“He goes by Wolf.”
“Wolf Devereux?”
“I didn’t get his last name,” she said, “and I don’t think that’s his real first name.”
She stopped at the front gates of his villa. The retina scanner cleared her to enter. She parked in the small lot outside his estate.
“Is Pina here?” she asked.
“At the market.”
Before he entered his home, he pulled his gun. The alarm stopped beeping after he punched in the code.
“I’ll make us something to eat,” she said before he went upstairs.
The sins of the father had transferred to the son. More blood spatter washed down the drain as he stood under his waterfall faucet. In his gut, he knew the killing had to stop, but he wasn’t giving up his turf or his businesses. He had been taught to fight to the death, so he would.
He and Monroe ate breakfast on his first floor balcony.
“When are you flying back?”
“Today, after I swing by Santini Euro.” He unsilenced his phone. Within seconds, it started blowing up with text messages.
He read one from Sin.
Meeting still on for tonight at 8. Can you make it?
A message from Halston.
I got eyes on me. DMV in total blackout again. Missing you
It was 10AM, local time.
I need to get back.
He called his pilot.
She answered. “Ready to head home, Mr. Santini?”
“Can you get me home by eight?”
“Let me contact charter departures. I’ll call you back.”
He hung up. “I’ve got time to run by Santini Euro,” Gabriel said to his cousin. “We’re meeting with a major distributor.” He finished his coffee. “How ‘bout a new outfit straight off the designer rack?”
“As long as it’s black,” Monroe replied.
While she drove him to his company, Gabriel returned Sin’s text with a phone call.
Sin answered. “Hey, G, where are you?”
“Still in Milan. My pilot’s scheduling a flight now.”
“My driver will pick you up outside chartered flights. Let your pilot know, we’re in total blackout again. I’m guessing Dulles ATC has generator backup, but they can’t land if the lights are out.”
“Got it.”
He hung up, dialed Halston’s number, put the call on speaker.
