Chapter 23: Dangerous Deception: Chapter 23

“Yes, yes, YES!”

Adelina screams loudly, throwing her head back and fisting her hands into the cushions around me while I use my fingers to bring her to yet another orgasm. She rocks back and forth in my lap, whimpering and shuddering like she’s about to shake apart at the seams. Then she collapses forward into my arms, panting heavily.

“Holy crap,” she gasps, swallowing audibly and trembling in my arms. “Even when it hurts it feels so good.”

“Overstimulation can be an enhancement,” I say gently, grabbing the nearby towel to clean her up. “But I think you’re at your limit, sweetheart.”

“No,” she murmurs defiantly, but she gasps and jerks upward when I lightly caress her clit. “Okay, maybe.”

“Know your limits,” I remind her softly, then I scoop her into my arms as I stand. “Come on, time for some rest.”

Adelina being my addiction makes it difficult to tear myself away, but after helping her shower and dry off, then tucking her into bed, I manage to pull myself away and move to the balcony to catch up on some work. Adelina’s quickly becoming my sole focus which unfortunately means I’m neglecting more than I should, and that’s when mistakes happen.

With the warm night air wrapping around me, silk curtains billowing in the light breeze, and Adelina sleeping soundly a few feet away, it’s the perfect time for me to grasp at the work I’ve been missing. With my laptop in hand, I pull up a few reports I’ve missed and get to work ensuring that everyone I’ve left back in the States is still doing well. I may not be there in person, but that doesn’t mean anyone can slack off.

Once I’m certain nothing else urgent requires my attention, I call Vito and keep my voice low. “Hey.”

“Hey, Boss, how’s it going?”

“Living the life, you know,” I remark. “Where are we with Pascal?”

“I wish I had good news.”

“Fuck. Anything else?”

“I have info on Carlos.”

“Oh?” Casting an eye toward Adelina sleeping on the other side of the glass, my heart squeezes unexpectedly. We’ve been having fun. It’s been light and easy and dare I say, romantic? But reality is just a blink away and Adelina made it very clear how deeply she hates me because of Carlos, her ex-fiancé.

The man I do not remember.

“Alright,” I sigh, turning back to my laptop. “What you got?”

“Carlos’ body was picked up with the rest of the people at the Giordana house.”

“So I did it,” I murmur. “Fuck.”

“Actually…” Vito’s face twists slightly on the screen as he shares his files. “His throat was slit. The autopsy shows that it was definitely his cause of death.”

“His throat?” A few clicks and the pictures appear on my screen. “That’s not my style.”

“That’s what I thought,” Vito agrees. “Everyone else was shot, and while one bullet was found in Carlos’ body, it was in his kidney and the autopsy states that it was post-mortem.”

“Someone shot him after he died?”

“Yup.”

“What the fuck.”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t recognize him. I don’t even remember ever meeting him.”

“I checked and officially, you never have.”

“But I remember that night. I remember the people I killed.”

“It’s possible one of our men killed him, but I spoke to everyone and not one claims to have killed anyone that way. Always with guns, and one broken neck that I was able to track down with the other bodies.”

“Right. Maybe he slit his own throat. And then shot himself.” Sarcasm drips from my words. “I don’t get it. Any more on the assassins from the club?”

“Nope, but I have a theory.”

“Shoot.”

“I went back over the club’s security footage for the past few months. I was able to pick out quite a few people involved in this sex trafficking ring. A bunch of them are dead. Some others are deadbeats just looking to score some quick cash. Would have found out more if someone hadn’t shot the security guard.”

“No regrets,” I reply.

“Anyway, our two assassins showed up a week or so before they snatched Adelina. I couldn’t find much on their other victims, but one thing I noticed is this.” Vito forwards me a clip.

The clip plays and my stomach knots slightly as Marie appears on screen, dancing around the floor with other people I don’t recognize. Then another familiar face appears.

Geoff.

He dances pretty close to Marie for quite a while before he stumbles into her, corrects himself, and then hurries away. A few minutes later, Marie notices something missing from her purse, and she causes a fuss, then hurries off-screen.

“Marie’s phone was handed into lost and found,” Vito says after a few moments of silence.

“He marked her,” I say. “Why would he do that?”

“I’m not sure but I think he took her phone, cloned it, and then handed it back in to security so that she would get it back. And then they waited.”

“For what?” I ask, although the answer is already dawning in my mind.

“Adelina.”

“They wanted her?”

“I can’t say for sure, but think about it.” Vito shifts closer to the screen. “They mark Marie and then show up the one night that Adelina is with her. Pascal’s money was in their account, but I haven’t been able to track down why. And that same night, where were you? Caught up with the Irish causing trouble at the brothel.”

Slowly, the pieces are coming together. “You think it was a setup.”

“I do. I don’t know why, but someone went to great lengths to get to Adelina and make sure you were on the other side of the city. I don’t have any answers, but it would be one incredible coincidence, don’t you think?”

“But… why?” I glance back inside at my sleeping wife. “Is this because of Pascal? His debts were alarming… Maybe he owed them money? Professional assassins would know she is my wife.”

“And they would want you out of the way,” Vito agrees. “Unless Adelina herself is mixed up in something that we are in the dark about.”

“I don’t think so,” I murmur. “What they did to her, that wasn’t because of her. If she was their target because it was her fault, they wouldn’t have tried to sell her.”

“True.” Vito sits back with a groan. “I’ll be honest, I don’t think you killed Carlos either. It’s not our MO and it’s weird that he was shot after his death. I think someone wanted to make it look like we killed him. Putting one of our bullets in him makes it look like he was caught in the crossfire or the target.”

“But I don’t know the fucking guy.” Frustration builds. Vito’s research is good, but all these moving pieces just make me feel like some kind of pawn in someone else’s game and I hate it. “Right. I want to know everything about Carlos, right down to how often he pissed in a fucking day. He’s got to be the key. If we can find out why he was killed, maybe that will lead us to why they wanted the blame on me. As for the assassins…” I drag a hand down my face, massaging as I go. “Carlos is linked to Pascal. Pascal has had dealings with those assassins. What are we missing?”

“Fuck knows,” Vito groans. “But I’ll get started.” He pauses and his face softens. “Will you tell Adelina?”

“Which part?”

“That you didn’t kill her fiancé?”

“What’s the point? She won’t believe me. She hates me, and I think she actually needs that. She needs someone to hate for that loss. So I will let her.”

“But it wasn’t you.”

“No. But I can do this for her. I understand that need,” I say, closing my eyes. “Because that’s exactly what I needed after Serena died.”