He didn’t want to frighten her, so he kept his face calm. “How is that?”
“Please don’t kill me. He has bugs around the house, and I found his listening booth.”
“Listening booth?”
She turned and pointed along the wall. “His office is in that direction, and just out there in the hall is a tapestry. Behind that tapestry is the entrance to a secret passage that leads to the listening booth, his office—”
“That’s how he sneaked up on me in his office.”
She nodded enthusiastically. “It’s the same secret passage he uses to come to my room.”
Her scarf slipped, and he tried not to stare at the horrific damage to her neck.
“You listen to your husband’s meetings?”
“Please don’t ever tell him. I…I…”
“I understand, Raphielli. Knowledge is power, and it looks like you were just trying to keep yourself safe. Am I right?”
“Sì, sì! I don’t want to be married to a man I have to eavesdrop on, but it’s really helpful to know his state of mind! I promise you!” She summed up her plea, “Cardinal Negrali is willing to meet with you and verify that Salvio will never get Verdu Mer. Personally, I believe Salvio is more likely to end up in a mental institution.”
“Mental institution?” He was confused.
“Sì. Nobody knows it, but Salvio believes he is the actual Son of God.”
“I don’t need to meet with the cardinal. I’ve spent some time learning more about Salvio today. Word here in Venice is that your husband is a big talker, but he no longer has the clout his family enjoyed. And I have some bad news for you. Instead of an institution, he may be going to prison.”
“Prison?”
He put his hand on her shoulder. “I’ve been making some inquiries since my meeting with your husband, and I believe he killed a young man named Reynaldo Falconetti.”
“Oh, no!” she choked. “No!” She began wringing her hands as tears spilled down her cheeks again. “Poor Reynaldo! I know his parents! Poor Marco and Agata! Salvio’s temper is pure evil!” She absentmindedly touched the scarf at her throat, and he eased it down with one finger and took in the full extent of the gashes and bruises marring her tender young skin.
“Sì, it is.” He adjusted the scarf to cover her neck again. “I’m glad you came to me. You were smart to listen in and learn what you could to save yourself…and now Count Verona. I’m not going to do what your husband asked of me, but he’s gonna have to pay for trying to use me.”
Raphielli opened her hands to him. “Please, promise not me you won’t kill him.”
“Is that your request?” Gio was perplexed.
“Sì,” she replied with touching conviction.
He took both her hands in his and gave them a gentle squeeze. He wanted her to understand the significance of his next words, so he turned one hand over and placed a formal kiss in her palm. “Raphielli, I promise that I won’t kill your husband. There are fates worse than death for someone like him.”
The moment was broken by the sound of loud footsteps approaching in the hallway, and then running past the door. Then an old man’s voice, “Signore, Guiseppe is up on the roof. Will you need him to bring you dinner in your office?” It sounded like the butler he’d met last night.
“Nothing!” It was Scortini’s voice. “Now leave me! I have to speak to the Pope! Get away from me!”
He heard Scortini’s nearby office door open, and then slam shut. The hall was silent again.
Gio looked at Raphielli and said quietly, “Take me to that listening booth.”
With Raphielli leading the way, they moved into the deserted hall and hurried along the wall. She lifted the edge of a tapestry, and they slipped behind it into the secret passage. She motioned for him to stop when they’d reached the insulated listening booth, where she turned on a tiny red light and then flipped one of the switches. They heard Salvio pleading, loud and clear.
“No! I must speak to the Pope! Sì! I’ve just left the College of Cardinals, and I must personally tell Sua Santità about some urgent news I’ve just uncovered!”
There was silence. After a pause, Salvio blurted, “Holy Father, it’s me, Salvio Scortini. Please forgive my mistake with Giselle Verona.”
