◆ Petty Little Lies ◆
◆ MILES ◆
After shooting at dozens of beer bottles in my backyard to blow off some steam, I texted Enzo to ask where he was at the moment. Niccolo also said Enzo flew out of Italy again and that Enzo wanted to talk to me about something urgent.
Despite my reluctance, I decided to contact Enzo to ask him about his Uncle Ignazio's preferences...what booze and drugs the DOM liked, and what type of women his uncle preferred besides the usually underage hookers.
But the jerk wasn't answering my calls. Or maybe Lorenzio just didn't take calls from unregistered numbers. "Pick up the damn phone," I mumbled with a groan as the ringing went on, my hands busy cleaning up some of the mess I just made with my handgun and twenty or so blanks.
I had enough bullets in my ammo drawer to practice with, but I opted to use blanks tonight. Just for safety reasons. I wasn't fuming pissed anymore to forget about exercising caution, but if Lorenzio kept ignoring my calls all day, I might get way more enthusiastic with my target shooting practice.
After minutes of total silence filled my surroundings, I got tired of waiting and rang Niccolo's number. He picked up after a few rings, to my satisfaction.
"Yeah?"
"I thought you gave him my new number," I told Niccolo, not bothering with a greeting. We'd been rather friendly lately, and without him working for Pappa, I would have had to pay someone else much more to keep an eye on Mykaela and the Tomassinis. Including Lorenzio.
Niccolo's hacking and tech skills had been a lot of help to me lately, to be frank. "Who?" Niccolo was coughing on the other line. "Che cazzo vai? È troppo presto, Maxim."
[What the fuck? It's too early, Maxim.]
"Enzo." I frowned, annoyed that I had to explain and apologize. "Sorry. He's not taking my calls."
"It's almost midnight in New York now," Niccolo murmured after a quiet few seconds. "Maybe he's out cold."
"New York?" Out cold? Lorenzio was in New York right now? It had better be a joke.
"Yeah." Nicco sighed loudly on the other end, sounding genuinely bothered by my late-night call. "He's in New York. Business trip again, I guess."
The thought made me grip my new gun as I stared at my phone screen on the coffee table. It was almost dawn, but my brain just got hyperactive again. If Enzo was in New York right now, did he meet up with Mykaela again?
"Since when?"
"Yesterday. He didn't use Leandro's jet, 'cause...you know."
I scoffed and flicked the safety on before I threw my handgun onto the couch. Then I flumped down on the thick cushion. We all knew Lorenzio and Leandro weren't exactly close.
But I didn't give a shit about that. Right now, I had to talk to Lorenzio to ask about his uncle and make sure Lorenzio was staying away from Mykaela, just as I had warned.
"Can you pinpoint his exact location?"
"Yeah." Nicco yawned out loud on the other line. "Gimme a minute."
I muffled a sigh with my fist, unable to ignore the bothersome gut feel I had now. I'd known about Enzo launching his new business in New York but that couldn't be the only reason he traveled to America frequently the past couple of months.
As I waited in my dim living room, I could hear Niccolo typing noisily onto his keyboard. He didn't tell me he'd been keeping track of Lorenzio's whereabouts still. I should thank him for doing so.
"What're you lookin' at right now?" I asked when Niccolo kept quiet for a few minutes.
"CCTV feeds," Nicco muttered in response.
"And?"
"Merda."
[Shit.]
His swearing made my breathing halt as I sat alone in my couch, my thoughts going a hundred miles per hour now. Did he find Enzo? Where exactly was he right now? "Why? What CCTV footage?"
"From the hotel where he's staying."
"Why? What's up?" I asked louder, growing unbearably curious by the minute.
"He checked into a hotel near Kel's apartment," Niccolo explained in a muted voice, "and she..." He cleared his throat. "They stepped inside his hotel room."
Of course. I knew it. I fuckin' knew it. "You sure?" I scowled as my imagination ran wild, thinking of Mykaela in the same room with that bastard, making my temper shoot up with little to no effort. "You sure it's them?"
"Yeah. The video quality's pretty good, man," Nicco mumbled. "I could send the clip to you now, if you want."
"Yeah." I gripped my phone and eyed the gun beside me. I could feel his confirmation only worsening my mood. "I'll wait."
"By the way, Charr told me about the party your Pappa wants to throw for Ignazio. He talk to you about it?"
"Pappa called couple hours ago. He wants to do it on Serrafim."
"Your new ship?" Niccolo whistled quite loudly when I didn't respond affirmatively. "Classy."
Not the adjective I would use to describe how that party would turn out, but I knew Niccolo well enough to realize it was dripping with sarcasm.
"It's definitely gonna cost more than that party in Florence with the other uncles. Your dad wants you to organize that old pedo's retirement party?"
"Yeah. Just ridiculous." I scoffed loudly and massaged my forehead, perplexed by the thought of having to interact with those filthy rich lunatics again. "Did she step out of his room?"
"Mykaela? Erm..." Niccolo cleared his throat and was quiet for a moment. "Not yet. The video logs I can access now were recorded an hour ago, though. So I'm not sure."
"Okay. Thanks. Get some sleep."
"You get some sleep," he said louder. "It's morning."
"Yeah. Fine."
"Don't overreact again. Maybe they're just... I dunno. Talking it out?" Niccolo sounded like he knew I wasn't in the most balanced state of mind right now. "Maybe he just wanted to apologize in person again. Check on her, or something."
Before they slept alone in the guy's hotel room? Seriously? What the heck was Mykaela thinking?
"Go. To. Bed. Night," Nicco said before he hung up on me.
I swiped my palm over my face and grabbed my phone to check my messages again. Still no reply from Lorenzio. As jealous anger built up in my chest, I walked into my kitchen to grab a bottle of ice cold beer.
It wasn't the typical kind of jealous rage. I had told her to keep away from that prick and his dangerous family. Multiple times. I even discouraged her when she said she would visit me here in Italy from time to time. I had warned her of the reasons she had to keep her distance.
Sure, my family of secret vampires and old criminals weren't in any way normal or harmless, but the Tomassinis were on another level of monstrosity—despite them being human. Inhumane most of the time, but still biologically human.
Why wouldn't she just listen to me? Did she not trust my judgement anymore? Was the prick trying to brainwash her again?
I let the beer cool down my insides as my grip on my patience loosened. I should have warned Kel better. I should have told her what I knew now about the Tomassinis. They did things beyond what our moral compass could tolerate, but my father seemed to not mind.
Ricchar, Cloe, and Niccolo were on the same page with me, though. In fact, Niccolo and I had been planning to gather more incriminating evidence to prove Leandro and his family's most recent and most heinous crimes.
It would take a lot more than just records of the Tomassinis' travel itineraries and some stolen photos and surreptitious video recordings, but Nicco promised me he would help us collect more proof.
It might get all of us killed, and I was willing to risk it. I wasn't planning on ending up a dead martyr or anything, but someone needed to do something to put a stop to their crimes. Now. Not any later.
We had the means, which only pushed me to act and do something before those money-worshipping scums could bribe more people on every level of authority and government. Then perhaps this country would be a better place in the near future. For our children's future...not that I planned on having any.
My common sense was still trying to grasp the reality of the situation we were in when my phone trilled. I checked the notifications.
It was Enzo. He finally responded to my messages. The prick's still awake.
1 new message
From: Lorenzio
"In NY. Had to meet up with my COO. Why did you call?"
Received 04:47AM
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