White Lies (A Twisted Fate Series) (Volume 1) Page 15

  “Good job, sweetheart.”

  Another honk. “Be careful, Tack. I know you’re on the move. Just be careful.”

  “Always.”

  I held a phone to each ear when Carson picked up. “Hey, Willow. My conference call got canceled, so I was about to head to the vineyards.”

  “I need you to come to my room.”

  My tone of voice obviously told Carson enough. “Okay, I’m on my way. What’s going on?”

  I was amazed at how calm I sounded. Even though I felt anything but calm. Inside I was a frantic mess on autopilot. “I got a note. A threatening note.”

  “Fuck.”

  Carson’s face was intense as we talked to Trent on speakerphone. We’d switched to a secure line. The whole thing made my head hurt. When Carson had knocked on the door, I kept Tack connected but tucked the burner phone in my back pocket.

  Who knew if he was still listening. I stayed rooted in place as I thought about how this person planned to get the money from me.

  I was scared to the core.

  Housekeeping had delivered hot tea. I sat holding it, which brought back memories of when I first found out Alex had died.

  Would I ever be free of that vile man?

  I needed to be strong. Letting these people break me wasn’t an option. No way.

  I kept staring at the note, which was now in a plastic bag on the table. No amount. No directions. Nothing but a veiled threat.

  Why play with me? Why wait all this time?

  Trent’s voice broke through my thoughts. “I think you need to come back to the states as soon as possible, Willow. I’ll catch a flight and head back there, too.”

  This was news. I thought Trent was in the states. “Where are you?”

  “Following some leads.” Again, I studied his accent. Slightly there, but not as clear as Tack’s.

  I wondered what leads he had followed. We were due to meet when we came back from Italy to see his proposal. Looked like things had escalated. “Have you found anything out yet, Trent?”

  Carson looked at the speaker waiting for Trent to reply. “Yes, I’d prefer to go over everything in person, just in case.”

  I looked at Carson and nodded. “I’ll be on the next flight.”

  Carson added, “We’ll fly back via my private jet. I’ll let you know our ETA. That’s the safest option I know.”

  “Agreed. Don’t let Willow out of your sight. I’ll have one security team escort you to the airport and another waiting for you when you arrive. I’ll follow the Whitmore Hotel protocol to have them cleared for now unless Ms. Russo wants me to do anything additional.”

  Of course I had no idea what the Whitmore Hotel protocol was. I looked at Carson and shrugged.

  Carson said, “That will work.”

  In addition, Trent had spouted off quite a few changes that needed to be made to the house security immediately. I asked, “Can we make the necessary adjustments to the house security while we’re in transit?”

  Some keys clicked on the computer from his end. “I’m on it, Willow. I’ll have everything in place by the time you land.”

  I was certain whoever Alex owed money to wanted more than what he owed. Just how much… I wasn’t sure. Hopefully, it was only money they wanted.

  “Hey, Willow, we’ve landed.” Carson’s voice woke me. I stretched. Even with all the stress, I’d slept like the dead.

  I sat up in a rush. “I’m awake. Let me get my bag.”

  His arm touched mine. “Take your time. Security is already in place.”

  Sliding off the bed, I grabbed my bag and followed Carson off the plane. Trent informed us there would be men at the house. Men. I expected one bodyguard, not a team. Talk about escalating everything a few levels up. I knew it was serious, but having someone shadow me constantly was… intimidating to say the least.

  Then there was the issue of telling Nonno and Carson’s parents what happened. It was all a fundamental fuckup. All because I married a lowlife, scummy, shit-eating dirtbag.

  Yeah, I hated Alex. Even from the grave, he wreaked havoc on my life. Bastard.

  Exiting in a haze, I thanked everyone for the flight. Trent had a car waiting for us. A member of my security team greeted me. “Ms. Russo, my name is Andre. I’m part of the security force. I’ll be escorting you to your home this afternoon.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Andre. This is Carson. He’ll be riding with us.”

  “Trent briefed me. Shall we?”

