Page 41 of The Boss

The other big secret, that Juliet and I are dating. I’m pretty sure everyone now is under the impression that we’ve been secretly sleeping together for years and never said anything until we got caught. But we technically didn’t get caught; they all just assumed.

Juliet has been working overtime making sure our business plans still go through. She’s become the lead negotiator on all real estate and business transactions. I know she’ll take her job as Chief Financial Officer seriously if we ever get the chance to have the business.

If Mateo isn’t here, I won’t want to build this business. He’s my best friend. We were raised like brothers, and it just feels wrong not having him here.

Breaking me from my thoughts, my phone rings. I can see it’s Lorenzo.

“Hello,” I say, answering while also texting Drew to come upstairs.

“Gino, I just want to tell you, your man, he's a strong one. He’s a fighter. I wonder why that is?” Lorenzo replies.

Did Mateo say something about Vanessa? I know he wouldn’t, but Lorenzo is making it sound like he knows something.

“I don’t know. But why don’t you send me proof of life? I don’t want to keep negotiating with you if I don’t know if my man is alive,” I say.

Drew walks into the room and immediately opens his laptop.

“Fine, I’ll send you that, but I think you should also send something in return,” he says, sounding excited.

“What’s that?”I ask irritably.

“I want twenty kilos of the best on the market.”

“How do you expect me to get that for you?” I ask.

“I don’t know, figure it out, maybe ask your man who's been snooping around Rome the last few months,” he says.

Gabe’s been in Italy for months, and he’s been questioning everyone we can find. From associates to enemies. He’s also been tailing almost everyone we can think of to see if they’ll lead us to Mateo, and nothing has worked. He’s tried to be discreet, but I guess it’s not working how we thought it would.

Shit.

Then he hangs up. Right away, we see the proof of life. Mateo looks like shit. Broken, bruised, battered.

I look at Drew. “Anything?”

“Not yet.”

I dial Gabe.

“Yeah?” He says.

“Get on the next flight back; they spotted you,” I say quickly.

“Got it,” he replies.

I give my phone to Drew.

“See if you can get anything from that photo he just sent,” I say.

“Got it,” he replies immediately, putting his head down.

I watch him as he works.

“Gino, this is bad,” he says solemnly.

“I know.”

The photo shows Mateo on his knees, chained to a wall. The room is plain; there’s nothing we can identify from it. He’s injured and bleeding, and thinner than before.