets me atop building schematics and Library security logs, and strips me of my leggings in a powerful tug.
And when he kneels between my spread legs, we let ourselves forget, if only for a few minutes, that we’re about to light the match that will implode our entire world.