Page 25 of Blood & Heartache

I tried not to choke on my coffee as Liu just told me that Glenda was checking my food for poison. That was absolutely going to change the second I could find some other way to make sure I didn’t die from one of my meals. I wasn’t going to let the only person who’d been by my side die because she sampled my food. Having that blood on my hands wasn’t something I ever wanted.

Chapter 11

Breakfast went quickly and without much conversation since half the table was barely conscious. Once finished, we went our separate ways with the agreement we’d meet for lunch in the conference room to go over what they found or didn’t find in their efforts. Liu, my uncles, and I headed for my father’s office so I could catch them up on things.

It was harder to be in this room than I thought it would be. The familiar smell of Cuban cigars, brandy, and the cologne my father always wore clung to the space, making me miss him so much more. I decided to sit on the couch instead of taking Daddy’s chair behind the ornate wooden desk. Daddy loved handmade furniture with intricate carvings in them, and that’s what filled his office. Even the built-in bookshelves had been custom designed to match everything else. He’d hired this master craftsman from an Amish community and refused to get pieces from anyone else but him.

“All right, Azzy, tell us what the hell happened,” Athos ordered, cutting right through the bullshit.

I ran a hand through my hair, stalling as I tried to figure out how exactly to explain. We had tons of speculation but no real answers. “We don’t know a whole lot as of yet, but yesterday my Aston was stolen from the garage, stuffed with flyers of Daddy’s face and funeral information with slanderous words written on them. Also discovered in the trunk was the head of a man I was acquainted with, Nick. He might also be the nephew of Harvey O’Hagan, which I had no idea about at the time I met him. All I knew is he was a bartender at The Bandit, where I had a drink when I first came into town. We ran into each other at the club opening which is when the guys found out about his relationship with Harvey.”

Mathis groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “God, only you could accidentally make friends with a relative of the one man who’s trying to destroy us.”

“I suppose I’m just lucky like that,” I quipped. “Now the part that has us scratching our heads is the fact someone then lit the car on fire. Almost as if they were trying to cover up the entire situation and destroy all the evidence linking it back to me. It took us longer than it should have for us to realize it was two people acting on this and not one, seeing as it didn’t make any sense.”

Athos rubbed his chin as he digested all I’d told them. Out of my two uncles, Athos was more steady, analytical, and sucked at dealing with people who weren’t his family. He didn’t tolerate failure and had no problem chewing your ass out for the slightest mistake in the calmest voice you’ve ever heard. “Who are the top suspects?” he finally asked.

“Right now, at the top of the list is Flora. In fact, she’s staying at Harvey’s beach house as we speak. Seems she really didn’t like the fact I kicked her out of the family,” I shared. “The others are Alejandro and the Old Guard.”

“It’s not the Old Guard,” Mathis cut in almost as fast as I finished saying it.

I raised a brow at that. “You sound rather certain about that.”

“Yeah, squirt, I’m damn certain about that,” Mathis stated. “The Old Guard has been helping your father clean house for you to take over. The second he found out Natalina was having a baby girl, he started making plans, setting expectations, and even told the Old Guard if they didn’t want to support his choice, they could go back to the motherland.”

“Why then did Daddy say he was going to continue handling those he couldn’t get rid of and were too powerful to kill off?” I challenged Mathis. “Was he not speaking of the Old Guard?”

“Yes… and no,” Athos said hesitantly. “Look, Azzy, there are some things I don’t think your father got around to explaining to you. Since your mother’s death, he’d been investigating what happened and how they managed to get as close as they did. There’s no way someone should have been able to get inside the manor. Technology back then might not have been as good as it is today, but the moment they brought you home, he tripled security, knowing having an heir they would be a target their whole life. He wanted you to grow up without having to look over your shoulder all the time.”

I snorted at that. “Wow, how plans change.”

“The more Colmazio looked into things, he started to wonder if he wasn’t the target they were after, and they killed the person they were supposed to. Well, one of them, that is,” Athos continued, ignoring my sass. “Your father believed the targets were sent to take out you and your mother. Doing so would have destroyed the line of one of the founding families back in Italy.”

“The Raffas, you mean,” I said, having suspected this is where they were leading to. “Tell me, why go to all that trouble? It’s not like there is another person who could take the name if I was gone. It would be done for, gone, stricken from the record books from that point on in history.”

My uncles looked at me with shocked expressions, and I caught Liu out of the corner of my eye, trying not to gawk at me. I’m betting Liu hadn’t been filled in on that tidbit of information by my father. It made me feel a little better that I wasn’t the only one not to know.

“Astin, how do you know anything about this?” Mathis finally managed to ask.

“Daddy’s dying words were to tell me where to find all the information I needed. He kept detailed records and notes of everything I could possibly find helpful in running the Caprioni Family. It even had a particular wedding video from Italy,” I shared, not wanting to say more than I should in front of Liu.

This was a personal family matter, and while he might be my adopted brother on paper, that didn’t mean I felt comfortable trusting him with everything about my father. Liu and I needed more time to get to know one another. He’d been a trusted person to my father which is why I was trusting him more than I’d have otherwise. Daddy would never have let someone be by his side helping him run things if he had a speck of doubt about his loyalty to him and the Family. What I hadn’t figured out yet was if he’d give me that same loyalty.

“That’s surprising,” Mathis murmured. “Why wouldn’t he have ever mentioned it to us? What if you hadn’t been there when he died?”

“Then I was instructed to inform her of its location,” Liu interjected, drawing all our attention. “Master Colmazio didn’t tell me what the information was, only that if anything happened to him, I was to ensure she knew he’d left something for her.”

“Again, I ask, why not us?” Mathis argued.

“I don’t have an answer for you, Master Mathis,” Liu responded, his tone cool but professional. “The only one who could give you that information is no longer with us. We all know that Master Colmazio did nothing without a reason.”

“You’re right, Liu,” Athos cut in, resting a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “It’s hard when you lose someone so suddenly and know you’ll never get the chance to speak to them again. I know there are many things I’d have liked to address before he passed or even just the chance to say goodbye. Not being able to attend the burial didn’t help either.”

Mathis didn’t look like he agreed with his younger brother but didn’t comment. I knew the three brothers had their moments of not seeing eye to eye. The fights I’d heard about were intense, and Mathis being the explosive and reactionary one out of the trio, I could believe it. Although it did make me question why Daddy didn’t tell either of them. Could it be because he didn’t trust them not to go look at the information themselves? No, it had been locked away, and they would have never thought of the combination. Then again, if they really wanted to break into it, I’m sure they would have found a way.

“There is another issue we need to figure out, and this one needs to happen sooner rather than later,” I said, changing the subject.

“You don’t think finding out who’s trying to ruin your reputation with the Family is urgent?” Mathis snapped.