Page 112 of Luca
“Ah, nipote,” Nonno grumbled, giving me a look. “What happened?”
His eyes scanned the room sharply before focusing on me. “Luca, my son, you’re crazy,” he muttered. “What has she done to make you kill her?”
I grimaced. “She threatened Margaret and our baby,” I said. All of us looked at the dead bitch. “And she threatened to give Margaret’s life to Marchetti in exchange for his dead brother’s.” Silence followed, Maeve’s lifeless eyes staring at us. “She knew about my deal with Marchetti and arranging a marriage between our families.”
“What deal?” Cassio gritted. “And arranged marriage between who?”
“Little Penelope and Marchetti’s son,” Nonno answered. When Cassio gave him a look, Nonno waved his hand. “Madonna mia, you have gotten too serious since you got married, Cassio. The Marchettis are a powerful family. The most powerful one in Europe, and one of the biggest players in the criminal world. And yet, they are untouchable by NATO, Interpol, DEA, FBI, CIA. Why do you think that is?”
Cassio’s lips thinned in displeasure. “We don’t have any of those agencies after us either,” he snapped.
Nonno refused to be deterred. “You have the DEA after you all the time. Interpol too. Just because they’ve not been able to stick anything on you doesn’t mean they’re not watching.” When Cassio said nothing, Nonno continued, “Marchetti is not even on their radar, and they’re biggest product is human trafficking.”
“See, that right there,” Cassio hissed. “That’s the piece that bothers me.”
“With a marriage alliance, we can bring that to an end,” Nonno declared.
I didn’t bother correcting him that my daughter would never make it down the aisle to make that alliance. I just wanted to save her and Margaret’s life.
Nonno’s bodyguard, Guido, stepped forward. His expression struck me as odd but I chalked it up to this fucked up night. Nobody liked seeing a murdered woman, but this one deserved it.
“I can slip through the window with the body,” Guido offered. “Then make it look like an accident.”
Cassio’s eyes flicked to the fireplace and I followed his gaze. A fire burned steadily. “Burn her?” he suggested.
Guido’s expression darkened. “That will stink and Callahan will recognize the smell of a burning body.”
“Or we wrap up the body and Guido slips out the window,” I suggested, my eyes traveling over the room and spotting a large blanket.
We all shared glances and a terse nod.
“We need to explain her absence,” Cassio said.
“We’ll just say we saw her slip out the door,” I grumbled. “It’s technically true. We just won’t say she slipped out the door dead.”
Ten minutes later, it was as if nothing happened in the library.
No evidence of murder. No evidence of betrayal.
But the secrets hid in corners, remaining with me.
ChapterForty-Two
MARGARET
My heart froze to ice and shattered into a million pieces as I waited for them to leave.
Air swished out of my lungs, my eyes still on the spot where my mother lay just mere minutes ago. She was taken out.
Just like garbage.
Yet, I felt no sadness about my mother’s death. She deserved what she got.
But it was the act of my husband being the one to slice her throat that bothered me. The revelation that he was the one to kill my father. Luca lied to me. The final nail in the coffin of our marriage was that Marchetti was after my daughter.
I glanced at my baby girl who was still feeding, her eyes droopy, as my brain worked vigorously. I couldn’t stay here. I wanted to leave right here and now. I didn’t want to see Luca, nor his brother. Nobody.
Yet, I couldn’t just get up and leave. Not yet.
