Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 118965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
My woman.
Maybe if I tell myself that enough times I’ll believe it. In my heart, I know she’s mine. The problem is that she doesn’t see it the same way. That’s why she made a deal with the cops. We’re in an impossible situation with her looking for evidence she won’t find and me biding my time to take out Lieutenant Lavigne. And now this war with Marziale and the business with the kids are delaying my plans.
Turning those thoughts around in my head serves no purpose other than adding to my frustration, but I can’t shut down my mind. So I lie awake, and I think, wondering what my wife is doing and if Sophie is the welcome distraction I hope she’ll be.
I only return home when I’m certain there are no rats in my staff and that the premises are clean.
Heidi greets me at the door.
“How did it go?” I ask. “I hope the boys didn’t give you too much trouble.”
“Oh, they gave me enough.” She closes the door and takes my coat. “Good luck with taming them. It’s not going to be an easy job.”
I look around the quiet house. “Where are they?”
“A guard is teaching them to do animal tracking near the forest to keep them busy.”
“I’ll finalize the enrollment this week.” I remove my jacket and hand it to her for dry-cleaning. “As soon as they’ve had the required vaccinations, they’ll be in school and out of your hair.”
I check my watch. It’s mid-morning, but I can do with a shower. After a week of showering in a cramped cubicle with a plastic curtain under a drizzle of lukewarm water, I look forward to soaking my tense muscles under the massaging spray of the powerful nozzle in the luxury of my own spacious bathroom.
I’m turning for the stairs, already unbuttoning my shirt, when Heidi says, “There’s someone here to see you. She’s waiting in the lounge.”
I stop. “Who?”
She shrugs. “A woman. Says she’s family of Mrs. Russo.”
“Family of my wife?” I ask, unease tightening my gut.
“Yes.”
My senses go on high alert. “What does she want?”
“She won’t say.” The downward pull of Heidi’s mouth says she disapproves of this person. “She’s been coming every morning since you left. I told her you’re not home and that I didn’t know when you’d return, but she always insists on waiting. Says it’s important. She waits for a couple of hours in the lounge and then leaves only to come back the next day.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Heidi says with conviction, “Whatever her business is with you, it’s not that important.”
My housekeeper really doesn’t like this woman. “Did she ask for Sabella?”
“No.”
“Are you having her watched?”
“Of course.” Heidi juts her chin toward the lounge. “I make sure a guard searches her and stays with her until she goes. The only reason I let her in is because she says she’s family of Mrs. Russo. I can’t say if that’s true. She doesn’t carry a passport or an identity document on her. Not even a driver’s license.”
I nod. “Tell her I’ll see her.”
I go upstairs and take my time in the shower. If my visitor didn’t make an appointment, she can wait. After dressing in a clean shirt and tailored slacks, I walk to the lounge.
A young woman with a square face and strong features sits on the sofa, typing on her phone. She wears a navy pants suit with a white silk blouse that ties with an old-fashioned bow in the front. Red heels matching a red handbag complete the outfit. Her blond, shoulder-length hair is cut straight with long bangs reaching her eyebrows. The blue eyeshadow and eyeliner accentuating her eyes are dark, but instead of making her look like a clown, the makeup gives her a bold and flashy appearance. She somehow manages to pull off the look that would’ve been kitsch on anyone else. I instantly recognize her from the media photos.
Daisy Remington.
Sabella’s half-sister.
She looks up when I enter. A slow smile curves her red lips. “It’s about time.”
I nod at the guard who stands in the corner with his hands folded in front of him. At the quiet instruction, he gives us privacy.
“What do you want?” I ask, stopping in front of her on the opposite side of the coffee table.
Her mouth twists with amusement. “I guess that means you know who I am.”
“Who doesn’t?”
She utters a laugh at my unspoken referral to the country-wide scandal her mother dropped on every news channel when she came clean about her affair with Sabella’s father. Then she nods as if she’s got me all figured out.
Not by a long shot, honey. My manner is curt. “Now that the introductions are over, I suggest you get to the point.”
She drops her phone in her handbag and crosses her arms and legs. “Where’s my sister?”