Page 24 of Ruthless Touch

My phone rings, thankfully interrupting my self-loathing session, and I pick it up to hear my father already talking. “So he’ll go later today. Let him know so he can make arrangements.”

“Hello?”

“Ah, Gideon. Good. I was just finishing up with Isaac. How are things there on the beautiful Amalfi Coast?” my father asks, his way of easing into whatever he has to tell me.

I lie and try to conceal how miserable I am. “As beautiful as ever.”

“You sound strange today. Not your usual businesslike self. Something wrong?”

I don’t sound like a machine like usual, so there must be something wrong with me. Nice to know even someone thousands of miles away can pick up on my defectiveness this morning.

“I’m fine. Isn’t it the middle of the night on the island? Or have you and Isaac taken the business on the road?” I ask, eager to get the attention off me and onto any other topic.

“Yes, it’s still night here, but I have plans to make, so I’m up. Your mother wants me to tell you she’s sending you a gift. I’m assuming it’s a birthday present. You know her. You’re a grown man, but to her, you’re always her baby.”

“Great. I’ll look for it. So why are you calling this morning?”

I can’t even attempt to sound happy that he’s making some plans because I know they’ll be affecting me in some way that’s about to throw my daily life into chaos. He knows how much I fucking hate it when he does this.

“Alaric is going to be coming to see you there. He’s got some work to handle for me.”

Instantly, my meeting with Marcello Angeloni and the threat he’s made to our family flashes in my brain. “I wouldn’t suggest that, Dad. Not now.”

“Why not? I need something done, and Alaric is the man to do it. You sound like your mother. She thinks I should give him some time off so he and Sienna can enjoy being together.”

“That’s not it. There’s something else. The new head of the Angeloni family, Marcello, has made it more than clear to anyone who’ll listen that he thinks someone from our family killed his brother. He’s vowed to kill every single Rule. I’ve been trying to get him to see it wasn’t any one of us who shot Lucius, but so far, I don’t think I’ve made much headway.”

“Fine. I’ll come instead. Make sure that suite I like is ready for me.”

Why is he not listening? He’s a Rule, so Marcello Angeloni wants him dead too.

“I don’t think you should. Give it a couple weeks. That’s not a lot of time. Whatever you need Alaric to do can be accomplished later.”

Still, he won’t listen.

“I’m coming. Expect me tomorrow.”

And this day keeps getting better.

“Are you killing people now?” I ask, confused why he needs to come to my hotel at all.

“What? No. Why?” he says in a stunned voice, as if jumping to that conclusion is insane of me.

“Because that’s what Alaric does for the family.”

My father lets out a hearty chuckle, like I said something amusing. “He does other things too now. It’s one of those tasks I’m coming to your little corner of the world for. Not that I can’t kill people. I just don’t have to right now. So expect me tomorrow, and have some good scotch in the suite. You know how I hate flying, and I’ll need some twelve-year-old scotch to make me feel better.”

“Got it. Suite and scotch. Anything else?”

He doesn’t answer for a long moment before finally saying, “You don’t sound happy to hear I’m going to be paying you a visit. Is there something going on that I should know about at the hotel?”

Other than I have a woman living with me I have no interest in talking about, no. Everything in this place runs like clockwork because usually I run like clockwork.

“No. Just had a hard time sleeping last night. It’s made today difficult to get started,” I answer, every word a lie.

“Well, get some sleep tonight because I’m going to expect you to at least have dinner with me while I’m there. Maybe I should grab your brother and bring him along. We could have a nice meal, just the three Rule boys.”

Nice to know he’s taking Marcello’s threat seriously.

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