Chapter 30
Alessandro
11 Days Until The Wedding
“This better be important Marco or I’ll personally find a place to burn your body.” Marco and I walk in the direction of my office to see what’s dire enough that my evening with Luci needed to be interrupted.
“Don’t kill the messenger, mio amico. Geno called me, giving me the same threat if I didn’t go get you and no offense, I’m more scared of Geno than I am of you.” I don’t blame him. No one fucks with Geno, his business, or his money.
I sit down at my desk, calming myself before calling Geno. Uncharacteristically, he answers the call on the first ring.
“What the fuck is wrong with these numbers?” Straight to the point, got it.
Rubbing my face, I take a second to respond. “I don’t have them pulled up. Can you specify?”
“Ever since you’ve had Luciana, your numbers are fucked. We talked about that and you said you’d fix it. American football season officially began almost a month ago and these numbers aren’t remotely close to how they normally are. What’s happening?”
“That’s pretty funny because I’ve put Marco in charge of that since I’ve been, shall we say, preoccupied?” Marco is sitting with his foot crossed over his knee and catches my scowl, his mouth open and brows furrowed, mimicking a caveman.
“Don’t look at me. I’m head of security, not an accountant. I put Carlo in charge of that. You know, our accountant? You hired him.” We might as well be children blaming each other for some missing cookies.
“Lord, lasciami essere paziente.” Nothing good happens when Geno prays. “Go get Carlo,” Geno says between clenched teeth. I’m not sure what I’m going to tell him. I’ve been too distracted and have let some things fall through the cracks.
Geno snaps me out of my thoughts when Marco heads out to go grab Carlo. “Alessandro. How come you don’t know who’s out collecting and who’s in charge of who? Just because you have a woman in your bed doesn’t give you a reason to get distracted. Do you think I let your nonna become a distraction? No.”
“Geno. I’ve put Marco in charge of a lot and messaged him and Carlo today, letting them know I’ve taken the day off.”
Geno pauses like someone slapped him. “Day off? Men like us don’t take days off. Don’t make me fly out in the morning to clean up after you. You’re not a child.”
Marco comes back in, dragging a pissed off Carlo with him. Carlo is holding his laptop, I’m sure holding our numbers. Or at least the numbers we should have.
“Carlo here has something interesting on his laptop.” Marco nods his head at the laptop. “Show him the laptop, Carlo.” No one moves waiting for his response. “You know I can hack into that thing. Personal opinion, you should show your bosses the laptop.” In Carlo’s defeat, he hands me the laptop, shaking when he does.
It doesn’t take long to find the file containing the same information Geno, Marco, and I have. What catches my attention is the password-protected file at the bottom.
“What’s the password to this?” I turn the laptop and see Carlo nearly shit himself. “You can enter the password or I’ll have Marco figure it out.”
A shaking Carlo takes the laptop and opens the file, avoiding eye contact as he hands it back. I’m dumbfounded by what I’m seeing here. Right under my nose, Carlo has been skimming money off the top. A little here, a little there for almost a year. Recently, he got cocky, which is when Geno noticed. I can’t believeIhaven’t noticed this. I’m fuming and I swear my eye twitches.
I make eye contact with Carlo’s terrified eyes as I speak to Geno. “Geno, I’m going to send you what we’ve found on Carlo’s laptop. You’ll find it very interesting.”
Geno’s assessing the numbers I’ve sent him before he answers. “Interesting. Sneaky. Creative. All characteristics that are important in the men who work for this family, except when it comes to messing with business. What do you have to say, Carlo?”
“I . . . it’s . . . I mean.” After a few seconds of babbling, Carlo spurts out the biggest pile of bullshit I’ve ever heard. “I thought I wouldn’t get caught, especially with Alessandro being distracted.”
“Where’s the money, Carlo?” Geno and I respond at the same time. Mine is loud and aggressive while Geno’s is calm and haunting.
“Could I?” Carlo asks in a whisper, motioning for the laptop. I hand it over as Marco watches from behind him. He turns the laptop around once he’s typed in a few passwords, showing a bank account under a fake name with millions in it. No one says anything and the next sound we hear is Marco pulling out his gun and shooting him execution-style.
“I’ll make sure it’s cleaned up by the end of the night.” ‘It’ meaning Carlo. “In the meantime, I’ll be cleaning my shoes.” The son of a bitch is overly obsessed with how he presents himself. Marco walks out to clean his shoes, leaving Geno and I sitting in silence, Geno’s favorite method of mind games.
I’m the one who ends up breaking the tense silence. “I’ll fix it.” I hang up, slamming my phone on the desk. The rest of the evening is spent cleaning Carlo’s mess, physically and financially.
It’s after midnight and Marco is standing there without his shoes on when I speak to him. “Do background checks on everyone. Their personal lives, computers, finances, everything. I don’t care how long they’ve worked for us or who they are.” This cannot happen again. I cannot let Luci become a distraction, but I can’t let her lock herself away from me again. Ignoring any response from Marco, I walk away, hoping that Luci is still awake even though it’s unlikely.
When I walk into the media room, she’s asleep peacefully on the sofa, credits on the sequel of some movie rolling. She sighswhen I walk to the sofa and I scan down her body. I notice a peek of her white underwear and know I need to finish what was interrupted earlier.
I squat in front of her, whispering as I try to wake her. “Luci.”
