Shadow Warrior (Shadow Riders 4)

Eloisa sent him her blackest scowl. “I don’t believe that is any of your business, nor is it the business of anyone sitting at this table other than me.”

Stefano leaned toward her, his eyes boring into her. “This is a business matter and when you start making mistakes, when any of us starts making mistakes that could jeopardize all shadow riders, that has to be addressed and you know it. You’d be the first one to demand it, Eloisa. You suffered a trauma. We all did. There are going to be repercussions to us. We train physically and mentally, but there is no way to factor in emotions. See a doctor. And I want a report. That’s essential. If you need counseling, get it. We have a rider here who is a counselor. She set up shop a few months back, as you well know.”

Eloisa held his gaze defiantly for several seconds. Vittorio felt sorry for her. Having one’s son dictate after years of being the top rider in the family was most likely humiliating. Still, Eloisa knew he was right and she nodded.

“Continue, Vittorio.”

“I haven’t talked to her about what we do, but I will as soon as I think she can handle it.”

“It has to be soon,” Stefano warned. “You’ve spent so much time together, it might already be too late.”

At Eloisa’s swift intake of breath, Vittorio looked at her face. For the first time, she looked older. Eloisa was a beautiful woman and appeared far younger than her years. He knew it was already too late. He’d seen the way their shadows tangled together.

“One last thing,” Stefano continued. “The victim at the hotel, Mrs. Lanie Kandar, was traveling alone. She has no children. Her husband was killed in a hunting accident about ten years ago and she never remarried. No other children. She lives and travels on the insurance money left to her as a result of her husband’s death. She had no known enemies.”

Vittorio had been certain nothing would be found in the woman’s past that might explain why she was shot, but he was surprised about the boy. “If the boy wasn’t hers, who did he belong to?”

“That’s a good question. The investigation showed the bullet that killed Mrs. Kandar was not fired by any of the policemen present. None of us fired the shot. The Saldis were inside the room, at least we thought they all were. If they had any others secreted around the hotel, they weren’t spotted by the security cameras.”

Vittorio drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair.

“Stop,” Eloisa hissed between clenched teeth. “That’s a terrible habit picked up from your brother. It gets on my nerves and I can’t think.”

Vittorio immediately ceased but shot his brother a worried glance. Eloisa had always been edgy, but it seemed as if she was getting more so in the last months.

“Did the police question the kid? He was closer to the shooter than anyone else, he might have seen something we didn’t.” When Stefano shook his head, Vittorio knew immediately what the answer was. “The police never found the kid, did they?”

Stefano shook his head. “What are you thinking?”

“He was small, but up close he looked older. Haydon Phillips assumes different personas. It could have been him.”

“Working for the Saldi family? No way,” Eloisa said. “He tortured their enforcers. They’d kill him on sight.”

“Working for himself,” Stefano said. “He couldn’t have known about the Saldi meeting with us. No one knew about it.”

“Unless he had them bugged. I’m beginning to think he’s capable of anything,” Vittorio said. “On the other hand, it’s worrisome that he was on his way to the second floor rather than hovering outside the door of the conference room or trying to get close enough to one of us to kill us. What was he doing there? Especially if he didn’t know about the meeting between our two families.”

Stefano handed his phone to Giovanni. “I’m headed home now. Vittorio, do your best to wrap this up with Grace. Get her on board.”

Vittorio tried not to laugh. That was so like Stefano.

Emmanuelle rolled her eyes. “She isn’t a boardroom, Stefano. She’s a person.”

“Exactly. A woman. He has a certain reputation.”

“Which is working against me at the moment.”

“I have faith in you. I’m heading home. Ricco, put in a call to security at the hotel. I want a complete overhaul. I want floor by floor inspections. Let’s find out what Haydon was up to.”

“We don’t know if it was him,” Eloisa pointed out. “We don’t want him to get us off our game and make mistakes.”

“We have to go on the premise that it was Haydon,” Taviano said. “He’s a cunning little bastard, and he wants one of us so he can prove to Grace that he can get to her and anyone she cares about. He’s been terrorizing her since she was a kid, keeping her under his thumb. No way is he going to let her go.”