Chapter 15
SHE WAS FLAT out lying. Something had scared her. The fear in her eyes had expanded across the room even though she had tried hiding it. I would have to be blind not to see it. My question was, did anyone else?
Leaving her office, I received many stares, but ignored each of them. Pulling out my phone, I dialed Kiera, who answered quickly.
“Hello?” Her voice had a hit of apprehension in it. Good.
“It’s Jag. I need to talk to you now. Meet me down at the coffee shop.”
She blew out a deep breath. “Is this about Catarina?”
“Who else?” I waited.
“Fine, but if she finds out, she’ll be pissed.”
“Like I give a shit. Five minutes. Be there.” I hung up the phone before she could answer and moved swiftly out of the building to the small coffee shop on the corner. Dan and Brett stayed beside me, but upon entering the shop, they sat at a nearby table. The waitress came by, so I ordered two coffees with cream, not caring at the moment about the contents.
Kiera walked in a short time later, her heels clacking on the tile. Both Dan and Brett straightened up when she waved at them. She sat in the chair across from me, the smell of lavender surrounding her.
“What do ya need?” she asked, placing her purse on the table in front of her kind of like a shield. Although her face was perfectly made up, worry lines surrounded her eyes.
I sat back in the wobbly chair and hoped it didn’t send me pummeling to the floor. “What is going on with Catarina?”
Kiera’s face fell, her eyes turning sad and somber. “I don’t know. She won’t talk to me.” That meant this might be worse than I had thought.
“What do you mean?”
Her hands moved to the strap on her purse, and she began twirling it back and forth repeatedly. “After she stopped taking your calls, she changed, became closed off. I rarely see her laugh. I ask her all the time what’s wrong, and the answer is always nothing.” She stopped and moved her eyes around the room, sweeping it. “And she’s mad, so damn mad. This morning, she got into a fight with the coffee pot because it was too slow. The other day, it was the kitchen cabinet. I hear her cussing and ranting in her room and bathroom all the time. Even at work, she’s different.”
“And no one has said anything?”
“She stays away from her parents and brothers as much as possible, only going over for family meals. I’m sure she could hide it from them pretty easily, but it’s harder for her to do with me since I see her every day.” Kiera’s eyes watered up, but she held back the tears.
This was really killing her, seeing her friend like this. Hell, it was killing me simply from hearing it.
“This all started when she stopped talking to me. Today, she told me she didn’t want anything to do with me, so that would lead me to think something happened to her to make her stop talking to me. The questions are, what is it, and why is she hiding it?” I was pretty much thinking out loud. If I was going to figure this shit out fast, I needed Kiera’s help.
“I don’t know what it could have been. She didn’t act any differently that day except to come and tell me she was done messing around and wouldn’t have a boyfriend over the phone. She said she ended it and didn’t want to take any more calls from you. I thought it was a bit strange since it was all of a sudden, but I took her at her word.”
“Can you tell me anything else about that day?” There had to be some sort of clue there.
“I don’t remember much, just what she said. She didn’t look too different, but she has a way of hiding things if she doesn’t want you to see them.”
I sat and waited, letting Kiera process everything in her head. From the look in her eyes as they moved back and forth, the wheels in her head were spinning.
“Lately, she spends a lot of time in her office. A lot. She never does anything. If she’s not at work, she’s in her office or at the gym. I don’t go in her office, but maybe I should have.”
That would be my starting point. “Thank you. I’ll get this taken care of.”
She looked up at me, chewing the inside of her mouth. “Don’t let her push you away. She loves you. She won’t say it, but she does. For months after you left, she would light up each time you called and act like a damn teenager in love. That’s why, when she cut it off, the whole situation felt strange, but she’s my best friend, so I stood by her. That means not talking to you.”
I reached over and patted her hand. “We’ll get through this.”
Leaving the coffee shop, I dialed Vino’s computer guy.
“Jag, my man, how’s it going?” His chipper voice answered.
“Fine. You’ve still got cameras all over Catarina’s house, right?”
“Yep.”
I continued walking, getting into the car. “I’m on my way there. I need you to pull all of the footage of Catarina’s office.”
“You’ve got it. I’ll have it ready when you get here.”
