Page 48 of Ruthless Boss

“Why didn’t you tell me about Lucia? Or should I say, Gia Santini?”

A chilly sensation spills into my gut. I inhale a long breath. Distracting or denying won’t work. I can’t underestimate Massimo’s intelligence. “Because I handled it. Who told you?”

“Rocco went out drinking with me yesterday, and you know he talks when he drinks.”

A twinge of annoyance stabs me. Yep. Rocco is a talkative son-of-a-bitch when he drinks. Being a frequent patron at the strip club where he met Gia, I wonder how much of an easy target he was. He could have mentioned anything about her, and someone could’ve relayed the information to Gia’s husband. But it doesn’t matter anymore.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Massimo insists, leaning over the desk.

Unfazed, I gesture for him to sit. I know Massimo. Showing apprehension will give him power. “I asked her everything. She didn’t know, I could tell. So, I got rid of her,” I say casually, like I’m talking about a worthless stranger.

He shakes his head, still annoyed. “By flying her to California. That’s not what we usually do.”

A weight sits on my chest. I have to tread this conversation carefully. I can’t completely dismiss his concern. Otherwise, it’ll be like giving him free rein to solve the problem himself however he deems necessary. “I wasn’t going to kill her for no reason.”

Massimo frowns. “You’ve done worse for less.”

Truth. I look away, a part of me ashamed for not seeing it through when it came to Gia. But I’m not ready to get into it with Massimo. “Not in this case.”

“What if she paid attention to our operations? What if she has information about our family that she can use against us?”

A knot forms in my throat. He doesn’t know Gia as well as I do. I have to be fair—if I were in his place, I’d wonder the same thing. I look at him square in the eye. “She’s not. Besides, I now have someone who keeps an eye on her. If she meets with anyone sketchy, we’ll know.”

He taps his fingers on the smooth surface of my desk. “Damn it, Dante. We’re supposed to trust each other.”

“Like you trusted me when you found out your wife knew about Alonzo’s recovery and didn’t tell anyone?” I demand.

One of the reasons he married Amara was to take over her family business since her brother was in a coma for years. But when Massimo learned critical information that could jeopardize the standing of our family, he didn’t tell me until his wife was kidnapped along with Andie. Great timing.

Massimo waves me off, gesturing to stop the nonsense. The asshole hates being wrong almost as much as I hate him being right. “I guess you have a point. But Amara never shared any information that could hurt us.”

“She could have—you didn’t know at the time,” I insist. We’ve accepted Amara as one of our own, and I’ll always be grateful for the time she let me stay in their home with AJ. She became a sister to me as we mourned losing Andie and leaned on each other for support. “Listen, Amara is great. She’s one of us now.”

“Yep.” Massimo sighs. Flattery won’t get him anywhere.

I stand, walk over to the console table, and open the bottle of scotch. This conversation needs it. I pour a generous amount of liquor into two tumblers and quickly take a shot of one, wasting no time. “Gia has been through the wringer. Starting over is all she wants. She knows that she’s as good as dead if she does anything to hurt us. She’s not an idiot.”

“Let’s hope,” he mutters.

“I could knock out your teeth for disrespecting her,” I snap, my fingers balling into a fist.

Massimo lifts his eyebrow, a smile playing on his lips like my reaction amuses him. He lifts his hands in surrender. “I want to keep all my teeth.”

“Good. Then let’s focus on what’s important.”

“Have you talked to her about any small details that could help us? Anything she knew about her husband and his dealings?”

“She said he never shared anything with her.”

“Okay. Hmmm.” He drums his fingers on the desk. “What else have you been doing? You look like shit.”

I rub my eyes, aware there are dark circles under them. “I’ve been busy. Colleen’s niece is great, but AJ is still with me most nights. So, little sleep.” I avoid saying I’ve also been getting bad sleep because I miss Gia. That’d be pathetic, and I don’t want to give any of my brothers more ammunition.

My phone buzzes, and I glance at the screen. Randy’s name flashes, the security person I hired. He usually calls me once a week, but I already talked to him a few days ago. So, this must be news.

I lift my index finger to ask for silence from Massimo and take the call.

“Mr. Gallo, I have bad news,” Randy says at the end of the line.

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