Page 27 of Ruthless Contract
ROME:Yeah. I can meet you at my lab. What time?
TERZO:How about eight? I have a contact that’s supposed to reach out to me after seven. I’ll head to your lab of doom afterward.
I chuckled. Lab of doom? A few headache-inducing fumes, and suddenly, my lab was a lab of doom.
ROME: I’ll be there at eight.
Terzo worked fast. I’d thought it would take him days to find the intel I needed. But he’d found something in less than twenty-four hours. My gaze drifted to the clock again. I wasn’t hungry, so there was no point in trying to eat.
Instead, I sat down and went back to work. I worked through lunch, keeping busy so I wouldn’t think about people who apparently weren’t thinking about me. The rest of the afternoon passed in a flurry of busy work.
I welcomed the distraction. Work kept my mind occupied and stopped me from dwelling on things I couldn't yet control. The afternoon disappeared beneath contracts, reports, and phone calls.
Every time my mind tried to wander someplace it didn't belong, I forced it back to the task in front of me. By the time I finally left the casino, I was mentally exhausted.Good. Exhaustion was easier to deal with than disappointment.
When I got home, I headed upstairs and stripped out of my suit. A hot shower helped relieve some of the tension in my shoulders. After my shower, I slid on a pair of gray joggers before heading back downstairs.
I checked the time. Still too early to head to the lab. I could catch up on some reading. Just as I was about to head to my office, my stomach growled, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
Pulling out my phone, I ordered takeout from a nearby restaurant. When the food arrived, I opened the containers andgot to work. Apparently, I was hungrier than I'd thought because I cleaned my plate in record time.
By the time I finished eating, it was almost eight.Perfect. Carrying my empty containers to the trash, I tossed them and headed upstairs. A few minutes later, I emerged from my bedroom dressed in dark jeans, a black T-shirt, and black tennis shoes.
I grabbed a baseball cap off the back of the couch and pulled it onto my head. My gaze landed on the gun on the table. I crossed the room and grabbed it, checking the clip to make sure it was loaded. It was.
The last things I grabbed were my keys and wallet. My phone was already in my pocket. I was all set. I left my place, got into my car, and began the drive to the lab. For months, I'd been trying to figure out who'd provided information to the Bianchi family.
I’d been trying to figure out who'd handed them the intel that led to my cousin's kidnapping and torture. Who was the reason Marcel was trapped in his home, afraid to go outside, afraid that someone was always watching him?
Tonight, I might actually find out who and where that fucker was. And then I could end him, and maybe that would free Marcel from the hell he was living in. I hoped it would. Iprayedit would.
CHAPTER EIGHT
ROME
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The lab was quiet when I arrived. Most of the equipment had already been packed away. Cardboard boxes lined the walls, each one labeled and ready to be shipped to the States. A few lab tables remained, along with some equipment I still needed access to before I left Italy for good.
From the outside looking in, the place seemed empty. Yet, I found Terzo leaning against one of the tables when I entered. I’d given him the code a few months ago when I’d returned home to help my brother take over the family and become don.
I’d wanted him to have access to the lab just in case I couldn’t make it back to Italy and needed him to ship my stuff to me.
“I thought you’d be waiting outside,” I told him as the door closed behind me. “Why are you sitting here in the dark, well, semi-dark?” I questioned, gaze moving to the lab table’s light that he’d turned on.
“If I turned the overhead light on, I’d be reminded that I’m in your lab,” he told me.
“That’s why I expected you to be waiting outside. Aren’t you scared the residual fumes will make you pass out?”
I approached him and shook his hand.
“I do feel a bit dizzy and shit,” Terzo complained. “But that’s better than being outside with all those damn bugs.”
I chuckled as I pulled out a chair and sat down at the lab table that was illuminated with more than enough light to get us through this short meeting. Terzo sat down next to me, placing his backpack on the table.
"What have you found for me?" I asked.
"A lead. Not the name of the person responsible, but it’s a lead. Two leads, in fact. So you’ll have to do some hunting when you return to the States.”
