Casimir reached out and, for just one moment, allowed himself the luxury of touching her again. Reassuring her. He couldn't take this away from her, she wouldn't let him, but he could let her know he was always at her back. He brushed his fingers along the side of her neck, trailing slowly until he reached the edge of her perfect little suit shirt.
"Pervert. I just met you." But she smiled. It was brief, and it didn't light her eyes, but he saw what he wanted in her eyes. She was clear. Ready. "Let's do this," Lissa said. She didn't ask him if he'd brought everything. It was in his camera case. She'd packed that herself.
Cosmos Agosto was in the prime of his life. At thirty-six he was one of the youngest men in the Porcelli family to be as wealthy as he was without all the hassle of being a soldier. He had a beautiful wife, a former model. Carlotta did whatever he told her to do and she did it immediately. It hadn't taken him very long to train her. He had two mistresses, one who lived close and another one town over. His life was fairly easy.
He went to work, training others to handle the dogs. He enjoyed the power of that, being in a position to snap orders at others and belittle them until they were nearly at the breaking point. He was a master at it. He practiced enough on his wife. Every once in a while he had to show his loyalty to Luigi Abbracciabene by doing some dirty job for him, but the pay was well worth it.
Luigi's wife, Angeline, didn't have a brain in her head. When they came over for dinner, Cosmos wanted to shoot himself just listening to her. He couldn't understand why Luigi, an intelligent man, had tied himself to such a moron. Of course, Luigi fucked everything that walked in skirts in a two-hundred-mile radius. He'd even bragged to Cosmos that he often brought a woman into his study, fucked her right there or had her blow him while Angeline knocked on the door. Luigi took great pleasure in roaring at his wife to leave him alone, and she would slink away in tears.
Cosmos wasn't a man to allow another to one-up him, so he'd done the same, but found the pleasure was even greater when he forced his wife to watch - or participate. Life was good. So good. When he was in a bad mood, he could take out his frustration on his beautiful trophy, reveling in her tears and her promises of doing better. When he was happy, he could do whatever the hell he wanted when he wanted - and that was often.
Luigi paid him well and always would. He would have that money coming in for the rest of Luigi's life. That had been the deal, and Cosmos wasn't a trusting man. If Luigi ever thought to get rid of him to save that money, he had insurance to prevent that. Recordings. Times. Dates. Even at nineteen he'd been smart. All that, along with recordings, was locked up tight in his safe. When he died, his lawyer would find the information. He often taunted Luigi with the fact that he'd better not die of some illness.
Luigi had picked him up off the street and groomed him for the position of his brother's dog handler. Cosmos had taken that job knowing he would eventually betray them all. Honestly, that had thrilled him. Every time he sat down at the table with the Abbracciabenes he had secretly laughed inside.
Luigi had to put up with a moron with the face of a horse while he had a young model, her face and body beautiful. He knew someday Luigi would kill his wife, and he wanted to be there when it was done. Cosmos figured his own wife had a few good years left until her looks went. He'd replace her then. Until that day, he forced her to please him in every way possible. He had to admit, he missed the exhilaration of knowing death was coming to those close to him and sometimes, he couldn't help himself, he had to repeat that experience. He would know who was going to die, but they wouldn't. It made him feel a little like a god.
Cosmos sauntered out of his house, the three-story mansion with glittering chandeliers and gleaming wood, another sign of success he didn't give a damn about, like his trophy wife, but enjoyed showing off to others. He liked the status. He especially liked to lord it over those who had said he wouldn't amount to anything. His scum parents he sometimes saw just to remind himself of what his life could have been like. Someday, he'd set fire to their little box of a house and burn their alcoholic asses along with the dump they lived in.
He walked to the cliff overlooking the ocean. It was one of his favorite spots. This was where he disposed of anything or anyone who got in his way. A teenage boy who had tried to steal his car and had begged for food when caught, begged even to be turned over to the authorities. Cosmos detested him, that reminder of what he'd been. So pathetic. He brought him home on the pretense of feeding him and giving him a job. It had been so satisfactory throwing his ass off the cliff - a symbol of getting rid of his old self. Feeling the power. Knowing who he was now.
