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Franco Moretti looked from Gabe to me. “Well, since you killed my brother, I honestly thought setting up a meeting with you might not be beneficial for my health.”
The tank chuckled.
Gabe folded his arms across his chest and leaned back.
“That’s fair. And what is it you want to talk about?” I asked.
“First up, I’m not interested in any of the Moretti family business. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy the money, just not so much the…lifestyle.”
I raised a brow. “Lifestyle?”
“Well, you see. I’m very much a free spirit. Creative, artistic, free-thinking. My personality doesn’t really gel with all that bad boy, dangerous killer, Mafia machismo.”
Zotov chuckled again, and even Gabe’s face started to twitch. Was that how others saw me? As a bad boy, dangerous killer, Mafia macho?
Holy shit, that could’ve been right out of my princess’ mouth.
“I’m sorry for all the carnage. Bruno latched onto the idea that he has to kill you in order to take over the Moretti clan,” Moretti added.
“And you?”
“I would actually love for you to take over the family. I’m happy to keep up my lifestyle.”
Was this guy for real?
I locked eyes with Gabe for a second, who shrugged—looking as baffled as I did.
“I don’t buy it,” I said. If something looked like a duck, quacked like a duck, and waddled like a duck, it was most likely a duck—or a trap, in this case.
Franco sighed, looked from Gabe to Zotov—who for whatever reason, was still here—and back to me. “I’m gay—which is a big no-no in my family. And honestly, I’d rather die than live my whole life suppressing who I am and pretending to be someone I’m not,” Franco said and leaned back.
He sounded honest enough.
“If I must, I can be your second-in-command, but I sure as shit will not take over as the boss. So now that Bruno is not in the picture anymore, it’s either you or someone else who will come up the ranks and take over.”
I shook my head, hoping to stop the spinning. How were things suddenly nothing like they’d seemed to be?
“Doesn’t sound like you’re devastated because of your brother’s death.”
Moretti cocked his head. “Bruno did not approve of my sexual orientation.”
He didn’t say more though it seemed like there had been no love lost between the two brothers.
“How do you know Fiona, and how did you get her to conspire with you?”
I held my breath. Somehow the answer to that question was even more important than anything else he told me.
“Well, Fee only knows me as her old friend Frank from boarding school. I never told her about the family business, and she never asked. Fee’s actually great, and when I saw the headlines and speculations about the two of you, I knew she was my only chance to get to talk to you, before, you know…being killed.”
I nodded. At least that assumption was correct.
“So she agreed to let you use her to get to me?”
He sucked in air through his teeth. “Not exactly. We met a couple of days ago, and she told me about the repercussions of the kidnapping and all.”
Zotov straightened, again, only by a fraction of a movement, but I filed it away for later.
“We decided to see what we could do to…get her back on track, so to speak. Exposure therapy…that kind of thing. That was the original plan. So as soon as I found out the two of you were dating, I just ran with it.”