Techie, Vino’s computer guy, lived in a little house right in the middle of the Lambardoni compound. It didn’t hold a candle to the other houses around it, but it didn’t need to. It was the camera hub for all of Lambardoni’s dealings, housing a single man.
When we pulled up to the house, Techie wrenched the door open before we could get to it, a big smile across his face.
“Come on in, my man!” Techie was in his twenties with glasses and blond hair that was shaggy and fell into his eyes. He was super smart when it came to anything electronic, and that was exactly why he had been hired for the job.
“Follow me,” he called out, walking through the living room.
There wasn’t garbage littered everywhere, but the room was in chaos. Magazines and books were scattered around the tables and floors, and clothes were thrown throughout the space. Something told me he didn’t entertain much.
He led us back to what would be considered the master bedroom, but instead of a bed, there were computer monitors, big machines that hummed, and tons of flashing lights were on every wall, even covering the windows. Unlike the living room, this room was pristine with nothing out of place.
He moved to one of the large, black chairs. “Have a seat.”
I did, staring up at all the monitors. There must have been twenty, if not more, all anchored to the wall. Some monitors showed four pictures on it, each one somewhere on the Lambardoni compound. The others showed full screens of the different properties, inside and out, flipping to different scenes. Yet more were focused on different streets and buildings throughout the city.
Techie tapped on his keys and pointed to the screen in front of him. “The camera looks a slight bit turned. Hang on.” He pressed buttons, and it looked like he was rewinding a tape quickly. Each time, it showed Catarina moving the cameras upon entering the space then putting the cameras back when she left.
“Go to the first time she did it,” I told him, wanting to know when all this shit had started, although I had a sneaking suspicion that I did.
“That was about three months ago. Look here.” He pointed again to the screen.
As Catarina’s beautiful face came into view, her eyes looked scared and her face a bit pale. She turned each camera one at a time, the cameras shaking from possible tremors in her hand as she did so.
“Shit,” I growled.
“Yeah, shit. I don’t know how I didn’t catch that,” Techie said, rubbing the back of his neck. “But look, she moves them back when she’s about to leave the room, and it’s only for no more than fifteen minutes at a time.”
“You should have. Do you have anything else of her on the same day and around that time?” I asked, not cutting him any slack. If he would have been keeping up on shit, whatever was going on with Catarina could have been avoided.
He plugged back in, pulling up more camera footage. Catarina was getting out of the car, clutching her bag in front of her, her eyes darting back and forth like she was afraid of something. Scraper was with her, though, so I wasn’t sure why she would be scared. The next frame was of her in the hallway in front of the office, clutching the same bag. I needed to know what had been in that bag.
I stood up, desperate to get in that office before she came home from work. “Keep a better fucking eye on her,” I growled at Techie, who was lucky I had some place to be. I would deal with him later.
I left, rattling off to Dan where we needed to go. We entered Catarina’s house with the help of Techie disarming the alarm from his house, and I headed straight to the office.
I opened the door and did a quick sweep around the room. Sappy romance novels lined one bookshelf, while the other had books dealing with numbers and the stock market. Pictures were put in perfect place.
Doing a quick search, nothing was out of the ordinary. The only drawer I couldn’t get into was the one in her top desk drawer. It was locked. I would bet my ass whatever was inside was the reason for all this bullshit.
I grabbed my pick out of my pocket as I sat down in her chair. I held it up to the lock then stopped.
I needed her to tell me. I needed her to trust me to open this up and give it to me. I could just break in and find out what was inside, but that would only make a bigger rift between us.
As much as it killed me, I put away my pick and moved over to the couch, far enough away so I wasn’t tempted to take the pick to the lock.
My mind raced at what could be inside of the drawer. Maybe a letter or document. The drawer was only about two inches tall and sixteen across. Whatever was inside had to be something pretty flat, but I had no idea what it could be. Therefore, I waited.
It had been a long fucking day, and I felt my eyes getting heavy, so I kicked up my feet and rested my head on the arm of the couch, quickly falling asleep.
***
Crying. Who was crying? I woke to the sound of it, rubbing my face and trying to process its location. It was coming from the other side of the door.
