Quiet Wealth, page 7
“Well, that certainly was not what I was expecting.” Wyatt ran a hand through his hair. “This probably will skyrocket your career, and honestly, I would love for you to get the hell out from under Georgio’s hold.”
“Mm,” I thought out loud, “I can’t believe he didn’t fill me in on those rather important details. He was probably worried I’d say no.”
“He’s a jerk, but I think you should do it.”
“I think so, too. Hey,” I turned to him, “us, Wyatt, we need to get out of this together. I might be doing the interview, but I expect you to help me with this so both of our names are in print.”
“You really are a good person, Sienna.”
“So are you.” I waved a hand to stop the cab that was heading our way. “We should get back.”
Later that evening, I paced the living room floor, most likely driving the tenants below crazy. His card was in one hand and my phone with the written text to Mariano in the other. A bottle of my favorite wine sat ready to be opened for a celebratory evening, but I was scared to hit send. I couldn’t help but wonder who I’d meet and what places I’d see. Not to mention the story that would come out of this. I would be the first person ever to get to do an exclusive on Ricco Oil. It was no secret that every reporter and journalist would give their left arm to get the true story on this company. One day, they just appeared, sank their roots into Florence, and were now a multi-billion-euro company. The company had propped up the economy big time, and word was that anyone who worked there seemed happy. I knew this was going to be the experience of a lifetime, and Wyatt was right about me going for it. The article would open doors that I probably didn’t even know were there.
“Send the damn text already.” Wyatt tossed himself on the couch then started to pour the wine. The sunflower on the label had a shiny gold outline that caught the light as he poured it. It was the reason I’d picked up the bottle in the first place a few years ago.
“Sienna,” he waved the glass around, “stop stalling.”
“Okay.” I closed my eyes, took a breath, and hit send. “Oh, sweet Lord, please tell me I made the right call.”
A moment later, my phone rang, and I saw it was him.
“Hi.”
“Hi, Sienna. I’m happy to hear that you’ve decided to write my story. I think you’ll really enjoy yourself, and at any point you’re not, I will have my driver take you home. I want this to be fun as well as work.”
My nerves settled, and I felt my shoulders sag with relief. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“Good. Do me a favor and please pack a bag and bring something fancy. We never know when we might need to stay in hotels, so please always be prepared.”
“I can do that.”
“Wonderful. Text me your address, and I’ll be at your place early, about eight.”
“Will do. See you then.” I tossed my phone aside and swung around to look at Wyatt. “And so, it begins.” I took the glass from him and tapped mine to his.
At ten to eight, I stepped out on the curb with my bag packed to the brim. I only hoped I was ready for any situation that might be thrown at me. One of the many things I had learned while trying to survive on my own was to always be prepared for the unexpected. And of course, a bottle of Mace for good measure.
“He dresses well and is punctual.” Wyatt pulled down his sunglasses as the sexy car from last night pulled up in front of us. The front passenger hopped out and opened the door for me while he slipped the bag from my hand.
“Good morning, Miss Giovanna,” he greeted me kindly. “Please take a seat.”
“Thank you.” I turned to Wyatt, who looked at me with a worried face.
He leaned in and whispered, “I sure wish I were going with you, but I need to prepare for my trip. Your phone location is on. Mace is in the side pocket. Try and have a good time but be alert.”
“Thanks.” I kissed his cheek and squeezed his hand. “No goodbye.” I chanted our special parting words.
“Just a later.” He smiled.
I slipped down onto to the leather seat, careful to keep my dress down.
“Good morning,” Mariano greeted me briefly then immediately turned his attention back to his phone and started typing.
“Morning,” I whispered.
“Would you care for some coffee?” He handed me a to-go cup of coffee that he must have picked up along the way.
“Thank you.” I sipped the heavenly coffee and tried not to moan at the rich flavor that smothered my taste buds. “Where are we off to today?” I tried to fill in the gap of silence.
“We,” he paused and tapped his phone one more time, “are off to tour the beach.”
“Beach?” That was the last place I thought he would say.
“Yes, if you are going to interview me about Ricco Oil, we need to start from the beginning.”
“All right, the beach it is.” I smiled, but it fell as he went right back to his phone. I guessed his busy life consumed a lot of his time.
The drive was long, and I found myself staring out the window, lost in my thoughts. I remembered why I had moved here in the first place. Cara, my old friend at the house, once showed me a post card she had received from a relative who had visited here. It showed an entire field of sunflowers on the front. It was so beautiful, I often dreamed of lying in the middle of that field watching the clouds drift over those golden heads that looked up without a care in the world. Sadly, when I arrived here, finding that field of dreams hadn’t come true yet. I had jumped into my job and lost my way to it. I guessed some dreams were just meant to be just that—dreams. Thankfully, I found a someone along the way who had become a true friend. Wyatt saved me from myself and had proven to me that he could be depended upon.
“What’s that?” Mariano pointed to my hand that was now entwined with my necklace.
“Oh.” I fiddled with the two pendants. “Just something my mother gave me.”
“What is it?”
