Chapter 11
Shelookedattheplain furniture that didn’t seem to belong to the man who kissed her like her life depended on it when he pushed her out the car door.
There was so much she didn’t know about Nico Scala, and she would find out what he was hiding about himself.
The place barely looked lived in, aside from a few pictures on the walls.
The fifty-inch television was off, two remotes placed perpendicular to each other, sat on one side of the flat screen. There were, what Autumn assumed, family pictures scattered on a mantle with Scala and Casale. They were smiling and laughing at something off-camera. She picked up another frame with a young-looking Nico Scala sitting with a woman who was at least twice his age. Her long, thick black hair hung down one side of her face. The mascara and eyeliner almost hid the hollows beneath her eyes. Even though the woman looked exhausted, a smile lifted her lips. Was she family? She looked nothing like Scala. The woman’s olive skin and dark hair reminded her of the Italian heritage found so often in large families, so she was going to assume the woman was a family member of some sort.
She put the photo down and wandered down the hall. She stopped at his bedroom door and pushed it open. It didn’t squeak or make any noise except a soft whooshing as it moved over the soft beige carpet.
Autumn stood at the entrance and looked into the room. From the doorway, it looked pristine and similar to the living room. A maid must have been in, the bed was made and there was the lemon scent she associated with furniture polish.
With a step into the room, she started her search. She walked to the walk-in closet on the right side of the door. She smirked as the light turned on. All of his suits lined up with matching ties and shoes. On the other side were dress pants and various solid-colored shirts. Most were dark colors, similar to the suits.
“You’re very boring, Scala,” she sighed, continuing through the closet.
There were a few fedora hats and a couple of pairs of black leather gloves. A shiver went down her spine. She heard he was an attorney who helped the mobster out of jams from time to time. Did he do favors for his uncle too?
“Let’s not go there,” she said to herself.
Her foot bumped into something on the floor. She looked down and it was a footlocker. Someone hid it beneath the clothes hanging from the lower racks.
Autumn squatted down and pulled the box into the center of the room. It was old, judging by the beat-up condition. She tried to lift it but saw a padlock attached to the corner.
“So much for that,” she muttered under her breath.
Standing, Autumn pushed the box back with her foot and went back into the center of the bedroom.
She walked by the king bed with a black duvet and black sheets folded back. Memories of last night assailed her when he touched her, where no man had touched her for the last several years. Her body heated at the memory when he entered her. Autumn’s sex clenched as she bit her lip, and she cleared her throat.
No time to remember the best sex of your life, Autumn.
Autumn picked up a few more pictures from the nightstand. She picked up one of a smiling couple. She traced the faces of whom she believed were Scala’s parents. The woman was thin, wearing a blue dress, and her hair in an updo. The man with her, had some of Scala’s features and a bright smile with sideburns.
She hadn’t researched the Scala family because she had no intention of really getting to know the attorney besides the fact that she was working with him now. But after having sex with Nico and seeing the couple who influenced the man who protected her, she wanted to know more about him.
After returning the picture, she left the room and shut the door. The next room was partially open. She peered inside to see it was Scala’s home office.
Light streamed in from a window next to the desk. Awards littered one wall, a diploma at the top where he graduated from NYU. Just like the rest of the penthouse, it was neat and tidy. Papers weren’t scattered all over the place, and a couple of filing cabinets lined one wall next to a bookcase.Black’s Law Dictionaryand something calledThe Bluebooksat next to it. There were a few legal encyclopedias and other books she knew nothing about.
She returned to his desk and saw another photograph next to the computer. It was of Scala and his parents when he was a teenager. They were all dressed for a formal occasion.
She looked at one of the filing cabinets and put the picture down.
She stepped over, jiggled the handle, and realized someone had locked it. She moved down to another drawer in the same cabinet.
Open sesame.
File folders were arranged by name. And wouldn’t you know, she found one with her name on it.
She pulled the file out and sat with her legs crossed. Opening it, Autumn saw pages about her before and after the kidnapping. There was even information about her mother and father. She went through the information Scala gathered about her father.
The corrupt business deals David Taylor committed at his own law office. There were even assumptions about his part in the kidnapping of his daughter.
Autumn never believed those rumors. Why would he pay his law partner to kidnap his daughter… and for what? She heard her father had struggled around the time of her kidnapping, but how? He had a trust fund courtesy of his father and a law office that did well.
There were also black and white pictures of the agency she worked for.