After another long pause, he wheedled, “Sì, Holy Father, the College informed me that I was mistaken. But Father, you must see that I have only ever had the Church in my heart, and the poor residents of Verdu Mer. I did it because in my soul I could feel there was something very wrong in that family. I’m loyal to the Veronas. Gabrieli and I have always been closer than brothers…”
Another pause and then, “Well, okay, that’s true, but I can honestly say that I love Verona like a brother, and I would like to spend more time with him. But it was the feeling that something was wrong with his family that was making me sick, Father.”
Another pause. “Father, I beg you to allow me to continue what I have to say. Through my investigations, I’ve uncovered a plot to kill Verona, and I’m the only one who can save his life now. I’ve discovered that an odious Sicilian dog named Petrosino is going to try to kill Verona tonight.”
Raphielli gasped and clutched Gio’s arm, fingers digging in. She looked up at him with a mixture of terror and disbelief. Gio put his hand up in a calming gesture as Salvio continued.
“He’s come up from Palermo to try take over Verdu Mer for the Mafia! Only minutes ago I informed the police that the Mafia dog is lying in wait to murder Gabrieli. Father, you must see that you and the College have taken my fidelity and interest the wrong way. I’m your faithful servant. Now that I have saved Verona’s life, he and I can manage the project together.”
Petrosino’s rage was building, but he kept his cool. He and Raphielli listened to the rest of the conversation, and Scortini’s assurances that he alone had saved Gabrieli from the dog Petrosino. Gio took hold of her elbow; in the dim shadows he could see she was on the verge of fainting from sheer stress. He mouthed into her ear, “It’s okay. So this passage comes out in his office?”
She nodded and pointed.
“What’s in the other direction?”
“Back past the spot where we entered is my bedroom.”
He made an excusing motion with his hands, and she retreated down the secret corridor to her room. When he heard Salvio hang up the phone, he felt his way down the passage and sprang out behind Salvio, who uttered a strangled cry just as Gio’s crushing hands clamped around his throat. Gio yanked him backward and savaged one of his kidneys with a knee. Holding Salvio in a one-armed chokehold, he reached into his pocket, took out a metal cylinder, and tapped the little hypodermic needle out. He slammed the drug into Scortini’s neck, and then let him drop to the floor. Minutes later, he and Primo carried Scortini to Drea’s waiting boat. When the body was stowed, Gio went back alone in search of the girl.
He went through the secret entrance, back down the hall, into the secret passage, and headed in the direction she’d fled. He peeked out from behind a heavy curtain into a cold, dark room that smelled of an old woman’s perfume. He almost turned back to keep looking, when he spotted her. She was attempting to brush her thick hair with shaky strokes, in the most depressing bedroom he’d ever seen.
“Psst. You alone?” he whispered.
She startled, dropped the brush, and ran to him. “Gio! What happened?”
Stepping into her room, he said, “You won’t see or hear from him again. You should make up a story about him going away. I have a feeling nobody likes him, so no one should give you a hard time about seeing him in person.” He thought about her vicious neck injury, and then patted her shoulder. “Practice signing his name, and you’ll be fine financially.”
Raphielli burst forward and hugged him hard. “If he comes back, he’ll kill me.”
He pulled back so he could see her, and smoothed the black curls from her face. “I understand that, Raphielli.” He gave her a smile. “I’ll keep him securely locked
up for you.” Then he pulled her to him and hugged her. He stood rocking her in a paternal way for a moment, and kept his voice soft. “My son and I will take Salvio away, and you’ll be free.”
“Grazie, Gio.” He could feel her shuddering breaths as she began crying tears of relief from her prolonged state of anxiety. “Will you send me updates?”
“There’s no need for updates,” he murmured, while thinking of all the possibilities. “But if I ever need to give you news about Salvio, I’ll send you a note inside a box of tea. No one would think to look in a tea box, right?”
She nodded.
Gio gently pulled her away from his chest and looked into her eyes. “Find a good man, Raphielli. You deserve better than him. He’s trash.” He wiped her tears with his thumbs, turned back behind the curtain, and left her staring after him.
