After dropping Camilla off at the hospital and staying for a few minutes to check on Cora, I had to leave to get to Club Forty-Seven. I’ve been very family-oriented over the last few weeks, and Alvize has picked up a lot of the slack, but things need to get done. Points need to be made, and I need to find out if any of my men have found out anything about the bakery and coffee shop.
“Parker.” I blow out a thick cloud of cigar smoke. “Take a seat.”
Parker nods, wiping his palms on his jeans as if he is nervous. He takes a seat and nearly knocks over a twenty-thousand-dollar vase by bumping into it. “S-Sorry,” he stutters, righting the expensive object before it can fall. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
“Are you nervous, Parker?” I ask, pouring myself a glass of sparkling water. “Do you want some?”
“Please,” he says quickly.
Humored, I pour him a glass too and hand it to him, and he chugs half of it down, then burps.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Luca. Excuse me.”
I chuckle, leaning back and unbuttoning my jacket to get more comfortable. “Don’t worry about it. I take it you haven’t had sparkling water before.”
“No, sir.”
“Well, now you know not to chug it,” I advise, and he nods, gulping so hard I see his entire throat move.
We sit in the shadowed corner of my own private suite overlooking the dance floor. There’s soft music playing to keep a calm atmosphere until the club opens in a few hours. A server appears on top of the steps holding a tray filled with two silver platters.
“It’s dinner time. I figured we could eat while we talk business, Parker.”
“Is this like a last meal or something? Mr. Bianco, I haven’t done anything. I swear, I wouldn’t be disloyal. I love it here.”
I lift my hand to silence him. “You’re fine. This isn’t your last meal.” I chuckle. “Am I that bad?”
“You’re terrifying, and then you want to talk to me up here, alone, without context, giving me food…it’s a little unnerving,” he says honestly.
I like that.
I rub the end of my cigar in the ashtray and press a button on the coffee table that pushes the top higher like a makeshift table so we can eat.
The waiter places our food down and lifts the silver lid.
“I hope you don’t mind steak and a baked potato. I needed something hearty.”
“No. It’s my favorite. Thank you.”
We dig into our food, and the moment is filled with awkward silence. Parker continues to lift his eyes to me.
I sigh, dropping my fork and knife on my plate. I take a swig of water and fold my hands in my lap. “You’ve been doing a big job for me, Parker. I don’t think you know how important it is.”
“Yes, sir. I do, sir. Your family is important, and you want to keep them safe.”
“Have you gotten anywhere? Do you have any updates?”
Parker nods. “A little. It isn’t much to go on. Whoever is vandalizing the shops knows how to turn the security footage off and on, but I did follow Taylor, the guy you told me about who owns that bookstore.”
I lean in, placing my elbows on my knees. “And?”
“He did not visit his mom. His mom died about five years ago.”
“He could have gone to her grave,” I add, wanting to give options.
He shakes his head in disagreement. “He didn’t. I followed him to a rundown house.” He unzips his bag and pulls out a file, then hands me a stack of pictures.
“These are taken very high.”
“I climbed a few trees so I could stay out of their sights.”
“I like your dedication.”
“Thank you, sir.” He points to one photo where Taylor is shaking hands with another man. “I’m not sure who that is yet due to the glimpse of the side profile, but there is a tattoo on his hand. A ‘B’ crossed out. I think Taylor works for this man, and I think whatever fortune Camilla knows about, they want it.”
My blood runs cold when I stare at the tattoo. “That’s impossible,” I whisper. It has to be someone else. It can’t be him.”
“Do you know him?” Parker asks.
“I used to. It’s been a very long time.” The longer I stare at the picture, the more I realize how much danger Camilla is really in. “This is my stepbrother.” The B tattooed on his hand is the day my father divorced his mother. It was so long ago. I think I was 18 when my father met a younger woman. They weren’t married long. Maybe three months.
I thought nothing of it when they got divorced. She was just another woman breezing in and out of my life. I didn’t know her son very well, but he didn’t like my father or me that much, I know.
I’ll never forget when he came home with the B tattooed on him because he was excited he was a Bianco. It didn’t matter if he was just a kid. There’s someone somewhere that will do anything for money and tattoo whoever is part of that.
But then our parents split, and he got an X tattooed over the B.
Then, I never saw him again.
It was like he had disappeared from our lives for good. I haven’t given him another thought since he walked out the door. I see he has a vendetta.
