Page 72 of Doll's Eye

Massimo,amore mio, myre,cuore mio.My love, my king, my heart.

Know that you have made me the best version of myself. The most fierce. The most driven. The most loving I have ever been in my life.

If you’re reading this, it’s because something happened to me (or you’re snooping) and I need you to remember how much you truly meant to me in case I’ve been too stubborn to tell you or if we’ve recently gotten into one of our epic battles with one another and it didn’t end up with me tied to your bed and me screaming in ecstasy.

I love you, Massimo De Luca. My greatest one.

Love,

Alessia

After I read it over and over, I wanted to call it all off with or without Tullio’s approval. But he was right though. If my woman is anything, she is tenacious. Also, I am a bit of a grudge-holder. And I loved her for every bit of stubbornness in her body as long as she yielded to me eventually. But there’s no coming back from this or rescinding.

My phone starts ringing, breaking me from the haunting memories and displaying a blocked number on the screen, which is impossible to do. A blocked number wouldn’t be able to get through the cyber security on this phone, nor could my phone betraced. Warning bells are going off inside my head as I answer with trepidation.

Placing my phone to my ear, I wait for whoever it is on the end to speak first. “Massimo De Luca. It’s been quite a long time.”

“You have two seconds to tell me who this is,” I say evenly.

“It’s Komodo,” he says with a Polynesian accent, and I glance around the room for anything that might be out of place that I haven’t noticed before.

“How the fuck did you get through to this number?”

“I come with information, Massimo.”

He’s a busy man and he made the effort to track down my number and break through all the firewalls, so it must be some tangible information he has. “I’m listening.”

“It’d be best if I came to speak with you in person.”

“Not happening, Komodo.” Mercenaries don’t reach out to you unless they’re contracted to kill you. You reach out to them when you need their services. “Tell me what I might need to know.”

“It’s about the Bonetti girl.”

I shoot forward in my chair, my heart in my throat. “Cazzo,” I hiss and growl. “Talk.”

“In person, Massimo.”

“Sir, someone just pulled up to the gate,” Vinny says as he and Monte enter my office unannounced.

“I assume that’s you,” I say in a lowered voice.

“I swear I come in peace, my friend.”

“I’m not your friend.” He chuckles, and I’m too desperate for answers to react to his levity. “Get out of the car, no weapons. Once my guys check you out, you’ll be walked through.”

“I’ll see you soon.”

As soon as I hang up the phone, I tell Vinny and Monte to grab some men and keep their weapons raised as he gets out of the car and to check him thoroughly. Then to cuff him and walk him through the estate, bringing him straight to me.

Komodo is a legendary contracted killer in the underworld. He’s who you call to get a job done and done right, a man with no conscience. You pay him enough and he’ll take out anyone for you.

About fifteen minutes pass before Komodo is escorted into my office, surrounded by my men and cuffed. Vinny forces him down into a chair, and I give Vinny the okay to clear the rest of the men from the room.

“Start talking.”

“First thing’s first. I’ll tell you what you’d like to know, and you get me out of the country.”

“You need help getting out of the country?” His justifications seem dubious, considering he can usually hop from country to country undetected like a flea.