I pulled him up, giving him a control yourself look before we stepped onto the platform. Hand in hand, we walked over to a viewing area that overlooked the town below. The sky was burnt orange as the sun set on another day. I snapped a few pictures, and we observed this daily ritual in silence. The lake had taken on an almost black hue as opposed to the navy it had had earlier. The mountains surrounding it still had a dusting of snow on their peaks, and I committed the scene to memory, one I could reflect on for the rest of my life.
“I think your label is far better than conventional ones,” Daniel said, and I realized he’d had his eyes on me, not the view.
I dumped the camera back into my purse and took both his hands in mine. “Everything,” I said with reverence.
“Everything,” he repeated with equal respect. “Think you can handle that, Princess?”
“Don’t worry about me. You just make sure you’re up to the challenge.”
He pulled me flush against him, causing all the air to leave my lungs.
His eyes glittered like polished stones as he looked down at me. “Promise you’ll give me all you’ve got.”
I was mesmerized, locked in his gaze. “Only if you’ll do the same.”
Something changed between us in that moment. This felt more real than anything I’d ever experienced. I wanted him. I wanted us. And it was happening.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Daniel
Present
I stared at the blue dot on my phone screen, annoyed that this was as close to Vivian as I could get now, annoyed that I’d been reduced to this: a man not so pissed off about the traffic out of the city because it allowed him to constantly watch a poor substitute for the real thing.
Easing forward with little more than a glance, I willed the dot to move. The car in front of me stopped, and I pressed the brake. Damn my lawyer and the hoops I had to jump through. As if it weren’t aggravating enough that I had to go to him in Connecticut, this was our second attempt at this meeting, and whether his wife liked it or not, it was happening. If we’d met as originally scheduled, I could have been home by now giving Vivian’s whereabouts my full concentration instead of being stuck in this blasted car.
I cursed when the phone vibrated and Vinny’s name popped up. It seemed like I was doing that a lot lately. “What?” I answered impatiently.
“That’s no way to greet someone bearing good news,” he said.
“If you’ve got any, it would be a first.” I was in a constant state of irritation when it came to Vinny.
“Now, now. Let’s not be sharp-tongued.”
I didn’t like his attitude, and a sense of foreboding came over me. “Then say something I want to hear,” I snapped.
“I’ve got the jaune.”
Fucking hell. We were preparing to facilitate the transfer between parties, so what was Vinny doing with it?
“Congratulations. Now what are you going to do with it?” I queried, sounding bored.
“Get it to your buyer.”
“And when are you planning on doing this?”
“As soon as you fucking set it up.”
“I just don’t see that happening, Vinny.” I needed to find out how much more he knew. Donato and I never discussed specifics over the phone. I didn’t know how Vinny had gotten that diamond, wasn’t totally convinced he had it, and was even less sure he knew who wanted it.
“Daniel, you have to get this to them.” His tone turned from cocky to borderline panicked.
“Why would anyone ever give that to you without payment first?” We used to do these exchanges with bags of cash, but now we mostly did electronic transfers into untraceable bank accounts. The second we had the item in our hands was the second the seller got their money.
“I lifted it.”
“You what?” I growled, gripping the steering wheel with one hand until my knuckles turned white.
“It’s all profit. For us.”
I dropped my head back and closed my eyes. I prayed he was lying. Jesus Christ. A throbbing started in my temples. I’d made contact with the owner. I was facilitating the transaction. Now I was a marked man, because the owner of that diamond would not take this lightly. She had lots of contacts with my business associates. This could bury me both figuratively and literally.
“What have you done?” I kept my voice low when what I really wanted to do was shout.
“Made us a ton of money.”
He wasn’t this stupid. He couldn’t be. There was more to his agenda. Vinny had done this to set me up. “Take it back.”
“Why the fuck would I do that?” he asked incredulously.
“Are you trying to get us killed?”
“Not both of us.” An honest thief.
“Do not do anything with that piece. Do you understand me?”
“Just get me to the buyer.”
“No.”
I hung up, and the blue dot returned to the screen, but this time it didn’t comfort me. Vinny had put a target on my back. These people would use any means necessary to get to me, including putting those I loved in harm’s way.
“Fuuuck .” I slammed a fist against the steering wheel, causing the horn to let out a sharp blast, the driver in front of me shaking his middle finger at me. The traffic loosened, and I wheeled around the vehicles as they picked up speed, dialing Donato as I drove.
“Daniel.”
“Get your brother under control,” I said tightly before hanging up.
He needed to hurry the fuck up before Vinny Salvatore got me killed.
* * *
“Muriella,” I called as I stepped into her apartment. I’d spent the last three days holed up at the Connecticut farmhouse of my lawyer, stewing over the conversation with Vinny just before I left and the inconvenience of being out of the city. To say my mood was sour was an understatement, but Zegas had finally finished what I’d put off, the result in my hands.
