Page 137 of Valentino

“It was.” He leads me out into the kitchen by the hand. “Did you have dinner?”

“How could I think of food at a time like this.”

He sits me up onto the kitchen counter and opens the cupboard, “Toast it is.”

VALENTINO

10 a.m.

“Alright, so…let’s recap.” Enrico leads the meeting. “Lombardi’s crossed the line.”

“You fucking think?” Giuliano spits. “Killed innocent people, decapitated our fucking captain. Not to mention taken possession of our blow. Our yacht is trashed and in the possession of the police force for the foreseeable future.”

I listen intently.

“He’s spiraling,” Romeo chips in. “Hard.”

“This is not like him. We already know he’s a loose cannon, but to do this in the middle of the fucking day when anyone could have picked up a distress call?”

“Or jumped overboard and escaped.”

“This is sloppy,” Enrico adds. “It’s only a matter of time before he fucks up enough to get himself killed or caught.”

“It’s getting out of control,” Alex sighs.

“You’re right.” I run my hand through my hair. “It is.” I think for a moment, “Do we have confirmation it was Lombardi?”

“Sources say yes.”

“What sources?”

“All the fucking sources,” Giuliano snaps, annoyed. “Why would you even doubt it?”

“I’m not doubting it,” I fire back. “I just asked the fucking question.”

“I think it’s time.” Enrico shrugs. “As long as he keeps fucking us over, he’s bringing unwanted attention to our operations.”

“That’s exactly what he’s trying to do,” I murmur. “He knows about the new commissioner, he knows we don’t have him on our side.”

“How does he know that?” Enrico’s eyes meet mine.

“Because he has the commissioner on his payroll.”

“We don’t know that for sure.”

“It sure seems like it.” Giuliano thinks out loud.

“We have to pull the trigger,” Enrico replies. “We have to flush him out.”

I clench my jaw as I listen, hoping for the miracle that they won’t say what I think they’re going to say.

“Okay, here are the facts.” Enrico starts with his note-taking. “We know for a fact that we have the one thing that’s going to drag him out of his hole.”

My jaw clenches as I sit back on my chair.

“Yeah, it’s time,” Enrico replies. “We’ve played it safe for too long.”

“Take the guards off Anna.”