“Of course it was them,” I say.
“They were arrogant enough to engrave each one of them with their own emblem,” Franco adds.
I can’t blame them. We do the same to our cuff links and other items. I consider it my calling card. And I guessthe Costa family considers their bullets their calling card. Even though we escaped without scratches, it nearly cost me my life being in Club Triton today to talk with that bastard. I wonder why they tried to kill us both.
“One of the boxes Lucio carried in is missing from the scene. And I doubt he took it with him,” Franco adds.
I rub my chin. “So that’s what they were after? Money.”
“Someone must have tipped them off to the deal,” Franco suggests. “Someone in Lucio’s vicinity.”
“He’s got a mole,” I point out.
“Exactly,” Franco states.
“We should use it to our advantage. See if you can find out anything about him. Name. Occupation. Address.”
Franco nods. “I’m on it.” And he waltzes off again.
I open my laptop and lean back, watching my program do its job as it tracks down each step that pretty blond-haired girl is taking in her room inside the Agostini mansion.
The moment she steps outside, she’ll be mine.
STELLA
I stareat the girl in the mirror wearing that beautiful bride’s gown covered in glitter. Her skin and her cheeks are lathered in rouge to hide the mark left by a man’s hand. All of this is a mask to hide the terror within.
I suck in a breath and try to hold it together so I don’t ruin my mascara with tears.
I will not cry for this man. I will not fucking cry for this man.
There’s a knock on the door.
“Ma’am, it’s time to go,” the maid says.
Time slipped by so quickly, I didn’t even notice.
“I’m coming,” I reply.
Sucking in another breath, I take my final glance at the girl I used to be, then turn around. I’m walking straight into the claws of death; a wedding where I’m the bride and myhusband will be a soulless killer who only wants me as payment for a debt.
I open the door, and the maid smiles at me like there’s something to be happy about. “You look gorgeous, ma’am.”
I smile back. “Thank you.”
It’s nothing but empty words from an empty heart.
We go downstairs, where an entire entourage waits for us. Family, friends, I don’t actually know. I’ve never seen any of these people before.
As long as they’re tied to Lucio, they could be dead to me for all I care.
Lucio throws me a fake, lopsided smile from the bottom of the stairs as I walk down the steps in my high heels. He takes my arm and leans in to whisper, “If you say one bad word to these people, I will ruin your first night and many more to come.”
My body shivers at the thought of this man putting his hands on me.
He whisks me out of the house right into his limo. It’s nothing more than an expensive prison, just like my room.
Will I ever see the outside world again without his supervision?