She didn’t answer, so I ventured into the kitchen, where she was most likely to be. She was unloading clean dishes from the dishwasher.
“Are you ignoring me?” I asked. The silent treatment was an extreme for Muriella.
Again, no reply. She wouldn’t even look at me, just kept running a dishtowel around and around a plate. She was angry with me about Vivian. I sighed, wishing I could make her understand, knowing it was a lost cause. “I need you to do something for me.” Something in my voice must have gotten through to her, because she jerked her eyes to mine. I held out two envelopes, one with her name written on it, and one with Vivian’s.
She set the plate and dishtowel on the counter. She took the envelopes from my hand, examining them. “What?”
“If something happens to me, I need you to see to it that Vivian gets this. You’ll know when the time is right to open them. Until then, you need to keep them safe.” The contents of the envelopes were only meant for Vivian and Muriella. I reminded myself this was just another step toward preparing for the inevitable, as a lump formed in my throat. I couldn’t remember a time I’d cried as an adult, but I was close now.
“Is that why you’re behaving this way? Is something wrong?”
I brushed off her concern. “I should have taken care of these matters a long time ago.”
“You want her to have this, you give it to her yourself,” Muriella said with more bite than she’d ever used toward me. She tossed the envelopes on the counter as if they were nothing.
“This is important.” I spoke firmly.
I’d seen her angry before, but not like this. She came around the island, her mocha eyes blazing, and was in my face in a nanosecond. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to watch a man you admire—love —more than anyone on this Earth destroy his life? And you’re doing it on purpose .” She stuck a finger in my chest. “I don’t know what’s happened to you, but I’m tired of tiptoeing around this for your benefit. You can’t destroy Vivian, but you’ve come about as close as it gets, and if you don’t fix it, I will never for
give you. We are a family , Daniel. You promised you would always protect us.”
“What do you think I’m doing?” I asked, running a hand through my hair.
“Being a fucking idiot.” My mouth dropped open in surprise when she swore. “Vivian taught me there’s a time and place for that word and believe me, this is it.” Her gaze was frosty as she looked up at me, putting a hand on her hip. “You can lie to yourself. You can keep lying to me. But you love her. She is your heart and soul. Your whole life. She’s had you since the first time you saw her—”
“Stop. Just stop,” I commanded, holding up a hand.
“No. That’s the problem. We’re letting you behave this way, and I won’t any longer. You’re splitting up the troops, and you know it’s a tactical error.” She was speaking in a language I understood, and I admired her fight, but the most sacred rule was simple: know your enemy, know yourself.
She didn’t know the enemy. I had to fight this battle alone. “This is how it has to be.”
Disappointment filled her eyes, and she laughed bitterly. “This is how you choose for it to be. If you can look me in the eye and tell me you don’t love her, I’ll let it go.”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
“You can’t do it.”
I gave the slightest shake of my head. “I don’t have the right to ask anything of you, but I need you to do this for me.”
“I will always be grateful to you for saving my life. But you’ve broken my heart.” She touched her throat. “This is the first time I feel like I don’t belong here. You gave me a home, and now you’ve taken it away.”
She picked up the envelopes and walked out of the room. I stood there, at a loss. I’d counted on her being upset with me but never considered I might actually lose her.
Maybe this was for the best. It wasn’t fair to make her stick around for what was coming.
As soon as I was back upstairs in my empty apartment, I turned on “Black” by Pearl Jam. I had listened to it on repeat for days on end. As Eddie Vedder sang, the words sank into my soul.
Visions of Vivian with someone else clouded my brain. Her smiles, her looks…all for another. Pain ripped through me, all of it playing over and over in my head as I imagined her being the sun in someone else’s sky.
Why couldn’t it be me? Why couldn’t I take what I wanted? I’d always done it before, never let anything get in my way.
But God, this woman deserved more than I could offer her, given what I had to do.
The red light of the security system lit. Vivian. I cursed myself for the foolish thought, yet I couldn’t stop hoping.
When Francisco Angelone appeared in my doorway, I straightened.
“All that security you pay for is shit,” he said, striding across the hardwood floor of my study. He dropped into a chair across from my desk as if he’d done it a thousand times.
“Get out.” I eased my finger to the trigger of the shotgun underneath my desk. A few times, I’d felt the piece was overkill. Vivian thought it was absurd, though she’d wanted to take it out for target practice. Now, I was grateful for my paranoia.
“I haven’t heard from you. I’m assuming you have news for me.” Angelone crossed his legs, resting his ankle on the opposite knee.
“Are you having financial problems? Can’t get your own deals? Is that why you came to me?” I smirked like I knew something he didn’t.
The corner of his mouth twitched, the only sign of his irritation.
“As I’ve stated, it’s time for you to pay your debt to me.” One shoulder lifted and lowered, his eyes indifferent. “For what you did, I’m letting you off easy. Take this deal, Elliott. It’s a no-brainer.”
