Page 87 of Valentino

Valentino

We enter the apartment in Trastevere. Luca clears it first while Amanda and I wait in the doorway. "Clear," he calls from the bedroom.

I guide Amanda inside.

The place is functional. Tile floors. A kitchen barely big enough for two people to stand in at the same time. Two bedrooms. One bathroom.

Amanda stops in the middle of the living room and looks around. Her arms are crossed, hands tucked against her sides.

She hasn't looked at me since I told her not to touch me. Good. That's what I wanted.

My phone buzzes in my pocket.

I answer on the second ring.

"We're in."

"Good. Sit down."

Nobody ever gets told to sit down before hearing something they want to hear. "Talk."

"Elio Mancini started working with Aldo Basile approximately one month ago."

FUCK.

One month.

Which means Elio was already working for Basile when Vittoria assigned him to protect Amanda.

I feel her shift behind me. Closer. Trying to hear. I turn away, walk into the bathroom, and lock the door behind me.

"What did he tell the lawyer?" My voice is steady.

"He said he didn't have a choice."

I laugh once. "Everyone has a choice."

I brace a hand against the sink.

"Aldo Basile had a choice when he put his hands on her. His men had a choice when they held her down. And Elio Mancini had a choice when he decided to work for the man running girls through that agency."

"I know."

"I'm going to kill him. Tell Ferraro to stop working the case and find out where they're taking him. I don't care what it costs."

"Listen to me. You are not killing him today. You're in Rome with Amanda, and I need you there. I'll tell you the second I know where they're moving him. The second. But right now you're going to stay in that apartment and you're not going anywhere. Do you hear me?"

"Do that," I say.

The line goes dead.

I set the phone on the edge of the sink and grip the porcelain until the old scars across my fingers pull tight.

He'd been working with Basile for a month. A month.

Amanda defended him. She rode around Milan with him. Let him drive her to shoots. Trusted him.

It’s not her fault. I drag my hands over my face. She couldn’t have imagined what Elio was doing.