Page 16 of Last Breath (Blood Wine Dynasty #2)

Jett

Jett let the cold air of Grey’s freezer crystallise over his warm face before he shoved Bessy’s keys underneath a packet of choc-almond Magnums (courtesy of Max, he assumed).

He didn’t trust himself to not grab them in the middle of the night and drive around to the La Marca property and finish what he’d threatened to start with Forrest Valentine. The keys, that was, not the Magnums.

Would Matteo La Marca have simply continued accelerating into Nella if Jett hadn’t been there as a witness?

Maybe the Barbaranis owned half the police force, but the La Marcas owned the other.

If Giovanni were still alive, he’d have murdered Jett if Nella died on his watch.

But with Gio gone, would he have had such a kind ending?

If something happened to Nella, Jett would . .. he would ...

Fuck. It was times like this he wished he drank. The doctors had successfully weaned him off heroin in his first few months but he was certain there was still a thread of that addiction in his bloodstream – something to take the edge off. Jett was made up of edges he needed to take off.

And it seemed this meant he always wanted what was bad for him. What he couldn’t have.

Which was why he had to leave.

‘We keep the body parts in the garage freezer.’

Jett almost smacked his head on the open freezer door at the sound of Max’s voice. ‘Shit.’ He let it shut with a feeble squelch against the rubber lining. ‘Sorry.’

Max’s upper lip curled as she walked into the kitchen (how had he not heard her arrive home?) and re-opened the freezer. She took out the packet of Magnums and rattled them at him. He shook his head.

‘Grey wouldn’t have given you a key if he didn’t want these unexpected midnight visits. Why are your keys in here? Are you hiding evidence from your roadside rendezvous with La Marca? Do I need to make room in the garage freezer?’

‘It’s a preventative measure.’ He shouldn’t be surprised that Max already knew what had happened.

‘ More Magnums? Is the freezer producing them?’ Grey wandered in, shoving off his jacket and immediately hanging it on the coat rack (Max had flung hers across the couch).

Her messiness and sugar obsession were slowly creating more personality in Greyson’s cottage, which Jett had always thought felt like a hotel or a photoshoot for a home design magazine.

The change made Jett’s heart swell but constrict at the same time, like there was an elastic band pulled taut around it.

‘Jett bought these,’ Max said as Grey took one warily from the box.

‘Jett’s allergic to nuts,’ Grey said.

Max glared at Jett. ‘Thanks a lot.’

He managed a weak smile as Max violently crunched the layer of chocolate around the ice cream.

‘Something stronger?’ Grey asked.

Jett braced himself, ready to refuse – he should go – but the memory of Nella standing in the middle of the road, the floodlights illuminating her shaking body, and the flash of something dark and awful crossing La Marca’s face when she’d turned away, made him nod.

Grey pulled three glasses from his cupboard and poured a finger of honey-coloured whiskey into two of them and filled the third with ice and half a can of Coke. Jett gulped the Coke in one burning sip, the prickling tension behind his eyes easing as the sugar scorched through him.

Grey spoke as he refilled Jett’s glass. ‘So Nella’s agreed to take the case?’

Jett responded by gulping half of the second glass.

‘You don’t approve?’ Max asked through a mouthful of vanilla cream and almonds.

‘Why on earth would Nella need my approval to do anything?’ Jett said. ‘But no, as it happens. I think it’s dangerous.’

‘So you agree with her?’ Grey said. ‘You think La Marca had Clarkson murdered because he found something that would prove the Barbaranis have a legitimate claim to the wine recipe?’

Jett swirled the remaining Coke into a whirlpool, watching the bubbles collide in the crystal glass. ‘It’s a theory,’ he said eventually. ‘But I feel like ... I don’t know. Something feels off about the whole thing.’

‘You think he did kill himself?’ Max asked.

Jett took a sip, restraining himself from finishing the second glass yet. ‘I do. Nella doesn’t.’

‘She say why?’ Grey looked at the box of Magnums, frowned, and took another. Jett didn’t miss Max’s conniving smirk as she sipped her whiskey.

Jett scratched the back of his head. ‘She reckons she knows him, and he wouldn’t do something like that. But I think she can’t see anything except the La Marcas. Also, apparently he wasn’t wearing a belt, but they found him with one, so she thinks that unequivocally proves it was murder.’

‘Humour her for a minute,’ Max, the reigning Queen of Conspiracy Theories said. ‘How does that play out?’

‘Don’t know. Skinner’s in jail now the evidence that he framed Libby Johnston has come to light. Kudos to you for that,’ Jett said.