Another death had been that of a woman he'd spent hours with, taking her in every way possible, forcing her to service his friends and later Luigi. She'd been so accommodating until his friends had arrived. She had the audacity to threaten him. He was very happy to prolong her death, holding her over the edge, listening to her beg before he dropped her worthless ass into the sea.
Two dogs, ungrateful for his care, one biting him and the other cowering in the back of the kennel, both reactions after he'd disciplined them. Both every bit as worthless as the little bitch threatening him. He expected his dogs to obey him instantly. He kept them hungry and grateful for the least little bit of attention. The two hadn't been worth anything, turning on him like that.
The biggest thrill was the whining, sniveling, snot-nosed six-year-old son of his gardeners - a husband-and-wife team. The couple always brought him along and he was continually screaming and crying, running to his mother when his father told him to stop. She babied him endlessly, heaping insults on her husband when he tried to discipline the boy. Cosmos had complained several times of the noise, but she only glared at him while her son had looked smug. He'd arranged for an accident, the poor little brat falling over the edge on his mother's watch. Stupid cow. Now her husband had something to hold over her head for eternity.
He laughed softly, peering down into the crashing waves. He could do anything. He had that right. Here, in the world he'd created through his hard work, he was god of his domain. He loved reliving those moments of absolute power. He could stand there and think about how it would feel to throw Luigi's wife right off the cliff. He fantasized about it often when she sat across from him at his dinner table talking endlessly about shopping with his wife.
A sound behind him had him whirling around. He felt a sting, as if a bee had landed on his neck and stung him. He slapped his hand over the wound and staggered a little as his legs turned rubbery. A hand caught his arm. Rough. In a vise. It hurt. He turned his head, finding it difficult to do that. His neck hurt and his motor movements were sluggish.
A man's face swam into view. Cosmos opened his mouth to speak, to demand what was going on, but his shock was so great that for a moment, he couldn't find his voice. He could only stare at the stranger, stunned that anyone would dare come onto his property uninvited and look at him the way that man was - as if he were scum. No one looked at him that way and lived. He'd grown powerful. Wealthy. He ruled his own little empire. No one looked at him that way, he wouldn't stand for it.
He found himself sitting right there on the very edge of the cliff. For the first time he didn't like being so close to the edge. He wasn't in control of his movements. His body shuddered, breaking out into a sweat. He swayed and tried to hold himself rigid. Tried to make out the face - no faces - in front of him. The man was still there. A woman had joined him. The man was older, with silver hair. The man slipped on a pair of mirrored glasses covering his eyes - the eyes that held so much contempt. He was exceptionally strong for his age. The woman had glossy black hair, beautiful features, but was far too skinny for his liking.
"Do you know who you're fucking with?" he asked, surprised his voice worked. He recognized a fast-acting drug rushing through his system. It hurt. Shredded his nerves. More, they hit him again with another needle. This one contained a dark liquid.
"You should have known Luigi would send som
eone after you. You killed his brother, murdered him. He wasn't going to let you live."
The woman spoke, her voice soft, even musical. She might be skinny, but her voice was all kinds of sexy. Cosmos recognized that even thinking about whether she was attractive or not under the circumstances was fucked up and he started laughing.
"He can't have me killed. He knows I have proof he put me in his brother's house so we could kill him. He had to cement his relationship with Angeline and her family first and then when it was done, when she agreed to marry him, I could let the dogs loose."
He laughed hysterically again. Deep inside, Cosmos tried to stop talking, stop the flow of his consciousness from spilling every secret, but his nerve endings were on fire, and worse, he was beginning to feel as if he were drunk. He was drunk. He knew he was. His body swayed and he laughed again.
"Luigi and Aldo Porcelli are friends?"
