Page 82 of Isle of Seduction
A plan forms at the edges of my consciousness.
I have to seduce my ex until I can kill him. Preferably slowly.
His soul is mine to take, and I’m coming for it with all the rage I never dealt with.
THIRTY-THREE
… AND GRIEF
“The journalist Giulia contacted did great work. Look at this.”
DeRossi throws a paper on the wooden and epoxy table in my high rise office, my name as the headline.
An innocent framed for murder, the incredible story of Andrea Capaldi
She did not go light on this one. My lips tilt up and I skim across the lines written in the biggest newspaper in the country. This is bigger than West Hill now.
All the verbatim is from Giulia and people I’ve worked with and helped over the years. Over the course of the next few weeks, I know Giulia will work with all the friends she has in high places to paint me in the best light. I don’t like being under the microscope as I deal with enemies, but so far, I’ve always evaded arrests for actual murders I perpetrated. No reason to change that. Getting cocky will get me arrested again, so Nico and I need to cover our tracks.
My phone rings and I pick it up without looking.
“I found her,” Pierce says by way of greeting.
My smile grows, the logistics of my revenge and Addams’s downfall falling into place like the perfect set of dominos. I dismiss Luca before asking, “Where?”
“Down South. She changed name, hair colour, even had plastic surgery on her face. She’s not the same person.”
“That would explain why we couldn’t find her for so long.”
Very few people have the skills and resources to pay someone that can fake a new social security number, birth certificate and all that shit with accuracy. Considering we’ve been looking for her for months, we’re fishing a fucking shark. Now with the face change on top? The violence within me trembles and writhes at the promise of retribution.
“Check where she got all her new papers, and find her plastic surgeon,” I tell Pierce.
“I don’t work for you, cugino.”
“It’s one less favour on the never ending list you owe me, bastardo.”
“Insult me again and I’ll make her disappear before you can get to her,” he threatens jokingly.
Our combined resources helped him find her, but I’ll have to admit that we weren’t able to do it without him. He’d hide her just to spite me if I push him too hard, yet I can’t resist our back and forth.
“It turns me on when you threaten me.”
“Fucking grow up, Andrea.” He hangs up and I smile.
He’ll never admit it, and I won’t either, but roasting my cousin alleviates stress like nothing else and this new dynamic between us, it just works. I pretend I hate him, he pretends back and then we still help each other.
Almost like brothers.
What I have with my brother is far different. Despite the darkness surrounding his soul, we both thrive on control and structure. He knows how I operate and I know how he does. We only add other people to our duo when necessary. Only a few men are close to us, like Marco or Luca DeRossi. And it wasn’t a ride in the park to add them to our trusted inner circle.
When I open my text app to tell him where I’m going, I see Giulia’s text.
GIULIA
Pierce and Jules found Louis. He’s not answering the phone. Nico and I are heading there.
Me