Chapter Seven
Candace
I’m almost ready for my date with Jacques.
I've painted my lips blood red and I’ve drawn attention to my eyes with smoky eye make-up.Instead of my trademark braid, I have my long blond hair down in loose graceful waves hanging over my shoulders.
I’ve chosen a little black dress that most would consider modest for the halter neck.What makes it sexy is me.
I have one of those shapes that border between willowy and curvy, although the only thing I do is a jog in the evenings.That’s it, and all I’ve always done yet I look like I spend hours in the gym.
I look good tonight. I just don’t feel it.How can I when I’m so dressed up to go on a date with a man who isn’t even my type?And I’m tired. I didn’t sleep last night.I kept thinking about Dominic, and what he was going to say to me.
It didn't help that my attempt to go to work and carry on as normal was an absolute disaster.I just couldn’t get in the right headspace and ended up heading home before lunch.
It's just gone seven and I'm still thinking about Dominic when I should be focused on Jacques.Dinner is at eight-thirty. This evening is too important to me to screw it up with thoughts of a man who was never really mine.Tonight is my chance to take those initial steps to get closer to Jacques.So, what I need to do is get my damn act together and focus.
Focus, focus, focus.
I walk over to my desk and take out a file I copied from work with Jacques' records.This was what put me on this path.
One of my jobs is to help run the background checks on clients.Everything about Jacques came back legit.Except for a deposit of twenty million dollars into his personal account from a company called Green Ltd. I'm supposed to verify transactions like that.Further checks took me to a man called Richard Fenmoir.
That name was one that was given to me months before that when I hired Gibbs Mackenzie to look into my parents' murder.Gibbs is one of those off the charts private investigators who works for Claudius Morientz, a powerful mafia boss in Chicago who is now part of the newly formed Syndicate.Gibbs is popular amongst mafia bosses in the alliance because of his unorthodox methods that usually enable him to find anything on a person.
Massimo uses him to run checks on the clients he's interested in doing long-term business with.
Gibbs was one avenue I never had when Giacomo D'Agostino did his previous investigation.So I thought he would be able to help me.
The man who killed my parents had to be linked to that job Uncle Lucas got my father.But because the job was obviously one of those secret, shady as fuck jobs only a devil like Uncle Lucas could come up with, I didn't know what the job was or where Papa worked.
I didn't know where to start but Gibbs was able to find five names.Four were names associated with gardening companies that Giacomo already checked out.Richard Fenmoir was the last.A name I'd never had before. The problem was, apart from the name, Gibbs couldn't find anything more on Richard.Nothing at all.
Gibbs said when that happens, it's obvious the name is being concealed for some reason.Like someone who joined the witness protection program, or someone who just wants to be off the grid.Something in my heart made me want to look deeper, but with nothing more to find, Gibbs couldn't help me anymore.
I couldn't have been more shocked when the name turned up in relation to Jacques.The kick with that was when Gibbs did further checks he discovered the account was closed and had no details.While he agreed it was one hell of a coincidence and suspicious as fuck, he said he came across things like that all the time.
All I was left with is the fact Jacques Belmont got a deposit of twenty million dollars from a company linked to a man I suspect was involved with my parents' deaths.
I suspect it but I have no evidence, just that feeling in my heart.
I don't even know if Richard Fenmoir is the right person to go after, but I'm desperate.
The worst part is I can’t tell anybody what I’m up to because I don’t want to ruin the business relationship Massimo has with Jacques.
Definitely not when all I have at this point are assumptions.I couldn’t do that to Massimo.
When Jacques came on the scene a few months back he wasn’t just interested in being a client of D’Agostino, Inc. He wanted to be part of the Syndicate too.Of all the people who approached Massimo to join the infamous secret society, he considered Jacques’ request and is currently considering initiating him.
I don’t miss a beat. Massimo is no fool.He wouldn’t have just decided something like that without really thinking about it, and he wouldn’t contemplate allowing any old person to join the Syndicate either.It’s a big deal, so I can’t fuck things up between them.
I don’t know what capacity Jacques might know Richard,but I think it’s reasonable to assume a deposit of twenty million dollars into a personal account is not going to come from some random person and for no reason at all.
My plan feels like selling my soul to the devil, but Jacques is the first link I’ve had in thirteen years.I don’t think I could go through the rest of my life knowing I had a chance to find answers and never took it.
All I have to remember is that night when I lost my parents.I can still hear my father pleading for my life and my mother’s.He never asked once to spare his own.I can still hear my mother’s screams of pain and terror.
I can still see them, dead…