Page 106 of Single Malt Drama

Marco

Less than threemonths had passed since I’d sat on the pool deck offloading bits and pieces of the Marchionni Corporation, but it felt like years. Everything had changed, including me. Be it marrying Nico, taking over for Gabe, or the possibility of becoming a father, I didn’t feel like the same guy.

I’d grown up when I wasn’t paying attention, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. In fact, I wasn’t sure how I felt about a lot of things, including my most-trusted bodyguard selling me out to the Lazios.

I pulled Gabe aside before we walked into the villa. “Where is Stuart?”

“He’s locked up in the garage.” His pinched expression told me he wasn’t looking forward to the interrogation any more than I was.

“Let’s get this over with.”

Gabe frowned. “And after you have a little chat? What do you plan to do with him?”

Good question. “I have no freaking idea. I’ll figure it out once I know why he betrayed me.”

He grabbed my shoulder and shook me like he used to do when we were kids. “It’s good that you’re honest with me, but not everyone deserves it.”

“I’ll remember that.” Head high, I walked into the garage like a man who knew what the hell he was doing—at least that’s what I told myself.

Stuart sat in a metal chair in the center of the concrete floor. He had his hands tied and head down, like every prisoner in every mob movie I’d ever seen.

I stopped a few feet from him and folded my arms.

The man I’d trusted to protect me for almost two years burst into tears. “I like Nicolina. I never wanted to put her in harm’s way. I tried to warn you. I told you to put security on her, but you didn’t listen.”

He’s blaming me?I’d thought the same thing, but I wasn’t about to let this son of a bitch turn the tables. “How long have you been working for the Lazios?”

Stuart winced and looked away.

I’d spent enough time with him to know I’d gotten it wrong. “If not the Lazios, then who?”

Gabe stepped forward. “The Abruzzos?”

He shook his head. “Look. I didn’t know what to do. I need this job. She threatened to ruin me if I—”

“She?” My mother. He’s working for my freaking mother. I turned my back to him and stared at Gabe.

It took him a half-heartbeat to catch on. “You have got to be fucking kidding me. Our mother put you up to this?”

“She’s had me reporting back to her off and on since I was assigned to Marco.” He stared at his bound hands.

I nudged his chair with the toe of my boot. “What exactly have you told her?”

“Until the day you flew Nico out of Sicily, there wasn’t much to tell other than one-night stands and selling off parts of Marchionni Corp.”

And there it is. The reason my mother would pay someone to spy on me.She’d never wanted us to leave the mafia, and had lost her mind when she’d found out we were dumping illegal businesses. “Did you by chance tell her which companies we were dumping?”

“Yes.” Stuart glanced between us. “It didn’t seem like a big deal. The sales were public knowledge.”

Gabe muttered enough curses to earn him a week’s worth of Hail Marys and Our Fathers. “I’ll have Shanna dig into the buyers. Ten to one, she bought back everything we sold.”

I wanted to strangle Stuart with my bare hands, but like it or not, he was following freaking orders. My mother, on the other hand, would be dealt with. “You said there wasn’t much to report until I helped Nico. What about after?”

“As little as I could.” He shook his head. “You have to believe me. I tried to help you. She was calling for information two or three times a day. I had to give her something.”

“Had to?” Gabe snickered. “Did it ever occur to you to come to me or Marco about this?”

“She said she’d make sure I never worked again. I have kids and a wife—what was I supposed to do?”

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