Chapter Thirty-Nine Leo
As I stood in front of my desk eyeing the new blueprints for the casino, I couldn’t help feeling like I was master of the universe. Okay, so maybe I was master of my own little corner of the universe. No matter what, it felt fucking amazing to be one step closer to making my dreams come true.
Of course, my excitement was tempered by the conversation I’d had with Drea last night.
After I finished dinner, I’d tried putting her at ease by calling Gianni to get him on the case.
When I’d come to bed, I found Drea already asleep.
I hoped Gianni would have news for me soon, so I could call her.
Without knocking, Gianni swept through my office door. I stared at him in surprise. “What brings you to Philly?”
“I didn’t want to risk giving you the information over the phone.”
With a low whistle, I said, “That does not sound good.”
He handed me a folder. “Your competition on the adjacent property isn’t Grant Laborteux.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Well, it’s an alias for Vincent Moreno.”
“Fuck,” I groaned.
It was one thing to try to outbid an outsider for the land. It was quite another to potentially double-cross an investor whose wife was the daughter of Edoardo’s enemy.
“Do you think it would help if I reached out to him?”
“I guess it couldn’t hurt.”
Nodding at him, I said, “I’m probably going to need your expertise to track down the number.”
After taking out his iPad, he said, “I’m on it.”
Gianni’s hacking skills were infamous. He was one of the best on the East Coast. That’s why his role in the family was strictly cybersecurity and technology.
Silence echoed through the room. I didn’t know how long it would take for him to locate Vincent’s real number. I’m sure, like us, he had numerous accounts and burner phones.
“Got it.”
After dialing it, I mused, “Here goes nothing.”
“Hello?” Vincent demanded.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Moreno. This is Leandro Caruso.”
“How did you get this number?”
I grinned into the phone. “Let’s just say I have talented associates.”
“What do you want, Neretti?”
“Let’s not play games, Vincent. You sent a message to my father-in-law for my wife.”
Silence crackled over the line. “Did she pass the note to you?”
“Actually, she only delivered the message.”
“I see.”
“Obviously, I’m not going to back down.”
“Is that right?”
“Look, I’m willing to make you a very lucrative offer just to walk away. I’ll even overlook you sending a warning to my father-in-law.”
“Trust me, Mr. Neretti, there isn’t anything you could entice me with to let Edoardo Caruso’s son-in-law run a casino in my father-in-law's territory.”
“Vincent, you and I both know my casino will not be in Ricci territory.”
“But the adjacent property you want so badly is.”
“You’re right. I don’t just want it–I need it. So now that I’ve laid my cards on the table, let’s find a resolution.”
“Did you know Edoardo Caruso was the man who killed my mother?”
Fuuuuck. This wasn’t happening. Vincent was an outsider. How was it possible his mother had any ties to Caruso?
After exhaling a breath, I replied, “No, I didn’t. Considering what an enormous bastard he is, I can’t say I’m too surprised.”
“She worked for him as a personal secretary after my dad left. When she got pregnant, he forced her to go with him to a butcher. She ended up dying two days later of sepsis.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Edoardo,” I gritted out.
“As you can see, there’s not enough money in the world you can offer me to allow anything connected to Edoardo close to our territory.”
I jerked a hand through my hair. “I have my own reasons, but I can assure you that I loathe Caruso just as much as you do. He gets nothing from my casino. It is mine and mine alone.”
“There is no casino for you, Neretti. Have a good day.”
When he hung up, I flung my phone onto my desk. “Motherfucker!”
“Jesus, what a mess,” Gianni muttered.
“There has to be a way around this.”
“Maybe it’s time to find another property,” Gianni suggested.
“Seriously? I’ve spent the last three months working on this deal. Now I’ve uprooted not only my life, but my pregnant wife’s.”
Gianni leaned forward in his seat. “There was another reason why I wanted to talk to you in person. Rafe and I are concerned.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re too close to this project to be objective. The Leo I know would’ve said fuck it when the first ream of red tape became a problem. I don’t like any of this–the alias, the ties to the Riccis, the dead mother.” He gave me a pointed look. “There’s other cities besides Philly, Leo.”
A pained breath rattled through my chest. “Drea tried talking me out of it last night too.”
“She did?”
I nodded. “She was spooked.”
“Maybe you should listen to her.”
Rubbing my hand over my face, I shook my head forlornly. “Now I have to start all over, and I won’t have Edoardo’s help. He really helped make it so much easier.”
With a grunt, Gianni said, “A little too easy.”
“What do you mean?”
“What if he set you up to fail as some sort of sick revenge for what happened with Drea?”
“Holy shit.”
“Do you feel me?”
“Yeah, I do.” Rage started building with me. “That makes so much sense. From a business standpoint, there’s been no reason for all the setbacks and red tape, especially this bullshit with the adjacent property. It only would’ve happened if someone was making it happen.”
