Valentina
“Uh…thanks.” Valentina sat on the couch in the waiting room of her new office and tossed the wrapping paper to the side. “A person can never have too many coffeemakers.” It was the third one today. First was the one from Dominic, then Arlo stopped by with one, and now Roman and Madison had just gifted her one along with ten cases of single serve gourmet coffees. The gesture was grand yet a little insulting at the same time. Her lips pouted. “Am I really that bad at making coffee?”
“Yes,” her brother answered.
“Roman.” Madison punched her husband in the arm. “That wasn’t very nice.”
“It’s the truth and you know it. Sorry, sis, but you can’t do anything in the kitchen to save your life.”
“What?” Her shoulders sank. How could he say such a thing? “I’m a great cook.”
“Roman!” Madison stomped her foot and waved her hands in the air.
“Who gives a shit if you can or can’t cook? I certainly don’t.” He took a seat on her desk.
“I’m a lawyer, but I can’t make coffee.”
“This isn’t the fifties. Do you think it would matter to me if Madison couldn’t cook? Her other skills more than make up for that.” He winked at his wife and she turned bright red. “Marry a fireman. They can all cook.”
“Stop it. I can cook. Besides, you know Father would have a fit about that.”
“He’d get over it.”
“When hell froze over maybe.”
“You don’t need a man anyway.” Roman crossed his arms across his chest. “You’ve got all of us. Arlo, Dom, all the guys.”
As if that made her lack of dating any better. Her hormones must have really been out of whack. She’d never been this needy before. Or course, she’d never had this much time on her hands before. School had been demanding and Roman and Madison had been running Firenza for so long, she wasn’t needed there at all. That was going to change.
“Unfortunately, there are just some things I can’t get from you and the guys.”
“It will happen when you least expect it.” Madison placed a hand on her shoulder. “You never know when you might toss some coffee on the man of your dreams.” Madison and Roman had met at a coffee shop when she turned around and spilled hot latte all over one of his expensive shirts. Those two lovesick puppies actually kept showing up at the same place several days later hoping to catch each other, eventually sharing their first dance at the Snowflake Ball.
“Miss Caponelli, where do you want this?” Tyler entered the room carrying her framed law diploma in his hands.
“Have Dom hang it behind my desk in the office.”
“He knows that but said to ask you before he puts a hundred nails in the wall.”
“All right.” She got to her feet. “Tell him I’ll be right there.” He turned to leave. “And, Tyler, I told you call me Val or Valentina. No Miss Caponelli here, okay?”
“Yes, Miss Cap—” he shook his head, “—I mean Valentina.” The kid flashed her a bright smile before leaving the room.
“Who’s that?” Roman motioned with his thumb.
“I was at the station today looking for kids to mentor and Ryan brought him over.”
Madison grinned and Roman frowned.
“That still doesn’t answer the question. Who is he and where does he live?”
“Oh my god. Roman. This isn’t Chicago. If Ryan says he’s okay to have around the place, I believe him.”
“But if he is known around the station as needing special attention, there is obviously a reason. Did he get caught stealing or dealing drugs?” His face was set in a frown.
“Roman, hush. He might hear you.” She held a finger to her lips. “I really don’t know what his story is. Just that he needed a job. Something about his father being killed and his mom needed help with the bills. He seems like a nice young man.”
“Well, get me his last name and I’ll have Arlo check him out. If he and his family truly need help, we will see what we can do.” She gave him Tyler’s full name and her heart softened. Roman may have been a thorn in her backside at times with his over protectiveness, but he was also known to lend a hand to anyone who needed it. His phone buzzed and his face darkened when he read the message.
“I’ve got to go.” He got to his feet and locked eyes with Dominic, who was on the other side of the room hooking up a flat screen television to the wall.
“Is something wrong?” Madison also rose.
“Nothing for you two to worry about. Maddy, you stay here and I’ll be back soon. Dom, I need a word with you outside.” The man put down his tools and followed him.
“Well, that was weird,” Madison said, and rushed over to the window. “I didn’t even get a kiss goodbye. Either the honeymoon phase is over or something big just went down.”
“I’m thinking the latter.” Their faces were so close to the window it fogged up. “And Dom’s coming back inside instead of going with him.” They turned to face each other after witnessing Roman get in the SUV with Arlo and head off down the street. “I don’t like this at all. What do you think is up?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not going to give up until someone gives me an answer.” They both rushed to the man who’d just come in the door.
It took a while of nonstop pestering to get Dominic to crack but he did. Valentina didn’t know all of his history but she did know he’d been tortured and abused. The fact that he often gave in to her demands meant he had a soft spot for her.
“What do you mean, ask my lover boy?” She tilted her head and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“You know that badge that was here earlier.” He brushed a piece of long hair behind his ear. For being so scary, the man was drop dead gorgeous. Dominic was from the old country, as made obvious by his slight accent. His skin always had that sun kissed tan to it and his long dark hair was the envy of any woman.
