Page 33 of Shark Bait

We walk past the pool toward a white cottage with a blue door and two windows with blue shutters. Alessio opens the blue door, but when Shark and I try to enter, he stops Shark with a hand on Shark’s chest. “My office.”

“Give me five,” Shark says.

“Now.”

The men are locked in a staring contest while I’m taking in the warm beiges and teal blues of the interior decor. A large black-and-white sticker in the shape of a palm tree curves on the wall above the couch. There’s a kitchenette and a door that I presume leads into the bedroom.

“This is the cutest,” I say, but when I glance back at the entrance, the men are gone.

ELEVEN

I HAVEN’T TOLD HER WE’RE GETTING MARRIED

SHARK

Giulia’s death changed Alessio. He’s become harder and harder on himself over the years, and some days, I think he blames himself for it, even though he wasn’t at fault. It was an accident.

During his mourning, he became more secretive, more reclusive, and even though he’s emerging from his fortified mental fortress, he’s more cautious, more protective, more vigilant about people he considers his family.

He considers me family. In that way, he’s a bit of a mother hen.

Once Leo started walking, Alessio moved us from Rome to here, where he controls pretty much everything. He imposed a ban on all motorized vehicles, since Guiliana’s death was caused from being hit by a car. I’m here only a few times a year, so I don’t mind the move out of Rome, but Valerina misses the city.

Since she took over Leo’s care, Valerina misses working, and even though she’s a great stay-at-home aunt, she thrives on human contact, company, and meeting new people. I can tell by how quickly she adopted Troy, and I feel bad for not having the time to tell Valerina about Troy. Which resulted in Valerina forcing her hand and prying what she needed to know from Troy. I hope Troy can forgive that.

As I follow Alessio through the mud room and kitchen, Valerina mouths,Good luck.

Past the foyer, on the other side of the house, Alessio enters the office and goes directly to the liquor cart. He pours a whiskey, neat, and I know what time it is. It’s hard time; otherwise, he wouldn’t be drinking whiskey this early in the day.

“Can I have one?” I ask.

He pours me two fingers of whiskey over ice and pops open a small can of caramelized soda, then pours it over the liquor. I don’t take my whiskey neat. I dislike alcohol in general. It impairs my judgment, but since my judgment is already impaired in regard to Troy, I might as well double down on it.

We click our glasses and sip. He doesn’t tell me to sit down, and he doesn’t take a seat at the desk either. He leans a shoulder on the widow frame and peers outside, where sunburned parents drag their kids away from the man who is selling ice-cream from a cooler attached to the back of his bicycle parked in front of the house.

Alessio opens his mouth, clamps it shut, opens it again, closes it. “I’m speechless.”

“I improvised,” I say to explain why I brought Troy back from a mission where I executed over two dozen people that can be traced to me, and now to Alessio along with his family. Yeah, that explanation wouldn’t satisfy his little nephew, let alone Alessio.

He cocks an eyebrow. “You improvised by kidnapping a kidnapping victim?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way.” I would, but he doesn’t need the encouragement.

“Oh no? How would you put it, then?”

I rub the back of my neck. “I gave her the fifteen mil I lifted from the yacht and asked her to come with me.”

“Asked?”

He’s so picky with words all of a sudden. “Okay, told, but…” I shrug. “Same thing.”

Alessio tsks. “That’s not good enough,Miroslav.”

When he uses proper pronunciation of my name while speaking in English, it feels like he wants to bite me. “It’ll have to be enough, Alessio.” I emphasize his name too.

He inhales though his teeth. Yeah, he wants to bite, maybe even shoot me, but Alessio didn’t get this far in life by being impulsive. He got this far because he’s contained himself in the darkest, most dangerous moments of his life. I like this about him.

“What made you take her?” he asks.

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