“I’ve been calling you ‘JJ’ all this time, when your initials aren’t even JJ!”
He pulled me into an affectionate hug and kissed the top of my head. “I know, sweetheart. But you were soproudof yourself for that nickname, I didn’t have the heart to tell you.”
“Oh, my God,” I said into his shirt. “I didn’t even know my boyfriend’sreal name. This is so embarrassing. There’s nothing else I need to know, is there?” I looked up into his face. “You’re not secretly a reallyyoung-looking eighty-three?”
He snorted. “Nope. No other secrets.” He kissed me, tender and soft, and then his voice turned serious. “I have to go, Trouble. It’s time.”
I threw my arms around him and hugged him hard, reminding myself that I had to be strong. That Jack—Gianni Jacopo—JJ—was skilled and smart and brave. But I couldn’t help whispering a plaintive, “Come back to me,” into his ear.
“I will,” he promised, hugging me back just as hard. “I willalwayscome back to you.”
CHAPTER56
JACK
I was greetedat Redwood Manor by respectful nods and the merest brush of hands over my body. I always handed over my guns readily enough anyway.
I didn’t need guns to kill someone.
Jeeves led me to the closed study door and raised his knuckles to rap. I put a hand on his wrist to lower his arm. “I’ve got it.” I waited until his retreating footsteps died away, and then I looked at the two guards on either side of the door. “Scram,” I told them quietly.
They glanced at each other, uncertain.
“You don’t want to make me repeat myself.”
They scrammed. I figured I had about a minute before they raised the alarm.
I took a deep breath and went over a few scenarios in my mind. I’d walk in, get a feel for the room, and kill the Boss quickly. Quietly. Efficiently. I had plans A through Z laid out, escape routes planned.
One way or another, Ciro Castellani was about to meet his maker.
When I pushed open the door, the first thing I felt was satisfaction. Julian Castellani was standing there at his father’s right hand, leaning over him as his father slumped across the desk.
Two for one; my lucky day. I’d kill them both and put any fears I had about Julian’s obsessions to rest.
But the look on Julian’s face when he glanced up kept me where I was. I cast my eyes over Don Castellani again, slumped over and unmoving. A thick, red puddle had spread across the top of his desk, running into what looked like a wedding invitation cast aside on the desk. Half of the card was obliterated with red, so that I could read only part of it:—ochfordalong the top line, andAmbrogino Bernardion the bottom.
I met Julian’s eyes again. “Oh, Jack,” he said sadly. “Now I reallywillhave to kill you.”
I let out a huff of laughter. “Come and try.”
Before either of us could move, the door behind me opened again, and I slid to one side, keeping my back to the wall and taking in the whole room, checking for dangers, before I even looked to see the new arrival.
When I saw who it was, the day I was having didn’t get any better. Sandro Castellani let out a long string of soft Italian curses, getting louder as he looked first at me, then Julian.
“It wasn’t me,” Julian said, holding up two blood-stained hands and taking a step back from his father’s corpse.
“Well, it sure as shit wasn’tme,” I retorted. But I watched both of them carefully. The old Don was dead. That meant all my protections—from Sonny Vegas and, far more pertinent right then, from Alessandro Castellani—had evaporated along with Ciro’s soul.
Sandro’s gaze went to Julian, then me, then back to Julian. He glanced behind him. I assumed he was about to holler for the guards, but instead, he reached out and pulled the study door shut. “What the fuck,” he said softly, turning back to Julian and me, “happened here?”
I pointed at Julian.
Julian looked affronted. “I justtoldyou, it wasn’tme. I came in here and found him like this.”
“Is that why your hands are covered in blood?” I asked.
“Yes, Jack. Since you ask. I was feeling for a pulse. But…” He spread his arms and shrugged. “He was alreadyverydead when I got here.”
