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“I think we’re in trouble,” I murmur.
“His bark is worse than his bite. That is, unless you cross him, and then you’re as good as dead,” Sebastian says with a smirk.
“Jesus, Sebastian, shut it. Can’t you see Rose is already freaked?” Reno gives him a stern look, then walks away from us and goes to greet our new guests. Reno and the beast exchange a few words, and when they come back, Reno says, “Let’s take this inside.”
Big badass MC and Mafia men can be gentlemen. They each step aside and allow Thunder to guide me into the warehouse and through the passageway first, into the office Nero points out to the right. The room is functional, with a basic wooden desk and shelves and not much else. They must have prepared for a sit-down, as the exact number of folding chairs are set up.
They wait for me to take a seat before taking one themselves. Reno is the first to speak. “This is Guard, the president of Satan’s Pride MC, his men Risk and Demon, and this is Thunder and his old lady, Rose.” He turns to Guard. “This is Raffaele Di Morte and his consigliere, Ivo.” After a cordial handshake, Reno says, “There seems to be an issue that involves Rose and one of your men.”
Raffaele quirks a brow. His penetrating gaze is set on me, scrutinizing me. “Go on,” Raffaele says, his voice low and deep, almost a growl.
Thunder isn’t happy, and I can see he’s taken offense over the way Raffaele has started the discussion. This situation can get out of hand very quickly, so I decide to jump in.
“Huh, sir. This all started years ago with my sister, Clarissa. My sister had a drug problem and took off. She was an adult, and there was nothing my parents could do to convince her to come home. She was in too deep. We hoped that one day, she would come back on her own. Clarissa got involved with some pretty bad people.” I pause as Raffaele tilts his head to one side with an expression that is saying,What the hell does this have to do with me?
“Then why is your sister not here instead of you?” he asks.
“Clarissa’s dead. She was found in an alley. They attributed her death to an overdose. But the problems she was part of are overflowing into my life.”
“How so?” Raffaele asks.
“A week ago, someone trashed my shop. We thought it was a bunch of kids, but when I got a call from some man who said, and I quote, ‘I own you,’ we figured it was more.”
Thunder takes over for me. “When a dead girl was tossed out of a moving car directly in front of Rose’s flower shop, we knew this was escalating. The only common factor was Rose.”
“Then we received a visit from a man called Aldo Capaldi, who we now know is one of yours,” Guard adds. Raffaele’s ears perk up, and I can see that he’s not pleased that he wasn’t aware of Aldo’s actions. “He works for you, yes?”
“He does,” Raffaele confirms, those piercing eyes aimed right at me. “What is your business with Aldo?”
“None. He says I have something that belongs to him,” I blurt out. “I had never met the man. He showed up at the club, and Thunder and Guard spoke to him.”
“He came for a fight,” Guard says. “And before you find out from someone else, we shot one of your men who pulled a gun in my house.” Guard’s face turns dark with fury. “No one comes to our club and makes demands.”
“This is unfortunate,” Raffaele concedes with a sigh. “I’ll have atalkwith Aldo.” The way he saystalkI think means he’s going to beat the crap out of him.
“There’s more,” Reno says.
“Show him,” Nero says, jerking his head at Thunder. “He needs to see it. Raffaele needs to know the extent of his man’s deception.”
Thunder looks first to Guard and waits for him to give him the go-ahead before standing and reaching into his pocket. He opens his palm to reveal the delicate chain with the gold key charm hanging from it. All eyes are on Raffaele. His jaw clenches, but his gaze never leaves Thunder’s hand.
“This is the reason Aldo came after Rose,” Thunder tells him. Slowly, very slowly, Raffaele tears his eyes from the necklace to look directly at Thunder. “He came to the club and threatened a war if a gold key wasn’t returned to him. Rose didn’t have a clue it even existed until Aldo said it was last seen with Clarissa.”
I jump in to add, “My sister and I were never close. She would have been more likely to sell it for drugs. Thunder finally found it in my parents’ garage in a box given to us by the police when they picked up Clarissa’s belongings.”
“Clarissa knew this was important.” Thunder holds up the chain. “It was hidden in an old purse, in a lipstick case. I also found this.” He shows him a wad of cash and the folded white slip of paper. He hands it to Raffaele.
Raffaele unfolds the notepaper and sees his initials.
“I don’t know what this necklace means to you, and I don’t need to know. All I want is for Aldo to leave us alone,” I plead.
“May I?” Raffaele says to Thunder, indicating the jewelry. Thunder hands it to him. Raffaele raises it to his eyes, studying it, his fingers running over the gold key charm. “Aldo will be dealt with. You’ll no longer be bothered.” He then meets my gaze. “This was my mother’s. A gift from my father. My father gave my mother many expensive trinkets, but this is the only thing she ever wore. When she was dying, she gave it to me and told me to make sure I held on to it until I found someone worthy of my love. I was married a short time ago, and this now belongs to my wife.” He sighs and gives us a sly smile. “She deserves it for putting up with me.”
Luciano was content to sit and watch as this all unfolded until this moment. “I understand this is your business, but I’d like to know how Aldo knew about the necklace and why he felt a dire need to kill to get it back.”
“That’s a very good question. I can only surmise that Aldo has something to do with its disappearance years ago. When it was lost, I was younger, and although it was bothersome, I had bigger issues to contend with. A short time ago, I went on the hunt to retrieve it. I’ve had my men scour every pawn shop and antique dealer. I found the right pawn shop, and he told me who bought it. I was tracking that man down,” Raffaele says.
“That’s why Harvey had to die. Aldo was afraid it would get traced back to him,” Thunder says. “Then it just became a race of who would find the gold key first.”
