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“What I don’t understand is why the attempted kidnap though,” I argued. “Rocco would want me to go back to theoriginal idea of marrying Sofia. A kidnap wouldn’t make that happen.” Only a death would.
None of it made any fucking sense.
“Let’s look at this another way,” Lucio said slowly, as if working it out in his head. “We know Hugo was getting on in years. His loyalty to Rocco, or at least Sofia, was likely, in fact very probable. Did the wedding have to happen today?”
“The will just said when I was thirty, but we both know what the five families’ reaction would have been.” Embarrassing and undermining. Not getting married wasn’t an option.
“So, if the alternative was out of the picture, you would have no choice but to marry Sofia.”
“Which I get,” I grounded out. “But why the kidnap? He couldn’t possibly imagine he could blackmail me. What the fuck planet is he even on?”
“You’re assuming that was his end game,” Lucio said, and I stilled, wanting to slap myself. How could I be so brain-dead?
“Fuck.” That was twice now I’d had to have my head dragged out of my ass. First by Gia when I didn’t realize Alessandro’s significance immediately, and now by Lucio. Maybe I didn’t deserve to be Boss. “Because he had to get him out quietly,” I answered. “Rocco wouldn’t risk gunshots being heard, even muted by a silencer.” And Hugo had clearly been persuaded he was doing everyone a favor. Hugo would balk at being asked to kill my fiancé, but he might just be persuaded to hold him captive while I was forced to marry Sofia, probably believing Alessandro would be let go after that. “He wouldn’t know Rocco had to kill him. He would also have known that my inheritance was more valuable to me than any marriage.” Lucio didn’t comment, and in that moment I was glad.
“And Rocco needed someone who was trusted by the other men to get in, and was asked by you to act as back-up security.They all thought Hugo harmless, non-threatening. Ready for retirement.”
We both looked up as the beep sounded to show the door had been unlocked. A moment later Gia appeared holding his iPad. He glanced at the floor quickly then ignored the body on it.
“What did he tell you?”
“Rocco persuaded him Alessandro was a traitor.” I rolled my eyes then glanced at Gia when I got no reply. “He had a heart attack before I got anything concrete out of him,” I added.
Gia blew out a breath and glanced at me. “I had no time yesterday to do any digging into what we think Alessandro may be hiding.” He hesitated.
“What?” I snapped out.There was more?
“I found an email string. It’s buried and traces back to Sofia’s account, but I don’t think it was Sofia that was using it.” I frowned. “I found all the ones Rocco used and he was too careful to document any dealings with the Irish. This one in Sofia’s account is brief and gives less detail but specifically mentions that both the heir and the pretender have to die.”
“The pretender?” Lucio asked.
“To the throne,” I supplied. “Meaning Rocco.” Pretender meant someone not qualified to rule. Heir obviously meant me.
“That’s why you assume Sofia didn’t send these, but they come from her account, and not from her mobile?”
“I’ve tracked them and one –the last—was sent while I know for sure Sofia and Elisabetta were attending a brunch because Jo cooked it for them at her restaurant. Neither Sofia nor her mamma was on their phones. I watched vids,” he added.
“Emails can be scheduled,” I protested because I really didn’t want to acknowledge what he was insinuating.
“Which I could easily discover,” Gia said, almost apologetically. I knew what he meant. The only person who we knew had any sort of a motive and that had house access to Sofiawas Alessandro. I frowned. “I can understand him hating Sofia, but he thought the wedding granted him freedom.”
“He wasn’t that stupid, Dario,” Gia said. “He couldn’t have been.”
“There’s another thought,” Lucio said.
I sighed internally. “What?”
“What if the thing we know he’s hiding is his birthright? What if he’s planned this? His uncle would love to get a foot hold in here.”
I swallowed, remembering every interaction. Had he fooled me?
I looked at the body on the floor.
Maybe I’d been asking the wrong person for answers.
Maybe I needed to interrogate my husband.
13
