Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 65112 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65112 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
When I get to the office, I’ve got meetings, vendor calls, a venue walkthrough for a future client, payroll approvals, and a stupid number of emails waiting for answers. I don’t have time to be furious with Sebastian.
At least, not until I leave for lunch and see Davis still parked outside my building in his SUV. This is too much.
The rest of the day, I steal glances out the window, but Davis never moves. He stays outside my building all day. I guess I should feel lucky he doesn’t insist on sitting in my office. That would invite a million questions I don’t want to answer.
For the last hour of work, I plot how to shake Davis. But when I walk outside, it’s Sebastian waiting for me. He’s leaning against the same black SUV with his sleeves rolled and his jacket off, watching the door like he knew exactly when I’d come out.
“What the hell is this?” I ask, already irritated.
“I wanted to make sure you got home safe,” he says.
Something in his tone tells me not to push. An icy cold spreads down my spine as I imagine a million things Adrian might have done to put Sebastian on high alert. I wait for him to elaborate, but he doesn’t. So I nod and slide into the SUV. I don’t know why, but it feels like the safer choice.
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.