Capítulo 28: Chapter 28
NICHOLAS
"Why did you go ask my father about Gianna's death?" Giselle asked, her frame filling my doorway.
I got a message from one of my men that she refused to get her art supplies, but she kept asking them to drive around until she felt like returning to the house.
I could only assume she had a run-in with her parents, and it hadn't been pleasant.
"And what made you think you could barge into my office?" I shot back, leaning back in my chair.
I realized it was a bad idea to have fucked her in my office because the place that served as a working place for me was now filled with memories of me thrusting into her while she dug her nails into my skin, leaving her mark on my body, my soul.
Cazzo, my mind was getting off track fast.
"Answer the question, Nicholas. What did you want to find out that you don't already know?"
"I went to find out what happened that night," I admitted.
"I killed her. End of story. There's nothing else to find out."
I frowned. What the fuck did her parents do to her with just one visit? She had never said something like this before.
Matteo was having a hard time tracking Giselle's therapist down, but as long as we had a name, it didn't matter how long it'd take me to find her. I had to get to the bottom of everything.
I arched an unimpressed brow at her. "Now you're admitting to your crimes?"
She shrugged. "Seems like it. You might wanna ramp up your attempts at making my life miserable."
"I don't have to. You're married to me, no?"
She huffed. "And you feel like that is punishment enough."
"You catch on fast."
She shook her head at me. "At this point, you're only saying that to convince yourself."
"You blew your only chance to leave the house today."
Eduardo had begun sniffing around, and from the news that got back to me, he was finding a way to get my supplier. No one knew about Vlad's betrayal yet, so that was sure to keep Eduardo busy for a while. If he found Vlad, even better. I'd get my hands on the son of a bitch.
"When next do I get to leave, husband? Next year?" She mocked.
I glared at her, and in typical Giselle fashion, she looked unfazed. I was losing my touch with her. "With this attitude of yours, it might as well be."
"Whatever," she mumbled before turning on her heels and walking out of my office.
***
I sat patiently for the arrival of my guest. I was a stickler for being on time when it came to important business, but since my request was impromptu, I'd let it slide.
An extra ten minutes passed before I heard the clicking of heels on the floor as my guest made her way to my office on the third floor of the building.
Sinister was disguised as a dance club, and sure that was what it was on the lower floor, but a floor above that was where the real cash raked in. A casino that had been the pride and joy of my father before his demise.
The third floor served as rooms for a few of the soldiers that worked both on the bottom floor and the second floor. On the fourth and final floor was a penthouse I spent some nights in when I had a lot of things to do, and I couldn't spare the time to go home.
This was where I spent those five days poring over a solution to Vlad's problem, but I'd come up empty.
"Come in," I said when I heard a rap on the door. I stubbed my cigar on the ashtray in front of me as the wary woman walked into my office, her anxiety rolling off of her in waves. "Come take a seat, Marina."
Marina was a middle-aged woman with salt and pepper hair and a petite frame. From the pictures Matteo delivered to my office, she favored her glasses, but tonight, she didn't have them on.
She pulled her hair away from her face in a stern bun at her nape, and she was dressed like she was pitching a project off to some business investors.
This wasn't how she dressed to work, so I knew it was just for our meeting. She wanted to portray the image of a no-nonsense woman.
The effort was almost laughable. Everyone had heard rumors about the Five Families, and she'd worked as a therapist for one of the bosses' daughters. I could only assume my name had gotten to her ears, hence her wariness.
"Thank you, Mr. Rossi." She walked toward the chair opposite mine, lowering herself onto the leather furniture. "I do not appreciate being forced to come here and being blindfolded until I got to your office."
"It's nothing personal, Mrs. Gonzales. Just a little impromptu call to clear up a few things."
Her stern frown remained in place. "Is there anything you'd like from me?"
"As a matter of fact, there is. I want to speak to you concerning a past client of yours."
