“Seriously? I’ve spent the last three months working on this deal. Now I’ve uprooted not only my life, but my pregnant wife’s.”
Gianni leaned forward in his seat. “There was another reason why I wanted to talk to you in person. Rafe and I are concerned.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re too close to this project to be objective. The Leo I know would’ve said fuck it when the first ream of red tape became a problem. I don’t like any of this–the alias, the ties to the Riccis, the dead mother.” He gave me a pointed look. “There’s other cities besides Philly, Leo.”
A pained breath rattled through my chest. “Drea tried talking me out of it last night too.”
“She did?”
I nodded. “She was spooked.”
“Maybe you should listen to her.”
Rubbing my hand over my face, I shook my head forlornly. “Now I have to start all over, and I won’t have Edoardo’s help. He really helped make it so much easier.”
With a grunt, Gianni said, “A little too easy.”
“What do you mean?”
“What if he set you up to fail as some sort of sick revenge for what happened with Drea?”
“Holy shit.”
“Do you feel me?”
“Yeah, I do.” Rage started building with me. “That makes so much sense. From a business standpoint, there’s been no reason for all the setbacks and red tape, especially this bullshit with the adjacent property. It only would’ve happened if someone was making it happen.”
“And the only one who could possibly be doing that would be Edoardo.”
“Fuck!!” I shouted.
After popping out of my chair, I started pacing around. And then I froze. Grabbing my phone, I fired off a text to Gianni.
Could my office be bugged?
It’s a possibility.
Find me one of your best sweeping crews.
Absolutely. Give me a day or two to try hacking into Edoardo’s accounts. I’ll see if I can find any communication chains.
Thanks, bro.
Gianni nodded and rose from his chair. “I’ll catch you later,” he said aloud.
“Take it easy.”
Once I was alone, I picked up my phone to text Drea.
I’m pulling out of the casino deal.
Instead of texting back, Drea called me. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“What did you find out?”
