Page 38 of Tease

“I-I-I miss him,” she choked out.

I didn’t say anything, merely sat down next to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. Rina leaned into me, burying her face in my shoulder. I leaned my head against hers, allowing her to take comfort from me.

“I need to know, Arlo,” she whispered into my t-shirt, “I h-have to know if he was involved in the b-b-bombing. I need the truth.”

“We’ll find it, Rina. I promise. We’ll get to the bottom of this and make sure Martina and your sisters are safe.”

She nodded as she wrapped an arm around my back. We stayed that way for a long time. I’d wait however long it took for her to want to talk. Giving Rina whatever she needed was important to me. I wanted her to know she was loved for who she was. That I would appreciate her for however long she was mine. I hoped we’d find our way when this was all over. If we worked at it, we’d continue to find happiness in each other. I was sure of that much.

My phone rang. I dug my hand in my pocket, noting it was Zayn, and answered.

“That was fast.”

“I set Gil on them… he has a way of getting what he wants out of people.”

Knowing Zayn’s brother, that was hardly surprising. He came across as stoic, but Gil was dangerous underneath that hard shell of his.

“And?”

“Pietro was relatively new to the mafia life when Massimo died and Orsino took him under his wing. One of them said it was a weird coincidence that Pietro died around the same time Orsino was distancing himself from Gennaro and the mafia. Not to mention a body was never found.”

“What do you mean?”

“What I just said. They didn’t find a body. He was presumed dead after being swept away at sea. Gil thinks that means they faked his death.”

“He does? Huh… did they know anything about the bombing?”

“No, which means if it had anything to do with Orsino and Gennaro, it was kept between them. Since they’re both dead, we can’t ask them. However, if this Pietro is still alive, he may know the truth.”

“Then we find out if he is. I think that’s what Rina’s looking for amongst Orsino’s things.”

Rina looked up at me. I could see her agreement in her eyes.

“Good. Keep me informed. And get Rina to dig into that email address while you’re at it.”

“I will.”

I hung up and stuffed my phone back into my pocket.

“We have some work to do.”

She nodded. We were getting closer to the truth now. If this Pietro was alive, then he might be the key to knowing once and for all whether or not Orsino was involved in this car bombing. And if it was the reason Rina, Martina and her sisters were being targeted.

Fourteen

Rina

Arlo squeezed my hand as he rang the doorbell. We’d spent the past couple of days searching for anything we could find on Pietro Marino. It turned out he was living under a new name a couple of hours away. We’d made the two-hour trip to see him in person, not that he knew we were coming. The element of surprise would work in our favour, according to Arlo. If the person who was after us knew about Pietro, then they’d probably spoken to him as well.

A balding man in his mid-forties opened the door. His eyes narrowed as he took me and Arlo in.

“Vince Brown?” Arlo said.

“Yeah, who wants to know?”

“We were wondering if you could help us… see we’re actually looking for a Pietro. You happen to know anything about him?”

He visibly paled and started to back away, pushing the door, but Arlo put his hand out, stopping him in his tracks.

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