“I didn’t know you had siblings,” Parker says in surprise.
“I don’t,” I clarify.
I toss the pictures down on the coffee table and rub my mouth. “So Taylor works for him. That makes sense as to why he randomly popped up out of nowhere.”
“Yeah, about that. I don’t have a lot of information on him, but the bookstore? The bookstore was owned by someone else, who went missing three months ago. Poor guy is probably dead.”
“And that’s how they were able to get the bookstore. If it was calculated, but how did they know the bakery would be across the street?”
“I think that was luck. Cora was across the street first.”
“Her father got sick, and everyone heard it wouldn’t be long before he died. Rumor spread about his daughter coming to town, and I think they prepared for that, so they aren’t stupid.”
“No, Xavier never was,” I mention his name for the first time since I was a teenager. “Xavier wants the fortune. The fortune he never got from my family. I wonder if he has always known about Camilla. I can’t help but wonder if there’s something I don’t know.”
“I’ll find out for you, Mr. Bianco.” He finishes off his steak and sips his water.
“You did good work, Parker.” I toss him a brick of hundred-dollar bills. “For your work and discretion.”
“My lips are always sealed, sir,” he states.
“You’ll do well here, Parker. I look forward to your next update.”
“Thank you, Mr. Bianco. I’ll try to get another update for you within forty-eight hours.”
“Thank you.” I sit back, watching Parker vanish down the steps and the folder with my stepbrother’s picture in it mocks me.
I should have killed him a long time ago. Family members who believe they didn’t get what they deserved are always the greediest. Leaving loose ends was stupid on my father’s part, but he didn’t want any harm to come to them.
And now harm is coming to my family because of that decision. If my father were still alive, I’d be afraid of what I’d do. Xavier always had a darker soul, menacing and deceiving. He wanted more, and he thought he’d get it with my father.
When his mother tried to steal from my father, he realized she never loved him at all and wanted him for his money, so he ended things.
Why wait until now? What’s his plan? There are so many questions and not enough time to answer them because if there is one thing I’ll make sure about, it’s that Xavier and Taylor won’t get near Camilla again.
I grab my phone and call Alvize, who is downstairs taking inventory. “Alvize, I’ll be back in a couple of hours. I need to go see Camilla.”
“No problem. I can hold the fort down until you return.”
“Thank you.” I hang up and stand, brushing my fingers through my hair as I think about what I’m going to say to Camilla to make her see that Taylor is the enemy.
Was it Xavier who tried to kidnap her the other day? I can’t have her leave my side. Camilla must be with me at all times. The kids too. If anything happened to them because I turned my back, I’d never forgive myself.
I head down the steps and get lost in my thoughts as I stroll into the underground garage. I try to call Camilla, but she doesn’t answer, and I pick up my pace, almost running to the car. I call her again.
And again.
Still, no answer.
“Fuck, Camilla. Where are you?” I don’t buckle my seatbelt when I get in the car. I start the engine and peel out of the garage, burning rubber on my way out.
A car honks at me for cutting them off, and my vehicle fishtails over the line on the road. I right the wheel, pressing the gas as I rush to the house. She has to be there. I bet everything is fine, and I’m overreacting.
The normal drive is cut in half by the time I pull into the driveway. I climb out of the car, engine still running, and notice the front door open.
“Camilla,” I whisper in horror. My stomach drops, and my fear has me moving my legs faster. I take three steps at a time, and when I get to the top of the staircase, I fling the door open.
When I step inside, I don’t hear laughter. I don’t hear the sweet sound of my children giggling or screams or Camilla trying to bring peace between the two.
It’s eerily quiet, and now I can’t believe I lived like this before.
Silence is a nightmare after living in a noisy daydream.
“Camilla!” I dash up the stairs, slipping on the polished marble, and knock my chin against the edge of a step. “Fuck,” I curse, rubbing the spot that aches. “Camilla! Beautiful Girl, come on. This isn’t funny.” I check the bedroom and bathroom.
Then Olivia and Oliver’s room and everything is how it was.
I don’t understand. Everything was perfect. She had been a little quiet for the last day, and I assumed it was because of what happened with Cora, but maybe it wasn’t.
“Camilla?” I choke out her name again as I hurry down the steps to go to my office.
Nothing is out of place except one thing.
