But I rein in my fury and smile.
“She’s a work in progress, Dad.”
“Glad to hear it. I look forward to the pregnancy announcement.” I open my mouth to reply that it could take time, but he turns to Fina.
“Care to explain why you haven’t squashed the stories about my son’s wife causing a scene last night?”
“Get that woman under control,figlio.” My father’s parting shot rings in my ears as I step outside, Fina on my heels. Kane waits by the car, showing no signs of our sparring session last night other than a fat lip.
Fina kisses our father goodbye. We wait until the door closes before walking to the cars.
“That was fun,” she says with a grimace.
I silently agree. “You managed to bring him round in the end.” She persuaded him that the stories about Chiara were intentional, engineered as a distraction from the less palatable story she’d caught wind of yesterday afternoon.
A journalist had called her an hour before the gala, asking for a statement. It seemed he’d received a tip-off about a body found in the harbor, and the cop mentioned our family’s connection.
I’d love to know which cop thought it was a good idea to blab about us to the press. Sadly, the journalist provided no information about his source, but I plan to send Kane to talk to him.
“I wish you’d reconsider this marriage arrangement, Angelo. Chiara doesn’t want it any more than you do. Can’t you let her go? Dad would get over it.”
“No.” My vehemence surprises her, but I’m not backing down on this. As much as the woman drives me insane, she’s mine, and the sooner she gets it through her skull, the better.
If I have to chain her to my fucking bed to make her see she’s never getting away from me, then so be it.
My phone rings as the car pulls away. I frown when I see it’s our CFO, Ronald.
“Ronald. Is there a problem?” We had a meeting a few days ago, so I’m a bit surprised to hear from him again so soon.
“An audit has picked up some unusual transactions.”
While I always keep a close eye on our bottom line, Ronald is the finance nerd. He’s worked for the family for decades, and my father trusts him implicitly.
“What sort of transactions?” Kane keeps his attention on the road, but the privacy screen isn’t up, so he can hear my side of the conversation.
“Two large payments into the Mirabel Hotel account.”
“Why would this be a problem?”
“There was one payment of ten million and a second payment of twelve million. Both on the same day. And both from accounts registered in the Cayman Islands.”
I go silent while I mull over what he’s saying. And also what he’s not saying. The casino hotels deposit millions in cash every week, but two significant payments from untraceable accounts will attract unwanted attention.
An ominous sense of foreboding sinks into my bones. This unwelcome news, along with the tip-off about the corpse of a man last seen talking to one of my guys, makes me suspect our enemies have stepped up their activities against us.
“This stays between us for now, Ronald. No sense bothering my father until we know more.”
Ronald mumbles in agreement before ending our call.
“Problem?” I look up to see Kane watching me in the rearview mirror.
“Maybe. Guess we’ll soon find out.” If someone is messing with us, I need to figure out who. And fast. The last thing we need is the FBI sniffing around.
23
Chiara
“Iowe you an apology.” Fina reaches out and takes my hand in hers. Her favorite guard, the one I’m almost certain she’s sleeping with, murmurs something into his comms device and then catches her eye in the rearview mirror. A soft smile touches her lips for a moment before she turns to me.