“That badge is not my lover boy.” Although she wasn’t opposed to that happening, she wasn’t going to admit it. “If you don’t tell me right now, I will call Roman and ask him. It must be important so I’m sure he won’t want me bothering him.”
Dominic took a deep breath and placed the hammer he had in his hands on a nearby counter. “There’s been another death of a young woman. It’s looking like Genoa might have a killer on the loose. Roman went to find out more.”
“What?” Madison gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “Things like that don’t happen here.”
“Bad things can happen anywhere.”
“I know, but this is one of the reasons I left Chicago, and this is my new home.” Valentina’s face was white. “I just can’t even imagine.” She hugged herself. “Wait. Who was murdered?”
Valentina said a silent prayer as she did a visual count in her head of all the good people she had met since moving to Genoa. Thinking that any one of them could be a victim made her sick to her stomach.
“I don’t know.” Dom leaned against the wall. “But I am not to let either one of you out of my sight until Roman is back.”
Valentina glanced in her sister-in-law’s direction and met her gaze. Both were very stubborn women, but right now neither wanted to test Roman’s instructions, at least not until they knew all the details. The news had put her on edge. If there was a killer on the loose, that would be the last person she wanted to run into. “Where’s Tyler?”
“I sent him to get us some lunch.”
She was on the verge of pulling her hair out when the kid finally walked in the door, his arms loaded down with sandwiches, pasta, and drinks from the kitchen of Firenza. “Wow, what a cool place. I can’t believe you own that,” Tyler said, in awe of her other business. “Are you hiring?”
“You want another job?” Valentina started to unpack their meal.
“No, I think I will be very happy here. I was just thinking about my mom.” He set the box of food on the coffee table.
“I thought she had a job.”
“She does, but it’s at a bar and she works really late hours.” He tapped his toe a couple times against the leg of a chair. “I think it would be safer for her somewhere else.”
He had her at the word safe, especially if the rumor of a possible killer of women in the area was true. “Let me make a call and we will see what we can do.” Even if they didn’t need extra help, she was getting Tyler’s mom in. She couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to her when Valentina could get her work somewhere safer. The security at Firenza was first rate. It had to be in their business. She stepped into her office and her fingers flew across the laptop as she sent off an email to her human resource person.
Her thoughts turned to Ryan. Law enforcement was a dangerous business, even more so today, but it really hit home now. Did she want to get involved with someone who might not come home at night? For some reason that didn’t deter her from considering him as a potential romantic partner. She’d spent her whole life with the scary thought of many of her family members not returning at night—and some hadn’t.
“I better call Ryan and see what I can find out.” Not knowing what was going on was making her jittery.
“Leave him be. If he’s in the middle of an investigation, the last thing we want to do is bother him.” Madison had grabbed a to-go container and stuck her fork into some spaghetti. “I’m sure we will hear from Roman soon. That was where he was going, right?” She pointed her fork at Dom.
“Yeah, he’s hoping to find out what happened and see what we can do to catch the bastard.” It was no secret that Dominic loved to get rid of men who harmed others, especially women or children. In medieval times, he’d have been an executioner attired in black robes and a hood. Today, he was in a pair of tight jeans, work boots, and a long-sleeve tee.
“Catch who?” Tyler asked. “Did I miss something?”
“We just heard that there was a murder,” Val informed him.
“We don’t know for sure. Let’s not panic.” Madison was the voice of reason.
Tyler whipped out his phone and sent a text.
“Who are you texting?”
“My mom. The girl who died the other day lived next to our house.”
“What?” Her jaw dropped. That was way too close. Not only was she going to get his mom a job, she would find them a new place to live.
“Yes, she was our neighbor. Nice lady.” Tyler visibly relaxed when a text came back from his mother.
“This was in another area of town. At least that was where Roman and Arlo were headed.” Dominic was usually the quiet one but the thirst for blood had him in a rather talkative mood. “I’ll text Arlo and see what I can find out.”
“I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.” Madison left half the food on her plate and started to pace. “Stuff like this doesn’t happen here.”
“Damn tourists from Chicago,” Tyler muttered under his breath.
“I’m from Chicago and so is Officer Ryan,” Valentina interjected.
“You’re not tourists. You live here.”
“Until we know more, I don’t think we should speculate.” Despite Madison trying to calm the group down, she kept walking back and forth. “I’m glad my mother and father are on vacation right now so I don’t have to worry about them.” After being separated for years, they’d been reunited, newly married, and traveling the world ever since.
“No one would dare harm you.” The tone with which Tyler said it had Dominic glaring at him. “Well, it’s true. She has bodyguards and is married to the biggest badass town. It’s the rest of us who have to worry about getting killed.”
“It’s doesn’t matter who you are.” Dominic’s voice was cold. “If someone wants to kill you bad enough, they will find a way.” He picked up the hammer again. “I know, I’ve done it.”