The knob began to turn, and the crying got louder. Catarina’s eyes were cast down as she opened the door and shut it. As she leaned her forehead to the door and sobbed hysterically, my heart broke. Fucking shattered.
Getting up, I quietly moved behind her and wrapped my arms around her body. She gasped and thrashed in my arms, kicking and hitting me with her powerful thrusts.
“Get away!” she screamed.
“Shh … Dolcezza. You’re safe.”
Her body sagged in my arms as her knees gave out. I hooked my arm under her legs, pulling her close to my body and carrying her over to the couch as her sobs intensified. Her hand clutched onto my shirt, pulling with all her strength.
I sat her on my lap and calmly rocked her back and forth. The hurt in my heart grew for her with each tear she shed. Whatever this was, it was tearing her apart.
I continued rocking her even when the sobs faded into hiccups, which were pretty fucking cute. Once her breathing finally slowed down, I looked down at her trembling, tear-streaked face, and when I spoke, her entire body flinched.
“Please tell me what’s going on,” I said as calmly as I could, not wanting to scare the little rabbit any further into the hole she had created for herself.
“Everything’s fine.”
“Bullshit. Look at you. You’re a hot mess, babe. Tell me so I can fix this shit.”
Her eyes closed, and as clear as day, I could see the gears turning in her head. It was like she was at war with herself, trying to work something out. I kept quiet and waited.
“I got another one today.” Her words quivered out of her lips when she finally spoke.
“Got what, baby?” I rubbed my hand absently along her arm for her comfort and because I damn well needed to touch her.
“A note. After you left, it was on the seat of my car.”
It was my turn to stiffen under her. “Can I see it?”
She nodded and made a move to rise out of my arms. I was reluctant to let her go, but I had to. She reached into the pocket of her suit jacket and pulled out a slip of paper, handing it to me with wobbly hands.
I unfolded the paper and looked down at the words. I told you to stay away from Jag. Now you all will die.
I looked up at Catarina whose eyes were closed so tightly the wrinkles on her forehead looked like they hurt, and my stomach twisted as the anger inside me came to a boil. Someone had been threatening my woman and scaring the shit out of her. I did my best to put on a stoic face, to not let the anger come through in my expression because I knew it would scare her. That wasn’t what she needed right now.
“You’ve been getting these for a while?” I tried my best to remain calm.
She was still in her timid, rabbit stage, wanting to fly out of the room at any time. I needed her to talk, but she continued to stand in front of me, unmoving.
“Months,” she finally whispered.
“Show me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
She opened her eyes and moved to the other side of the room, but it wasn’t near a door, so I felt all right about it.
“It’s bad, Jag.” She shook her head and wrapped her arms around her body, protecting herself from whatever she needed to tell me.
I stood, walking across the room to her. “I promise, whatever it is, I’ll be fine. I care about you, Catarina. If someone is threatening you, I will take care of it.”
Her eyes met mine, the depth of the sadness inside crushing, and I wrapped my arms around her, which she didn’t resist. I nestled her head against my chest and wrapped her arms around my body firmly.
“I want this to be over. I can’t take it anymore,” she whimpered.
“It’s a very big burden to bear. Let me take the weight from you.”
Her body sagged farther into mine, and I could feel the walls crumbling. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t. Please.”
She nodded then released me to dig into the pocket of her jacket, pulling out a key. She walked over to the desk and pulled the chair out. After she pushed the key into the lock and opened it, I moved closer to her and watched as she pulled out a manila envelope.
“This is it.” She threw the envelope on top of the desk and stepped back.
I took her place and sat in the chair, opening the flap of the envelope. Dumping out the contents, I saw pictures and notes fall out, scattering across the desk. I picked up the eight by ten pictures and stared at my father and Sal. I wanted to laugh at the picture in my hand, but from Catarina’s face, I decided against it. Instead, I answered the question that filled her eyes.
“Dolcezza, these pictures are from the Halloween before my father’s murder. They were actually used by the prosecution in your father’s case to try to say these were pictures of him committing the crime. The problem with that was, there were tons of people at this party, and each of them stated the same thing. This was my father and yours goofing around at the party. The pictures were thrown out of court.”
