Page 29 of She Belongs to Me
Francesco rubbed his jaw. “I’ve heard of it. A bone of contention.”
“Evidently to Adonis as well. If it goes through, he’ll lose a huge real estate development. My guess is he’s already spent millions on it. The senator who was killed was on the approval committee as well as challenging organized crime in his hometown.”
Both Domino and Francesco whistled.
“That’s incentive not to have any witnesses, but even a man like Adonis would need to be careful.”
“Adonis is the kind of son of a bitch who will stop at nothing to get what he wants,” I told him.
Domino sighed. “He’s right. After Luca told me what was going on, I did some digging of my own. I do have a few contacts that can furrow deeper into the crime worlds of the United States. I just heard the entire building where Alexandra lived burned to the ground. Now, the fire department has yet to conclude their investigation, but I’m going to bet the Greeks did it.”
Nothing shocked or bothered me much any longer, but this was disturbing as fuck. Shit. The man was getting desperate already, which usually meant he had more to lose. “What else?” I knew Domino well enough to know he liked to be the big showman.
“And an unknown intruder tried to get into her aunt’s place.”
“Fuck. Since you’re in direct communication with the States and with my Capo, have the aunt taken to a safehouse. Add more guards if necessary. I don’t care about the cost at this point. And what about the roommate?”
“So far nothing there. She might not be of importance.”
Francesco whistled. “What did Alexandra get herself into?” He grabbed his drink, swirling it as he slipped into thoughtfulness. The man was a voice of reason where I could fly off the handle. As evidenced by my act of jealousy. When the hell had that happened in the last ten, fifteen years?
“A nightmare. To that end, I need to make certain we have some extra safety guards in place.”
“With our businesses?” Domino asked.
I nodded. “I’ve always thought the Greeks and other syndicates in America are dumb as a box of rocks, little more than thugs, but there are far too many methods of hacking into our accounts and those I established for Alexandra.”
Francesco nodded. “I agree it’s good to be cautious. If they’re able to learn she’s under your guard, the leader will likely try and do anything to keep your mind off her safety. I’ll see if I can learn more about this pipeline project.”
“Good. That might give us an idea how deep Adonis is in debt, which will make him even more desperate. That’s why I want you to move her trust fund and the smaller banking account I’ve established for her into a more secure facility.”
“I’ll need your full access.”
“Of course,” I told him. “When the funds were established over twenty years ago, you did set safeguards in place to ensure my name wasn’t attached. Correct?”
Francesco eyed me with some distaste. “Absolutely. I’ll double check there aren’t any breaches, but I doubt it. The layers I used were thick.”
I nodded, trying to keep from flying off the handle more than I had.
At least I was slightly calmer at this point. But not by much. I’d never allowed myself to see blood the way I had with the moment I’d noticed the spark between them. “I snagged her wallet. See if you or our computer expert can get into her two accounts. I have a feeling they’ll start there.”
“You’re playing a risky game. I love it.” Domino was too excited to see me this way. Maybe we had fallen into complacency given our wealth and the lack of any trouble the last few years.
“I think I’m going to need to.”
“I’ll take care of everything,” Francesco said. “And your other personal accounts?”
I nodded. “Yeah, just have additional security installed and work with my computer expert. She’s a fucking whiz and will create a program so she’ll be alerted instantly if anyone is trying to gain unauthorized access.”
“Do you want me to handle the corporate accounts?” There was still an underlying current with my brother. We’d sparred most of our lives, but few times had it been serious. I just didn’t want to take any shit today.
“Absolutely. Have a nice long chat with Isabella as well. She’ll fight the extra protection measures, which could place a burden on her distributors, but this can’t be helped. Besides, we’ve been lax in using every modern application to protect our assets.”
“I’ve been telling you that for years,” Francesco said, his grin suggesting he was trying to lighten the mood in the room.
At least I could laugh. Almost. He was right. “Well, no time like the present. I do not want this to interfere with business. We have so much going on with regard to our operations.”
Domino nodded. “All good too. We are in the best financial shape of our lives.”