Page 26 of The Last Vendetta

I sat, unable to look away. “What do you mean, according to Isabella?”

“She claims he was killed, but for fuck’s sake, Rocco wasn’t aging well.”

“How’d he die?” It had to include suspicious circumstances to have a debatable cause of death.

“Cardiac arrest.”

I narrowed my eyes. Just like Luka had, officially. The autopsy showed traces of poison in my brother’s blood, and he was too young and fit to croak from a natural cause like a heart attack.

Rocco wasn’t. He indulged in food and alcohol. He was winded in fights, out of shape.

“I’ve never trusted that woman,” Gio said roughly. “I wouldn’t put it past her if Rocco died naturally but she wanted to use the news to her advantage.”

“How?” Without Rocco, Dario would be the de-facto leader. But he was younger and handicapped, not a leader figure like Rocco had been.

Damn, Giulia. Instead of wondering how Isabella was handling and twisting the loss of her husband, I quickly grew worried about how Giulia was taking the death of her father.

“To sow doubts. To incite drama.” Gio rolled his eyes. “To insist on sympathy. Having your spouse killed gains more respect than telling everyone about what a weak, old fool they were to die in their sleep.”

“Speaking of spouses dying,” I said, “where the fuck is Cecilia?”

He sighed. “No one knows.”

I grunted. “Fucking hell, Gio. She’s your daughter-in-law.”

“Was,” he argued. “For all of a goddamn hour.”

I tilted my head to the side, not understanding his stance on her absence. “Still, you can’t ask Marcus where the hell she is?”

He narrowed his eyes, seeming annoyed that I’d talk back. “You. You ask Marcus. Better yet, ask Nickolas. I’ll need you to meet with him soon about a drug trade he and Luka were arranging.”

I sighed, nodding and rubbing my brow. Business, business, business. No wonder Luka was a dead-eyed zombie. He never had a chance to live. I hadn’t taken a break from all these duties since they were thrust on me, and all I wanted to do if I could have a moment alone was explore this desire Giulia had instilled in me.

After all these days, I missed her. She’s come to matter too damn much, and as I realized my thoughts were wandering back to her, to the memories of her kisses and her surrender, I knew I had to stop it all.

Now, of all times, I couldn’t be distracted. Gio would only nag me more the longer it took me to find Luka’s killer.

I wanted to reach out to her and check on her, but I couldn’t afford to do so with any personal interest. “Did they have a funeral? For Rocco?”

Gio shook his head. “Isabella wanted it to be a private affair.”

I checked my phone, standing and prepared to take off—again—to speak with a soldier who’d been spying on someone who’d stolen from us recently. “Is that all?” I asked. I wasn’t sure why Gio wanted to personally tell me that Rocco had been killed.

“Did you kill him?”

I slanted my eyebrows, squinting at him. “What?”

“Did you kill Rocco?” he asked.

“No.”

He smirked. “Figures.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“I expect you to find Luka’s killer. And for a moment, when I heard about this, I got my hopes up that you’d done it.”

I rolled my eyes. After talking with Giulia, I saw how stupid it was to assume Rocco was the killer. “If I had, I would’ve been sure to get his confession to it, then told you as soon as it was done.”

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