Chapter Twenty
Lorenzo
“Anything come up?” Romeo came into the office, his anger barely harnessed.
“Not a damn thing. Who’s at the house with the girls?” I countered. I’d hacked into their bank accounts and emails, but couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. If I had direct access to their computers, I could have looked through those as well. “Do you really think one of them is the leak?”
“Fuck if I know, man.” Romeo shoved his hand through his hair, frustration pouring out of him in waves. “It could honestly be anyone, but I want to rule out the ones I trust most, especially with the safety of my sisters.” Romeo took a deep breath. “Did you ask Bea about her issues with Gino?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’ll try to talk to her tomorrow. She had a rough weekend, and she was practicing for her audition when I left. I didn’t want to distract her.”
“It’s fine,” Romeo said. “I’ll talk to her later. It will probably be better coming from me anyway.” He smirked. “You annoy her too much. I just figured after a weekend away, you guys might have cleared the air between you.”
It took everything in me not to say that we did more than clear the air–we fucked until the air was thick with the smell of sex, but I kept my mouth shut.
Romeo didn’t need the details since it was his sister I was railing all weekend.
He would get the idea when Bianca and I didn’t get a divorce.
Instead, we would get married again with her family present.
When this was all over, I’d talk to Romeo.
For now, his ignorance kept us all a little bit safer for a little bit longer.
“That’s fine,” I muttered, a little agitated that he was free to talk to Bianca without having to hide anything or sneak around.
I sighed and looked at the screen again.
Nothing. There was not a damn thing on Costa or Leone.
I felt relief because, outside of myself and Romeo, we had been leaving the girls in their care when we couldn’t be with them.
Trusting Bianca’s safety to anyone other than myself and her brother was difficult before she was mine.
Now that she was my wife, it was infuriating having to keep my distance and trust someone else.
“For now, I think we keep the guys on them as we have been, but try to adjust as much as possible for them to work in pairs.” Romeo sighed.
“What did Costa and Leone say about tonight and them being away from the house at the same time when at least one was supposed to be there?”
“What could they say?” Romeo shook his head. “They were given orders by my father.”
“Were they together or separate when they came back?” I asked, still not liking that Costa and Leone weren’t together earlier when we were texting Leone.
“They were separate. Costa came back to the house about fifteen minutes after Leone, and he never answered my texts or calls. He said his phone was on silent because his mom relapsed again and was blowing up his phone.”
The hairs stood up on the back of my neck.
Why? “Leone had his phone on. If they were assigned the same task, why were they not together?” I growled.
“Something is off here. Someone is lying. Gino, Leone, or Costa. We already know Gino is a piece of shit and not to be trusted, but until I can feel certain that Costa and Leone are solid, I think we should keep an eye on them.”
“I agree.” He nodded. “They work in pairs.” He hesitated for a moment. “About what Kozlov said about your father–” He left the statement hanging for a long, pregnant pause. “What would have caused my father to kill his own Capo?”
“My dad wasn’t a rat.” I was still a kid when my dad died. Little more than a boy, but I couldn’t imagine my father ratting on anyone, let alone Morelli.
“Did Kozlov give any other details?”
“No, but how the fuck would he have known a Morelli hit went out? Why would he have known or cared to know?” I leaned back in the office chair and let out a groan.
My body ached, I was fucking tired, and I was ready for some sleep, preferably with my dick inside Bianca, but that wasn’t even a fucking possibility right now.
“I swear, the more we try to unravel all of this, the more confusing it gets.”
“Let’s say that Kozlov knew about your father’s death. This happened years ago. That takes all three of them out of it. None of them would have known anything about it. They were kids, same as us.”
“But it doesn’t take their fathers out,” I murmured. “All three of them had fathers working for your father. Leone’s is dead. Rossi’s is in jail, and Costa’s is unaccounted for, presumed dead.”
“Benito Rossi isn’t going to rat on shit. He didn’t turn over my dad when he was offered a deal back then, and his ass has been rotting behind bars for years.” Romeo shook his head. “I don’t see him flipping on the family for anything.”
“So that leaves Costa’s dad. Do we know what happened before he disappeared?” I questioned thoughtfully, but Romeo shook his head. “Rome, one of them is involved. I can feel it in my bones, but I don’t know who or why, and I don’t know what it has to do with their fathers.”
