Page 62 of His Broken Queen

When I opened the door, Rocco stood on the other side.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi.” I motioned for him to come inside. “Whatever you have to say, Gio can deal with it.”

“It’s something you need to hear from me.” He moved into the study. “You need to hear it now.”

“It sounds serious.” Gio shut the door. “What’s up?”

I leaned against the door, hoping whatever this was could be dealt with quickly, so I could get back to my wife. She was far more important than whatever my new sibling had to say.

“I’ve been going over the footage you sent from the night Stella was murdered.” Rocco ran his hand along his chin. “It’s taken me a couple weeks because I needed to be absolutely sure. I had someone I trust help me enhance certain frames in an attempt to get a clearer shot.”

“What did you find?” Gio asked. “Anything that can help us identify Stella’s killer?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” he said.“I think so.”

“What does that mean?” I asked. “Do you know who did it?”

Rocco nodded.

“You fucking swore to me it wasn’t anyone in your family.” I clenched my fist. “Who did this?”

“I didn’t think anyone in my family could do this. My father would not have ordered this.” He held his hand up. “What happened in your house had nothing to do with what the rest of us are dealing with. This was personal.”

“Who fucking did it?” I shouted. “Just tell me.”

“What did you see on the footage?” Gio asked. “Can you give us a positive ID?”

“The footage was grainy, but my guy was able to enhance it enough for me to confirm my suspicions.” He lifted his sleeve and showed us a tattoo on the side of his wrist. “The tattoo is my family crest. It dates back decades. My brothers and I all got the symbol tattooed in the same place a few years ago.”

“You saw the crest in the footage?” I gritted my teeth. “Vincent?”

“Yes.”

“Fuck!” I yelled. “You’re sure?”

“More sure than I ever wanted to be.” Rocco shook his head. “Even in a mask there was something familiar about the guy in the footage. Once I had a clear image of the tattoo, there was no denying it.”

“Is the second person in the footage Sandro?” Gio asked.

“No, Sandro would never do anything like this. His hands are clean. He’s never killed anyone. We wouldn’t let him.”

“You’re fucking telling me it was Vincent in that footage?”I should have known it was a Torrio. “You know what I have to do now that I know, and yet you came to me anyway.”

I had to make sure this wasn’t another trap.

“I’ve struggled with this decision for a few days,” he admitted. “Vincent is my brother, but ever since that night you came for Lu there has been something different about him. He’s doing a lot of things without my father’s approval. He won’t listen to me.”

“Did you tell him what you know?” I asked.

“No.” Rocco sighed. “He’s out of control. He went too far when he murdered an innocent woman. I don’t know what else he’s capable of.”

“Maybe we could issue a warning,” Gio said. “Now that we have Janero on our side, he could relocate Vincent. Make sure he doesn’t come after anyone else.”

“You want me to show mercy?” I glared at Gio. “Did he show mercy when he shot Stella in the head?”

“God.” Rocco closed his eyes. “I can’t believe this. Why would he do that?”

---