Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 48585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
“Luciano,” he says with a visibly pronounced gulp. “Valentina is gone.”
It doesn’t even compute with me at first. After all, how could she be gone when she was just at the doctor’s office with a bodyguard?
“The guard can’t find her,” Alonzo continues when he gauges my visual disbelief. “He said he hadn’t laid eyes on her since she went inside the building. Her appointment was over thirty minutes ago, so he checked on things and the nurse told him that Valentina wasn’t there.”
I feel as though my head is in an echo chamber as I listen to Vincent ask him several follow up questions and directs more men to the clinic to look for traces of where she could have gone. But I already know exactly who took her—Leonardo. I just don’t know where or how he got her out of that clinic without our man seeing it.
“We have to find her,” I say as I slam my fist against the top of the table and abruptly get to my feet.
“Agreed,” Vincent says as he joins me. “But in order to do that, we’re going to need some help.”
CHAPTER 15
LUC
“Why do I feel you guys only bring me in on things when they’ve reached a dire level?” Zara asks as she sets up her laptop and all of her peripheral tech inside the hotel suite, where Vincent, Alonzo, and I are all huddled around her.
“Because you’re the best tech and security specialist around,” Vincent compliments her. “That’s why you work for me.”
Zara lets out a small laugh and then gets to work. She is the best there is in tech surveillance. Her skill, combined with her high intelligence and cynical ability to get into the heads of those who would do harm, makes her nearly infallible in tracking people down. Which is exactly why we called her to help us find Valentina. Plus, she’s got a good heart, even if she is a bit jaded. I swear she has connections and secrets that even Vincent and I still have yet to figure out.
“You know, in order for someone to have extracted her from the medical clinic,” Zara thinks aloud as she works. “Someone would have had to have known that she was going to be there.”
“Leonardo knew she was pregnant,” I say.
“They would have had to know more than just the fact that she's pregnant,” Zara says as she clicks away on her keyboard at a furious pace. “Like exactly when she was going to be there for her doctor’s appointment in order to take her at the right time and be able to sneak her past the doctor and your bodyguard. Is there anyone else who knew she was going to that appointment today?”
“I don’t think so,” I shake my head. “Just me, Vincent, and she probably told Isla. But I don’t think there’s anyone else she would have talked to about it. She isn’t even around anyone else since she’s been spending all her time inside the hotel suite.”
“What about staff?” Vincent asks. “Besides the bodyguard, of course. Was there anyone else Valentina would have had contact and communication with?”
“I don’t know, maybe the maid?” I say with a shrug. “I doubt she would tell personal details to the housekeeping staff, and I doubt the maid would have any connection to Leonardo Conti.”
“Doubt is an explicative in my world,” Zara says as she pulls up another screen on her computer. “Everyone has connections.”
Within seconds, we’re all staring at a security image of the maid on her laptop screen.
“Maria Russo,” Zara says. “Twenty-nine-year-old, Italian immigrant with family still back in the homeland, lives in a modest apartment near the casino district.”
“Man, I am really glad that we’re on the same team here,” Alonzo teases her. “You can dig up instant dirt on anyone, can’t you?”
“Mhmm,” Zara nods with a smirk. “And I think you might want to take a better look at this girl.”
“I’ve fully vetted all of my staff,” Vincent says, doubtful that anyone in his employ would betray him even though it has happened before.
“I’m sure you have,” Zara says. “But fully vetting someone still doesn’t guarantee that you can peek inside their head. From the looks of it, Maria Russo is pretty deeply devoted to her family obligations, with regular cash transfers back to her family in Italy. All the while, she keeps a low, humble profile here in Vegas. Her bank transactions and living situation show that to be the case.”
“I don’t see how any of that is a problem,” Vincent says.
“People with little means and lots of responsibilities tend to be vulnerable to bribery or blackmail,” Zara says. “Just like Giovanni Ricci.”
She’s not wrong in that assessment.
“And look!” Zara exclaims as she pulls up some of the city’s street camera security feed and points to an image. She zooms in, clears up some of the visual debris on the camera, and then it’s clear as day what she’s pointing to. “Your maid and Angelo Barone like to eat at the same sandwich deli.”