Page 84 of The Boss

“I won’t mention anything about the property in Anna’s name to him. Can you keep working this angle? I’m going to send Gabe back in a few days if we have something solid for him to look into.”

I stand and look at him.

“If this is the smoking gun, you’re going to need to send more than Gabe,” I tell him.

“Who else would I send?”

“Ryan, Alonso, Marco, or Drew.”

“Sending all four of them would be a terrible idea. That many men showing up will be too obvious,” he replies.

I sigh; he’s right.

“Maybe send one or two from the old guard to go with them? Is there anyone you could call?” I ask.

“No, none of them are willing to help that much. Sure, some have provided details on some of the leads we have, but none of them want to come out of retirement.”

I can hear the strain in his voice. He’s been awake every night pondering what to do. He would spend hours talking to me about different strategies and ideas. It got to the point where he wasn’t sleeping. I had to make a rule that once we walked into the bedroom, no conversations about what was happening outside of those four walls.

“I’ll see you at dinner,” he says, pressing a kiss to my forehead and leaving.

THIRTY-SIX

GINO

LATE APRIL

Juliet’s idea of looking at Anna Russo is paying off. We’ve spent the last few weeks reviewing everything in her name. We haven’t searched any, but we are going to need to send in a team soon. But I need to be right. If we go in too early, it’ll foil our plan.

I lean back in my chair.

Juliet and I finished dinner a few hours ago. Since my sister had the twins, we’ve only spent our evenings together outside of the few times we’ve been at Vanessa’s together. We are so close we can both taste it. Looking at the clock, I notice it’s after eleven, and I need to get to bed soon.

Getting up from the desk, I walk downstairs.

Since Juliet has moved into my room, she’s helped me realize I’ve been too intense all the time. She said, “Wearing suits all the time makes you look menacing.” Unless I’m leaving the house, I’ve changed my wardrobe to be more T-shirts than button-downs, but I still wear slacks most of the time. She can’t completely get rid of the professional attire I own. Before, I would only wear sweats in my room, but now I wear them around the house at night and in the early morning.

I quickly shower and change into a navy t-shirt and sweats.

Walking downstairs, I see Juliet sitting in the library. She has a glass of wine in her hands, staring at the computer in front of her. She has pop music playing softly through the speakers.

Leaning down, I kiss the side of her head.

“Whatcha doing in here?” I ask with a smile.

She has a black tank top and blue cotton pajama shorts on.

“Looking at these properties more. There’s something there; I know it,” she says.

“Okay, walk me through what you’re thinking,” I reply.

“Most of these properties are in the city. Except for two: one is a villa and the second is a small warehouse outside of Rome.”

She grabs her dark hair and twirls it into a bun on her head.

“The warehouse is an option, but it might be too perfect of an option,” she says. “The villa could work, but they would have had to redesign it to hold someone for this long.”

“Warehouse seems logical. I’m not going to ask Anthony for approval to go into his territory and raid a place. I trust you; if you think this is the spot, then this is the spot.”