Chapter 18
SEBASTIAN
Ispend my morning learning more about Adrian Vescari than I ever wanted to.
Nico fills me in on what little he knows, so then I ask Matteo to bring me everything he can dig up.
He has the first file on my desk before noon.
By one, he brings another. By three, my desk is buried in police reports and newspaper clippings.
Adrian Vescari comes from old New York money.
The kind that built the city. Not simply through hospitality investments, real estate, private equity, and family trusts.
There’s a paper trail of dirty backroom deals and a few unexplained deaths.
He also has connections to a smaller but very well-established Mafia organization.
Matteo stands across from my desk, one hand braced on the back of a chair, talking me through the rest while I go line by line through the report.
“Nothing public ever stuck,” he tells me. “Not on him personally. Two assault allegations got buried. One civil matter with an NDA attached. A girl from Tribeca who moved to Miami right after. No charges.”
“Any verified violence?” I ask.
“Enough whispers that I’d count it.” Matteo slides another sheet toward me. “And this is where it gets interesting.”
The page in front of me has Bellissimo on it. I look up.
“We pulled enough from the alley camera and rear traffic feed to get partial ID on the driver from the shooting,” Matteo says. “He’s not Marchetti.”
That gets my full attention.
“He used to run errands for a Vescari-owned lounge in Manhattan. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
I don’t either. I don’t believe in coincidences. Adrian is in Los Angeles, or he has men here. Either way, he’s moving pieces around Valentina’s life, and for some reason, he linked me to her before we even really knew each other.
“Why Bellissimo?”
“I can’t say for sure,” Matteo says. “But he clearly knows Nico works for you. Maybe he’s targeting both of them.”
“We should put a detail on Nico, then,” I say. “I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
“Done.” He nods. “I’ve already ordered a tail on the SUV. How much does Nico know about this?”
I shake my head. “He knows about Adrian’s Mafia ties, and obviously the domestic violence. Apart from that, I couldn’t say.”
“Are you going to bring him in on it?”
I can’t help a mirthless chuckle. “I’m not exactly his favorite person right now,” I tell him. “Not since I knocked up his sister.”
“Fuck!” Matteo exclaims at the exact moment I realize that, in all the chaos, I hadn’t actually told him about the pregnancy. “When you go for it, you really go for it.” His laugh is loud and genuine, cutting through the tension.
I shake my head. “Tread carefully,” I warn.
“Hey, I think it’s great,” he says, holding up his hands. “Gives you a reason to stay in her life and stop being such a mopey little bitch. Also explains why you’re going through so much trouble to dig up all this shit about her ex.”
“Protecting her means protecting my child.” I glare at him.
“You and I both know it’s more than that.” He smirks. “You’ve lost your shit over her. I’ve never seen you like this with anyone. Didn’t even know you were capable of real human feeling.”
“If you’re going to be a dick, get out of my office.”
He backs away slowly, still grinning. “Are there any other security matters you need handled?”
“I’ve got an asshole cousin who could use some roughing up,” I deadpan.
He turns and walks out, flipping me off. I swear I hear him laughing all the way down the hall. Once he’s gone, I look more closely at the file open in front of me.
It shows clear financial ties between one of Vescari’s shell companies and a private security firm that recently set up temporary operations in Southern California. There’s no reason for him to have financial interests here. He’s stalking her.
I can’t sit on that knowledge and do nothing. This has all become intensely personal very quickly. It’s up to me to find him before he gets to her. I text Matteo the addresses listed so he can check them out.
I leave my office and have my driver drop me off at Val’s. I’ve never been to her office in person since all our meetings happened on my properties, but I’m not risking her safety, given what I know. Ten minutes after I arrive, she walks out of the building and looks stunned to see me.
To my surprise, she doesn’t argue when I tell her I’m driving her home. She doesn’t even insist on taking her own car back. Maybe my tone or my expression gave away just how critical it is that she stays safe.
She doesn’t say a word on the way home. She does sigh heavily enough to let me know she’s pissed, but otherwise she’s giving me the silent treatment. I can handle that. It’s a small price to pay to know she’s out of harm’s way.
When we pull through the gates, I see Nico’s car waiting in the driveway. He’s one of the few people who has access to the compound when I’m not here. I’m not at all surprised. He avoided me all day at the office, but I know he’s chomping at the bit to check on Val.
“About time you showed up,” he says when we get out of the SUV.
“It seems my employees don’t work as hard as I do,” I respond.
His face breaks into a smile, and I know things are fine between us. He’ll keep being pissed for a while, probably, but it’s water under the bridge. After all, he’s going to be the uncle to my kid.
Val walks ahead, not acknowledging him. It seems she’s icing him out, too.
“She’s in a good mood,” he murmurs sarcastically. “What the hell did you do?”