“I know there was a lot of shit that went down back then. That was back before my mom died. I remember her crying all the time because the bastard made her miserable. Hell, he made everyone miserable.”
I looked at the computer again, at all the non-information that I pulled up on Costa and Leone. “There are two people who were around back then besides your dad and Gino that might have some answers.”
“Who?”
“Rossi’s dad, and Costa’s mom,” I murmured. “I say we start with her. See what she knows.”
Romeo scoffed, “She’s a junkie.”
“I’m sure she wasn’t always a junkie, and her husband was around back then. And, if she was trying to score fixes back then, she could have been willing to sell information. I think she’s still worth talking to.”
Romeo sighed but agreed. “Fine. We’ll go tomorrow. In the meantime, go home and get some rest. You look like shit.”
I flipped him off and left the club. My heart wanted to high tail it over to Morelli Manor, but I knew I couldn’t, not yet. Instead, I went to my modest Brooklyn apartment that was only a few blocks from the woman who owned me. I hadn’t strayed far from Brooklyn, so I could stay close to her.
Goodnight, Princess. I sent her a text, knowing she wouldn’t be answering it, and then moved through my apartment, dropping my keys, phone, and gun on the dresser before going into the bathroom and stripping down.
I took a shower and washed off quickly, then grabbed the body wash that smelled like her. I pulled the cap open and held it to my nose as I took a deep breath. Her smell flooded my senses, and I longed to hold her.
Replacing the cap and soap, I put it back on the shelf and got out. I needed sleep because tomorrow was another damn day, and I had to figure out where our leak was and how the hell I was going to get this shit handled so I could be with Bianca.
***
I woke up at seven when my phone chirped, signaling I had gotten a message.
A grin spread across my face when I saw Bianca’s name across the screen.
She’d sent me a morning selfie of her in her dance outfit.
Her hair was up in a bun, she had a flowing dress that the bodice was skin tight, but the skirt danced around her calves in wispy waves.
Bianca: Morning practice. Hope to see you later.
I grinned. Oh, she’d be seeing me later.
All nine fucking inches of me. I was hard as a rock seeing her in her dance outfit.
I was getting out of bed when I realized what she’d said.
Dance practice. Who the fuck was taking her?
I called her phone quickly, set it on speaker, and laid it on top of the dresser so I could get dressed while we talked.
“Hello?” she answered after the second ring.
“Morning, Princess,” I said gruffly. She’d picked up, so she wasn’t at practice yet. Hopefully, she hadn’t even left the house yet.
“Hey.” I could hear the soft smile in her voice through the phone.
“Is Rome taking you to practice?” I asked while I pulled on a pair of dark denim jeans.
“No,” she scoffed, sounding perplexed. “He never takes me to practice.”
“Who’s with you?” I asked quickly, maybe a little too harshly.
“Massimo.” I could hear the confusion in her voice.
“And?”
“And what?”
“Bea, change of rules. Unless it’s Rome or me with you, two bodyguards at all times.” I tugged a shirt over my head and reached for my jeans, quickly pulling them on.
“Why?”
“Until all of this is over, Bea. Two guards unless Rome or I are with you,” I declared as I was yanking on my socks and boots. “Where are you right now? Are you still at home or are you at the studio?”
“I’m already at the studio. I missed three days of practice over the weekend, and the audition is next week. I texted Massimo last night to see if we could get here early this morning. He agreed and came to get me.”
Fuck. Rome was going to talk to the guys this morning. He must not have had a chance to. “I’m on my way. Do not leave the studio, Bea.”
“I won’t.” She hesitated. “Lorenzo, do I have a reason to be worried right now?” she whispered the question into the phone.
“No, Princess,” I lied. I had no idea if she should be worried about Costa or not. “Just don’t leave. I should be there shortly.” I disconnected the call and dialed Rome as I left my apartment. Her studio was about twenty minutes away from her house. That was twenty minutes too far.
“Yeah,” Romeo answered on a yawn. “It’s early, asshole. This better be important.”
“Your sister went to the studio at the asscrack of dawn this morning with Costa. Alone,” I barked into the phone.
“She’s there now with him.” I wanted to throttle someone, though it was nobody’s fault but my own.
I should have made sure to tell her not to go anywhere, even with her guards, by herself.
“Is the outside security already in place?”