3. Miceli
THREE
MICELI
The person who sat before me for an interview wasn’t Collins Attwood, not in a million years.
Her streaked, ash-colored hair had been chopped into a neat, yet unorthodox bob, showing off the sharp angles of her face.
She had gorgeous grey eyes, tilted slightly at the corners, a button nose turned up slightly at the tip and bow-shaped lips.
She wore no makeup, yet in my estimates, she didn’t need any.
There was a youthfulness about her I enjoyed, and dare say, craved.
When she opened her mouth to speak, she surprised me with her firm and exacting tone.
Almost as if she wielded her words as a scalpel, exposing people’s superiority complexes and their weaknesses.
A major turn on for me.
I liked people who weren’t afraid to give as good as they got. If it meant taking them down a peg at a time, even better. This world I lived in—dog eat dog—I’d rather be the one feasting than being feasted on.
Though I couldn’t properly place her, she was familiar to me.
Of course, I entertained hundreds if not thousands of people over the years for charity events and social gatherings, so my intuition could be off.
There was also the fact I’d seen a girl about her age plastered across news sites for the last ten months.
Stephanie Hollis ... Her parents, Theo Hollis and Sylvia Hollis, were killed in their home by unknown assailants.
During the investigation, it was uncovered that Mr. Hollis had stolen several million dollars from his clients.
Thankfully, that didn’t include me. Everything about my business was handled in-house.
Including accounting.
The reasons for their deaths weren’t here nor there.
I worried about the children. If my calculations were correct, Stephanie would be in her early twenties and their son, Kyle, was in his late teens.
I’d only met them a few times at social events, but the children were polite and well mannered.
Maybe precocious. Stephanie had this air about her.
.. A commanding presence for such a young girl.
Meeting Collins this morning brought back fond memories and reminded me so much of Theo’s daughter.
As I glanced at the clock on my desk, I frowned.
I’d been sitting in the same spot for three hours and hadn’t gotten a thing done.
Had I been so consumed by my thoughts, I forgot about everything else?
I pushed away from my desk and stood. I couldn’t shake the idea I was missing something important.
When I received the email from Collins Attwood, I’d done a basic background check. The fact I found nothing should have been a red flag, but I was growing desperate by the day. I had to fill the position post haste to protect my daughter.
Rocca’s bodyguard, Benny, confirmed another attempted on my daughter’s life when they returned home in the middle of the night two weeks ago.
As it was, I already lost four of my men to whoever was still determined to wipe me out.
I wasn’t saying in my line of work I didn’t have enemies.
I had them in spades. My life wasn’t conducive to having kids or a wife.
Even after leaving my previous position.
I knew the shadow of my past would always remain at my back, pressing down on me.
Yet, I tried.
I loved Rosalina more than life itself. When I met her, I’d been a cruel, deadly shell of a man.
She taught me how to love. How to live. She changed me on the most visceral of levels.
She brought me out of the bleak existence where I dwelled for so many years.
Gave me the chance to change the direction my life was headed in and the ability to grab hold of what I’d been offered.
It was how I built Daidone Holdings, LLC, becoming who I am today.
None of it meant shit to me anymore, since the day my wife died in my arms because of some stupid vendetta.
Now, the same feud was trying to take my daughter.
Turn me back into the rabid beast I once was for the Table.
They only pushed me closer to using the polished pearl handled 9mm I kept in my locked bedside table, on myself.
I’d never return to my former life. Never see the splatters of red on my palms or feel the stinging bite of cracked knuckles.
I’d never watch as the light of life left a ‘target’s’ body, because I’d been tasked with eliminating them.
I also wouldn’t accept wads of tainted cash because I’d been the winner of some bet I didn’t know existed.
Life was not some twenty-dollar wager another person could place.
Hence why I was at home.
Rocca, until further notice, needed to stay here with me.
I could protect her. This house, though it didn’t seem like much, was a veritable fortress.
The layout was done to add as much protection possible while remaining functional.
