“Gabriel.”
“Last name?”
“I do not have one,” he stated. I could feel myself getting annoyed when he said, “That is the truth.”
I didn’t want to get caught up on the smaller question now. Fine. “What mafia are you linked to?”
“None.”
I knew it! He was just playing around. “Gabriel, I’m going to need more details from you.”
“Ask more detailed questions.”
Oh, this little— “Fine.” I sat up. “Did you choose the Wilson Bank for a reason or did you choose it because you knew a robbery was already being planned there? If it was for a particular reason, what is it? Is it connected to my family? How did you manage to pull it off? Is that detailed enough for you?”
He swallowed the food in his mouth, putting his glass down. “I did choose the Wilson Bank for a reason, and it wasn’t because I knew a robbery was being planned there.” He decided at that point to drink, relaxing.
“Go on.”
“It’s odd…the bossier you are, the more turned on I get,” he whispered, placing his hand on his lips. “I’m torn between putting you in your place and seeing just how much more I can push you.”
“You push, I shoot. The dead don’t get turned on so it’s your choice,” I replied, lifting my glass to him.
The asshole lifted his glass as well, tapping it against mine. “The dead also can’t speak, meaning you’d never get answers you want.”
Lifting the glass to my lips, I drank all of it, taking a deep breath afterward before setting it back on the table. I lifted the napkin from my thighs before standing. “Thank you for the wine Gabriel, it’s been interesting.”
Just as I moved, he spoke again.
“The reason I chose the Wilson Bank is because after your Aunt Coraline gave away control of the bank to her uncle, he and his partners made it corrupt. Much of the money coming in was from corrupted officials overseas. They now take the assets of various ingrates and spread them throughout the United States and off-shore accounts. Some of those people have been targeting me for a very long time. I didn’t have the power to stop them before, now I do.”
The way he said it, without doubt, eagerly, like he’d been locked up and finally set free to cause chaos… It sent a shiver down my spine. I wanted to know what he was going to do with this power and how he got it.
“On top of that, Wilson Bank has been scamming average people,” he went on without missing a beat. “The moment your federal government and people found out, Wilson started hiding their secret funds even deeper. I didn’t have time to be chasing down accounts so I secretly tipped off two lifelong employees - who happened to be in anger management - to the fact that they were penniless. I let their anger grow and then waited for today, where I used that small window of chance to copy all hidden accounts and then delete access to them. The money will be frozen there, untouchable, even though they know it’s there. And if they try to get access to it, they’ll expose themselves. So, other than the fact that your aunt once upon a time owned the bank, it has nothing to do with the Callahan family and everything to do with me. Detailed enough?”
It was at this point that I relaxed. I was already sitting back down by now and smiling as I too began to eat. “So, you, like everyone else, are out for revenge?”
“No.” He shook his head, looking me dead in the eye as he said, “I’m out for what is mine by right, Donatella.”
The look in his eyes as he spoke was like a raging fire. He looked dangerous… Even to me, who grew up with men that embodied danger.
“What does that mean?”
Buzz.
Of course, his phone would pick now to go off! I thought, annoyed as he picked it up and hit answer, only to say, “You may come in.”
I looked to the door as it opened and seven men entered, dressed in black suits, one tall brown-skinned man stood in front of the two rows of guards.
“You really do enjoy making my job difficult, Your Highness,” the tall man said to Gabriel.
What? I laughed to myself in disbelief, looking over to the man. “Please tell me that is an insult.”
He looked at me, confused, and then back at Gabriel, forcing me to look at him, too. When I did, I saw that same wicked grin he’d had at the bank, and I couldn’t bring myself to speak. So, he spoke instead.
“I don’t have last name… I just have title,” he whispered, then loudly stated. “Sebastian…my title.”
“Prince Gabriel Honoré Déllacqua III, Hereditary Prince of Monaco, the Marquis of Baux.”