Giselle and Markus had spent most of the day packing away the unused sculpture materials while barn-building contractors erected a pre-fab enclosure around Star Fall with brisk efficiency. Her most captivating work was being exiled, sentenced to glow inside a dark shed...until she could figure out a way to complete it. It left her feeling depressed, an emotional state she hadn’t felt in years.
“I’d thought of several scenarios for this sculpture, but I never considered the possibility of incompletion. I feel miserable.”
Markus closed the greenhouse door and fell into step beside her. “This I can imagine. You could not have foreseen the men in your life bringing the Pope for an intervention.”
Giselle laughed in spite of herself. “Aww, don’t try to make me laugh, Markus.”
“Maybe you will feel better after a shower.”
They walked in silence with the guard dogs trailing them, and as they climbed the steps of the château, the dogs trotted off across the driveway on their patrol.
Once inside Markus said, “I researched irrodium online. There is a good reason it was banned.” He enunciated carefully as he recited, “Blood exposure causes death almost instantly.” He shook his head. “Which must be a relief since it is apparently a very painful toxin. You do see that your sculpture is a beautiful death trap, no?”
Walking with her head down, she offered a weak justification. “We were careful to avoid blood exposure and…its impact on the art world is worth the risk…oh, I’m so…I don’t know what to do with this frustration.” She stopped as inspiration struck. “Hey! Can I go hit your broken sculpture?”
Markus looked surprised. “It is already in the trash bin.”
Genuinely interested, she asked, “Did taking a cane to your sculpture make you feel better?”
“Let me consider your question.” Markus ran his hands over his ultra-short hair. “Breaking glass can be a release. But no, what made me feel better was you coming into my room and giving me your virginity.”
A laugh escaped her. “Oh! Right. That would do it.”
“Mm-hmm.” He headed for the grand staircase. “There are ways to relieve frustration that are much more enjoyable than smashing things.”
His sexy tone was all it took to divert her attention—she really was becoming obsessed with him. But she feigned innocence as she climbed the stairs, overtaking him.
“Oh, I don’t know. I have a lot of frustration. My artistic dream has been stifled. I may need an entire team of therapists.”
Markus was unbuttoning his shirt as they paused on the second-story landing.
“Sadly, I have no virginity to sacrifice to your problem. Maybe you will settle for a bit of distraction?” Shivers ran down her back as she followed him to her bedroom.
Sometime later, they lay tangled in the sheets as the sun dipped low over the forest, casting the room in a dusky glow.
“Ah, that was magnificent, Giselle.”
“I wish I could tell the girls what you do to me, mon amour.”
Markus bit her inner thigh. “Your friends would attack me, I think.”
“Oh, it’s true.” Giselle looked down at him with all seriousness. “If they knew what you can do, they’d kidnap you and make you pleasure them.”
He pretended to look frightened. “You are right. You must not ever tell them.”
“Unless what you do is what every man does. Is it? Are all men the same in bed?”
“I do not know.” He shrugged as he got out of bed and pulled her to her feet. “Maybe it is so.”
He picked her up and swung her over his shoulder, then headed toward the bathroom to shower. “I understand why Vincenzo carries you like this. It is wonderful.” He bit her hip playfully, and his fingers wandered to her exposed sex.
Giggling, she shrieked in surprise. “Aei! He never did that!”
“No. Friends do not do that. Do they?”
In the shower, Markus massaged soap along her back. “Giselle, you are like nothing I ever imagined.”
“Hmm, now you sound like Yvania.”
“Da, imagine the Czerney’s excitement when they find out that we will be married.”
“You want to marry me?” They stepped out of the shower and began toweling off.
“Can you doubt that I want you to be my wife? Now that I have found you, I want to be with you forever. Will you marry me?”
“Oui! You’ll love being married to me! I’m a good wife, and now I’m learning to do the one thing that I didn’t do before!”
“Make love?” He arched an eyebrow.
“Oui.”