  Andre was intimidating with a capital I. The broad shoulders were tense with a large frame to support his stature. Shades covered his eyes. Anyone who considered crossing him had a death wish. Apparently, he was well versed in hand-to-hand combat and had served in the military. I imagined Andre would be able to pick me up by the shirt with only his index finger and thumb. No joke.

  I crawled into the back seat and then leaned my head on Carson’s shoulder. “I hate that Alex is still haunting me from the grave.”

  “Me, too, angel. I know the whole Trent thing with your dad still bothers you, but he’s the best I know. You made the right choice.”

  While we were on the plane, I looked at the picture I took of the note Dad wrote. I’d taken it right before I put the note in the safe—in case I wanted to read it while I was away. “I’m sure I did. It just feels like Dad had this whole other life I knew nothing about. It bothers me. And I want to know what happened.”

  Carson patted my hand. “Whoever this asshole is, we’re going to catch him.”

  “I hope so.” This person was brazen enough to send flowers to my hotel. The confidence exuded by such an action terrified me. A chill settled over me.

  When I looked up at him, Carson was wearing a troubled expression. “What’s wrong?”

  “Francesca. She was short with me on the plane. I didn’t tell her what happened, so she thinks I left because she mentioned wanting to have a serious talk.”

  My brows pinched together. “Do you know about what? She seemed pretty relaxed while we were all together.”

  “No fucking clue.”

  Sitting up, I watched Carson carefully as I asked the next question. “Do you love her?”

  A million emotions flitted across Carson’s face—fear being the most repeated. “I, uh. I… uh.”

  I placed my hand on his knee, which was jumping a million miles an hour. “It’s okay, Carson. I’m not asking you to propose to her.”

  He visibly relaxed. “I do love her. It’s just… fast. I’m just not ready for more… yet.”

  “Is she?”

  Running his hand down his face, Carson emanated stress. “I think so. Maybe. I don’t know. Hell, this just came out of the blue and we have a lot to work out. First being where we would live.”

  “If it’s meant to be, you’ll figure it out.”

  “Maybe.” Carson wasn’t going down without a fight with regard to his bachelor lifestyle. But it was apparent he loved her. He needed time. Hopefully, Francesca wasn’t the type to suffocate someone, or she’d lose him for sure.

  We lapsed into a comfortable silence as the car made its way closer to home. “Is Nonno meeting us at your place?” Carson asked.

  “Yes. Did you want to fill your parents in on what’s going on?”

  “I think that’s a good idea.”

  It was time to get the family involved since things were now escalated. I dreaded the effects increased security would have on everyone. What would they think of me? It was because of Alex all this happened. If only…

  Carson sent a text message to his parents while I gathered my thoughts. Trent was coming later this evening.

  “I can give him the wine Francesca brought me. He’ll love it.”

  He coughed and then looked my way. “Don’t mention Francesca to my parents yet. I’m not ready.”

  “No worries. Won’t say a word.” I made a motion of zipping my mouth and throwing away the key. “Maybe she could come to my art show. That might be a nice venue to int
roduce her to your family.”

  Carson’s mother was extremely anxious for him to settle down and give her grandbabies. That was one of the reasons Carson was conscientious of mentioning any relationships that were a little more serious than dating.

  On his leg, Carson’s phone rang, and he picked it up. “Hey, Dad. Yeah, business went good. Florence hotel got the message. We should see a huge improvement. If not, I have contingencies in place. Yeah, it was good news about the new winery I found. I think so, too. Hey, I wondered if you wanted to meet me over at Willow’s tonight. Yeah, we came back early. She is. I know. I will. Sounds good. See ya in a bit.”

  He hung up the phone. “They’ll be there by the time we get there.”

  “I hate this, Carson.”

  “I know you do. We’ll get this figured out.”

  Silently, Carson gave his support by holding my hand. I busied my mind with better thoughts as we drove.

