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Now the doubt has eased. I should focus on Ricci and how to finally bring him down. Literally, kill the last barrier between Celia giving me her heart and both of us exacting our revenge. When I told her she can kill Ricci when the time comes, I wasn’t exactly honest. I have no intention of letting her be like me, her soul tainted, blood on her hands. She might hate me for a little while after it’s done, but it’ll be worth it to keep her innocent and safe.
Soo is waiting in my office when I enter in the morning. He’s sitting in the usual chair opposite my desk. But today, he looks a little more disheveled than usual. His usually tidy hair is brushed away from his face like he’s been running his hands through it repeatedly. Something is eating at him.
“You’re up early.”
He tosses a stack of paper on my desk, and I swing around, take my chair, and look at what he’s brought me.
“I never went to sleep last night. As you can see, I’ve gotten some disturbing news.”
Each sheet in the hefty stack is an individual email. Some of them from Ricci, some of them from one of the Gardello boys. Even a couple from the reclusive Bianci, who rarely leaves his lakeside mansion.
“Let’s pretend I’m going to read every single one of these. Can you give me the quick version? I’m assuming it explains why you look like shit.”
Soo leans his head back in the chair and closes his eyes. “Basically, they say the five families have been meeting in secret for a while via secure video chat, and right now, they have two targets: you and your new bride.”
I sit forward and spread the emails out on the surface of my desk. “Did they threaten her?” Threats to me are nothing. I’m used to it. But if they so much as breathe her name in the same sentence as a threat, I’m suddenly going to get a lot more motivated to rip their heads off one by one.
“No, but I assume any threat to you is a threat to her, too. I suggest we keep her indoors and secure, so we don’t give them a chance.”
Even though my heart is still pounding in my chest, I relax again. “Does your spy know anything about when these meetings occur?”
Soo shakes his head. “Nope, she would have told me. She’s very thorough.”
I don’t touch that comment. Especially since I witnessed him in her presence a while ago, and I know something is going on there. He hasn’t been ready to say anything yet, and I won’t push.
“Do you think Celia knows anything about these online meetings?”
This gets his attention. He pops one eye open and looks at me. “Maybe? You should ask her. I know she was unwilling to give us intel when she first arrived here, but her circumstances have changed, and she might know more than she thinks.”
I shove out of the chair and head toward the door. “Get some sleep. I’ll talk to her.”
“No, I’ll come too, so you don’t have to repeat things later.”
When I last saw her, she told me she planned to spend the morning in the library. Soo follows me down, and we find her lying on the couch with a book tucked against her knees.
She looks up when I enter, a smile on her lips that shoots straight into my chest. When Soo comes up behind me, she closes the book in her lap, keeping her finger between the pages to mark her place. “What’s going on?”
I sit beside her, and Soo stands nearby to watch us. “I wanted to ask if you know anything about the virtual meetings the five families have been having?”
She shakes her head and leans up to resettle her legs underneath her. “No, it’s news to me. My father hates using his laptop and used to get angry he couldn’t read his emails.”
Soo asks the next question. “Do you know anything that might help us get to him? Anything you might not have told us before, maybe out of spite, or to protect him?”
She narrows her eyes at him. “No, I would have said something. I was trained to be a trophy wife. They didn’t tell me anything. Why would they? Most of what I know about the five families revolves around dinner parties and wine choices. All pretty silly and mundane things. My mom used to quiz me on family tastes, food allergies, gossip that might affect seating charts.”
Soo drags the coffee table closer to the couch and perches on the edge, so he can focus his attention on her.
She watches him with wide eyes and glances back at me. I give her an encouraging nod. “Tell him what you know, don’t worry about it.”