After a relaxing dinner, Giselle let her creativity come alive on paper as she transformed her Star Fall design into an architectural blueprint for a home. She studied a photo of the Pope’s sketch that Vincenzo had sent her. What had appeared to him in his dream was indeed the same graceful, arching shape. The creation of a practical floor plan flowed quickly, and Giselle was quite pleased with the resulting design.
Markus traced his finger along the spans between where she’d placed the front door and the back of the arch. “Kitchen and bathroom in back with the two bedrooms above? The house will feel big inside because of the height of the arch.”
Her phone rang. “It’s Vincenzo,” she said as she tapped the speaker button.
“Alo.”
“Are you all right, my dear?” The voice was her father-in-law’s.
“Oui, Gabrieli, everything is good. I’m sitting here with Markus working on the house design.”
Vincenzo cut in, “Gigi, we’ve just learned that Salvio hired someone to kill my father.”
“He what?” She felt adrenaline surge through her body, and her heart began to pound.
“We found out hours before any attempt was made, and are taking extra precautions.” Gabrieli sounded calm.
“Okay. Good.” She took a deep, calming breath. “Can you have Salvio arrested for his plot to kill you?”
“The police just went to his house, and apparently no one knows where he is.”
“But they will find him and put an end to this now, right?” Markus asked.
“That’s our hope,” Gabrieli said. “Oh, I do have more news. We just met with the consortium about your light-emitting stars.”
“Good news, I hope.”
“Not what I would call good news. While there was initial excitement about your chemical light source, it was hard for them to see it as more than just a parlor trick, and even harder for them to consider it worth their time to investigate.”
“My light source is hardly a parlor trick,” Giselle grumbled.
“Sì, my dear, we know that. The team was doubtful they could recreate a safe chemical light source, but they assured me they would consult scientists to do just that…within safety standards, of course.”
“I understand.”
Vincenzo cut in, “Gigi, you know we’re clearing away the hazardous conditions the residents have been living in. We would never want to make them a beautiful new neighborhood where they could be harmed by the lights we’d installed.”
“No, I know my stars are dangerous,” she conceded with a sigh.
“I know,” she said.
“Sì, I know you see it as we do.” Gabrieli’s voice was soothing, like he was talking to a child. “And while it’s unlikely your stars will become part of Verdu Mer, the building planners are eager to see your house design.”
“I have to say that even I’m impressed with how beautifully Star Fall lends itself to a living space.” She said.
“When will we see your sketches?” Gabrieli’s excitement was audible.
“I’ll send you drawings of initial concepts and room layouts soon.”
“Good. Now my dear, I must go speak with a police detective who has just arrived. We’ll talk soon, eh?”
Once his father was gone, Vincenzo cleared his throat. “Markus, may I speak with Giselle alone?”
“You are asking me?” Markus looked surprised. “Of course.”
“Gigi, can you take me off speaker?”
She took him off speaker and walked toward the kitchen for privacy. “What’s up?”
“I’ve been a wreck.” His voice sounded faint, hurt. “I want to make up with you.”
“Make up with me? We haven’t been fighting, silly.”
“I love you so much, and I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching. I’ve been so unfair to you. I’m a complete shit.”
“What? No, no. I married you and it was great.” She sighed. “But now I need more.”
“I need you to forgive me, but what I did is unforgivable.”
“There’s no need for me to forgive you, V.”
“Leo said you’d say that. Thank you. How are you Gigi? You sound happy.”
“I am happy.” She thought about Markus and grinned. “I’m really great.”
“This thing with Scortini trying to kill my father, and the pressure for me to figure out a way to free you…it’s just been so stressful…and I’m used to having you at my side to discuss everything with.” He sounded so sad.
She made her way back to Markus and sat down. “You know that Leo has always been there for you, even before we met. I think he's been more of a rock for you than you realize. You should trust him to help and support you now. Stay safe, and don’t make yourself crazy. You sound like you need some sleep.”
Stealing Venice Page 24