Max sighed. ‘Doesn’t mean much now that she’s dead. But yeah, Skinner’s out, so no more La Marca personal hitman, but it’s plausible they hired an independent contractor to get rid of Clarkson.’

‘But why kill him in Nella’s office?’ Jett interjected. ‘Why not wait until he was walking to his car or in the back alley?’

‘You think it was some sort of message to the Barbaranis?’ Grey looked sceptical.

‘The specific location of Nella’s office feels more personal, doesn’t it?’ Jett said, trying to keep his face as neutral as possible. ‘ If it wasn’t suicide.’

‘Maybe.’ Grey spoke into his glass, brow furrowed. ‘Ian missed the killer by a few minutes, and from what Nella said, it sounds like the killer, if there is one, might still have been in the office when Ian came back for his gym bag. It seems messy ... too risky for a hired hit.’

‘It could have been Forrest,’ Max said quietly. Grey shot her a look of such intensity that Jett wanted to turn away. ‘What? We know he’s not averse to getting his hands dirty.’

‘I thought this was just hypothetical?’ Jett thought back to Forrest’s shit-eating grin back on the road.

Was that how a killer behaved right after he’d sold another piece of his soul?

And why would La Marca parade Forrest around if he’d just killed Clarkson?

Matteo was a lot of things, but he wasn’t stupid.

‘We know Forrest wants to destroy the Barbaranis,’ Grey said. ‘It fits.’

Great , Jett thought. Guess they were all aboard the ‘it’s murder’ train. Was he the only one on this goddamn property who was aware they weren’t on the set of Midsomer Murders ?

‘If it is murder’—he hated himself—‘something’s off about the execution.

’ Jett rubbed his temple; he could feel lines forming – maybe if his face wasn’t already a lost cause, he’d let Nella convince him to try preventative Botox just for a laugh.

Although he hadn’t seen Nella laugh in a while.

‘It’s amateurish. It feels like an opportunistic kill.

Not planned, and so someone panicked and tried to make it look like a suicide. If it’s not suicide.’

Ugh. Was that a direct quote from one of the Midsomer actors? From Max and Grey’s expressions, they weren’t convinced either. For a while there was silence except for the cracking of almond chocolate and the clinking of glass on the marble countertop.

‘How did she take it?’ Grey eventually said, looking up towards the mansion where Nella would be asleep.

Max frowned, but Jett knew they weren’t talking about Clarkson’s death anymore.

Which was what he needed. Every time he thought of the smiling, slightly awkward lawyer, it felt like he was underwater, unable to breathe.

‘She was just annoyed everyone knew but she didn’t. Didn’t help that she heard it from Vittoria.’

‘You should have told her.’ Max’s accusation drilled through Jett.

‘Why does everyone keep saying that? Nella’s been away for six months. She doesn’t care if I’m here or not.’

‘You really believe that?’

Jett grabbed the depleted Coke can and poured the rest over his melting ice.

‘How much do you reckon we can get out of Raphael?’ he asked.

Nella’s feelings were none of his business.

‘I can’t promise I won’t accidentally waterboard him to death during any form of interrogation.

’ His deliberate subject change clearly wasn’t missed, but at least they couldn’t see his stomach twist every time he faced the mansion.

Like it was trying to drag him back to Nella.

It’s not your place. You’re just the driver.

‘Thought you said this wasn’t the La Marcas.’ Grey studied him.

The Coke bubbles were fizzing in his head. ‘I didn’t say that. They’re still our best bet if this isn’t what Avery thinks. Besides, we might be able to get something out of him about the lawsuit, seeing as he owes us.’

Max scrunched up her Magnum wrapper, squeezing it like a stress ball. ‘Unfortunately I think you’ll find Raphael is under the impression that we owe him .’

‘ We saved Ariana La Marca at the gala,’ Grey said. ‘It’s within Raphael’s and the La Marcas’ best interests that we remind them of that. Matteo’s precious caged daughter wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for Max.’

Jett didn’t add that Ariana wouldn’t have been in a position where she needed to be saved if Luca hadn’t dragged her through the hidden tunnel with the rest of the family, not realising the danger that lurked at the end of the passageway.

Raphael Sabatino was to the La Marcas what Grey had been to the Barbaranis – their Fixer, their secret keeper.

He also had made it quite clear he was very taken by Max, which was likely the main reason Grey still couldn’t stand him.

Well, that and the fact Raphael had got himself caught up in a plot to kill Nella, Luca, Tom, Grey and Jett six months ago.

Raphael chose to save the Barbaranis’ lives, though, when it came down to it, so knowing Greyson, it was mainly the other thing.