I sigh. “I cared too much about her safety.”
He chuckles as we follow behind her. Once we’re inside, he stops her from disappearing to her room.
“Valentina, we need to talk,” he says in an almost fatherly tone.
She turns on him with ire in her eyes that scares even me. “Nicolas, don’t you start with me!”
“You know we’re only doing this for your benefit, right?” he says defensively. “I don’t want you staying here any more than you want to be here, but it’s the right call.”
“Don’t you think I should decide what the right call is in my own life?” she shoots back, before turning on me. “Or do you think I’m too stupid to take care of myself?”
“It’s not a matter of intelligence,” I say darkly. “Your ex is a nasty character. I’ve spent the whole day combing through files about him. Shit you probably don’t even know. I’m not risking him getting anywhere near you.”
That makes her listen, at least. She rolls her eyes, but her posture does relax a little. Even if she’s crossing her arms as it does.
“What did you find?” Nico asks curiously. “When I tried to look into him last year, I couldn’t find any information. He was like a ghost.”
“That’s the privilege of the rich,” I say. “If you’d come to me about it then, maybe we could’ve avoided all of this.”
“Would you have still slept with my sister?”
He doesn’t ask it in malice, but there’s still an edge to his voice.
“Jesus Christ,” Val complains. “Get over it, Nico, we both have.”
That surprises me, especially since I’m very much not over it.
“Whatever,” Nico grumbles. “So what did you find?”
“Adrian is exactly the kind of man I was worried he was.” I sigh. “Maybe we should move to the dining room and sit down. Adelina can bring us something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry,” Val snaps, just as her stomach growls.
“Well, I am,” I say. “And I don’t allow food in the sitting room. Let’s go.”
I lead them to the dining room and hear the two of them bickering behind my back.
At least I’m not the only one she’s mad at.
When we get to the dining room, I pull out a chair for her, but she deliberately sits in one on the other side of the table.
I take the seat I pulled out, and Nico sits between us like a referee.
“So, you were saying?” he prompts.
“We think Adrian has men here,” I answer. “He recently set up a business through a shell corporation in LA. I’ve got Matteo checking it out.”
Val noticeably stiffens while Nico curses under his breath.
“You can’t go back home,” he tells her. “Promise me you’re not going to be stubborn about this, Val. He already tried to take you away from me once.”
I don’t know what he means, but I can imagine after spending the day reading about this asshole. She looks down at her hands and says nothing.
“You don’t get to control my life,” she finally says, her voice thin. “Whether Adrian is here or not, the two of you don’t just get to make decisions on my behalf.”
“Even if those decisions keep you safe?” he asks. “You know I would be devastated if anything ever happened to you. Would you really put me through that just to protect your autonomy?”
She still doesn’t look up, and she doesn’t answer him.
Adelina comes out to ask what we want for dinner, but otherwise no one speaks.
“I don’t think I’m going to stay,” Nico finally says. “It’s like arguing with a brick wall.”
“No one told you to come anyway,” she answers coldly.
He stands up and walks over to her slowly, placing a brotherly kiss on the top of her head. “You can be mad at me all you want, Val, but it’s not going to stop me from doing everything I can to keep you safe.”
He walks out without another word, leaving the two of us alone. Once he’s gone, I take a moment to really look at her. She looks wrung out. Too tired to keep fighting and too proud to show it.
“If you’re really not hungry, you should get some rest,” I tell her. “But if you’re just trying to get away from me, Adelina can bring a meal to your room.”
That finally gets a response. She looks up at me, searching. “Was it you or her who left me that tray last night?”
“Me,” I tell her. “When you didn’t come down all day, I figured you were probably avoiding me.”
“That didn’t bother you?” she asks suspiciously.
I just shrug. “You aren’t a prisoner here, Val.
This isn’t a situation where you have to be on my schedule.
You’re here for your safety, not for my ego.
So, if you want to completely ignore me and take all your meals in your room, I’m not going to stop you.
As long as you understand that I’m going to make you travel to work in an armored vehicle and insist you keep a guard with you at all times. ”
“So generous of you,” she mutters.
“I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that your ex has deep ties to some pretty dangerous people. So it’s only right I’m honest with you about something. I’m also a pretty dangerous person.”
She lets out a quick laugh. “Yeah, I figured that out pretty fast,” she answers, surprising me. “Why do you think I’ve been keeping you at arm’s length?”
Her vulnerability shocks me, but not as much as the sob that rips through her a moment later.
“You don’t get to control me,” she says through tears. “I’m not going through that again.”
I move around the dining room table without thinking too hard and sit in the chair next to her.
I rest one hand lightly on her back first, waiting.
When she doesn’t pull away, I slide the other arm around her and bring her against me carefully.
She folds forward into my shoulder with a broken sound.