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When his eyes open, I don’t see any ounce of anger or hatred. He’s looking at me like a father would look at his daughter when he asks for his help and advice.
My heart pounds in my chest as I wait for him to speak.
Will he be angry that I didn’t confess earlier? Will he be angry that I agreed to work with Giuseppe?
“First, are you alright? Did they hurt you? Do you need medical attention?”
When I shake my head, he continues.
“Second, I want to say thank you for telling me. I know sometimes I come off as irrational and intimidating, so I know it took a lot of courage to come here this morning.”
He’s not mad? Or is that part coming up next?
“Third, the fact that you’re crying makes me believe you feel so strongly about me and my family. I wholeheartedly trust you. It’s part of why I hired you so long ago.”
I interrupt. “But I lied to you about my true identity and my past.”
He chuckles. “I already knew about that. I knew about it the second your fingerprint and background check came back.”
My mouth falls open. “You didn’t say anything.”
“I figured there was a reason you changed your name and if you wanted me to know, you would have told me yourself.”
“What should I do? What can I do?”
He crosses his arms, letting them rest on the desk in front of him as he thinks of our options.
“The two of us will work together to feed Giuseppe Rossi false information. You’re my assistant, so it makes sense that you would know plans before anyone else. From now on, you will sit in on every meeting and follow me around wherever I go.”
“Is that wise? I never join your solo meetings and rarely do I join your weekly meetings with Joseph.”
He sits up straighter in his chair. “To the outside world, it must look like you are betraying us. You need to be suspicious and raise flags.”
“I don’t want to hurt Joseph and Francesca.”
I can’t hurt Joseph more than I already have. I just can’t.
“Joseph and Francesca will know when they need to know.”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“Nothing. Say nothing. Do nothing. Just carry on about your day like normal, and when Giuseppe wants information, I’ll give you something to say. To give us more time to come up with lies, you can tell him about the shipment coming in next week.”
I narrow my eyes at Arturo. Has he lost his mind? “The furniture shipment?”
“Yes. Tell him I’m expecting a rush order shipment next week. Tell him you just overheard me on the phone and verified it with the shipyard.”
That is a really good tidbit of information.
“He’s going to be furious when he finds out the shipment is just furniture.”
“Don’t let him know. Let him find out when he steals it.”
I lean forward and scoff. “You’re going to let him steal your entire shipment?”
“Yes, and then I’m going to have a meeting with him. If he doesn’t comply with my demands, I’ll take the video footage to the police and have him arrested.”
It’s a risky plan, to leave Francesca and Joseph out of the loop like this, but I trust Arturo with my life. If he thinks this is the best plan, then I have no choice but to play my part and follow through with it.