Luciano opens his mouth to speak and then slowly blinks. “Your dad was speeding around a corner, and it was raining. He spun out and hit a tree. It was a single-car accident.”
Ace shakes her head. “I don’t think it was an accident.”
The hair on the back of my neck prickles as Luciano glances at me and then back at Ace. Tears fill her wide, sparkling eyes.
“I’ve heard my mom say that name, Dreq, before. One night after my father died, I was crying. I wanted to go to my mother, but when I crept out of my room, I overheard her speaking to someone downstairs. She was on the phone and used it several times. I couldn’t make sense of what she was saying, but she kept saying she understood. She must have heard me coming down the stairs because she suddenly got off the call and then came screaming at me to go back to bed.
“The next morning, she apologized and said she missed my dad and was grieving, which caused her to lash out. I never forgot that name. And, eventually, when I was in high school, I looked up the word just because it wouldn’t leave my mind. I would have dreams about that name.
“And the initials. LR. Lenora Ricci. My mom’s initials.”
What the fuck?
Luciano staggers back a step like he’s been struck as he stares at Ace. “Motherfucker. I forgot her full name is Lenora. I’ve only ever known her as Nora. That’s what she’s always gone by.”
“Lenora wasn’t good enough for her. She refused to go by that name. Even in my dad’s death announcement, she was listed asNora Ricci, beloved wife and loving mother of Lorenzo Ricci’s only daughter.”
That fucking woman.
Every time I hear about Ace’s mother, my hatred of her grows. As far as I’m concerned, Ace will never be around that woman for even a second more of her life.
The shit my girl has been through makes me want to hunt down Lenora Ricci and watch blood splatter as I put a bullet between her eyes. Her mother was emotionally abusive and used Ace to maintain her fucking snooty social status.
Her father died seventeen years ago. It was a single-car crash that was weather-related.
“I can have Cassian look into the records from his death, but I don’t know how much there will be if they immediately declared it a weather accident,” I tell her.
“But if he was killed…by Dreq or whoever, there would be a marker, right?” Ace asks so quietly, almost as if she’s afraid.
She’s right, though.
There would be a marker.
In her father’s casket.
Fuuuuuck.
I’m going to do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of this. And, unfortunately for Luciano, he’s going to help me this time around.
When I look over at him, he knows. I can tell he knows exactly what I’m about to say, and he’s dreading it as much as I am.
“How soon can you get your jet ready?”
Luciano stares at me, then glances at Ace, who is trembling so much that I pull her into me. My poor baby. She’s probably still feeling the aftereffects of her migraine, so this is the worst possible timing. She needs to be tucked into bed and go to sleep for a few more hours. I don’t like that she had an episode back-to-back. I want her to get another brain MRI as soon as possible, but I don’t want to make her do it while she’s still feeling bad. Tomorrow will be a better day for it.
Besides, it looks like we’re going to be spending this evening digging up another grave. If it keeps my girl safe and protected, I’ll unbury as many bodies as it takes. At least this one should only be bones by now.
“Fuck,” he murmurs as he tips his head back, closing his eyes at the same time. “I’ll get it ready. She needs to go back to bed.”
Narrowing my gaze at him, I consider punching him in his pretty fucking face, but then I remember I’m in love with Ace, and she loves this asshole for some reason. So instead of giving in to my anger, I take the high road.
“Don’t you fucking worry about whatmygirl needs. The only thing she needs isme. So, mind your fucking business and get your plane ready instead of worrying aboutmygirl,” I snap.
Luciano levels me with a stare, his eyes burning into mine, but I don’t back down. I’ll get along with him for Ace’s sake, but the last thing he’s going to do is impose on our relationship inanyway. I’ll make him disappear if he becomes a major problem.
A second later, he lifts his chin respectfully and turns around, pulling his phone from his pocket as he goes into the kitchen.
“I want to go,” she pleads.