"Luigi is tight with all the Porcellis. He's like a shark swimming in a tank with a bunch of bottom-feeders. They think they know him. I can't wait for him to take over - and he will. He says no, but I know he will and then he'll kill that fucking moron of a wife. She's so useless. She can't even give the man a decent blow job, too busy making sure her lipstick is perfect. I want to be there when he does it."
"I don't think you're going to be there," the woman said softly. "You're drunk and you're very close to the edge of the cliff."
He felt a hand on his arm. The man again. He found himself standing, facing them, the wind coming off the ocean blowing cold air across his neck and back.
"Do you know who I am, Cosmos?" the woman asked.
He shook his head. The action made the world spin. He recovered, holding himself rigidly upright.
"I'm Giacinta Abbracciabene. That little girl who followed you around and sat next to you at the table night after night when my parents invited you in for dinner so you wouldn't be alone."
His eyes widened. That child had flaming red hair like her mother. This woman couldn't possibly be her. She was dead, wasn't she? He didn't know what happened to her. He couldn't remember, his mind working very sluggishly. He shook his head. The action sent the ground under his expensive Italian shoes rolling. She stepped closer and he stepped back - into air. Empty space. The space where other bodies had gone before his.
He felt himself falling and knew it was too late to save himself. He didn't understand what happened, but when he hit the jagged rocks below, he felt his body breaking into pieces, the bones smashed. He opened his mouth to scream in pain, but the waves smashed into him, driving salty water down his throat and into his lungs.
Casimir indicated for Lissa to step onto the path out of the softer dirt. Meticulously, taking his time, he erased all evidence of the two of them being at the edge with Cosmos. He took Lissa's hand and they walked through the riot of cheerful flowers, staying on the stamped path so as not to leave any shoeprints behind. No one was around. It was the gardener's day off, just as Luigi's intelligence had reported. He had been thorough. Cosmos's wife was out of the house with her friends, getting her weekly pedicure and facial. There was no one around to see Cosmos Agosto drunkenly fall over the edge of the cliff he loved so much.
Just out of sight of the street, Casimir stopped, pulling Lissa to a halt as well. He had to know she was all right. They had the confirmation they needed. Cosmos had told them everything they needed to know, the alcohol rushing through his veins loosening his tongue. Had he not gone over the cliff, he would have died from alcohol poisoning before he was discovered, but this way, no sharp-eyed medical examiner could discover the pinpricks on his skin.
"Golubushka, look at me." She had to be hurting. She had expected the confirmation, had already accepted that Luigi was guilty, but it was human nature to hold out hope. Just a tiny sliver of hope, but still, it would hurt when that was ripped away.
"I'm okay," she whispered. "Let's get home and finish this."
"Look at me," he repeated, standing directly in front of her. A rock wall she couldn't move or get around. His voice was gentle, but there was command in it.
She tilted her chin. Lifted her lashes. Met his eyes. His gut tightened. He leaned down, framing her face with both hands. "I'm with you every step of the way. Your real family is waiting for you back in the States. This is just another job we have to do. A job, malyshka, something to be done. Don't feel one way or the other."
Her lashes fluttered. He loved Lissa's red-gold tips, not Patrice's black ones. He brushed his mouth over hers because there was no changing Lissa's mouth - and just for one heart-stopping moment her lips had trembled.
"Do you understand what I'm saying to you, Giacinta? That's how you're going to get through this. Hang on to me. To your sisters. To my brothers. We're real. We're solid. We won't ever let you down. If you called right now, they would all be on the next plane. You know that. I'm not going anywhere. You have to put distance between yourself and this man who was supposed to be your uncle. He's nothing but an illusion, and now he's a mark. He made himself that. You didn't put his ass there, he did. Do you get this?"
