Page 51 of Courting Danger

A bit of excitement came when the greenhouses sprinklers suddenly turned on, watering the various plants and the guests as well. Everyone shouted, ducking under jackets and purses in an attempt to stay dry. The light spray raining down on them drifted through the air like mist, clinging to everything it touched.

Alex didn’t even try to hide. He just stood under the falling water and laughed.

“Well, I guess that’s my father’s way of telling me to get on with it.” The sprinklers shut off just as Alex raised his glass, toasting the sky as if it were a person.

Everyone followed him, though not everyone drank. Many were too suspicious to consume strange food or drink, even among their so-called family.

Considering what had happened to Alex, that was probably a good idea.

Alex took a quick sip of his own champagne, glancing toward me with a smirk, then set his glass aside.

“Now, I’m sure everyone is wondering what happens now. There has been some... confusion these last few weeks. Please rest assured, I am fully capable of taking over my father’s position. In fact, I plan to start by reviewing all my father’s previous dealings and plans in order to become better acquainted with the responsibilities expected of me.” His expression twitched into a half-smile, and light glinted off the new silver ring in his eyebrow. “I assure you, no detail will go overlooked.”

While the words sounded reassuring, a murmur of discontent passed over the crowd. Most people knew what Alex really meant.

No one was safe.

Not even those previously approved by David Russo. Any business that Alex didn’t like would be dealt with accordingly.

Lorenz Mariano, Alex’s uncle, looked especially upset, gripping his champagne glass so hard that the stem was in danger of breaking. I kept an especially close eye on the man and my fingers briefly twitched toward my gun.

However, Alex’s uncle gave them no problems.

Instead, it was Valente who stepped forward from where he’d been hiding under the shade of a dogwood tree. His shoulders were stiff, as if his skeleton had been replaced with iron. It threw off his gait, so he didn’t move with the same dangerous grace as usual.

“While we’re all glad to hear that you’re taking your role seriously, Alex. I think I speak for everyone when I say that a funeral is not an appropriate time for business.”

A muscle in my jaw twitched as I ground my teeth together. Referring to Alex by his first name in such a formal setting, like he was addressing a child, was a blatant sign of disrespect. The man was too smart to have done such a thing by accident. He was intentionally trying to undermine Alex in front of all their family and allies.

“Oh, come now,” Ghita interrupted, stepping up next to Valente. “Where else will he get a chance to address all of us? The family rarely gets together at the same time. I’m sure Uncle David would understand.”

She slapped Valente on the shoulder in what looked like a friendly gesture, but the hit was unusually hard. Even from a distance, I could tell she’d put all the strength of her five-foot frame into that slap.

Valente shouted in surprise and staggered, grimacing as he clutched his shoulder.

My hand made contact with my gun. I was ready to charge forward, but Alex gestured for me to stay put.

With narrowed eyes, Alex left the frame of the rose trellis to stalk toward Valente with slow, measured steps.

“Something wrong, Valente? Are you injured?”

Before the man could answer, Alex grabbed the front of his shirt, popping off the buttons as he tore it open. There was a moment of struggle, but Alex managed to remove enough of Valente’s jacket and shirt to reveal his shoulder wrapped in bandages.

Valente slapped Alex’s hand away and pulled his clothing back into place.

“It’s nothing. Just an accident.”

“Oh, I agree.” Alex tried to prod Valente’s shoulder again, but the man dodged out of the way. “The gunmen at the aquarium didn’t mean to shoot you. That’s where it happened, right? When you were covering us so Garrison and I could escape?”

The rest of the greenhouse had gone so quiet, Alex and Valente may as well have been the only two people present. Even the plants seemed to be holding their breath.

As the pair stared each other down, I snuck a little closer, so I stood at Alex’s back. From that angle, I couldn’t see Alex’s face, but the other man’s tone of voice spoke volumes.

“When we questioned the survivors from that little shootout, they said they accidentally shot the man who hired them.” Instead of the serious tone one would expect from a person accusing someone of betrayal, Alex spoke with a light tone of someone imparting a fun bit of gossip. “At first, I thought that was a lie meant to point us toward the Bianchi family, but then I realized something.”

His sentence turned cold at the end, like stepping through a hole in the ice and falling into dark water below.

“My mother is good at what she does.” He passed a nod to the woman in question standing just a few feet away. “She knows how to get a confession out of someone. She would never fall for a lie, so what the gunmen said must be true. They did accidentally shoot their employer, and it was not the Bianchi family. So, do you want to tell us, in your own words, where you got that bullet wound?”

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