Murder at Sunrise Lake

“He’s mafia, Raine. You might want to go out the back way. He’ll have a bodyguard with him and I don’t want you in trouble with your work.”

Raine raised her eyebrow. “You do know my family is originally from New York, right? It isn’t like I don’t know what goes on. We did eventually relocate to California, but I was already grown by that time.”

Raine rarely gave insight into her family, other than she’d had a happy childhood. Stella knew her father was dead, but her mother was still alive. Raine didn’t ever go home for holidays. She spent them with Stella, Shabina, Denver, Vienna and Zahra and, recently, Sam in the Sierras. Stella had always enjoyed having the others there to celebrate with. None of them were ever alone. They’d formed their own family.

“It isn’t like I think he’s dangerous or anything, it’s just that he came in the middle of the night and Sam was really upset with him for doing that.”

“I can imagine, especially with what’s been going on.” Raine remained strictly neutral. She looked out the window. Bailey had alerted and Daisy was leaping up and down, giving her joyous welcome. The little Jack Russell loved everyone until she realized they were strangers, and then she would by turns growl and eye them suspiciously.

Stella signaled Bailey to his corner to remain on alert, letting him know he was on guard. He would ignore Daisy’s antics and keep his eyes on their guests, waiting for a signal from her to attack, or any indication from them that they were going to hurt either of his charges. Raine put Daisy in the bedroom and closed the door with a sharp order to stay quiet.

“Do you want me to make coffee?”

“Let’s see how this goes first,” Stella said, and went to the door. Taking a breath, she opened it at the first knock.

“Stella, this is Mr. Rossi. He was here to see Sam, but asked to see you when I told him Sam wasn’t here,” Patrick informed her, repeating what he’d told her before. He was obviously curious and very disapproving.

“Thank you, Patrick. I can take it from here.” She waited for Patrick to reluctantly leave before turning her entire attention to Sam’s father. He was studying her intently with dark eyes. Sam’s eyes, although he didn’t have the same intensity that Sam did. “I’m Stella Harrison. Would you like to come inside?”

“Marco Rossi. This is Lucio Vitale.” The older man introduced his bodyguard. “Thank you, I’d appreciate a few minutes of your time.”

Stella stepped back to allow the two men entrance into her home. Marco was a handsome man, his dark hair streaked with silver. She could see that his son took after him, although Sam had much harder edges. Marco appeared powerful while Sam was … disturbing. His bodyguard, Lucio, was more like Sam in that he had that same dark energy flowing from him even though he appeared relaxed.

Lucio’s eyes took in everything in the room, moving from Stella to Bailey. He noted windows, doors and exits. She was certain he knew she was armed, and then Raine walked into his line of vision and a flicker of heat and recognition slid into those dark, merciless eyes as they settled on her.

Lucio moved ahead of Marco, the suit he wore every bit as expensive as the one his boss wore, but somehow, even though Marco exuded power in that suit, Lucio was the more dangerous. Even Bailey’s eyes followed him.

Stella smiled a welcome at Sam’s father. “Was Sam expecting you?”

Marco shook his head. “I was staying in the town about an hour from here and decided before I leave for home, I’d like to speak with him one more time. It’s been years since we had a chance to talk.”

Stella waved the two men toward the chairs facing the sofa. “This is my friend Raine O’Mallory. Raine, Marco Rossi, Sam’s father, and Lucio Vitale.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Rossi. I’ve met Vitale before,” Raine said. “I’m originally from New York.” She settled on the sofa with an enigmatic smile on her little pixie face toward Marco, barely sparing Lucio a glance.

“You aren’t Sean O’Mallory’s daughter, are you?” Marco asked as he took the chair opposite Stella, giving his bodyguard the one across from Raine.

“Yes, Sean was my father.”

“Shame about his death,” Marco said. “He was a good man. Always kept his word when he did business. When he moved out to California, I thought he was retired.”

“He was. Someone wasn’t willing to let things go.”

“How’s your mother? She’s a lovely woman.”

“I haven’t seen my mother in years,” Raine said, no change in her expression or tone.

Stella had her gaze on Lucio, who had Sam’s mask and flat, cold eyes, but at Raine’s declaration, something crept into his eyes and then was gone. She had thought his eyes were black, but she realized they were actually navy blue, a dark, dark blue. Now they were fixed on Raine’s face. Stella wanted Raine to stop talking.