  Carson and I were headed to college in a couple of weeks. We were going to be an hour’s drive away from each other, which would be a first. Since grade school, we’d been in the same class. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but I believed his dad had something to do with that.

  I looked at the time. Carson was flying in from the west coast after an impromptu trip with some of his buddies before college started. Bennett and Marie sat in the family room drinking some of Dad’s latest vintage he’d acquired from Italy with Nonno.

  Before we headed off to school, we were having one last dinner together. With the busy semester ahead, the opportunities to do this had become limited. It was tradition for our families to get together once a month—something Mom had started.

  Rounding the corner, I stopped short when I heard my name. “Do you remember that time Willow and Carson wanted to be ant farmers?”

  My father laughed his boisterous Italian laugh. “They were what? Six, I think. Kendra and I came home to find ants everywhere. We had to stay in a hotel while the exterminator came.”

  I loved hearing stories with Mom in them and smiled at the memory. My parents had been so aggravated when they came home to what Carson and I had done. We’d spent all day gathering ants in large glass containers. The problem was we forgot to screw the lids on.

  Marie piped in. “Oh, yes, I remember. Then the next week, they decided to be skunk wranglers at our house. It took forever to get the smell off them. I think we bought all the tomatoes in the state.”

  My nose crinkled at the memory. We stank so bad after getting sprayed.

  Bennett chuckled. “That was entrepreneurialism at its finest.”

  Everyone laughed.

  The memory had me smiling.

  “It’s good to see you happy. What are you thinking about, angel?”

  “About the time when you came back from your weekend trip to California right before college. Our parents were sharing stories about our antics. Do you remember the ant farm and skunk incident?”

  His earlier tension left as his laughter filled the car. “We had some excellent ideas.”

  “I think so, too.”

  I looked outside. As we neared the turn for the house, I saw a man in a black suit standing at the gate. No doubt he was part of the new security team. Andre rolled down the window and spoke to him with familiarity.

  The gate opened, and we pulled through. Apprehension filled me as reality hit home. Whoever this was, mob or loan shark, they wanted their money and no witnesses. I swallowed hard, willing my inner bravery to come out. My palms were a little sweaty, so I nonchalantly wiped them.

  The car pulled to a stop in front of the house, and I took a deep breath. Carson’s parents’ car and Nonno’s car were out front.

  What if Nonno was disappointed in me?

  What if Carson’s parents thought the same?

  I knew I’d made a bad decision in marrying Alex.

  And now someone wanted what was owed to them.

  “Willow, stop whatever you’re thinking.” I snapped out of the moment and looked at Carson. “I know you’re going through all the what ifs. Stop. Alex tricked you. Tricked all of us.”

  I tilted my head. “You knew something was up.”

  “Not at first. After you got married, yes. But he fooled us all in the beginning.”

  The front door opened, and my nerves increased. Three shadows appeared. Here we go.

  “Willow, you don’t have to say anything.” Carson’s voice sounded hurt.

  I turned to him. “Yes, I do. They need to know.”

  As we emerged from the car, Nonno met us. “Hey, baby girl. I finally get to hug you in person. I’m so proud about the show.”

  He grinned, quelling some of my nervousness. “Thank you, Nonno. I missed you.”

  “Missed you, too. How was Italy?”

  He released me, and I eased a bit more. “You know how I love Italy. I visited the Uffizi. It was wonderful. I brought you some wine from a small winery. They only sell to the locals. I think you’ll like it.”

  “Gratzi, I can’t wait to taste it. We’ll have to open a bottle and toast together.”

  I kissed him on the cheek. “Sounds fabulous.”

  Bennett and Marie hugged Carson and then me. Bennett looked like Carson, only older with his hair cut short. With her hands on my shoulders, Marie looked me over. She had a smaller frame like me with dark hair and eyes.

  Marie commented, “You look positively radiant. Italy did you good.”

  “It did. Why don’t we head in to eat?”

  I wanted one last dinner before I altered everyone’s world.