I shifted uncomfortably and felt my heart suddenly speed up its rhythm, something that came along with any thought of both of my heartbreaks.
“A teddy bear and a crow.”
“What do they mean?”
I forced a smile and dodged the question.
“I thought we were here for you.”
His phone rang, and he held up a finger for me to hold on. I took a deep breath and turned thankfully back to the window and tuned him out.
“Mariano, how far away are you?” I rubbed my head and glared at the piece of shit who was tied to a chair in front of me. The wind whipped at my jacket, and the birds dipped and soared around us as if curious as to who our guest was today. I could feel the heat of the sun on my shoulders, and I took a moment to look down and watch as it sent sparkles through the salty spray on the ocean below. Waves crashed into the rocks and sent a jolt of cold water up into the sky, perfectly matching my present mood.
“Fifteen minutes. I just need to get my present company set up.” He spoke quietly, as though someone was close to him. I rolled my eyes at my best friend. He always seemed to have some woman on the go, and once he got tired of them, he moved on to the next. Money, power, and an easy woman were all Mariano cared about, and I was getting annoyed with him lately. The day he ever settled down would be the day I owed him a hundred grand, and I knew that money was as good as mine.
I knew I didn’t really need to wait for him. I held the power here through all the oil that was shipped in and out of our ports, but this was his find, and I wanted him to get his own hands dirty on this one.
“You have ten, or he’s gone. Drop the legs off and meet me here.”
He chuckled as though my comment entertained him, and friend or not, I felt the need to remind him who he was dealing with.
“I’m not asking.”
He cleared his throat. It wasn’t often that I needed to pull rank, but lately, he seemed to be preoccupied with his personal life while I handled everything.
“I’ll be there,” he growled quietly.
I hung up and took note of the time. Reaching into my bag, I pulled out a pair of brass knuckles, slipped them over my fingers, made a fist, and moved closer to the man who sniveled in front of me.
My reputation was known across Italy, and my family was everything, but I wouldn’t hesitate to kill during our dinner prayer if it was warranted. Life had led me to this.
“One minute.” I flexed my fingers growing more and more annoyed with Mariano.
I ripped the tape off the man’s mouth and pressed my weight down onto the arms of the chair to stare into his terrified eyes.
“Mariano said you were at the docks after hours.”
“It must have been someone else, sir.” His eyes lied, and I realized my brass knuckles weren’t going to be intimating enough, so I tossed them aside.
I pulled out a tin and made a show of emptying the long construction nails into my free hand. Reaching into the bag at my feet I pulled out a hammer and waited for him to talk.
“What, exactly, were you doing at the docks after the shipment left?”
“Nothing.” He shook violently.
“The boat left, and yet you hung around and took a call.” I reached into my back pocket and showed him a photo on my phone. “Doesn’t look like nothing to me.”
“I-I was calling my ride.” His eyes widened and bounced around.
“I see.” I gently pressed one of the long nails into the top of his hand then suddenly slammed the hammer onto the nail head. It shot down through his veins between the finger bones and into the wood of the chair, holding the hand in place.
“Ah!” His scream was muffled by the waves of the sea. “Son of a bitch!” He tried to catch his breath while his brain processed the level of pain he experienced.
I ripped his pocket and removed his phone then pressed his free thumb against the button to open it. I quickly changed the setting so it wouldn’t lock again then pulled up his call log. Three times, that same person called him that night, so I clicked the number and held it to my head.
“Don’t,” he heaved, “please don’t.” His voice quivered, his tears flowed harder, and the terror on his face made me aware of just how deeply rooted his fear really was.
“Tell me.” I held a nail to his other hand and raised the hammer.
“I can’t!” he wailed.
“Why not?” I held up the phone to show him it was still connected. “Ring three.”
“Because!” His bloodshot eyes rolled back in his head from the pain. “He wants you all dead!”
“Who?” I yelled into the wild wind.
“I don’t know,” he screamed and cried as I slammed the hammer down.
“Ahh!” He bucked and turned bright red.
“Tell me!” I screamed inches from his face.
“The man in white! S something…” His eyes popped open when he realized what he had just said.
“S who?” I used my weight to press and rotate the second nail that oozed blood, a dark pool of it now puddled on the ground at the edge of the cliff and caught the reflection of the nosy seagull above. He bucked around, and I released the pressure as I stepped back to think. I thought about all my enemies that started with an S, and many names came to mind.
I dropped down on one knee and forced his head around to look at me. Marco had been with us since the move to Florence, so whoever this S was, he must have just surfaced recently. What did he have on my men to make them turn against me?
“Tell me more, Marco.”
“I-I,” he slipped in and out from the pain, “I don’t know any more than that, sir, honestly.” He begged as saliva dribbled down his chin. “I was told to wait around for someone.” His red eyes blinked a few times. “Then Niccola spotted me.”
“You think it’s okay what you’re doing?” I asked calmly.
“No, sir.” He shook beneath my hands. “He did,” he paused to catch his breath, “mention a debt.”
“What debt?” I had no debts. I never owed anyone anything. I knew better.
