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“Of course. They attacked you, me and Nonna in one day. For what? To steal your DNA so they can find out who your father is? What the heck is wrong with these people? They are going down, Slash. I mean it.”

He looked at me with a faintly amused expression. “You’re scaring me with that tone.”

“Good, because I’m completely serious. This has to stop. I don’t care if the entire future of the Vatican is at stake. Are you sure you’re okay?”

He pulled me into a one-armed hug. “I’m better than okay.”

I willed myself to calm down. “We’re going to crush him, Slash. Lazo, his allies and whoever else is in his camp. I don’t care if he’s the president of the Vatican or president of the universe. The gauntlet has been thrown. A line drawn in the sand. You get what I’m saying, right?”

“I’m clear on the analogies, and,si, we’re going to end this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell. He punched several numbers, hit send and returned the cell to his pocket.

“What was that all about?”

“I’m telling the team reviewing my vital signs that I’m not under duress and not to stop my heart.” He tapped his chest with a grin.

I pressed my hand against my mouth. Oh my God. I had totally forgotten about that. “How can you live like that?”

“Very carefully. Come on, let’s go home.”

I shook my head. “Unfortunately, there won’t be any lunch.”

“I’m sure Nonna can remedy that.” He walked over to a spot where he’d dropped a couple of bags of groceries and picked them up. “Good thing I went to the market.”

I took one of the bags from him as we started to jog back toward Nonna’s. “Maybe we can get some information from the two guys Nonna and I knocked unconscious.”

“Maybe. My guess is they won’t talk.”

“Then we’ll have to give them incentive to do so.” I narrowed my eyes.

Slash put a hand in the small of her back, moving her forward. “Good thinking.”

Chapter Forty-Seven

Father Julian Koenhein

Julian entered the office of the cardinal, relieved he could finally relate some good news. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good, but he was definitely starting with the good and hoping it would balance the bad. Just in case, he offered up a little prayer.

“Your Eminence, the DNA evidence has been secured,” he said as the cardinal looked up. “I just got a call. They took it directly off him. It’s on the way to the lab with expedited service.”

The cardinal’s face broke into a huge smile and Julian felt a rush of relief.

“Finally. But it better not be from a dog,” the cardinal warned.

“I assure you it’s not. But while we were successful in securing a hair sample, there was a tiny mishap.”

“Tiny mishap? What does that mean?”

Julian shifted slightly closer to the door. Once, when Julian had shown him an online news article in which the cardinal had been referred to in unflattering terms, Cardinal Lazo had thrown a paperweight at him.

“Two members of the team entered his grandmother’s house, looking for Slash, but he wasn’t there,” Julian said. “I guess he’d left early to go somewhere. When they breached the door, they encountered just the fiancée and the grandmother.”

The cardinal folded his hands atop of the papers. “Okay? So what happened?”

“The women wouldn’t say where Slash had gone. They resisted, so two of our guys got hurt.”

Julian cringed at the disbelieving look that crossed the cardinal’s face. “They got hurt? How?”

“The women attacked them. Viciously.”