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“Yeah. There have been a few suspicious deaths, well-known players in that particular field. Robert Grayson dropped dead of a heart attack three nights ago at a gala. Autopsy shows a heart attack, but it’s the fourth ‘heart attack’ within his particular circle in the last six months.”
If I had killed someone, would you send me away?
I suppose it depends on why you killed them. Did they deserve it?
Yes. Very much so.
Was this what Amara had been hinting at? Had she been helping Uncle Gio set himself up as a kingpin of the sex trade?
He dismissed the thought as soon as it entered his mind. Amara may stand at Gio’s side, but there was absolutely no way she would stand for this. She didn’t have it in her, of that Emilio was absolutely certain.
Still, her confession nagged at him. Was it possible she was more involved in Gio’s business than anyone realized? The idea that the notoriously overprotective Giorgio Vitali would use his own adopted daughter to take out the competition was laughable.
Which also made it the perfect plan. Nobody who knew them would ever guess that Amara was capable of cold-blooded murder. Or that Gio would allow her to put herself in such a position.
Setting that puzzle aside for later, Emilio refocused on the man in front of him. “Thank you for the information. I trust everything I need is in the file?”
“Yeah.”
“All right. Payment will be made per our usual agreement.”
“This one’s on me.” Frank’s normally flat eyes glittered with rage. “I know I’m not a good cop. And I know you lot aren’t angels. But this? Nah. I can’t stomach this.”
“Understood. Well, thank you again for the information.”
“Don’t mention it.” Franks’ lips twisted up in a wry smile. “Really. Don’t tell anyone where you got that file.”
“Of course.”
Alone in his office, Emilio stared at the file Franks had given him. Though it couldn’t have weighed more than a few ounces, it felt like a cinder block in his hand. He set it down and crossed the room to the well-stocked liquor cabinet to pour himself a drink.
Whiskey in hand, he settled down at the desk and dumped the contents of the file onto the polished wood. Coroner’s findings, police reports. Not much, on the surface, as all had supposedly died of natural causes. But someone at the department was putting the pieces together, it seemed.
Each man had dropped dead at some kind of party or charity event. The file didn’t contain the guest lists, ostensibly because the police had never officially investigated the deaths after they’d been ruled as natural causes. He, himself, had been invited to two of the events, but he’d had to turn down both events. Had Amara been there? Their social circles overlapped so much, it seemed unlikely she hadn’t at least been invited.
He spent an hour combing over the information Franks had provided, his stomach churning with each new piece of information. The evidence of Vitali’s newest endeavor was right there, in black and white.
Leaving the envelope and its contents locked in his safe, he made his way back upstairs. The sight that greeted him lifted his mood immediately. Amara was standing in the corner with her hands on her head while Benny sat in the armchair, reading a book.
The scene was adorable, and it reaffirmed his decision that the little brat was meant to be his. Schooling his features into a stern frown, he stepped into the room. “Was someone naughty while Daddy was working?”
Dropping her arms to her sides, Amara turned to glare at him. “Benny is being mean!”
“Nose back in the corner, young lady. You still have two minutes,” Benny said without even looking up from his book.
With a stomp of her foot, Amara turned her glare on Benny then back to Emilio. “Daddy, tell him I don’t have to stand in the stupid corner.”
Ah, she was testing her place in the household. This, at least, was something he could easily handle. “If Benny put you in the corner, that is where you’ll stay until he says your punishment is over. And then you can explain to me why you couldn’t behave yourself for two hours.”
Her lower lip pushed out into a pout and she crossed her arms. “I was behaving! Benny was being unreasonable.”
Arguing with her wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He crossed the room and grabbed her by the arm, spinning her around to land a dozen or so swats to the backs of her thighs. “One more word from you, young lady, and I will add some pretty welts to your bottom before putting you back in the corner to start your corner time over again.”
Sniffling pitifully, she turned back to the wall and laced her hands behind her head. From his chair, Benny looked up and grinned.
A minute later, the timer on Benny’s phone went off and he called her from the corner. Amara looked over at Emilio, who nodded his approval, before rushing to the chair and climbing into Benny’s outstretched arms.
“I’m sorry I was a brat,” she said quietly.