There’s a folder on my desk, and there’s a sticky note on top of it.
“I guess you were really after the fortune. I’m taking the kids. I need some space for a few days. -C.”
I flip the page and notice the clause where she’s promised to me in marriage is highlighted, and I toss the paper to the side. I grip the desk, and it creaks under my gasp; then I roar, the sound loud and brutal. The anguish cracks my voice. The amount of breath I have comes to an end, and I hang my head, my shoulders rising and falling.
This can’t be happening.
I wipe the sweat from my upper lip and think about a place she could go. I don’t think she’d leave the area, especially with Cora in the state she is in.
“Think, think, think,” I demand from myself.
She wouldn’t go to the bakery. It’s too dangerous with it under construction. She could go to Cora’s since Cora isn’t in the hospital. I’ll check there first.
When I get into the car, I press a button on the wheel. “Take me to Cora’s house,” I say.
“Calculating directions,” the car replies. “You are eight minutes from your destination.”
The first thing I did was save all addresses associated with Camilla in the navigation, so I knew where she was going.
“Call Cora,” I say into the Bluetooth speaker.
“Calling Flora.”
“No. No!” I pinch the bridge of my nose and take a deep breath, swerving around a car going too slow. “Cora. Call Cora.”
“Calling Tora.”
“Fucking Christ.” I stop trying and pull out my phone instead, dialing Cora.
It rings and rings.
“Come on. Come on,” I tap the wheel impatiently. “Please answer.”
“Hello?” Cora grumbles, sounding like I woke her up. “Luca?”
“Yeah, hey. I’m sorry to bother you. Can you please give the phone to Camilla? I need to talk to her. I understand if she’s upset, but I want to talk it out with her. I want to figure this out between us.”
“Camilla? She isn’t with me, Luca.”
I slam on the brakes and pull over on the side of the road. “What the hell do you mean she isn’t with you?”
“She isn’t with me, Luca. As in, she isn’t at my apartment. You don’t know where she’s at?”
“No.” I rub my eyes as panic sets in. “We got into a fight, and she took the kids. I know they are mine, Cora.”
She inhales a sharp breath. “Well, that’s good. I’ve been begging her to tell you.”
I lean my head back and chuckle, but the sound is sad and pitiful. “Thanks.”
“Have you checked her house?”
“Her apartment? She wouldn’t go there right now; it’s too dangerous.”
“No. Her house. Her home. Her dad’s house. The one she grew up in. She and her dad weren’t always on the outs. She had an amazing childhood, so that’s probably where she is.”
“Why would she go there? Isn’t it abandoned?”
“Not in the sense you’re thinking. It’s hers. Her dad left her everything. So in her mind, she just went home. It’s probably filthy, but I bet she’s cleaning to keep herself busy. She does that when she’s upset.”
“But she’s alone. It’s too dangerous for her to be alone.” I hit the steering wheel with my hand and took a peek in the mirror before making a U-turn and going in the opposite direction to where I met her father for the first time. “Taylor is the one behind all this, Cora. Don’t ask how I know. I don’t have time for that right now.”
“I knew he was up to no good,” she grumbles. “Camilla likes to see the good in everyone first.”
“Yeah. I know. I’ll call you with an update. I have to go.” I hang up on her, doing ninety miles an hour in a forty miles-per-hour zone.
I won’t waste another second being away from her when not one but two threats are out there.
I’m going to do what I should have done at eighteen. I’m going to kill Xavier, and then I’m going to kill Taylor just because I fucking want to.
“Call Alvize,” I say.
“Calling Alvize.”
“Oh, but you understand that,” I mumble with impatience.
“Yeah, Luca.”
“Meet me at Thompson’s. Camilla is there, and Taylor is working with Xavier. He’s the one behind the shops being vandalized and Camilla’s attempted kidnapping.”
“Xavier? Isn’t that the guy that was your stepbrother for a month or something?”
“Yeah, and apparently, he has a bone to pick with me.”
“I’ll bring backup.” Alvize hangs up just as I’m pulling into the Thompson estate. The gates are open, and Camilla’s car is there.
The leaves have fallen, causing the ground to be a flood of browns and tans. The fountain is filthy, and no water is inside it. The entire house appears to be gloomy.
As I park, I get my gun out and cock it.
I want to be ready to pull the trigger with no questions asked.
And no hesitation to stop me.
