Page 61 of The Hitman's Secret Baby
"I don't scare easily," Giovanni says, eyes gleaming. "Besides, you've already got a reputation, Moretti. I'm just here to learn."
I ignore that and glance at Cristiano. "Is this what you pulled me back for?"
Cristiano shakes his head. "No. That's just the appetizer."
Giovani sits across from me without asking, plucks a grape from the silver tray between us, and pops it into his mouth like this is his home and I am the guest.
"I hear there's been unrest lately," he continues. "Little rumors in Palermo. Small fires in Venice. And now this thing with Valentina."
I still. He watches me like he was waiting for that. "What thing with Valentina?" My voice is even, flat.
Giovanni lifts his shoulders in a slow shrug. "We just heard, it's such a shame. Valentina is missing."
I stand. He does not flinch at the sudden movement, in fact, he only smiles wider.
"You hear anything else," I say, reaching for my jacket, "you bring it straight to Luca."
"Of course." He rises too. "But Enzo?"
I pause at the door.
"There's a wind shifting," he says softly. "Try not to be on the wrong side when it does."
I leave without answering, boots striking hard against the marble, my mind already piecing things together, the most urgent of them being the need to talk to Luca immediately.
I make it halfway to the inner corridor when I hear my name.
It is one of Luca's soldiers, Sal, jogging up behind me, his phone in hand and his face pale.
"You need to see this," he says, shoving the device into my hand.
The screen is showing the feed from a news station.
Grainy footage.
A smoking car near a bend in the road just outside the city.
Flames pouring out from under the hood, the chassis crushed beyond recognition.
The chyron crawls slowly and mercilessly beneath it.
"Fatal car crash outside Nuova Speranza. No survivors found. Sources confirm one of the passengers was Aria Lombardi, recently associated with the Salvatore estate."
I don't hear the rest.
My heart's pounding too hard.
The blood rushing in my ears drowns out everything but the roar of disbelief.
No.
She can't be.
She was just?—
I feel the noise inside me before I even realize I'm moving.
Someone says my name, but it's too far away, too soft.
