Page 20 of His Broken Queen

“I’d like to speak with her,” he said.

“That’s not going to be necessary,” Rocco answered before I could. “She wasn’t there and she doesn’t know anything.”

“We’d like to see the footage from your security cameras at your house,” Carson said. “It’s crucial in this investigation.”

“You’ll need a warrant for that,” Rocco said. “With specific dates. Tonight’s footage only.”

“Why, Mr. Torrio? Are you afraid we’ll find something else?” Carson asked. “I’m sure Mr. Bilotti doesn’t have anything to hide.”

Carson was baiting me, and of course, he thought a criminal like me wasn’t as smart as an educated federal agent.

“These people could have been casing your house for a few days,” he said. “You do want to find out who did this, don’t you?”

“I’ll tell my security team to hand over the last few days of footage,” I said. “Will that help?”

“Very much.” Carson took out his phone. “I’ll head to your house now.”

“I’ll meet you there,” Rocco said. “In case you have any questions.”

“I’m sure we’ll have plenty of questions.” Carson headed to the hallway. “Tell Lu I’m thinking of her.”

“Don’t think about my wife,” I mumbled as he exited the penthouse. “We need to do something about him.”

“I can handle him tonight, but if you hand over that footage, it will show you and Lu entering the house. We won’t be able to protect her from questioning then.”

“It’s been taken care of,” Gio said. “As far as the Feds are concerned, the cameras were disabled a few days ago. We don’t know why. Maybe the burglars did it?”

“That could never happen in my house, but Morgan doesn’t need to know that.” I took a long sip from my glass, but the alcohol did nothing to relax me. I needed to be close to Luciana.

“Clever,” Rocco said, “You’re creating a set up for a home invasion.”

“They were wearing masks.” When I thought about the footage I had seen on my security cameras, I was filled with rage. “There were two of them. They followed Stella in when she brought the cake.” I closed my eyes, wishing the vodka would take hold of me. “Luciana can never know Stella knew it was coming.”

Rocco and Gio nodded in agreement.

“We need to figure out who sent this message,” I said. “The longer it takes, the colder the trail will get.”

“I’ll call you when I get to your house and let you know what’s happening,” Rocco said.

“Thank you.” I turned and gazed out at the windows, looking down at the bustling city.

When Gio returned from seeing Rocco out, he joined me by the window.

“I’m going to go and check on Luciana.” I finished the rest of the vodka in my glass. “Why is she in the master bedroom?”

“I never made the move.” He shrugged. “The guest bedroom is fine.”

“Why didn’t you switch bedrooms when I moved out?”

“I wasn’t sure where the marriage thing was going to lead, I guess. Then there was the whole betrayal clusterfuck, and I figured if you didn’t kill her, you’d get divorced and come back here.”

“I’m not getting divorced.” I looked into my empty glass. “I’m not going to kill her either.”

“I know.” He smiled. “I’m glad you have her.”

“Me too.” I shook my head. “Even if I do owe the fucking Torrios for that.”

“You don’t trust Rocco,” he said.

---