Page 54 of Beautiful Devil

“Sleep,dolcezza.”

Dio mio.She looks like an angel, lying there so peacefully.

I get ready in record time, and as I’m headed to the door, I stop and look back over my shoulder for one last peek at mywife.

Coming up to my office, I see Maria setting my coffee down on my desk.

“Buongiorno, Fabrizio. Hai dormito bene?”

“Si, grazie. E tu?”

“Certo. Buona giornata.”

And with that, she leaves as quickly as she came in.

Today, just like every day, I have a lot of shit to do. I’m just about to pick up my phone to call Marco when he appears.

“Perfect timing. I was just about to call you.”

He takes a seat and gives me a curt nod.

“I need you to look into Gia’s parents’ backgrounds again and dig deeper on Dante. Find out why he chose to work with Gallo. What was it that made him choose thatstronzo. I want answers, and I want them now.”

Picking up my coffee, I take a sip, savoring the burning liquid as it slides down my throat. When I set it back down on the desk, my eyes raise to look at Marco; I see confusion all over his face. I raise an eyebrow in question, and that seems to do the trick. He’s out of his stupor and finally speaks.

“Did something happen last night with Gia that I should know about?”

“You meanmy wife?” I growl at him.

He raises his hands in surrender and speaks to me like he’s trying to placate a child. “Whoa, Fab, I didn’t mean any disrespect. I’m just trying to figure out why the sudden rush. That’s all.”

I don’t apologize – I’m the fucking Don, for God’s sake – but I dip my head to indicate a truce of sorts. I run a hand down my face before filling him in on Gia’s dream that had my shackles raised.

“Fuck,” he says when I’ve caught him up to speed.

“Yeah, fuck is right. But that’s not all. She also told me how Gallo blames herandher father for the fact that he got caught and is now rotting in prison. He really is a fuckingstronzo. If he wasn’t locked up, he’d be six feet under. Something doesn’t add up. That’s the long and short of why I need you to dig deeper for me.”

“I’ll have Luca look into it.”

“Good. Updates by the end of the day. Anything new on Dante’s movements lately?”

“Nothing new. He’s still laying low. He hasn’t left in the last few days, but staff and visitors come and go.”

“What about his Tuesday trips to Secrets?”

“He hasn’t been back since the time we saw him there.”

“Hmm. He’s a creature of habit. Either something happened, or else’s he’s been spooked. There’s no other way he’d give up pussy. Keep looking into that.”

“On it.”

“What about my shipments? Everything still good to go?”

“Yep. The shipment from Columbia is on for Wednesday at the North Dock at midnight. Luigi and his team will be there at eleven to canvass the place and clear it for bugs.”

“Good.”

We spend the next hour going over shipment details and making sure our teams are debriefed. Marco leaves, telling me he’ll have more information for me later on Gia and Dante. Checking my watch and seeing it’s just after eight, I decide to go check on Gia…just want to make sure she didn’t have another nightmare.

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