Page 86 of Balls to the Walls

“I doubt he does the heavy lifting.” I turned to FNG. “So, would you care to fill us in on how you know Rupert and what you were doing with him?”

“I already told you, I was making a film with him.”

“And that’s it? How did you even meet a man like this?”

He didn’t want to tell us, but I wasn’t leaving here until I had some answers.

“Okay, we weren’t exactly making a movie. Well, he thought he was. I was just playing along.”

“And what was your real objective?”

“To understand that, I have to take you back to the beginning.”

“Christ,” Dash muttered. “Not this again.”

“Not the beginning of when I went missing. I mean…I have to take you back to my last job.”

“For OPS?”

“No,” he winced. “When I was working at the vineyard.”

I looked at the man on the screen and then back to FNG. I couldn’t wait to hear how this was all connected.

“I was working in Italy at a vineyard, a very small vineyard that had clients with very discerning tastes.”

“What were you doing in Italy?”

“I was actually there on…” He cleared his throat, glancing away from us. “I was there on my honeymoon.”

I couldn’t have heard that right. FNG never let a woman sleep over, and before his wife, we’d never actually seen him in a committed relationship. But he was married?

“Um…” I was still trying to find the words to ask the right question.

“I wasn’t actually married,” he clarified. “I was supposed to be married. “It was…a tricky situation. We’ll leave it at that.”

“Like marrying a woman because she’s the daughter of a notorious cartel leader?” Dash asked.

“Something like that. Anyway, I was there because I was supposed to be on my honeymoon. Although, the marriage didn’t go through, so I went on my own to enjoy the sights and get a break from all the gossip.”

Gossip? “Who was your fiancé?”

“Her name was Paris.”

“Paris?” I repeated, trying to think of anyone that might be gossiped about in such a way that he would run all the way to— “You mean Paris, Paris?”

He nodded in a roundabout way. “Yeah. It was never meant to be.”

“Wait,” Dash interrupted. “Paris, as in?—”

“As in she was about to inherit millions from her father when he suddenly recovered from his terminal illness and forced his daughter to call off the engagement to a man he didn’t feel was worthy,” I finished. “Holy shit. I can see why you went to Italy.”

“Yeah, I dropped off the face of the earth after that scandal broke. I really did love her. It wasn’t a scam, but since her father didn’t approve of me, there was no way for us to continue our relationship. She didn’t want to lose out on millions of dollars. I guess I wasn’t worth it.”

Shit, this explained so much about FNG. He was a loner through and through, but always with a positive attitude. He just kind of rolled with the punches and kept moving forward.

“So, anyway, I was on my honeymoon. I had just landed at the airport and there was this sign with my name on it. I figured it was part of the package I bought for the honeymoon. I thought I forgot to cancel some services. So, I followed him out to his car and got in the backseat. That’s when it all went to shit.”

“You were forced into being a male gigolo!” I shouted, getting wrapped up in the story.

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