Bulletproof walls could be extended or retracted to safeguard anyone inside. Entire rooms could be sealed off.
This was my high ground.
As I glanced out the window overlooking the side yard and driveway to the caretaker’s quarters, I spotted the shoddy vehicle Collins had been driving.
There was no way she could continue to use that car.
She’d stick out like a sore thumb should she need to leave the property.
No, she’d have to drive one of my vehicles for now.
Which reminded me. I wanted Ellory to do a deeper background investigation in Collins.
There was nothing to say she was there to cause harm.
Quite the opposite. She looked like a frightened rabbit ready to bolt the whole time she sat in my office.
However, I couldn’t be too cautious.
Slipping my phone from my pocket, I unlocked the device and scrolled through my contacts. When I found Ellory’s number, I hit send. When he answered, I skipped the formal greetings. “Ellory, I need your help.”
“When don’t you, old friend?” The man chuckled. The squeak of a door closing followed Ellory sitting down, I supposed, at his desk. “What can I do for you this time?”
“Interesting way to form a question...” Shoving my hand in my pocket, I paced the length of my office. “I have an interesting case if you’re curious and available.”
He grunted. “Well, I can’t say you don’t have me on the edge of my seat, Miceli. You don’t call me unless something bad has happened. I take it this is the opposite?”
“Quite,” I murmured. “I ran a small background check on a potential employee, however meeting her today, I’m questioning what I found.”
“See, this is why I get paid the big money.” He sighed. “Give me her information. How deep do you want the check?”
“Everything you can find. Also, find out if there is a connection between her and Stephanie Hollis.”
“Shit,” Ellory breathed. “That’s fucking suicide. Do you know how hot the Hollis case is?”
I did. From what I’d gathered, besides what the police investigators wanted people to know, it was a hit.
Stephanie, Kyle, Theo, and Sylvia were supposed to die that day, though they believed now the children were also dead.
I wasn’t too sure. “Yes. You’re the only one who can grease the right palms to find out what’s really going on. ”
“You give me too much credit,” he replied. “But I’ll do it. Something’s been gnawing at the back of my mind about the case since it was splashed all over the news. We’re not getting the full picture.”
Exactly. In our line of work, we didn’t have coincidences. Happenstances got us killed and if there was something amiss with Collins’ background, I wouldn’t put Rocca at risk, even if I did like Collins’ verve.
“I appreciate it. Same rate as usual?” I inquired, readying to send half the amount due so he could get started.
“Of course,” Ellory replied. “In the meantime, if you find anything else out that might help me, pass it along.”
“Sure thing.” After hanging up with my friend, I transferred the money, then exited my office.
Rocca was supposed to be in her room, studying for the day until Collins was settling and preparing for tomorrow.
I knew my daughter was going to have a problem with all of this, but for now, I couldn’t chance what might happen to her when her bodyguard wasn’t looking or wasn’t there to save her.
Did it make me an overprotective, hypervigilant asshole?
Yes. Did I care? No. Rocca was all that mattered to me.
The conversation with my daughter wouldn’t be an easy one.
She was stubborn, like her mother and me.
She liked routine and missed her friends.
No matter how much I knew this course of action was for the best, Rocca had her opinions on the situation.
As I got to the top of the stairs, Benny, one of Rocca’s bodyguards, waited outside her door.
This wasn’t a prison. She could go and come as she chose to.
At the moment, since none of us were sure of how Rocca would react to the news of getting a tutor, Benny waited outside of her room to be sure she didn’t do something stupid.
Like run away.
“How’s it going in there?” I asked, closing the distance between us.
“I’ve only heard her scream once in frustration.” Benny shrugged. “Could be worse.”
The ‘could be worse,’ was coming as soon as I told Rocca I’d found her tutor.
“Well, let’s get this over with.” I knocked on the door before opening it.
Rocca sat on her bed, reading. Her laptop was on her desk, open to the school’s portal for her to attend classes via online.
The black box on her screen, showing she didn’t have access to the program, stared back at me in accusation.
She knew.