The frown deepened. "Who?" She asked.
"Giselle Fanelli."
"Isn't she your wife? Shouldn't you talk to her yourself if you want to know anything about her?" Marina inquired, her brow furrowed.
"Gregorio said something I didn't believe, and I wanted you to confirm it. Until she left for France, you were Giselle's therapist."
Her jaw muscles tightened. "If you want me to reveal the details of our conversations, Mr. Rossi, that's against my policy. My patients rely on me to keep these conversations private; otherwise, they would not visit me."
"Even if I offered you money? I know you've been working hard to repay your son's student loans."
Money was the easiest way to persuade people to spill their guts, especially those that had little to no money, so her scoffing came as a surprise.
"I appreciate the offer, Mr. Rossi, but I am not interested in your money."
Okay, I had to use another tactic to get her talking. "You're aware of her sister's death seven years ago, no?"
"I am aware."
"Her father has been telling everyone she's responsible for Gianna's death."
Marina's eyes flared up in anger. "I'm also aware of that. They don't know the amount of damage they've done to that young girl over something she had no hand in."
"So, you believe she didn't do it?"
"I know she didn't do it. Giselle is just misunderstood. She would never hurt Gianna, and this is me speaking as more than her therapist. She deserves better."
"If you really want to help clear her name, you need to answer my questions. I also doubt she killed Gianna, and I want to help clear her name."
Marina looked suspicious of me. "Aren't you Gianna's ex-boyfriend?"
"I am."
Her scowl returned. "You were part of the people who blamed her for Gianna's death."
"I realize my mistake now, and I'd like to make amends." My gut feeling told me to dig deeper into this, and not once has my gut feeling failed me.
Marina nodded reluctantly. "What do you want to know?"
"Gregorio said she used to harm herself. Hence, the reason she didn't care about getting hurt when she caused the accident."
"Harm herself? That's untrue. I've been seeing Giselle since she was fifteen. That was a year before the accident, and not once did I receive such reports. The only time she cut herself by accident with a knife was when she tried assisting the cook to prepare dinner. She just needed someone to talk to, but after the accident, she was no longer herself."
No longer herself? "Explain."
Marina inhaled deeply. "Forgive me if I get emotional, but Giselle is very dear to me. This might be unprofessional of me, but it killed me to watch her withdraw into herself after the accident. If ever she harmed herself, it's definitely after the accident. She told me she doesn't care anymore. At least she didn't when I last spoke to her."
"She doesn't care anymore? What does that mean?"
"She said she doesn't care if she lives or dies. She's just too scared to do it on her own. Cara is the only thing keeping her going."
A conversation we had at the beginning of our marriage chose that moment to float into my head.
'If this is the way I die, then so be it. It will save me a lifetime of torture.'
She meant it when she said that. I thought it was her stubbornness speaking, but she really wanted to die.
Cazzo! And I was one of the people that slowly drove her to that point.
"So all of this has been a lie?"
"Even though there's incriminating evidence against Giselle like the tape, I strongly believe she's innocent. Maybe that's just because I care about her, and I'm being biased, but the Giselle I know would never hurt Gianna."
Incriminating evidence, my ass. Gregorio fooled everyone into believing he had anything. The tape didn't even exist anymore.
"Thanks for sparing some of your time," I said with a curt nod.
She nodded. "Treat her well, Nicholas. I don't assume you got married to her because you love her, but it doesn't have to remain that way. For her sake, I hope it doesn't. She deserves her shot at happiness."
I said nothing to that because I had no answer to give her, only watching as she pulled the blindfold around her neck on her eyes, tying it tight.
"Goodbye, Mr. Rossi."
She walked out of my office, where a guard waited to take her back to her house.
If Giselle didn't cause the accident, why did Gregorio put all the blame on her? Why label his innocent daughter a murderer? I understood his greed, but playing with the death of a family member was a fucked up thing to do, even for him.
None of this added up.
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