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“Besides, I know all about my husband’s dumb arrangements with Bruno Moretti to raid your warehouse and heard about how they killed one Mendez guy to cover their tracks before you could get to him. He wouldn’t send me here to say all of that now, would he?”
She’s confirming what Winston had revealed to me. That he, a fucking regular guy, was behind the warehouse incident, and that he was the one who recruited the Morettis.
“Why would you want to kill your own husband? And why do you need my help to do it?”
She takes her glasses off, revealing well-lined dark eyes, and blows invisible dust off the lenses.
“You seem very interested in my business, Donatelli...”
“Answer the fucking question,” I bark.
“My husband is both a narcissist and a sadist. On top of that, he hits me, and I can’t get a divorce because of our prenuptial agreement, which states that I can only benefit from his wealth if he dies naturally. I can’t even divorce the bastard. In the end, there has to be something in it for me for all the years I endured his torture, right?”
She turns to look at me. It’s not hard to imagine Marcus being a jerk, but with all the perfect pictures of himself and his wife splayed over social media, I didn’t think he was hitting the poor woman. What a bastard, indeed.
“And that’s it? You just want a share of his inheritance?”
She slides her glasses back up her nose. “I need someone to cover my tracks. If it would’ve been so easy, I’d have murdered the bastard myself all along.”
“Your husband is my business rival. If I murder him, the cops will be breathing down my neck in no time.”
She jerks her head in a slight nod. “And his death must not be traced back to me either, which is why I have a plan. My husband has to die a natural death.”
My brows jerk in surprise. “That’s it? That’s your plan?”
She nods her head innocently. A deep sigh whooshes from my nostrils.
“Ok, I need some sort of a weak point to work with. Is he allergic to anything? I need something reasonable here.”
After chewing on her lower lip for a moment, she suddenly claps her hands together in excitement.
“My husband struggles with gastric ulcers. Is that a weakness you can work with?”
A thousand ideas are running around in my head as a winning smile spreads across my lips, but this isn’t the place.
“You should leave. I’ll contact you to say when I want the footage.”
She nods and helps herself out of the car.
MARCUS WINSTON, CEO OF COMFORT HOTELS, DIES FROM ACUTE GASTRIC ULCER…I can already imagine the headlines.
Stella Winston has just given me the best present anyone could ask for.
Chapter thirty-four
Aria
I get out of the car and mutter a small ‘thanks’ to the driver Elio sent to drop me here from Mia’s.
“Dad,” I greet him once I enter and see him on the couch in the sitting room.
“Aria,” he says softly. “I’ve been trying to reach you. I called Mia, but she suggested I give you time to come around. My God, I was worried.”
Indeed, he looks worried...broken. And there’s also a faint scar on his lip.
He walks up to me and wraps his arm around me. It takes a moment but I respond to his hug, sinking into his embrace. Justlike Mia said, Dad only did it to protect me. Being mad at the only family I have left isn’t the best choice.
I could equally be mad at Mario for being involved in drugs, but Mom wouldn’t want that, especially since he’s dead now. Even Mario wouldn’t want Dad and I to be on bad terms. And most importantly, I can’t be mad at him for keeping secrets when I also have skeletons in my own closet.