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Damn him. Damn him and his entire family. Curses flew from my mouth as I turned onto the road that would take me to the docks. Dante might claim that he had no part of this, but that was a fucking lie. Even if he hadn’t had a direct role in this plot, he was still a part of it. He’d still agreed to marry me, to follow his father’s orders. He hadn’t stopped his father from completely stealing our clients and destroying our business. Dante was as much to blame as his fucking father.
Angrily, I brushed away the tears, trying to clear my head. If I was going to meet Mateo, I needed to at least be in control of myself. Mateo was already fed up with me and how I’ve been handling things. He might have supported me in the beginning, but seeing as how badly I’ve fucked everything up, I knew that support wasn’t going to last long.
The parking lot of the docks was empty by the time I pulled in. I didn’t even see Mateo’s car, let alone anyone else’s. Though, I’m sure there still had to be workers out in the warehouses and the security guards that patrolled the shipyard at night. Still, I felt uneasy. Reaching for my glove compartment, I pulled the handgun from its place before slipping it into my purse.
The sidewalk was empty, with the buildings wreathed in darkness. Not a single light was on in either building—either ours or the Scarano’s. I didn’t see anyone in the shipyard, either. My steps faltered, heart thudding in my chest. I’d told Mateo I would meet him here, but that had been almost an hour ago. He would have expected me to be here within at least twenty minutes or so. Did he leave? Maybe he really had given up already.
My hands shook slightly as I unlocked the office building’s front door. Switching on the lights, I made my way to the elevator. The lobby was creepy at night, and I wished the elevator would hurry the fuck up so I could go home.
Shit. Home. I didn’t even think about what I would do if Dante was still there when I got back. I’d told him to leave, but he was never good at listening to me. If anything, I could always go back to our first apartment. We still had it, leasing it out to make some more money. Right now, though, I knew there was no one living there. I guess it could work if he was still back at my family’s apartments. Either that, or I could have him escorted out by our security guards, but I really didn’t want to deal with any more drama.
The elevators finally opened, and I stepped inside. Within seconds, I’m on my floor, turning on the lights. My heart is still going crazy, but I assumed I was being paranoid. It was as if I could feel eyes on me as I moved across the floor to my office. At the door, I hesitated, pulling the gun out of my purse. The lights were off behind the glass, and I didn’t want any surprises.
I shouldn’t have come here alone. Not with a psycho murderer still on the loose and my family nearly at war with the Scaranos. This had been stupid, but I’d assumed Mateo would be here, which he clearly wasn’t. Turning the door handle, I swing it open just as I lift my gun. Flipping on the lights, I freeze.
But no one was there.
Feeling stupid, I let my gun drop to my side, making my way to the desk. If our customers really were abandoning ship, then I needed to shut things down from our end before we accrued too much debt. The money wasn’t coming in, but some of our operations were still open, and those people would expect to be paid, the resources would need to be covered. The first step I needed to do was make sure we didn’t go negative.
Flipping open my laptop, I typed in my password. While I waited for everything to load, I set my gun on the desk. My eyes landed on a black USB atop some files Mateo must have left out. I frowned. That definitely hadn’t been here the last time I’d been in the office. Picking it up, I turned it over between my fingers. It was small, no bigger than my pinky, but I knew I hadn’t seen it before. It definitely wasn’t mine.
Thinking it must be Mateo’s, I set it back on top of the papers. My computer booted up, and I turned back to the screen. Checking through the reports, I saw that Mateo had already taken it upon himself to do my job. Most of our European accounts had been closed, and the final contacts had been paid off. Asia was also in the process of shutting down, as were our African routes. Sighing, my eyes traveled back to the USB.
I pushed it into the side of the laptop, waiting for the file to pop open. There were only two MOV files with dates as labels. Curious, I clicked open the first one, marked a day after my father and Sal had met to arrange the wedding.
Dante and his father popped up on the screen in what looked to be the library at Dante’s parent’s house. The picture was crystal fucking clear. Dante was sitting in a chair by the fireplace, a glass of amber liquid in his hand. Sal crossed over towards the bookshelf, pouring himself his own drink. There was no mistaking who they were. And when they spoke, I heard everything.
“What’s the occasion?” Dante asked.
“A wedding.” Sal took a seat and smiled at him over the rim of his glass.
“And whose wedding would that be?” Dante looked tired. Wary.
“Yours.”
“Excuse me?” Dante stiffened. “To who?” he demanded, slamming his glass down on the side table.
“Sienna Rosania. I just got off the phone with Giovanni on the way home.”
I leaned in closer, studying Dante’s face. He looked bewildered, confused. Nothing at all like a man who knew about his father’s plan.
“What? Why? How?”
“Why not?” his father asked, eyes narrowing slightly. “Tying our two families together will solve a myriad of problems. It will end a blood feud, give us more access in the city to expand our ventures, and give us an in to the Rosania family. Not to mention, when Giovanni finally kicks the dust, you’ll be in line to inherit not one, but two family lines.”
I jerk backward. Before, my father and I had only guessed at what Sal’s plan was. But here it was—the truth. Recorded. Evidence. Sal wanted Dante to marry me so he could take over when my father died. And that had happened sooner than any of us had thought. Or…maybe Sal had known. Maybe he really was the Snake. Sal’s voice filtered through my laptop’s speakers again.
“This is the opportunity we were meant to have all those years ago, boy.” Sal’s smile had vanished now. “The only reason that prick agreed is because he’s hoping he’ll have a spy in our family. Either he’ll try to find something on us to take our family down, or he’ll attempt a coup, keeping his own business while stealing ours. I’m not stupid, and I’ve known Giovanni Rosania for a long time.”
“Then why make this deal? If there’s even a chance it could go wrong, why put our family at risk?”
“Because the reward is greater.”
“The reward—”
“You seem to be having some difficulty understanding what this could mean.” Sal eyed Dante critically. “The game has already begun. If you play well, you could rule over two Sicilian families in New York. If you fuck up….”
“We could lose everything,” Dante finished. “I understand that.”
