Chapter Thirty-Two #2
“Arturo Garza was either a phony motherfucker or a mad genius who knew how to make simple coordinates seem like the bane of everyone’s existence. Everything we’ve got so far has been dead ends,” I pointed out with a sigh.
“Brazil, Australia, Dubai, the Netherlands … all dead ends,” Devil said. “All that matters is that the location of the gold and those flash drives are hidden in this madness somewhere.”
“We just gotta open our eyes,” Milk said.
We all went quiet, looking at the map.
“I feel like we’re missing something,” Upper finally said.
“Maybe it’s like the painting? He distributed it around the world, meanwhile the original was in his manor all along.
It’s just like the map taking us to Brazil, Australia, Dubai, the Netherlands, Croatia, Cabo Verde …
and it’s all dead ends, fake locations.”
“Hiding the gold somewhere in Mexico would be too obvious,” I said.
“Maybe it’s not in Mexico,” Milk pointed out. “Maybe it’s here, in Milan, the place where he stocked all the fake paintings? Maybe it’s like a reverse kind of thing?”
Upper nodded. “That does make sense. He chose Milan to hide all the fakes. Milan is where his great-grandfather went to school for a few weeks before moving away. So obviously Milan means something to him in a way?”
“Okay, I think we should focus on Milan this week, map out every coordinate with ties here,” Devil said.
“Yes, also, we’ll need a list of all the properties he once owned in Milan. They’re all liquified assets now, but there might be something worth checking out there.”
Milk and Upper got to work.
“Where is the wine?” I looked up toward the kitchen just in time to find Dog dropping the opened wine bottle and crouching down. “Dog? The wineglasses are literally behind you; what are you doing?”
“There’s a locked cupboard here,” he said, and the sound of him trying to pick the lock reached our ears.
“If it’s locked, then leave it,” Devil responded. “It literally means the person who locked it didn’t want anyone to open it.”
“Why would someone have more than five unlocked cupboards in a kitchen and lock the sixth one? Doesn’t that make you guys curious?” Dog asked.
“Nope,” Upper answered him.
“Just leave the damn cupboard, and come here, we have shit to do,” I said, looking back down at the map with a frown.
“I’m curious,” Milk spoke up.
“Thank you, pinky brain. Devil, Zahra, and Upper have become so”—the sound of the cupboard coming open reached us—“boring these days … What do we have here?”
I looked up with a frown as Dog rose to his feet, holding a big yellow gift box in his hands.
“A locked-away birthday present,” Dog said, looking at both sides of the box as he walked out from behind the counter and straight toward us.
“We shouldn’t be snooping,” I said, eyeing the box.
Dog dropped the box on the table, looking at me like I had lost my mind. “Your boyfriend has an unwrapped birthday gift covered in yellow sparkly shit, locked in a cupboard in his kitchen, and you still think we shouldn’t be snooping?”
“I didn’t see this amongst the gifts he received, and I was in charge of the presents,” Milk said with a frown.
“We need to learn to leave shit alone,” Devil said, eyes on the box. “But … even if we open it, it’s not like he’s gonna know, right?”
We all looked at him. Surprised.
“Upper,” I called, straightening. “Security cams.”
“Way ahead of you,” he said, his fingers jamming on the keyboard of his laptop before he connected a USB cord from his phone to the laptop, typed some more, and then nodded. “We’re on loop, but not for long.”
Dog opened the box, and I frowned. Yellow petals were everywhere, but amidst them was an average-sized yellow teddy bear with a huge heart-shaped design between its hands, the words Happy Birthday, Elio! sewn onto it.
“Wow, someone went to great lengths to make a customized teddy bear…” Milk said.
There were other things inside: several chocolate bars, all with yellow packaging, a wine bottle, beautifully painted sea shells—all colorful and handmade, a beautiful glass casing that housed a set of silver rings, a cute yellow mug with his name on it, a yellow tie, and a card, which Dog picked up.
My heart was hammering, and I was very fucking confused.
The person who sent this had packaged the box with extra care.
He had hidden it.
Why had Elio hidden it? And who had sent it?
“From some Gemma Parisi,” Dog spoke up like he had heard my thoughts. As he read the card, a frown drew his brows down, deeper and deeper and deeper, heightening my anxiety.
“What does it say?” I asked.
He looked up at me, eyes guarded. “Uh…” he drawled out. “Nothing … nothing, uh … just some—”
“Let me see.” I outstretched my hand toward him.