Her gaze moved over his face, studying every line there. She slowly nodded. "I do, Casimir. I'll put him where he belongs now. I have to sit down with him. Tell him it's done. He'll hand me my next assignment, Aldo Porcelli. Aldo supposedly was the one that got his father to order the hit on my family. He probably did. He believes Luigi is his friend. Luigi married his sister. Of course he would believe that. Aldo won't suspect, and he's the last obstacle before Luigi is head of both families. The Porcelli territory is large, much larger than the Abbracciabene territory ever was."
"I hope Luigi enjoys thinking about being the all-powerful head of both families, because he won't have time to enjoy it," Casimir said. "Are you going to be all right by yourself getting home?"
She nodded. "It will be good for me, taking the time on the bus. You go be Tomasso, the faithful bodyguard. Keep an eye on Arturo."
He smirked. He couldn't help it. He'd keep his eye on Arturo, all right. Especially when she was sequestered with her uncle in his study and she had an alibi - when there was no possible way Luigi would ever suspect his niece. Arturo was going to die. It was that simple. Arturo was every bit as guilty as Luigi. He had to know Luigi didn't have multiple sclerosis. He knew Luigi was married and had a full life in another town. He also knew that Luigi planned to dispose of his niece the moment she finished taking out the key figures in the Porcelli family to leave the opening for Luigi. Arturo was living on borrowed time. He just didn't know it.
"What are you planning?" she asked.
He smiled down at her. "Go, Lissa. Go now." He glanced at his watch. "You have a bus to catch. I'll shadow the bus until you get to your stop. If you have trouble, you know the signal. You'll be on your own once you get to that stop. I've got to take the car back to the rental place and get my own transportation."
She nodded. "I've done this countless times on my own, Casimir. I'll be fine. I won't pretend I wasn't holding out a little hope, but I knew. I was trained as a professional. He trained me. I learned a lot more on my own. He's very old-school. He got lazy. Once I was working and he trusted that I knew what I was doing, he lost interest. I kept educating myself. He's a very arrogant man and that can kill a man very easily."
He found himself smiling. Even his gut settled. His hand came up from the nape of her neck to sift through the strands of the very expensive wig she wore. He gave a little tug. "I get what you're saying. I won't let arrogance be my downfall."
"Have no worries, Casimir," she said. "If you do, I'll be right there to remind you."
Lissa left him, walking away from him as Patrice Lungren. She took the picture of his beautiful, masculine face with her as she rounded the corner of the garden and emerged from between two tall elegantly rounded bushes to step through a low, unlocked gate back onto the sidewalk. She ambled down the street, looking around her in the way an awed tourist would, occasionally stopping to snap another picture before
moving at a little more brisk pace toward the bus stop.
She stood at the little stop, trying not to feel restless. Patrice wouldn't be restless. She was always calm and cool. Friendly. Easygoing. Lissa didn't want to have time to think about having to face her uncle. She would do it, because she had to, but it wouldn't be easy. She also didn't want to dwell too much on the look on Casimir's face. She had to walk a very fine line. If she allowed herself to be too upset and he knew it, he would definitely not wait to kill Luigi and Arturo.
Casimir had learned to push down the fire roaring in him, just as she had done. But it was there, smoldering just beneath the surface, and it would come blazing to life if she did anything at all to fan those embers. She knew, with absolute certainty, that she was the only one who could make Casimir lose control. He wouldn't wait to rid the world of Luigi and Arturo if he thought it would make her feel better.
Life didn't work that way. She had avenged her parents' death going through the Porcelli soldiers who had carried out the attack. They'd died, one by one, over the years. Their dying hadn't lessened her grief even a little.
The bus arrived and she climbed aboard, flashing Patrice's friendly smile to everyone as she sank into a seat. She made a show of looking at all the pictures on her camera before putting it away and turning to make small talk with the older woman sitting in the seat next to her.
She walked the three blocks to retrieve her car, changing directions several times to ensure she didn't have a tail. She saw the moment Casimir believed she was safe and he turned down a narrow street to return the rental car and get back to being Tomasso. She kept walking until she came to the small storage facility. Patrice Lungren put in her code, stepped inside and immediately became Lissa Piner.