Page 35 of Valentino

“Valentino,” she calls.

I glance back at her,

“See you tonight.” She smiles softly.

Our eyes are locked. “Yes you will.”

CHAPTER THREE

9 a.m.

I grab my coffee and make my way down the corridor to the glass conference room. Giuliano and Enrico are already sitting down. “Where’s Romeo and Alex?” I ask as I take a seat at the round table.

“Coming.”

This particular office is soundproof, used for meetings where it’s imperative that nobody can overhear us. I can hear Alex and Romeo talking as they amble up the hall.

“Will you two hurry the fuck up,” I snap. “We don’t have all day.”

“Jesus, what’s up your ass? Calm down.” Romeo closes the door behind them, and they both take a seat.

“Welcome back from the honeymoon.” Enrico smiles over at Giuliano. “Did you miss us?”

“Not one bit,” Giuliano mutters dryly. “The fact that I had to cut it short is fucking infuriating, but anyway here we are.”

“Okay, so let’s run through the facts.” Enrico opens his diary and starts a point form list. “What do we know for sure?” he asks.

“Anna was contacted yesterday, by Carlo.”

“First time?”

“As far as we know. Call lasted ninety seconds.

“We know this as a fact because?” He continues scribbling on his notepad.

“You know how we fucking know this,” I snap. “We are not in the police force interrogation room right now. You don’t have to go through every fucking thing.”

Giuliano rolls his eyes. “I have not missed you two idiots squabbling over fucking note-taking. Get to the point.”

“We know this because we’ve had a bug on Anna’s phone since Carlo went missing on the off chance that he would try and contact her at some point.”

“You always said that he would.” Enrico looks over at me.

“He finally has.”

“Right.” Enrico scribbles down his notes. “What did Anna say about him calling her?”

My jaw clenches in anger. “She denied it.”

Giuliano’s eyes rise to meet mine, “Flat-out denied it?”

“Yep.”

Romeo scratches the back of his head. “Well I guess that proves where her loyalties lie.”

“Right,” Alex agrees.

“The point is,” I snap. “The point is….” I try to collect my thoughts, the fact that she’s lying for him….