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” she growled, her fists balled at her sides, her sadness turning into fury almost instantaneously.
“Did you think your father did it?” I questioned, puzzled.
“I didn’t know what the hell to think. I got these pictures and”—she dug through the pictures—“and this.” She shoved a note in my face.
Your father murdered Geovini. Stay away from Jag, or this all comes out, and your family dies. Tell anyone of this, and the death will be painful. What would Jag think?
Ice cold rage took over my body through every single cell.
“Any other notes?” I asked.
Catarina laid out several more.
What would Jag think? You think he wants to be with the kid of his father’s murderer?
Mouth closed and stay away from Jag.
Don’t even think of telling your father. He deserves to die for what he did.
Kiera will be the first to die. Keep your mouth shut.
“What in the fucking hell is this?” I rifled through several notes, each one more disturbing than the last. “So some motherfucker is following you, scaring you, and you’ve told no one.” I didn’t need her to clarify it; I just needed the words to come out of my mouth to clarify it for myself.
“Yes. And this whole fucking time, the pictures were fake! I wasted the past three months on this!” Her anger rose to the point that she was screaming, her entire body shaking, and her face was as red as a tomato.
“Why didn’t you tell your father?” My anger matched hers as we started screaming at each other. Not pissed at each other, but needing to get the anger out somehow.
“I thought everyone would be killed! I stayed away from you to keep you safe! I did everything to keep you safe, and it was for nothing!” Catarina paced the room, walking back and forth in a huff. Her hands were balled into fists as she swung them with each step she made. I could tell she was trying to work it out in her head, but I didn’t think she was accomplishing much of it.
I stepped into her path and grabbed onto her waist, pulling her to my body, hers vibrating. She kept her fists at her sides, her forehead crinkled and her brows furrowed. So much was going on in that head of hers, and most of it was her beating herself up over what had happened.
While she was totally to blame for not speaking up, I would keep that to myself for now. She was too raw in that moment, so there was no use adding to it.
“I know now. I’ll find out who this is and take care of it. You need to trust me to do that. Trust your family to do that.”
Her eyes snapped to mine. “What if he tries to kill everyone now? He’ll know it’s out and come after everyone.”
I brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face. “He won’t. We won’t let him. We’ll hire extra security until we find out who this is and take care of it. Trust me to get that all in place.”
She nodded yet didn’t seem convinced. “I want to, Jag. I’ve just been dealing with this for so long now. But I have to say, having someone know is a relief. I couldn’t take it anymore. It was driving me crazy. If someone gets hurt because of this, Jag, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
The fear in her eyes pierced me so deeply it was etched in my soul. While I knew she didn’t know much of the business, I would have hoped she would understand we would take care of each other, but apparently the fear had gripped her a little harder than some. This fucker, whoever he was, seemed to know this and played on it. And I would find out who it was.
I rubbed up and down her back, trying to console her. “It’s all right. I’ll take care of it now.” She shuddered. “I’ve gotta go get some guys on this and talk to Vino and Sal.”
She silently shook her head into my chest. It was not the least bit surprising she didn’t want her father and uncle to know what had been going on right under their noses.
“I’d like you to go up; take a long, hot bath; and climb in bed. Can you do that for me?”
She pulled away and looked in my eyes. “I’m so sorry, Jag. I screwed up.” Tears fell from the corners of her eyes.
I pulled her back to me and kissed the top of her head. Her arms wrapped around my body as I felt her pain as if it was my own.
“I know, baby. Let’s find out who this is. I’ll do anything to keep you safe.” I squeezed her, loving the sensation of her body wrapped in mine and not wanting to leave, even for a moment, but I couldn’t wait. Too much time had already passed, and I needed to get the ball rolling immediately.
“Thank you.”
I pulled slightly away. “All right. I want you to go to your room. I’ll be back in a little while, okay?”
She stared in my eyes, and regret, guilt, sadness, and a vault full of other emotions swirled around them. No wonder she had been such a mess.
I lay my lips softly on hers, giving her a chaste kiss. Anything more at this point and I would be buried so deep in her I wouldn’t be able to figure all this shit out. I needed her like my last breath.
I hadn’t lied; I would do anything to protect her.