Dog looked to Devil like he was asking for help and then to Upper, who looked scared for me. It seemed like the three boys had shared a brief conversation in their heads with only that quick eye contact.
“What’s happening?” Milk asked, looking around the table.
“Hand over the fucking card, Dog.”
He sighed, passing it to me. I snatched it from his grip, and my stomach dropped as I read.
Hey, my love!
Happy birthday. I am so sad that I couldn’t be at the party today!
I heard from Angelo that you were going to have one!
I was so excited to attend until I realized you hadn’t told everyone about us!
But that’s okay, I understand. I can’t wait to see you and hug you and shower you with plenty of kisses until you’re sick of me!
Gran Louisa wants to send you a video message; she’s writing it all down so she won’t make mistakes.
Our baby, Sailor, misses you so much; she’s been crying all day.
It’s like she senses your absence. Anyway, this is long!
I hope you have a good, beautiful birthday with lots of good music and lots of cake! Love you! And call me!
Kisses,
Your best girl,
Gemma
I blinked, and the card shook in my hand.
Milk dropped back down to the chair. I hadn’t realized she had been behind me before.
Devil collected the card, and I dropped my hands with a disappointed sigh.
“Let’s not … jump to conclusions. That is totally out of context, right, Milk?” Dog said, and Milk shook her head.
Upper whistled, sitting back down, having read the card with Devil, who placed it back inside the box and covered it.
I still couldn’t process what I had just read and what it could have meant.
My heart quickly ran to my throat, knowing Elio might have some other woman on the side who could possibly have a kid with him. A little girl named Sailor?
But then again, I knew that man—or I thought I did. He would never do that to me.
To anyone.
Elio would never hurt me like that. It was out of character …
You thought Manuel would never drop you because he was obsessed. But he did right after he found a new obsession while still obsessing over you …
I shook my head. “Did he ever mention her to you?” I asked Devil.
Devil met my gaze. “Of course not. I have no idea who she is. Never heard him mention her.”
I nodded.
“You all right?” Upper asked.
“Look her up. I have to know who she is. This doesn’t make any sense.”
Upper nodded as he got to work on that. We all settled in behind him.
He typed her name into a private illegal database network.
A grainy picture of her ID card came up with her address, old and new. Height, weight, high school and college details, birth certificate, and other useless information like her bank statements and shit I didn’t care to know about.
The face on the ID card was what drew me in. I couldn’t see much of it, but I recognized that blond hair, and I swear my heart skipped a fucking beat.
“Gemma Parisi, age twenty-six. French and Italian descent, parents died when she was five in a brutal car accident, and she’s been living with her grandma ever since.” Upper summarized from what he could pick up and the details I didn’t see.
“She dog-sits and babysits?” Milk mused aloud.
“Yup. Income is nothing to write about, but it’s enough for two,” Upper said.
Devil frowned. “Is this legit?”
“Yup. She’s clean,” Upper said.
“Too clean,” Dog muttered. “Too clean, it’s unnatural. Can you dig more into the parents?”
Upper navigated the cursor, and another tab opened, revealing two other ID cards for her mother and father.
“Mother was a social worker; Dad was in construction. His criminal record isn’t spotless—vandalism, arson—but those date back to his teenage years, nothing suspicious in recent times prior to his death. ”
“The cause of the car accident?” Devil asked.
“Collision. A truck driver,” Upper answered.
“The truck driver still breathing?” Dog asked.
Upper typed something, and another tab opened. “Uh … was in a coma for a couple of months, but he died soon after. He was a normal guy, too.”
“Huh…” Dog said. “So, she’s actually clean.”
“Yes,” Upper said.
“I’m not getting any bad vibes either,” Devil said. “Which means Elio isn’t acquainted with her for business purposes.”
“Can the database provide more pictures of her? She looks familiar,” Milk said.
“No. The only picture we can get from here is the one from her ID, but we can check Google or the gram. The gram is safer.” Upper opened a tab that already had his account on display. He went to the search tab and typed out her name.
There were many Gemma Parisis, but one caught us after looking through the list. This one had a single underscore before her full name. When Upper clicked on it, my heart stopped.
“Oh my God,” I said breathlessly.
“You know her?” Devil asked.
“She was—she’s the one from the cruise,” Milk spoke up. “The one who was looking at Elio!”
“And the one who came to his suite and said she had directional issues…” I raked my fingers through my hair, gripping it as my chest tightened with hurt. “Oh my God, how could I be so stupid?”
“Hey.” Devil was quick to interject into my mini breakdown. “It might not be—”