“Hi,” she said. “I must have nodded off.”
“It’s okay. I need to go out but I shouldn’t be gone long. I just wanted to check in with you before I left.”
“Oh.” She glanced at the baby.
“I can tell you’re disappointed and maybe worried. Don’t be. I’m just running to my casino to deal with something, and then I’ll be back. We can have dinner together.”
“Okay. We’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure? I won’t go if you’d rather, I stay.” I hoped she didn’t ask me to stay, but I would if it made her happy. My brothers could capture Cara and hold her until I could do the execution.
“No. Go. We’ll be good.”
I kissed her lips softly. I adored this woman completely and would never take for granted another day with her.
It wasn’t easy to let go of fear and worry about the unknown. I’d lived with both for most of my life. But I believed I would be okay. I wanted to be okay.
I would do everything possible to have the life I never dared to dream of with Isla. It might sound crazy to some, but I believed it would be cathartic for me to cut out the cancer that had plagued our family and stole the lives of mine and my brothers’ beloved mothers.
Cara Clemente needed to be stopped permanently.
Romanand I entered my casino through my private entrance. Luca stayed behind to personally guard my girls. He had no desire to meet the woman how had his mother tortured and killed.
However, Roman did want to see the face of the woman who had his mother captured and viciously tortured. My mother had been lucky receiving a bullet in the head, compared to Roman and Luca’s mother. That poor woman had suffered greatly.
My security manager greeted us. “We have her in the interrogation room.”
Having an interrogation room in a casino wasn’t normal, but I had one for this very reason, and this wasn’t the first time we’d used it.
“What about the man?” I asked.
“He ran but guards are chasing him.”
“Fuck, they better catch him,” Roman said. “Can’t have him free, wreaking havoc on our family when she’s gone.”
I nodded. “Let’s go see Ms. Clemente.”
Roman and I entered the room, and she smiled at us. Her fake red hair was long and sleek. She wore a blue sequin dress with a plunging neckline. Not quite what I expected of someone in their early sixties who was not a celebrity on the red carpet. But whatever.
“Where’s your father?” she asked with a barely noticeable Italian accent.
“Regrettably he couldn’t attend the reunion,” I replied. “There was a baseball game he didn’t want to miss.”
She sneered.
“Why are you here? You wanted to be caught, didn’t you?” I asked her as I leaned my back against the wall and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Maybe. I’m so tired of trying to destroy every Remotti on the planet.”
“So you came here looking to end your life. I’m happy to help you cross over to the other side.” I curled my hands into fists. “Hell has a spot with your name on it, Cara Clemente.”
“I expect I’ll be seeing you there one day.”
“Perhaps.” I shrugged.
“Did you kill my Cosimo?” she asked me directly.
“I suspect you already know the answer to your question.”
