“If it is, which I doubt, it wouldn’t be my first. I’m fine.” He reaches into his desk drawer for a bottle of aspirin. “Just a few of these, a coffee, and I’ll be good as new. Do you need to head back to the hospital now?”
“I will but first I need to run an errand and I need you to come with me.”
“Where to, babe?” Dominic opens the aspirin bottle and shakes two pills into his palm.
“Madeline Toma’s house. We need to talk to her now. We can’t risk anyone else falling victim to her poisonous muffins.”
Chapter forty-seven
“You should have let me drive.” Dominic grumbles as he takes a sip of his coffee. “I hate being a passenger princess.”
“You got hit on the head, it’s not a good idea for you to drive until you get checked out.” I reach over and grab his thigh. “Don’t worry, Princess, you’re in good hands.”
He gives me a look that could kill and I laugh.
Focusing on the road, my mind whirls.
I have no idea what I’m going to do when I see Madeline. She’s been a family friend for years. Now she’s a poison muffin lady. One of my hands tighten on the wheel while the other grips the gearshift tighter than necessary.
The morning light cuts across the dashboard, casting streaks of gold on us. A storm brews in my chest and nothing can quell the anger running through my veins.
Images of Gigi and Nonna flash through my head.
I want Elio dead.
Madeline can go too.
Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”The haunting verse fills my head as I round the bend.
Seriously fuck that raven.
“What’s the plan when we get there?” Dominic’s voice interrupts the cyclone brewing in my mind.
“I would love to tell her how her grandson is trash and he’s a dead man once my men find him, but of course I can’t say that.” I pause. “Maybe I can.”
“Do you really think she’s behind all of this?” Dominic takes another sip of his coffee. “What does she have to gain? I can see the other families trying something like this, but she doesn’t have anyone to back her up. She’s just a regular woman who got rich from being a silent investor in mafia dealings.”
“Maybe she knows we’re onto Elio?”
“But what would have been the reasoning thirty years ago? Elio wasn’t even born at that time.”
“I don’t know Dominic, but at this point she can take those poisonous muffins and shove them up her ass for the hell it’s caused me and my family.” My fingers clench the wheel.
Dominic reaches over and rubs my thigh. My heart flutters. “It’s going to be okay, Cipi.”
We round the last bend and Madeline Toma’s French inspired estate emerges through the trees.
The mansion looks like it belongs in a magazine. We stop at the wrought-iron gates with gold leaf designs and ivy curling around the bars. The guard in a crisp black uniform stands next to the gatehouse. He holds a phone close to his ear, engaged in conversation. Nodding, he waves us through, pushing a button to open the gates.
Driving through we head down the long paver-stone path that curves through manicured gardens and flowering hedges. I park next to the white Bentley just like last time. The chrome onthe expensive vehicle catches the sunlight and shimmers, almost blinding me as I put the gearshift into park.
“How are you feeling?” I glance sideways at Dominic.
He sighs. “The aspirin is helping but I’ll probably have a splitting headache later.”
I move to open my door.
“Don’t you dare,” Dominic snaps.