“I don’t know. He just said there were debts.”
I whirled around and tried to control my temper. “Let me get this straight, you had instructions to wait at my dockyard, and you didn’t think to call me? Does that sound like something you should have done?”
“No,” he whispered.
“What else do you have to tell me?”
“Nothing more.”
I knew there was more; there always was. “So, instead of coming to me with this, you dishonored me and went behind my back to meet someone who was out to get me and our family?”
“I know.” His sob broke, and I felt nothing.
“You risked my business, our family, for what?”
“I know, I know,” he sobbed. “It was wrong, I buckled and, and…”
I stood, straightened my jacket, and turned to find Mariano racing toward me.
“For God’s sake, forgive me.”
“No.”
I used my foot to tilt back his chair while he screamed and tried to move his nailed hands. I gave him a shove backward, and he and the chair spun slowly in the air then hit the jagged rocks below and disappeared into the churning whitecaps of the angry sea.
Mariano was breathing hard as he stopped short next to me. I watched as a wave hit a rock and shot spray into the air.
“I’m sorry. I had to deal with some—”
“Whatever woman of the week you’re sleeping with shouldn’t interfere with family business!” I hissed inches from his face. He knew better than to push me. “What do you know about the debts?”
“What debts?” His face shot back as he tugged at the elastic around his wrist. He snapped it a few times as he often did and waited for me to go on.
“If you had anything to do with that, Mariano,” I looked down into the sea where the body still tied to what was left of the chair now bobbed around the jagged rocks, “we’ll have a big problem.”
“Let’s not forget that I was the one who told Niccola he was there and to go get him.”
I waved him off, not wanting to hear it. He needed to get his shit together. I grabbed my bag and tossed the hammer inside and turned away from him.
“Where are you going?” he grated.
“To hunt down a letter!” I thought I knew all the players on the families’ chess boards. None have ever dared step onto my territory before without me knowing about it.
I didn’t realize how fast I was driving until the officer pulled up behind me. I pulled to the side and slipped off my sunglasses. He had one hand on his gun, but I knew he would have already run my plate as he approached the window. He knocked twice on the glass, and I lowered it to look up at him.
“Sorry, Mr. Capri.” He took a step back, and his hand dropped away from his gun. I could see by the way his eyes shifted around he was nervous to speak to me. He was clearly new, as the law enforcement in the area knew if they stayed out of my business, I would stay out of theirs. “I just wanted to check and make sure everything was all right.”
“Everything is fine.”
“Very well.” He cleared his throat. “You have a good day, now, sir.”
I gave a tight nod then shifted into first and pulled away. I drove only slightly above the speed limit until I passed through our iron gates. Within the protection of the trees that lined the long winding drive, I tried to let the stress of my afternoon drift away. It wasn’t easy, and it didn’t last long, as once I parked and stepped out of my car at my parents’ home and spotted the young woman, dressed to kill, waiting for me.
“You must be Elio.”
“And you are?” I tried not to sound rude.
“My father is here on business with yours. I thought maybe we could take that sexy car of yours out for the evening.”
News traveled quickly when we first arrived here that I was a bachelor and the son of the great mafia boss, Piero Capri, but that role got old quickly. I knew my father often wanted me to occupy the women who insisted on coming along to get a good look at me. I certainly wasn’t in the mood for this today—or any day, for that matter.
“As flattered as I am that you would let a complete stranger take you out for the evening—”
“You’re not a stranger, Elio.” She stepped closer so I could get a better look at her. She had the usual pencil-thin figure, puffy lips, and thick fake lashes that women seemed to think men liked. “We’ve met before.”
“Again, I’m flattered, but—”
“Really?” She interrupted me again. “Why don’t we finish what we almost started last time?”
Then it clicked for me. Aurora. Her father was the one we were trying to buy more ships from. Dammit! Her father was a big deal.
“How about this?” I gritted through my teeth. “Tonight’s not good, but,” I hid my annoyance, “there’s a party here in a couple weeks. Why don’t you join me?”
“As your date?” A wickedly excited smile spread across her red lips.
“Yes.”
“Sounds like a date, then.”
“I will send you the details once they’re confirmed.” I found a smile.
She stepped forward and kissed the side of my cheek. “Can’t wait.”
I watched as her hips dramatically rolled as she made her way toward the pool. Once I knew the coast was clear, I headed inside to find my father. He needed to know what happened, and we needed to set some new ground rules for me.
“So, you walked along the beach and saw some old crap,” Wyatt snickered, slipping into his natural New York accent, “while I busted my ass for toothless Joe.” Joe was a researcher who Wyatt often had to work with when I was off working elsewhere. He was something else, to say the least. “Who, by the way, spelled ‘party’ wrong. Party! Girl, my first language is English, and even I can spell party in Italian.”
“Don’t make me laugh.” I had to pull the phone away while I got myself under control. He always had a way of cracking me up, and I loved him for it. “I’ll mess up my eyeliner.”
“Whatever. You can’t screw that face up even if you tried.”
“Right.” I rolled my eyes at his lame flirting.