“I can’t let you in on a deal that doesn’t exist.” Denial was my only friend right now.
Angelone shot to his feet and pounded on the edge of my desk. “You will cut me in, goddamn it!”
Lazily, I lifted my eyes to his blazing ones. “I am not at your mercy.”
His gaze narrowed on me. “We’ll see about that.”
“I suggest you leave now.”
“This isn’t finished.”
“It most certainly is.”
Palms flat on the center of my desk, he leaned forward until I caught the stench of stale cigars. I tightened my finger on the trigger of the gun.
“Let me in, and I’ll make Donato’s mess go away.”
I straightened. He had my attention. This was a deal I could take. Giving him half of the profit from the canary diamond was nothing if it solved my other problems. Except Vinny had stolen the goddamn thing and I had no room to negotiate.
I flashed him an insincere smile. “No.”
He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes as if he didn’t understand me. Angelone was certain he’d found a way to make me bend to his will, yet I’d refused.
“You want to be head of the family,” he surmised, eyes glimmering with interest. “I’ll be damned. You’re going to let him sink.”
“We both know it’s impossible for me to take over.”
“Nothing is impossible.”
I leaned back in my chair. He was so far off base it was almost laughable, but I wouldn’t set him straight. Whatever rabbit trails he wanted to chase were fine as long as they were nowhere near the truth.
“For the last time, get out of my house.”
He reached in the front breast of his pocket and laid a piece of paper in front of me. I made no move and he unfolded it, smoothing down the crease.
“Who is this?” I asked, though I knew exactly who was in the photograph.
“Head of the FBI New York division.”
“Never pictured you as sentimental. He the one that put you away?”
“He owes me.” Angelone stabbed at the photograph with his index finger. “I can make Salvatore’s problem vanish like that.” He snapped his fingers in front of my face.
I sniffed, my brows pinched together. “You can tell me anyone owes you. Doesn’t make it true.”
“It’s true,” he insisted.
“If it were, I’d think you’d want to save that trump card for yourself.”
Angelone shrugged. My head spun. Who the hell was in control of the feds? The good guys or the bad?
“I wish I could say it’s been a pleasure getting reacquainted, but I’ve never been much of a liar.”
“You’re a fool,” Angelone spat at me.
“And you’re a desperate, desperate man.”
He shook his fist at me. “I’m sending you straight to hell, Elliott.”
“I’m already there,” I said honestly.
With a final glare, he shoved off the desk and stalked to the exit. I watched the monitors to make sure he left. Then I leaned back in my chair, relishing the feel of holding power over someone else, though it was hollow. Perhaps I shouldn’t have provoked him, but he’d enjoyed every second of fucking with me when I was fifteen. I was more than happy to return the favor.
My phone danced across my desk. Damn me for hoping it was Vivian again.
“It’s tomorrow. My inside guy can’t stop it.”
“What do you need from me?” I asked, my stomach clenching at Donato’s news. I rummaged in my desk for an antacid, though I knew it was useless.
“He tried to get the charges lessened, but it’s felony murder.” Donato’s inflection was no different than any other time he spoke. His calm did nothing to settle me.
“I thought there’d be more time,” I mused, more to myself than him.
“Valentina will have something for you. Come by tomorrow,” he commanded.
“How’s she taking it?”
“Prison is a possibility that’s always on the table.” In other words, his wife was handling it just as he was. Tough and with dignity.
“I’ll come by,” I promised. “If I come up with something to get you off, who do I need to call?”
“Stay away from this, Daniel,” he warned. “Don’t come see me. I won’t have you
anywhere near this.”
“I’m not going to sit here and do nothing while you rot on my behalf,” I grated out.
“Not your decision,” he replied stubbornly.
“I need a name.”
Donato inhaled sharply. “Joe Alvarez,” he finally relented on a sigh.
“I’ll get you out of this,” I vowed. And I would. I owed it to Donato. I just thought I’d have more time before I had to pay up.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Vivian
Eight Years Earlier
Daniel loaded up the back of the SUV with our luggage while I did a final sweep of the condo to make sure we hadn’t left anything behind. He was just closing the hatch when I came out the front door.
“I’m going to miss this place,” I said, looking back at the structure with longing as he held open my car door for me.
“I enjoyed it myself,” he said before securing me inside. I smirked to myself thinking of his kisses last night after we’d returned. He’d enjoyed more than the condo. We both had.
I dropped my purse on the floorboard and buckled my seatbelt while he jogged around to his side. “It’s a big day,” he said when he’d slid into the driver’s seat.
“Christmas Eve,” I all but shrieked, and he gave me a taken aback look. “It’s my favorite day of the year.”
“Why?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just always liked it.”
“Better than Christmas?” he asked incredulously.
“Better than Christmas,” I confirmed. “I think it’s the anticipation.”
Daniel seemed to soak in that nugget of information and then reached for my purse, rummaging through it until he produced the Madonna CD.
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