“And the only one who could possibly be doing that would be Edoardo.”
“Fuck!!” I shouted.
After popping out of my chair, I started pacing around. And then I froze. Grabbing my phone, I fired off a text to Gianni.
Could my office be bugged?
It’s a possibility.
Find me one of your best sweeping crews.
Absolutely. Give me a day or two to try hacking into Edoardo’s accounts. I’ll see if I can find any communication chains.
Thanks, bro.
Gianni nodded and rose from his chair. “I’ll catch you later,” he said aloud.
“Take it easy.”
Once I was alone, I picked up my phone to text Drea.
I’m pulling out of the casino deal.
Instead of texting back, Drea called me. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“What did you find out?”
“I can’t really talk about that right now, but I’ll fill you in over dinner.”
“Oh Leo, you can’t imagine how happy this makes me.”
“I know, babe.”
“I love you so much.”
“I love you, too.”
My secretary, Mariella, poked her head in my door. “I’ve got to go. See you soon.”
After I hung up, I waved Mariella inside. She held out a manila envelope to me. “This just came for you.”
“Thanks.”
As she strode out of my office, I eased down in my chair and prepared for potentially more bad news. After popping open the metal prong on the envelope, I slid out the contents. My breath hitched at an enlarged photo.
It was Drea and some hulking blond jock-looking guy on a dance floor. Her leg was thrown over his hip while his head was buried in her cleavage. Seeing someone else with his hands on my wife sent rage convulsing through me.
No, it couldn’t be. Drea would never cheat on me. She loved me. She’d married me and was having my child.
With a shuddering breath, my gaze fell on a time stamp in the corner that was circled in red. It stood out because it was like a week after the bombing at Inferno, which meant it was before we were married.
Tossing it onto the desk, I stared down at the next paper. It was test results from a clinic.
A Planned Parenthood in Philadelphia.
Every molecule in my body shattered, sending a harsh shudder through me.
It was the results of a pregnancy test dated the week before our wedding.
Drea was pregnant when we married.
Luca wasn’t mine.
With a shaky hand, I flicked to the next page. It was a typed note.
I can assure you this is all true and not manufactured. Should you doubt me, ask your father-in-law.
He knows.
If you continue to pursue the property, your wife’s secret will become known to the world.
I don’t know how long I sat there staring at the letter. Although he hadn’t seen fit to sign it, I knew it was Vincent. Who the hell else would be trying to blackmail me into silence?
Rising out of my chair, I grabbed up the contents and stuffed them back in the envelope. After storming out of my office, I didn’t even stop at Mariella’s desk.
“Cancel my afternoon,” I called as I started for the elevator.
“Yes, Mr. Neretti.”
After glancing at Drea’s tracer on my phone, I instructed Gulio to head to the gallery. It was the longest twenty minutes of my life. My mind kept the same thoughts on repeat.
Luca wasn’t mine.
He belonged to a stranger.
Drea had lied to me every single day for the last eight months of our marriage.
When we arrived at the gallery, the SUV had barely come to a stop before I flung open my door. As I stepped across the sidewalk, I caught the eye of the bodyguard standing outside. “Open the door,” I commanded.
Nodding, he quickly typed the code in the keypad. After the turn of the mechanized lock, he held the door open for me.
At the sound of the tinkling bells overhead, Drea called, “Be right there.”
I didn’t wait for her to come to me. Instead, I stalked through the aisle, my gaze bouncing left and right. Finally I found her watching two workmen in blue coveralls hoist a massive painting with an ornate gold frame onto the wall.
When she whirled around, her face lit up at the sight of me. “Oh my God. What are you doing here so early? Are we going to celebrate with an Early Bird special?” Waving me over, Drea said, “Look at the Caserae Feliciano that just arrived. I can’t believe they’re letting me house it.”
“Leave us,” I commanded the men.
Drea’s face fell. “Leo, what’s wrong?”
I didn’t speak until I heard the sound of the door shut. “A man just had this delivered to my office to blackmail me off the land project.”
After shoving the envelope at her, I waited silently as she opened it. The moment she saw the picture of her and the other man, the color drained from her face. In a pained voice, she said, “I can explain.”
“There’s more.”
With trembling hands, she shifted the picture to the note. Drea only read a few lines before the papers fluttered from her fingers to the floor. When she finally dared to look at me, tears pooled in her eyes.
“Leo, I’m so sorry.”
“So you don’t deny it?”
She shook her head. “I’ve lied to you long enough.”
Her words gutted me. Even though I’d been presented with all the evidence, there was still a small part of me that hoped it wasn’t true. That Vincent was just fucking with me by manufacturing lies.
But Drea’s admission had stripped me of all hope. Luca wasn’t mine, and Drea had been betraying me since the day we married.
“Who is Luca’s father?”