  We sat in the living room, catching up on old memories as I cocooned myself in the corner of the couch. Carson raised his eyebrows at me, silently asking when I was going to share. Mildred had retired for the evening and Chris had gone home.

  I gave him the give-me-just-a-minute look. Carson gave me the I’m-going-to-do-it-myself-if-you-don’t look. Then I gave him back the okay-okay-I’m-telling-them look.

  Bennett stood, drawing my attention away from Carson, “Willow, your dad would have loved all of us getting together again. I know it’s been a while. We need to start up the tradition again.”

  I agreed. “I think that sounds perfect. I’ll call your office to coordinate our schedules.”

  “To Alfonso!” Bennett cheered.

  We echoed, “To Alfonso!”

  Feigning a headache, I passed on the wine. Carson set his down and waited for me.

  It was time.

  I cleared my throat. “I know we’re all happy, but I need to fill you guys in on some things. Alex had been involved in some stuff I had no idea about. And now things have reached a level that I need to share the information with everyone.”

  Concern filled their faces.

  Slightly nervous, I launched into the details of what had transpired. I felt like a general, outlining strategies that were discussed with Trent in Italy and on the plane. Tack was the only piece I left out. Bennett listened intently. Marie kept her hand over her heart as the details were unloaded on everyone. Nonno sat back with his fingers steeped underneath his chin, quietly listening.

  When I finished, I looked at everyone, measuring their reactions. “So, until we know more, I think it’s safest to take all necessary precautions.”

  Bennett asked, “And we have no idea what incident Alfonso referred to?”

  Nonno sat forward. “Alfonso never mentioned anything to me. I’d have to see a picture of Trent to know if I recognized him.” Carson handed Nonno his phone. He studied it with his eyebrows bunched. “He looks familiar. He might have been here a time or two when I stopped by, but nothing about it seems significant.”

  It was odd—no one knew what Dad referred to in his letter. Especially Nonno. It was a double-edged sword—not knowing drove me crazy… knowing meant something else had to happen. Which was the worse of the two? I wasn’t sure.

  Bennett stood. “I’ll have my guys on it, too. These bastards won’t know what hit them by the time we�
��re done.”

  Before Alex had supposedly left for deployment, Nonno hadn’t met him. During our brief relationship prior, Nonno had been in Italy, visiting family. Needless to say, I believed Nonno knew I’d made a mistake from the moment I announced we were married. The look of disapproval was not on his face now, but it had been replaced with something else.

  I needed a break, so I excused myself to grab a quick snack in the kitchen. The conversation had moved on to precautions that were going to be taken at their offices just in case. Luckily, Mildred had been to the store recently since there were fresh-baked banana nut muffins on a tray on the white marble counter tops. The cinnamon Mildred added created the perfect concoction, and she insisted the bananas were green. I loved them.

  Nonno strolled in. No doubt he wanted to dig a little deeper, which I expected, but I’d hoped it would be tomorrow after I had slept.

  “Baby girl, what do you think of all this?”

  Rolling my neck, I responded, “Which part?”

  “Your dad.”

  He shot straight to the tough part. “I’m not sure. I just wish I knew why. He says it was to protect me, but what in the world did I need protecting from? It’s not like Dad was involved in something illegal. It just doesn’t make sense.” My shoulders drooped.

  Nonno hugged me. “It doesn’t to me, either. But we have to remember that your dad kept his family his number one priority. Your dad had a reason, and we have to trust in that reason.”

  Nonno helped put it into perspective. After all that had happened, it was hard to trust, but Dad had loved me unconditionally. That was something I would never doubt.

  I took a step back, knowing the questions weren’t over.

  “Now, let’s talk about Alex.”

  I stared off at the opposite wall as I let all my thoughts spill out. “I keep thinking how stupid I was. How many mistakes I made. I hate Alex. I hate him with every fiber of my being for betraying me and my family like he did. And then I get mad at myself when I feel guilty for hating him. For the last year, he tried to tear us all apart and isolate me. I should be able to hate him without the guilt.” I looked down at the floor. “But I don’t.”