Page 57 of Ruthless Mafia Daddy

I took a large gulp of the champagne, suddenly wishing it was something stronger. I wondered how Arielle would react to my proposal. She loves me, of that much I was certain. But marriage was a completely different topic. While she has never mentioned anything about kids and the future, she wasn’t averse when I brought them up. She even offered a few contributions and paidattention to suggestions. That has to count for something, but it did nothing to calm my nerves. I, Mikhail Ivanov, was nervous. It was almost laughable.

Jasmine returned to the lounge with a few boxes, and she set them on the table in front of me. “These are some of our original works. They all have gold bands and a giant rock, as you requested, and you won’t be seeing them on anyone’s finger, not even the president’s wife.”

The first was quite beautiful, but it didn’t resonate with me. The second was a bit too much, and the third too simple. I was already certain I’d have to check out a different store when she opened another velvet red box, and I knew I had found the one.

It had a simple gold band molded to resemble a flower vine, with a huge oval-shaped diamond resting on the prongs. I tilted the ring to the side, watching as it reflected light from every corner of the room. This was it. This is perfect.

“I’ll take it,” I said, returning the ring to Jasmine and reaching for my vibrating phone with my other hand.

“Don’t you have the most perfect timing in the world.” I held the phone to my ear, and on cue, Jasmine exited the room with the boxes.

“Where are you?” Lorenzo asked, his tone urgent.

“Manhattan. Why?”

“There’s something you need to see, it’s urgent.”

“On a scale of 1-10?”

“1000,” he replied, and I felt my pulse slow down.

“Did something happen? Was there an attack? Is Arielle okay?” I fired question after question, but he wouldn’t say anything other than how I should get to his house soonest.

I deposited a check to Jasmine with an extra tip for her help and made my way to Enzo’s. A funny trend of something coming up whenever life was becoming too good was slowly happening in my life, and I did not appreciate it.

******

“Remember how all the attacks this year ended up being connected?” He queried, pacing his library.

“Didn’t we deal with that already?” I replied, growing increasingly antsy with his pacing and questioning.

“Something about the last guy didn’t make sense to me. I questioned him when you left him with Benjamin and me, but he still felt off, so I went digging.” He pulled out a remote from his drawer and turned on the large screen behind him.

My blood went cold as a face I had long forgotten filled the screen. Grey hair had replaced brown hair, wrinkles were carved deep into his face, and his perfectly straight nose was now bent at a very odd angle. Henry Kincaid, I’d recognize him if he came in a different skin.

“He’s supposed to be dead. My grandfather made sure of that.”

“Clearly, he must’ve survived somehow,” Enzo said, leaning on his table.

A lot of things were going on in my head, and the events were finally connecting. The attack on my club and the explosion at the port. He always wanted the port. “How did you find him?”

“I dug deep into Adam’s life, and he has no family,” Enzo said, handing me a file. I quickly took it from him and started perusing while he continued giving me the back story.

“He’s an orphanage kid who got into drugs a little too early and was sent to rehab. He got out of rehab and became worse, so he was sent to a juvenile prison. He was released when he turned eighteen. He couldn’t return to the orphanage and had no qualifications, so he took to life on the streets. The last guy had a similar story.”

“So, he’s using homeless people with no family to carry out his dirty work?” I asked, lifting my eyes from the file.

“I guess it’s less messy when they have no one looking for them. They can disappear without a trace.”

The bastard was crafty. I would give that to him. Pick up some desperate junkie, pump them up with supplies, promise them a better life, and send them off to their death.

“Anyways,” he continued. “Our last guy was quite the computer geek, and he looked to be very interested in his contractor. I was able to hack into his system and find some information on Henry. Apparently, he seems to have taken an interest in the orphanage.”

The slimy bastard. How better for a predator to hide itself than amongst its prey? He had always been involved with trafficking and offered my grandfather a price to let him conduct his business through our ports, but trafficking was one thing my family didn’t dabble in. Henry wasn’t happy with my grandfather’s refusal and proceeded to organize a takeover, which led to his supposed demise. And here he was, a decorated patron for an orphanage.

“What else did you find?” I queried, running the mental gymnastics of what it was going to take to bring Henry down. It would take a lot. He was easily one of my grandfather’s biggest adversaries.

“I’m still on it,” he replied, pulling up another screen on the monitor that showed a ninety-five percent downloaded file in progress. “I called as soon as his face came up, and I confirmed he was still alive. Hopefully, this gives us all we need or, at least, most of it.”

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