Chapter 6 - THE BODYGUARD WHO BETRAYED HIM FOR THE RIGHT REASON
Leo did not move.
Giani’s gun remained steady.
Mave stared at him.
“No.”
Giani’s expression tightened.
“Mave, step away.”
“You helped us.”
“I know.”
“You found the calls.”
“I know.”
“You protected Tessa’s hospital room.”
“I know.”
“Then put the gun down.”
“I can’t.”
Carmine slowly shifted beside August.
Giani aimed toward him.
“Don’t.”
Carmine stopped.
Leo’s voice was quiet.
“How long?”
Giani looked at him.
“Since before you took over.”
“You worked for Raffaele.”
“No.”
“The list says security liaison.”
“Yes.”
“Explain.”
Giani swallowed.
“My sister was seventeen.”
Silence.
“She disappeared in 2007.”
Mave’s expression changed.
Giani continued.
“I found her name on a dock manifest two years later.”
Leo understood.
“Warehouse 9.”
“Yes.”
“You infiltrated my organization.”
“I joined your father’s security team because I wanted names.”
“Why didn’t you tell Luca?”
“I did.”
Leo froze.
Giani’s eyes filled.
“Your father believed me.”
Mave whispered, “So the list doesn’t mean Giani helped them.”
“No.”
Giani nodded toward the document.
“Evelyn marked people who appeared in the network. Some were buyers. Some were assets. Some were witnesses.”
Leo’s anger remained.
“Then why the gun?”
“Because August is lying.”
The old man behind the fireplace said nothing.
Giani continued.
“Raffaele did not build this alone.”
Leo looked at his grandfather.
August closed his eyes.
“Grandfather.”
No answer.
Giani’s voice broke.
“Your grandfather knew before Luca did.”
Mave looked between them.
August whispered, “It was different then.”
Leo went cold.
“What was different?”
“We moved contraband.”
“People.”
“Not at first.”
“People.”
August looked older suddenly.
“Raffaele introduced it.”
“And you allowed it.”
“For six months.”
Mave stared in horror.
“You knew girls were being sold.”
August’s mouth tightened.
“I stopped it.”
“After six months.”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
He did not answer.
Mave stepped toward him.
“How many?”
“Thirty-one.”
The number entered the room like poison.
Leo turned away.
His grandfather.
The man who taught him loyalty.
The man who spoke about family honor.
Thirty-one people.
Giani lowered the gun slightly.
“Luca discovered it and threatened to expose August too.”
Leo looked back.
“You killed my father.”
August’s eyes widened.
“No.”
“Did you order Raffaele to?”
“No.”
“Did you know Raffaele planned it?”
Silence.
Leo’s face changed.
Mave knew the answer before August spoke.
“I knew he was angry.”
“Did you know?”
August’s breathing worsened.
“I suspected.”
“And you did nothing.”
“I thought he was bluffing.”
Leo laughed.
It was a horrible sound.
“You let me spend sixteen years believing my father died in a war with the Russians.”
“I was trying to preserve what remained.”
“No.”
Leo looked at him.
“You were preserving yourself.”
August’s face collapsed.
Then a security guard shouted from outside.
“Movement!”
Giani turned.
That was all Raffaele needed.
A second gunshot cracked.
Giani jerked.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Mave screamed.
Leo fired toward the tree line.
Carmine dragged Giani behind cover.
Raffaele’s shooters retreated.
Sirens approached.
For the next fifteen minutes, everything became movement.
August went to one ambulance.
Giani to another.
Leo remained beside Mave.
She looked at him.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
At least he had stopped lying about that.
They moved to a secure safe house before sunset.
It was not one of Leo’s mansions.
Federal authorities—contacted through a prosecutor August had quietly retained years ago—chose a motel outside Albany.
Mave stared at the floral bedspread.
“This is your punishment.”
Leo loosened his tie.
“For?”
“Everything.”
He looked around.
A painting of a duck hung crookedly above the bed.
“The room has one chair.”
“You can sit on the bed.”
“I don’t trust the bed.”
“Leo, you’ve ordered men buried in concrete.”
“Concrete is sanitary.”
Mave laughed.
The sound hit him unexpectedly.
He sat on the dubious chair.
She sat on the bed.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then Mave said, “You didn’t know.”
Leo stared at the floor.
“My family did.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“I signed paperwork.”
“You were used.”
“I benefited from the company.”
“From all of it?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s the difference.”
He looked up.
Mave continued.
“You are allowed to be guilty about things you actually did. You do not get to invent extra guilt because it feels more honorable than admitting you were deceived.”
Leo stared at her.
“That sounded rehearsed.”
“I had three hours in an armored car.”
He almost smiled.
Then he became serious.
“Why did you stay?”
“What?”
“You paid your mother’s debt six months ago.”
Mave froze.
“You saw that?”
“I was looking for a pen.”
“In my bank statement?”
“It was beside the pen.”
“You’re impossible.”
“Mave.”
She looked away.
“Why did you stay?”
Silence.
Finally:
“Because leaving scared me.”
Leo frowned.
“Leaving me?”
“Leaving this.”
She gestured between them.
“The job stopped being a job.”
His breathing changed.
Mave continued.
“And that is a terrible development when your employer has armed guards and unresolved homicide issues.”
“That is unusually specific.”
“You have unusually specific problems.”
He stood.
“Mave.”
She looked at him.
Leo crossed the room slowly.
“I have spent three years telling myself I kept you here because you are discreet.”
“You also hate replacing staff.”
“That too.”
She smiled.
Then he stopped directly in front of her.
“But last night, when you were late…”
“You became deranged.”
“Moderately.”
“Leo.”
“I was afraid.”
The confession cost him.
Mave’s expression softened.
He continued.
“I imagined someone taking you because of me.”
“That remains possible.”
“I know.”
“And if I stay near you, it will always be possible.”
“Yes.”
No lies.
No promises he could not keep.
Mave stood.
They were inches apart.
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because I’m trying very hard not to kiss you.”
Her breath caught.
“That would definitely blur the lines.”
“Yes.”
“Dangerously.”
“Yes.”
“Terrible management.”
“The worst.”
Mave kissed him.
Not dramatically.
Not for long.
Just enough to erase three years of pretending.
When she pulled back, Leo looked almost stunned.
She smiled.
“Your turn to be speechless.”
A knock hit the door.
Carmine’s voice came through.
“Boss, I have news.”
Leo closed his eyes.
Mave whispered, “Romance is thriving.”
He opened the door.
Carmine stood there holding a plastic motel ice bucket against his bruised hand.
“My father contacted me.”
“What does he want?”
“He says he’ll trade himself for the ledger.”
Leo frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“I know.”
Carmine’s expression became grim.
“He also says Renato is dead.”
Silence.
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
Leo stared.
His uncle’s security ring.
The figure at Pier Fourteen.
If Renato had already been dead…
Then the man on the camera was not Renato.
Someone had worn his ring deliberately.
Mave understood first.
“To make us blame him.”
Leo nodded.
Carmine continued.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“My father says Renato discovered who actually ordered Luca’s bombing.”
Leo’s face hardened.
“August?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Carmine swallowed.
May you like
“Your mother.”
Leo stopped breathing.
