Page 26 of Ruthless Touch
Sasha’s answer doesn’t make me feel better. “Since when did you begin to side with a woman in my life over me?”
She stands from her chair and smiles down at me. “You know I’d die for you, Gideon. I’m as loyal to you as anyone can be to another person, but if you don’t tell her the truth about you, then you’re just being cruel.”
“I thought you liked it when I was cruel. You once told me that’s what makes me such a good businessman, that I’m ruthless. What’s changed?”
Sasha shrugs and shakes her head. “Aria isn’t business. She’s a woman you want who wants you. The only thing stopping the two of you from being together is that you’re still haunted by something that happened, even though it wasn’t your fault. I think she’ll be happy to find out you do care and the way you show it doesn’t mean you don’t, but it should be her decision to stay, and it should be a fully informed decision.”
If only everything with Aria was as simple as business. Then I wouldn’t be so miserable.
“Not that I don’t love having this same conversation as yesterday, but has the P.I. arrived yet? He said he’d be here mid-morning.”
“Cesare Bellucci is coming?” Sasha asks with surprise. “Maybe you should tell your assistant that, Gideon. It might be nice for her to know your schedule.”
I smile at her sarcasm since I know it means she’s miffed at me. “I’m sorry. I thought you assumed he’d be coming since I mentioned calling him while we were at the party. I need him to do some investigating for me regarding that Marcello situation.”
“See how easy that was to be nice to someone? You even apologized for making my job harder. I guess I better get out there and intercept him when he arrives since last time he nearly accosted one of the desk clerks. That man is a pig. You know that, right?” she asks, twisting her face into a look of pure disgust.
“I don’t care what he is if he finds out what I need to know. Just make sure the desk clerks don’t get too close to him.”
As she turns to walk out of my office, she says, “I notice you aren’t worried about my having to deal with him.”
“You’ll eat him for a snack if he gets out of line with you. Even he knows that. So I don’t have to worry.”
Sasha throws me a dirty look over her shoulder. “You’re lucky I can handle myself, Gideon Rule. Maybe you need to remember that not all women are like me.”
She slams the door behind her, and I can’t figure out if she’s angry about the P.I. having to come here or how things are with Aria. I don’t know when it happened, but my usually ice cold and emotionless assistant has somehow become the champion of the woman I’m keeping in my penthouse.
Cesare interrupts my thoughts about the situation between Aria and Sasha when he walks into my office without knocking as usual. A hulking creature close to my six foot four inches, he has the largest neck I’ve ever seen on a human being and eyes so dark they’re practically black. He’s nothing less than formidable, and the first time I saw him I couldn’t believe he could be a private investigator. Even now as I watch him walk toward the chair in front of my desk, I can’t imagine how he skulks around unnoticed. It’s like seeing a mountain move in front of you.
I stand to shake his huge hand before the two of us sit down to discuss why I needed to see him so soon today. “How are you, Cesare?”
“How I am is fucking tired. Do you know I was out until three this morning on a job? I swear to God I don’t know why I still work the goddamned cheating spouses shit. Well, except for the fact that the pay is fucking sweet with these high rollers on the coast. The man you see in front of you today got next to no sleep because some bitch decided she likes the boy who trims her hedges more than she likes her husband’s bank account. Stupid bastard. You should see her too. A fucking knockout. How he got her I have no idea, but even more, how the hell did he think he’d keep her with his wrinkly sixty-year-old balls when he hired that boy with muscles on his goddamned muscles to be his gardener? Love is not worth it, Gideon. Mark my words. Not worth it.”
My private investigator never fails to make me smile when he tells me stories about his other jobs. He does far too many spying on cheating wives cases, in my opinion. Not that anyone asked, but he should stick to the kind of jobs I give him. I pay him enough.
“I’ll keep that in mind. Love is not the subject of today’s meeting, though, so I think you’ll be happy about that.”
His jet-black eyes light up. “The nastier the better when it comes to your jobs. You know what my favorite one was? That time you had me check out that guy who you thought might be stealing from you. I got to exercise my own muscles on that one. Any chance this new job is like that?”
I shake my head and smile at how vicious he got with that guy. Turns out, he wasn’t stealing from me, but if he had been, going up against Cesare on that dimly lit road that night would have made him think twice.
“Not this job, but you never know what the future will bring. As for this one, I want to know everything there is to know about Marcello Angeloni and his men. Everything. Understand? I want to know where they go and what they do when they get there. If they’re fucking someone, I want to know what color her hair naturally is and if the carpet matches the drapes. If they’re stealing from someone, I want to know who and if they know. Got it?”
A smile pushes up his giant cheeks into the fat folds around his eyes. “Got it. Everything from A to Z. How soon do you need this information? Marcello Angeloni might not have a huge crew yet, but the family has tentacles in nearly everything on the Amalfi Coast.”
I lean back in my chair and sigh. “As soon as possible. Whoever you work with that you trust, get them on this with you. Money is no object. Whatever it takes, I’ll pay. But don’t bring anyone on who can’t keep their mouth shut because if they talk and it fucks me, I’m going to make sure they don’t see the sun again.”
Cesare nods his understanding. “Got it. Fast and complete. The word on the street is Marcello has a hard on to prove he’s not someone to be taken lightly.”
With a chuckle, I diagnose the problem immediately. “Youngest son syndrome. He thinks he has to whip out his dick all the time to show he’s got what it takes. The fuck actually made it known that he intends on killing every Rule he can find. Who the fuck does he think he’s dealing with? He’s lucky my father hasn’t come over to cut his dick off and shove it down his throat.”
“Ah, that’s why you want everything on him. How’s Helix feeling about a threat to the family?”
“He hasn’t said much about it, but you know him. One minute he’s all calm, and then the next minute he’s cutting off someone’s fucking hands and feeding them to their dog.”
That visual makes Cesare laugh, and the sound is booming, like some kind of deranged Santa. “Good old Helix Rule. You have to appreciate a man who once used a woodchipper to get rid of someone. I’ll never forget that night when you introduced me to him, and he ended up telling me that after a few drinks. Motherfucker knows how to make a point. I’ll give him that.”
I don’t say anything to Cesare, but I know the reason my father told him that story was because he wanted to make sure my P.I. got the point that fucking with me meant fucking with a man who would stuff a fat fuck into a chipper and let the machine chew up every last inch of him. My father can be difficult, but he looks out for his family.