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It takes a week to do a proper cleanup in the warehouses, interrogating every man and going through every square inch for cameras or bugs. The checks are done routinely, but after catching a spy on the premises, I prefer to be extra cautious.
By now, Marziale would’ve gotten my message. He knows I’m coming for him. If he’s clever, he’ll run. He’ll get out of Corsica while he can. Not that it’ll help. I’ll always find him, and when I do, I’ll crush him.
I sleep on the sofa in the warehouse office and use the onsite shower, too weary at night to bother with going to a hotel. During those hours that I lie awake in the dark, my thoughts return to the same place and person—the new house and the woman who lives there.
My woman.
How did she react when she discovered what I’d done? Is she cursing me as she’s lying in her bed? How much more does she despise me? How much time will it take before she gets over it? Definitely more than the week I’ve been gone. Perhaps an eternity. She’ll hate me even more when she finds out I left Heidi with a very clear instruction not to go to the new house while I’m gone. I don’t want Sabella to make Heidi do something that will surely get her fired, something like going to the pharmacy and buying her an emergency contraceptive. Heidi has been with me for too long. I don’t want to be forced to kick her out. Sabella sent me to the pharmacy when I took her virginity, and that was one time too many. I told her that then, and I never go back on my word. When she falls pregnant, I won’t allow her to get rid of my baby. I’ll lock her in a cage for the whole nine months if I have to.
My woman.
Maybe if I tell myself that enough times I’ll believe it. In my heart, I know she’s mine. The problem is that she doesn’t see it the same way. That’s why she made a deal with the cops. We’re in an impossible situation with her looking for evidence she won’t find and me biding my time to take out Lieutenant Lavigne. And now this war with Marziale and the business with the kids are delaying my plans.
Turning those thoughts around in my head serves no purpose other than adding to my frustration, but I can’t shut down my mind. So I lie awake, and I think, wondering what my wife is doing and if Sophie is the welcome distraction I hope she’ll be.
I only return home when I’m certain there are no rats in my staff and that the premises are clean.
Heidi greets me at the door.
“How did it go?” I ask. “I hope the boys didn’t give you too much trouble.”
“Oh, they gave me enough.” She closes the door and takes my coat. “Good luck with taming them. It’s not going to be an easy job.”
I look around the quiet house. “Where are they?”
“A guard is teaching them to do animal tracking near the forest to keep them busy.”
“I’ll finalize the enrollment this week.” I remove my jacket and hand it to her for dry-cleaning. “As soon as they’ve had the required vaccinations, they’ll be in school and out of your hair.”
I check my watch. It’s mid-morning, but I can do with a shower. After a week of showering in a cramped cubicle with a plastic curtain under a drizzle of lukewarm water, I look forward to soaking my tense muscles under the massaging spray of the powerful nozzle in the luxury of my own spacious bathroom.
I’m turning for the stairs, already unbuttoning my shirt, when Heidi says, “There’s someone here to see you. She’s waiting in the lounge.”
I stop. “Who?”
She shrugs. “A woman. Says she’s family of Mrs. Russo.”
“Family of my wife?” I ask, unease tightening my gut.
“Yes.”
My senses go on high alert. “What does she want?”
“She won’t say.” The downward pull of Heidi’s mouth says she disapproves of this person. “She’s been coming every morning since you left. I told her you’re not home and that I didn’t know when you’d return, but she always insists on waiting. Says it’s important. She waits for a couple of hours in the lounge and then leaves only to come back the next day.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Heidi says with conviction, “Whatever her business is with you, it’s notthatimportant.”
My housekeeper really doesn’t like this woman. “Did she ask for Sabella?”
“No.”
“Are you having her watched?”
“Of course.” Heidi juts her chin toward the lounge. “I make sure a guard searches her and stays with her until she goes. The only reason I let her in is because she says she’s family of Mrs. Russo. I can’t say if that’s true. She doesn’t carry a passport or an identity document on her. Not even a driver’s license.”
I nod. “Tell her I’ll see her.”
