But then she returned home.
I figure she’s still having effects from the attack. God, why won’t she let me help her? Protect her? It’s driving me fucking mad.
I've never worried about a woman the way I worry about her. It's a weakness I can't afford, especially with someone who'd happily put me in handcuffs given half a chance.
Yet here I am, tracking her movements and pining like a lovesick moron.
My phone buzzes again.
She’s on the move. In FBI vehicle.
She’s going to work? On a Saturday? Is that to avoid Blackwood? If so, it’s smart.
Keep eyes on her.
I look in the mirror one last time and the man staring back makes me see the truth I’ve been trying not to admit.
I'm in love with Olivia Ricci.
Not just attracted. Not just infatuated. In love.
The kind that makes your chest ache when you're apart. This situation would be laughable if it wasn't so fucking painful.
My phone lights up with another update. Olivia's arrived at the FBI office.
God I hope Blackwood isn’t there.
The more I think about him, the more I think Olivia is right in that his tentacles reach further back than any of us realized. The pattern is there.
Creating chaos, setting family against family, leaving just enough breadcrumbs to implicate La Corona in his dirty work. It’s something my father would do.
Did do when he arranged for Luca Monti to take the blame for Uncle Umberto’s incarceration and subsequent death.
Bastard. I liked Umberto.
He wasn’t drunk on power like my father was.
Blackwood wasn’t the one who arrested Umberto, but it was still his office. He still could have been the one who assigned the agent, who interestingly is dead from a freak accident.
Could my father have offered Blackwood something and then reneged or otherwise pissed him off?
I wonder why my father didn’t use Olivia’s father in the arrest. Despite what Olivia thinks, her father did have some scruples, and he might have said no to setting up Umberto and Luca.
Olivia’s father was more of a fixer. An after the fact sort of associate mostly in police business.
But my father likes him for reasons I never understood considering he never liked anyone, including me.
I remember my father sitting in this very office after hearing about Detective Ricci's death.
“Whoever killed him will pay, Dominic. Mark my words!”
“Who is it?”
My father shook his head. “I have an idea. Someone who didn’t like that I had Ricci poking around.”
It’s a farfetched leap, but could my father have had Ricci looking into Blackwood?
My father may have used Blackwood to take down Umberto, but what if Blackwood used that opportunity to start building his own agenda?
